Australian lawmakers have banned the performance of the Nazi salute in public and outlawed the display or sale of Nazi hate symbols such as the swastika in landmark legislation that went into effect in the country Monday. The new laws also make the act of glorifying OR praising acts of terrorism a criminal offense.

The crime of publicly performing the Nazi salute or displaying the Nazi swastika is punishable by up to 12 months in prison, according to the Reuters news agency.

Mark Dreyfus, Australia’s Attorney-General, said in a press release Monday that the laws — the first of their kind in the country — sent “a clear message: there is no place in Australia for acts and symbols that glorify the horrors of the Holocaust and terrorist acts.”

  • Silverseren
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    1111 months ago

    I mean, I’m fine with that. That seems like something that should have been done a while ago.

    It’s when they try and extend such things to saying any criticism of Israel is illegal, like what Germany is trying right now.

    • lurch (he/him)
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      2611 months ago

      Germany is not doing that at all. Germans are just aware of their past and almost all will therefore be careful what they say and also point that out to other Germans. It is not forbidden to criticise Israel though and probably it never will be. Most Germans will just be the last to do it on their own individual initiative.

        • JJROKCZ
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          1111 months ago

          It’s not a crime to not support Israel, just taboo and against stated policy. Policy isn’t law though

          • @Menu@slrpnk.netOP
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            1511 months ago

            I would not say it’s a taboo within the German population to speak out against the current Israeli government.

            • @barsoap@lemm.ee
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              -211 months ago

              Nope. Why would it be taboo to criticise Benjamin von Papen and Itamar Ben-Hitler. The state is doing that, officially rebuking e.g. Ben-Gvir’s ethnic cleansing statements.

            • @SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca
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              -411 months ago

              I think the timing would be a little problematic.

              So for a while now Germany has had some laws that may have been overly strict in an abundance of caution over antisemitism. Then there’s a spike in antisemitism worldwide so Germany chooses to remove these law in this particular point in history? Why? Because people are so very angry at Israel right now they can’t think about anything rationally?

        • @Menu@slrpnk.netOP
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          11 months ago

          It’s a poorly written article that confuses with its wrong translation of “Staatsraison” and omits the classification of Samidoun as a wing of PFLP, declared a terrorist organization by both the EU and the US. Supporting terrorist organizations is illegal. People getting canceled does not necessarily mean they did something illegal, and there hasn’t been a discussion about criminalizing criticism of Israel.

          Criticizing Netanyahu’s actions is very popular in Germany. It’s just true that the German government does not do that enough.

        • CALIGVLA
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          11 months ago

          Classic Germany. Goes from Nazist to Progressive so hard they end up on the other side of the spectrum back in Fascist territory.

          • @StorminNorman@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            How can that be a classic behaviour? For one, they haven’t done it, as illustrated by how hard they’ve cracked down on any facist behaviour since the cessation of WII. And wouldn’t they have had to have done it more than once for it to be a classic behaviour? They’ve literally been nazists once. They’d have to have been nazists more than once, and gone through the phases you’ve described for any normal person to call it a “classic”.

            You know what is an example of a classic behaviour though? Internet “experts” who just trust what they’re given and don’t do any research about it. Like you’ve done. Want proof? Read the other reply to the comment you’ve replied to here. And if that’s not enough, explain to me why the German foreign minister hasn’t been jailed/charged/etc for these remarks. Never trust just one source.

      • @dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        211 months ago

        It’s a common “official” response from Western governments in light of justified criticism of the State of Israel’s policies on Palestinians. The idea is that Israel is perfect because it was founded by Holocaust survivors and they can do no wrong and anybody that questions that is a Nazi.