Lawmakers have banned public displays of the Nazi salute, swastika and other hate symbols as Australia tries to get to grips with a spike in antisemitism.

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
    1•1 year 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.

        • JJROKCZEnglish
          12•1 year ago

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

          • @Menu@slrpnk.netOPEnglish
            12•1 year ago

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

            • @barsoap@lemm.eeEnglish
              -1•1 year 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.caEnglish
              -3•1 year 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.netOPEnglish
          16•1 year 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.