A French court has sentenced a nursing student to three years in prison for allegedly “glorifying terrorism” on social media.
Zaiter said “46 days after an arbitrary and unjust detention for having denounced the genocide and expressed my support for Palestine in Nice, I finally find my daughter.”
The trial highlights France’s stringent stance on public speech and pro-Israel laws.
I feel like a bit of context is appropriate ‡:
During the October 21 trial, she defended her posts as emotionally driven responses to the genocide in Gaza, stating she aimed to critique Zionism, not Judaism. Despite acknowledging that some of her words were “very violent,” she insisted her intentions were misinterpreted.
The vast majority of people in France criticizing Israel don’t get arrested. The French have even elected a French-Palestinian for the European Parliament (Rima Hassan), who’s been caught red-handed spreading fake news about Israel training dogs to rape palestinians, and is not in prison †
She won’t go to prison for this (suspended sentence, plus ankle bracelet).
I can’t tell if she actually advocated for terrorism, because I can’t find her exact words. But I wouldn’t be so quick to defend her given the circumstances. It could be true that she broke the law.
Likely that there’s more to this, but I think it’s also important to remember that they did the same to some climate activists and that institutions in France are notoriously hostile towards the French-Muslim population, especially of (North-)African descent.
There are way too many people alive who still remember France having colonies. Levantine Arabs have a better standing due to some Palestinians and Lebanese churches having close ties to France, but in general I also wouldn’t rule out that this sentence is as harsh just because someone disliked by the government was too critical of said government. Although I have to admit that this is now speculation from my side
I completely agree with everything you said. I wish we could see exactly what that person said.
It could be true that she broke the law.
Breaking the law on this topic is not hard in France, since unfortunately it is part of the (post)colonial countries that equate anti-zionism with antisemitism.
So criticizing the settler colonial state of Israel can mean you break the law, without taking into consideration that Zionism is a political movement that has been criticized by Jews since its inception. Jewish voice for Peace have a great article about it: Our Approach to Zionism. And they are not the only ones.
Or supporting that Palestinians have human rights like any other person on this planet - like to be against Israel’s apartheid for example - is considered terrorism, more often than not.
Please, let’s not be so quick to defend France or any colonial country
Edit: A relavant article. It’s in relation to the Lellouche law, from Haaretz - BDS a Hate Crime? In France, Legal Vigilance Punishes anti-Israel Activists
In 2021, France adopted the infamous definition of antisemitism proposed by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), which deems criticism of Israel and Zionism and comparing Israel’s practices to those of the Nazis forms of antisemitism
How does that make any sense?
It makes sense to people who want to use the deaths of their ancestors as an excuse to do whatever the fuck they want.
For eternity
It doesn’t
I wonder if Police nationale reads Lemmy?
Don’t worry they can’t read
SInce when do cops read
Is it pro-palestine or pro-hamas?
Doesn’t matter; she’s still getting imprisoned for exercising her right to free speech.
In the eyes of French law, it does matter, their freedom of speech is limited (UK is even worse in this regard).
I do however agree that freedom of speech and communication should be upheld to the highest possible degree, even when some may find it offensive or consider it hateful.
It is, after all, the foundation of western democracy and humanitarian values.
White supremacist dogwhistles aside… There’s never any actual real freedom of speech. It’s always political. This is just one current example but speech is widely attacked. Many people are being expelled from their schools, jobs, etc. Most people don’t even dare to speak out. I use this semi-anonymous account and I’m still worried about being attacked. The pro-genocide/zio narrative is the hegemonic narrative that will be violently enforced.
