The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) on Tuesday commended the Berlin police who announced a ban on signs supporting Palestinian Arab terrorist organizations and on calling for Israel’s destruction during Monday’s May Day demonstrations.
Instructions posted to the police website on Saturday stressed that “any advertising” for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) or Hamas was banned. They also prohibited any statements that “propagate the annihilation of the State of Israel and/or its inhabitants or are otherwise likely to convey a readiness to use violence.”
The announcement followed a march in the city during Passover, co-organized by Palestinian Arab NGO Samidoun, where the mainly German Muslim participants chanted “Death to Jews” and “Death to Israel.”
“We hope that this announcement will signal that German authorities will act to stem the chants of death to the Jews and the anti-Semitic hate crimes that inevitably follow on the streets of Berlin and other German cities,” stated Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action.
In 2021, Germany’s government agreed to ban the flag of the Hamas terrorist organization, following several antisemitic incidents that occurred in Germany during anti-Israel rallies.
A year earlier, Germany issued a federal order outlawing Hezbollah in the country, and also took enforcement measures under the provisions of the order.