Strong pro-Israel consensus among political leaders has led to conflict with Berlin’s diverse cultural sector and a fraught debate over antisemitism

Less than 10 years ago, Germany, and especially Berlin, was held up as a beacon of openness and inclusivity in a western world rocked by Brexit and Donald Trump. Angela Merkel’s decision to take in thousands of refugees displaced by the war in Syria boosted her country’s reputation in progressive circles, with many international artists and academics choosing to make the German capital their new home.

Yet the conflict in the Middle East is showing Germany in a new light, highlighting fissures in society and the arts world that until now had been easier to ignore.

  • acargitzEnglish
    30•9 months ago

    If they beat up someone, they should be charged with the crime they did. Why do new crimes need to be invented?

    • @[email protected]English
      4•9 months ago

      Criminal prosecution is not done by universities so if universities want to act on this they need a different legal basis for that.

    • TurunEnglish
      3•9 months ago

      Why do new crimes need to be invented?

      This is not at all what they are saying. Such a new law would not introduce a new crime, but be an amendment to the university’s rules so that they are allowed to expel students who committed certain crimes before.

    • gian English
      2•9 months ago

      Maybe more than a new crime it should be an aggravating circumstance. Beating someone for some petty reason and beating someone for political/religoius reasons are different in gravity.

      • acargitzEnglish
        6•9 months ago

        It already is apparently: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hate_crime#Germany

        The German Criminal Code does not have hate crime legislation, instead, it criminalizes hate speech under a number of different laws, including Volksverhetzung. In the German legal framework motivation is not taken into account while identifying the element of the offence. However, within the sentencing procedure the judge can define certain principles for determining punishment. In section 46 of the German Criminal Code it is stated that “the motives and aims of the perpetrator; the state of mind reflected in the act and the willfulness involved in its commission”[44] can be taken into consideration when determining the punishment; under this statute, hate and bias have been taken into consideration in sentencing in past cases.[45]