BERLIN — German authorities on Tuesday raided the houses of 17 individuals within the state of Bavaria accused of spreading antisemitic hate speech and threats focusing on Jews on-line.
Based on the Bavarian felony police, the suspects had been 15 males and two girls, aged between 18 and 62, German information company dpa reported. Police questioned the suspects and confiscated proof from their houses, together with cell telephones and laptops, the company mentioned.
The suspects had been mentioned to have celebrated the assaults by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel on Oct. 7, and had been accused of spreading hate speech towards Jewish individuals on social media, utilizing symbols of banned terrorist organizations, dpa reported.
The police operation targeted on Bavaria’s capital metropolis of Munich the place 9 of the accused resided. Additional searches had been carried out within the Bavarian cities of Fuessen and Kaufbeuren in addition to within the counties of Passau, Fuerstenfeldbruck, Berchtesgadener Land, Coburg, Aschaffenburg and Hassberge.
One suspect allegedly despatched a sticker in a WhatsApp college class chat exhibiting a clown with the phrases “Gasoline the Jews.” One other particular person, a German-Turkish twin citizen, allegedly posted on his account that “the Jewish sons” deserved nothing greater than to be “exterminated,” dpa reported.
One other suspect, a Turkish citizen, is accused of posting an image of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler shortly after the Oct. 7 assaults with the caption “I may kill all of the Jews, however I left some alive to indicate you why I killed them.” Subsequent to it, he posted a Palestinian flag, the caption “Free Palestine” and an emoji with a victory signal.
“Sadly, antisemitism has an affect on the day by day lifetime of many Jews in Germany,” Michael Weinzierl, the Bavarian police commissioner towards hate crime advised dpa, “the terrorist assault by Hamas towards Israel additionally has an affect on their lives in Germany,”
Weinzierl mentioned it was necessary to indicate Jews and Israelis residing within the state “that we stand behind them right here in Bavaria, that we shield them right here and in addition shield them from hostility.”
Final month, Germany’s chancellor and president strongly denounced an increase in antisemitism within the nation within the wake of the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Germany has strict guidelines towards hate speech. Raids in reference to the publication of banned symbols comparable to swastikas and different Nazi symbols should not unusual. The denial of the Holocaust, by which the Nazis and their henchmen murdered 6 million European Jews, can also be banned.
The Israel-Hamas conflict erupted after the militant group’s shock assaults on Israel killed about 1,200 individuals. Israel’s retaliatory strikes on Gaza have thus far killed greater than 12,700 individuals, in keeping with Palestinian well being authorities.