{"id":635132,"date":"2026-07-14T06:45:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T06:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=635132"},"modified":"2026-07-14T06:45:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T06:45:00","slug":"german-parliament-moves-to-criminalize-denying-israels-right-to-exist-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=635132","title":{"rendered":"German Parliament Moves To Criminalize Denying Israel&#8217;s &#8220;Right To Exist&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden\">German Parliament Moves To Criminalize Denying Israel&#8217;s &#8220;Right To Exist&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item\">\n<p>Various European initiatives and policies which criminalize &#8220;holocaust denial&#8221; have for years dominated headlines and driven immense controversy over freedom of speech and public debate.<\/p>\n<p>But Germany is now taking it a big step further, with the\u00a0Bundesrat, Germany&#8217;s upper house of parliament, having just <strong>approved\u00a0a bill that would criminalize publicly denying Israel&#8217;s &#8220;right to exist&#8221; or calling for its abolition<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><a data-image-external-href=\"\" data-image-href=\"\/s3\/files\/inline-images\/isrgrmny.jpg?itok=siCdItMX\" data-link-option=\"0\" href=\"https:\/\/cms.zerohedge.com\/s3\/files\/inline-images\/isrgrmny.jpg?itok=siCdItMX\"><\/a><\/p>\n<figure role=\"group\" class=\"caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" data-entity-type=\"file\" data-entity-uuid=\"3c1ede27-8bf8-4d02-b07f-9eaaf4498f52\" data-responsive-image-style=\"inline_images\" height=\"317\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.zerohedge.com\/s3fs-public\/styles\/inline_image_mobile\/public\/inline-images\/isrgrmny.jpg?itok=siCdItMX\" width=\"500\" \/><figcaption><em>via Reuters<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>If passed into law, a conviction would bring <em>up to five years in prison<\/em>, according to the proposed legal change. The legislation will now move to the lower house.<\/p>\n<p>If ultimately approved, it <strong>would make Germany the first country in Europe to punish speech denying Israel&#8217;s &#8220;right to exist&#8221;<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Critics of such efforts to crack down on pro-Palestinian activism and protests have pointed out that the question of any nation&#8217;s &#8220;right&#8221; to &#8220;exist&#8221; is <strong>a highly philosophical and theoretical one<\/strong>, which makes it strange that any government would codify the statement into law, elevating it to a kind of of <strong>dogma<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The legal proposal would greatly expand Germany&#8217;s existing Section 130 of the criminal code &#8211; which is what authorities currently use to prosecute Holocaust denial.<\/p>\n<p>However, dissenters within the German government have warned the proposed expansion would be a violation of the German constitution,\u00a0as it would establish a &#8220;special right against a specific opinion&#8221; in breach of Article 5. Here&#8217;s what the constitution&#8217;s &#8220;freedom of expression&#8221; clause <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gesetze-im-internet.de\/englisch_gg\/englisch_gg.html\">says<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><em>Every person shall have the right freely to express and disseminate his opinions in speech, writing and pictures and to inform himself without hindrance from generally accessible sources. Freedom of the press and freedom of reporting by means of broadcasts and films shall be guaranteed. There shall be no censorship.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The Bundestag&#8217;s research service has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.middleeasteye.net\/news\/germany-moves-criminalise-denial-israels-existence-while-refusing-recognise-palestine\">warned<\/a>\u00a0in a report on violation of individual rights: &#8220;Both the rejection of the right of the State of Israel to exist and the call for the elimination of the state are likely to <strong>constitute subjective value judgments<\/strong>.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Recently <strong>Tucker Carlson unpacked the difficulty inherent in the whole notion of a country having a &#8220;right to exist&#8221;<\/strong> in a testy exchange with a reporter. Carlson has also frequently pointed out that the phrase is a bizarre and uncommon formulation, given that not even Americans in all of history have spoken in terms of a nation-state or government &#8216;existing&#8217; as a &#8216;right&#8217;&#8230;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\" xml:lang=\"en\">A reporter asks Tucker Carlson if Israel has a \u201cright to exist.\u201d When he presses her to define it, she can\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>Tucker responds: \u201cI believe in universally applicable standards, and if they\u2019re not universally applicable, they\u2019re not standards \u2014 they\u2019re preferences.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/tUzmcDShSy\">pic.twitter.com\/tUzmcDShSy<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Michael Hennessey (@Snowflake_News) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Snowflake_News\/status\/2035404436797833566?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 21, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>More recently, Amnesty International has publicly come out in opposition to the German measure, stating, &#8220;The protection of Jewish life is of particular importance \u2013 but this initiative massively endangers freedom of expression.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In the United States, the Israel-Gaza conflict has increasingly split the Democratic Party, amid growing midterm related turmoil. But there&#8217;s been an increasing debate raging on the Right as well, as younger generations of conservatives show much more willingness to criticize Israel and push against taxpayer funding for the Israeli government and military to the tune of billions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>      <span class=\"field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden\"><a title=\"View user profile.\" href=\"https:\/\/cms.zerohedge.com\/users\/tyler-durden\" lang=\"\" class=\"username\" xml:lang=\"\">Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden\">Tue, 07\/14\/2026 &#8211; 02:45<\/span><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.zerohedge.com\/s3fs-public\/styles\/inline_image_mobile\/public\/inline-images\/isrgrmny.jpg?itok=siCdItMX\" title=\"German Parliament Moves To Criminalize Denying Israel&apos;s \" \/><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>German Parliament Moves To Criminalize Denying Israel&#8217;s &#8220;Right To Exist&#8221; Various European initiatives and policies which criminalize &#8220;holocaust denial&#8221; have for years dominated headlines and driven immense controversy over freedom of speech and public debate. But Germany is now taking it a big step further, with the\u00a0Bundesrat, Germany&#8217;s upper house of parliament, having just approved\u00a0a&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=635132\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">German Parliament Moves To Criminalize Denying Israel&#8217;s &#8220;Right To Exist&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":635127,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[18,19,10,21,12,11,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-635132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cancel-culture","category-censorship","category-civil-liberties","category-election-integrity","category-equal-justice","category-free-speech","category-religious-freedom","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=635132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/635127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=635132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=635132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=635132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}