Israeli Bill Would Outlaw Comparisons to Nazis
- Posted on January 10, 2012 at 9:02am by
Billy Hallowell
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Israeli MK Uri Ariel
Should it be a crime to liken individuals to Nazis? In Israel, there’s a new bill being proposed that would criminalize this offensive comparison.
In fact, according to the AP, the penalty for comparing an individual or multiple persons to the radical ideology would be up to six months in jail, a $25,000 fine for actually using the word “Nazi” or for utilizing Holocaust-related symbols for anything other than teaching, research or documentation.
Already, the legislation has been approved by Cabinet ministers. Now, it will go to the parliament where it will face a vote. MK Uri Ariel, a member of the country’s Knesset and the politician behind the proposal, is delighted to see the bill’s reception thus far.
“I am pleased that the government is supporting this important law,” Ariel said in response to the bill’s success thus far. “Unfortunately we have been witness in recent years to the cynical exploitation of Nazi symbols and phraseology, which is offensive to Holocaust survivors, their families, and many others among the Jewish people.”
While Ariel is content, civil rights groups are extremely concerned over the bill, as they maintain that it will severely impede individuals’ rights should it be passed. According to the Jerusalem Post, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel came out strongly opposed to the proposal.
“Freedom of expression is the right to say harsh, piercing and even offensive words,” the organization said in a statement. “It is the right to express crass and extreme attitudes, feelings and thoughts, and also includes the right to make use of harsh rhetoric and provocative imagery.”
Ultra-Orthodox Jews dress as Nazi concentration camp inmates during a protest in Jerusalem Saturday, images that have drawn outrage from Holocaust survivors. (Image source: AFP)
The push to criminalize these actions comes after protests by ultra-Orthodox demonstrators. These individuals dressed young people like Nazi concentration camp inmates — something that would carry a major penalty under this proposed bill. The police in Israel were also likened to Nazis during these protests.
Considering the free-speech concerns surrounding this bill, the debate isn’t likely to dissipate anytime soon.
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Comments (97)
Jennifer_D
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 11:10amRe: Should it be a crime to liken individuals to Nazis? In Israel, there’s a new bill being proposed that would criminalize this offensive comparison.
Calling someone a nazi is a terrible insult; especially when you consider the terrible things they did. However; passing a law criminalizing the comparison is not going to prevent people from making it. People are still going throw the insult around because they want to squelch debate entirely. The same thing was done here when people were comparing the Tea Party to nazis. If the comparison is inappropriate you call it out for what it is. Banning freedom of speech is like banning opinions you don’t like, sodas, cigarettes, light bulbs, etc. It is the pushing of an liberal agenda that takes away individual rights. That IS nazi behavior!
I have heard from many people that Israel is very liberal. It could be that because a segment of the society has dealt with persecution through the Holocaust that they want to ensure that nothing like it happens again. However; that isn’t going to work. You have to address legitimate issues that compel people to make the nazi comparison. When you do that the debate is about issues instead of a namecalling match.
People have a right to protest even if they protest in a way that is offensive. Holocaust survivors expressed their unhappiness and should have used it as a teaching opportunity. Those are needed in a world where Holocaust revisionism and denial are rampant.
Report Post »Hollywood
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 12:15pmSO,if I was visiting Israel and called badmandinajad a NAZI, would I be in jeopardy??
Report Post »HULLO? These pol correct people are destroying our freedoms.
P/s I would not call badmandinajad a Nazi. THAT would be an UPGRADE in status for him!
Jennifer_D
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 1:10pm@ Hollywood
You’ll have to ask those in Israel supporting this bill.
Report Post »The_Jerk
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 2:45pmIf this law holds, then I can see a time when comparing someone to a Zionist Jew will also become illegal.
Report Post »hidden_lion
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 4:50pmIsrael can piss away their freedom if they want to, if it happens here, let the shooting begin. Expression is essential to the free society.
Report Post »KickinBack
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 7:21pmThe nazi stigma, like the race card, is bit overplayed these days. But it seems like banning is a little too much like book burning.
Report Post »Jaycen
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 8:02pmIsrael makes it tough for us to support her. Thought Police are abhorrent no matter where they pop up.
Report Post »Tower7_TRUTH
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 8:21pm********, Jews are always afraid of free speech….Why ???
Report Post »krisdwashnh
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 10:59amPaulbot, it is not illegal to preach Chritianity in Israel. Christianity, Judiasm and Islam are all practiced openly in Israel.
Report Post »Joe Botz
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 12:01pmAnd so.
Report Post »brianoflondon
Posted on January 11, 2012 at 9:28amTechnically it is illegal to attempt to convert a Jew to Christianity in Israel. Though (and I have checked) I’ve not been able to find a single case of this law ever being acted on.
Report Post »rose-ellen
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 10:57amHa ha ha!
Report Post »Sola Scriptura
Posted on January 11, 2012 at 1:45amGo back to the shadows from whence you came. YOU SHALL NOT PASS
Send this foul creature back into the abyss.
Report Post »your sensei
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 10:52amThat will leave Glenn Beck with nothing to say.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ0mdxXw8Ac
We will never forget.
Report Post »singleparent
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 11:17amI wouldnt click on any link you post.. You are a enemy of the state and soon will get what is comeing to you that i have no doubt about..Antone that comes on a site to just bash people that you dont agree with is childish..My 4 yearold grandson has more common sence then you will ever have you are nothing more than a hater pure and simple.. You belong in china or iran..
Report Post »hidden_lion
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 4:52pmDon’t click the link, it is probably a liberal virus… syphilis for your computer.
Report Post »FoxholeAtheist
Posted on January 11, 2012 at 3:50pmI love that bit.
Report Post »blackstone22
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 10:46amBad idea, although seemingly done with good intentions. Free speech has to be “free”. Better to have words and thoughts out in the open rather then buried and allowed to fester in the dark.
Report Post »Vechorik
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 10:41amWow — if that bill passed in the US, they could generate tons of money!
Report Post »SacredHonor1776
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 5:14pmThey have a law similar to this in Germany… and other European countries… This is what got Dutch politician Geer Wilders into trouble, for comparing the Koran to the Mein Kampf, and islam to nazism…
I always got the impression that that the limits to free speech in Europe were leading to borderline neo-fascism…
Report Post »Paulbot
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 10:36amIt is illegal to preach Christianity to a Jew in Israel. And we are sending them billions of taxpayer dollars every year because why?……..
Report Post »Babeuf
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 12:17pmThat is false! Go back to Stormfront or the KKK since obviously that is where you were taught!
Report Post »hidden_lion
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 4:54pmIts illegal to preach Christianity in Saudi, not in Israel.
Report Post »cantbelieveallthisgarbagecouldhappenwhodoislap
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 8:00pm@paulbot.
Report Post »You are incorrect,Please contact you nearest Real History Book and REAL
news channel. History and present are being rewritten tweeked,and just lied about.
There is a book that tells us what is going to happen! I forget that some times!
No worries here!
Bible!!
Tells us about and what the devil (allah) is going to try! It wont be fun,but will ! happen!
Isreal does not stop christians from worship,I have had many friends from the USA,they go there,,because it is the Holy land! of GOD.
They arnt messed with ,no Legal crap against them!
Try that in egypt,syria,lybia,iran,sadi arabia,palistine, oh wait there wasnt ever one! HISTORY !!!
jmcenanly
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 10:23amIt sounds like they are trying to attach penalties to Godwin’s law of Nazi analogies, which states that analogies to the Third Reich are to be avoided as they tend to detract from the actual horror of the Holocaust,. For example, referring to the overzealous soup server in Seinfeld as a “Soup Nazi’ would be a violation, whereas forcibly removing people from their homes merely because they are Jewish would not be.
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 10:34amGIANT RED FLAGS!!!
If it is illegal, then, when one DOES come along, you are not allowed to point it out, thereby ENABLING and PROTECTING such a person from being exposed!!!
HIGHLY DANGEROUS limitation to put on yourself, ESPECIALLY when you have a history that PROVES such people exist and will exist !!
Report Post »techengineer11
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 10:42amWhile they are at it maybe ban comparisons to Jews? I mean could it get any worse?
Report Post »timej31
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 10:07amThat would be like making it against the law for calling someone racist. Think how it would neuter these politicians like Sharpton and Jackson if it to were banned with jail and hefty fines to call someone Jim Crow and a racist. Perhaps we should take a page. It a generation or 2 it will become forgotten.
Report Post »singleparent
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 9:54amMaybe it show’s you just how socialist/marxist/communist Isreali’s are…Yet people want to choose are next president on how he will defend Isreal not America.Soros/piven and the other’s that are leading this revolt on america are also jewish… How about we just worry about America and mind our own business…Oh and the people who founded this country said the same thing.. Make no alliances and mind are own damn business…..Ron Paul is looking more better but still have not made up my mind. and will not vote for newt or mitt…
Report Post »Twinspeedr
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 10:00amYep. Their Knesset have not walked with YHWH for a long time. This is “Nanny State” B.S. C’mon Israel grab a clue!
Report Post »Hollywood
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 12:18pmYOU,sound like a NAZI Jew hater bud!
Report Post »tzion
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 1:30pmIt’s not about socialism/marxism/communism. This is about a major flaw in Israel’s political system. Israel based their system off of the European parliamentarian model, which as we see today is an inherently flawed system. Israel has no checks and balances, no separation of powers, or even a constitution. Our country has all these things to protect free speech and we’ve still had our dark moments, such as the Red Scare, when what you said could make the government suspect you of being a communist. Israel has more freedoms than any other country in the region but without the protections provided by a republican form of government even they can be tricked into surrendering those freedoms. It’s happened here even with those protections, as seen in the passing of the 17th Amendment.
Report Post »nzkiwi
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 9:53amYou would think that Israel, of all nations, would be the last to curtail freedom of speech. This is exactly the sort of thing that the Nazis did as they came to power.
Somewhere down on the seventh level of hell, Hitler is smiling to himself…
Report Post »Godfather.1
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 9:48amIf this were the law in the U.S., Glenn Beck would be out of a job.
Report Post »saranda
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 6:47pmHope GB doesn’t go back to Israel anytime soon. His nazi tourettes might get him in trouble.
Report Post »gfmucci
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 9:40amThis is everything I thought Israel was defending against.
Report Post »KangarooJack
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 9:34amJust getting more ‘ducks in a row’ for re-education of the masses.
Report Post »Eliasim
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 9:34amNow I wonder why they would actually have to pass a law against it?
Report Post »TLA
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 9:33amThat goes WAY too far….PC is one thing but jail time and a hefty fine, Ridiculous!!
Report Post »Don’t go down this road Israel, sounds Nazi-ish, like something Hitler would have done.
ozchambers
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 9:39amIt is quite surprising that they would choose NOW to stop nazi comparisons, when nazism and anti-semitism are rapidly growing and strengthening around the globe. Quite surprising, and quite foolish.
Report Post »NOBALONEY
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 9:32amOrthodox Jews are now persons of a radical ideology?
Report Post »Locked
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 9:32amThe proper response is to mock those who would use such loaded comparisons, not to make such usage illegal.
Report Post »momrules
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 9:26amThere are too many attacks on free speech around the world. I don’t think this is necessay or good.
If everything that I find offensive was outlawed liberals would have to have their tongues removed.
Report Post »@leftfighter
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 9:19amSpeech police.
Not good.
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 9:19amAlthough the analogy IS way over used, it shouldn’t be criminal.
Report Post »objectivetruth
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 9:15amIs this only applicable to israeli and israelis?If I’m making a comparision to the actions of current governments, in respect to the sequence of events that led up to the holocaust, is that somehow discrimination or predjudice?If its truthful then its not discrimination or predudice.You can only stop monsters by exposing them with the truth.Now the symbolism of the holocaust is another matter.I understand the desire to stop that
Report Post »If this is only intended from stopping individuals and groups of individuals from being hateful I support it.I‘m scared to think though that we as individuals can’t make genuine comparisions of govt agencies doing the same as they did then.
SpankDaMonkey
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 9:12am.
Report Post »So what ya’ll are saying is that Obama is not welcome anymore……………
Mandors
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 9:12amGreat, outlaw analogies. Next they can make metaphors a crime punishable by death.
Report Post »MrButcher
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 9:21amWatch out, Mandors!
Sarcasm will soon be punishable by floggings!
Report Post »cemerius
Posted on January 10, 2012 at 9:11amWow!! The “thought police” are in full affect in Israel!!! Freedom of speech is still holding on here in America for now…….
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