German court fines woman for ‘from the river to the sea’ chant

Defence lawyer calls the $655 fine against 22-year-old protester a ‘dark day for freedom of expression’.

A German court has imposed a $655 (600 euro) fine on a woman for using the slogan – “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” – during a protest last year, a ruling her lawyer decried as an assault on free speech.

Lawyer Alexander Gorski, who represented the 22-year-old woman in Berlin, said the decision on Tuesday was “a dark day for freedom of expression”.

“My client only wanted to express her hope for a future of democratic coexistence for all people in the region,” he told AFP news agency, adding that the woman, identified only as Ava M, would appeal the decision.

A court spokesperson said the woman was found guilty of using the slogan during a demonstration at Berlin’s Neukoelln district on October 11, days after the Gaza war began.

The court concluded that the use of the phrase “could only be understood as a denial of Israel’s right to exist and an endorsement” of Hamas’s October 7 attack, the spokesperson said.

By October 11, Israel had killed 1,537 Palestinians, according to local authorities, more than the number of Israelis killed in the October 7 attack. Antiwar activists had been organising protests calling for a ceasefire at that time.

Palestinian rights advocates have said “from the river to the sea” is an aspirational call for freedom and equality in historical Palestine.

Israel’s supporters argue the slogan calls for the destruction of Israel. The phrase was outlawed by German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser in November.

However, Israel controls the entire area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, where it is imposing a system of apartheid on Palestinians, according to leading rights groups.

Moreover, Israeli politicians often show a map of the country that includes the occupied Palestinian territory, effectively saying that Israel extends from the river to the sea.

Germany has been a staunch supporter of Israel and one of its top weapon suppliers.

The Israeli offensive in Gaza has killed at least 39,653 people, levelled large parts of the territory and brought its more than two million inhabitants to the verge of starvation.

Domestically, Berlin has cracked down on Palestinian rights activism. Earlier this year, the country passed a law requiring immigrants seeking German citizenship to affirm Israel’s right to exist.

In April, German police cancelled a pro-Palestine conference in Berlin. Authorities have also regularly broken up protests against the war on Gaza and assaulted and detained demonstrators.

Earlier this year, Germany banned British Palestinian doctor Ghassan Abu Sittah, who worked in Gaza during the early months of the war, from entering the country.