German court upholds ruling that "Death to Zionists" really means "Death to Jews"

Taylan Can

Last year during the Gaza war there were a number of antisemitic rallies in Germany that shocked even members of Germany's Left.

In January, a leader of one such rally held in Essen, Taylan Can, was convicted of hate speech for saying "Death to Zionists." At that rally, he haters threw bottles at a pro-Israel demonstration, chanted  "Adolf Hitler" and said "Fuck Jews" as well as "“Scheiss Juden!” (“Jewish shit”). That same leader had been known to chant "Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas."

I'm not sure if this video is of that same rally, but it was also in Essen:



The judge said that when demonstrators said "Death to Zionists" they really meant "Death to the Jews." He sentenced the leader to three months probation and a small fine of 200 euros. He emphasized that criticizing Israel is okay but what they did was way over the line and was hate speech and incitement.

Taylan Can appealed the verdict. Observers were skeptical that the ruling would be upheld.

Last week, the appeals court indeed upheld the ruling and in fact increased his sentence to ten months probation.

(h/t Gastwirt)