As of: February 9, 2024, 12:34 p.m
By: Kilian Beck
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Israeli Supreme Judge Barak-Erez is shouted down with genocide accusations in the lecture hall of the Humboldt University in Berlin.
They are legally highly controversial.
Berlin – Anti-Israel activists forced the termination of a discussion with Israeli Supreme Court Judge Daphne Barak-Erez at the Humboldt University Berlin (HU).
On Thursday evening (February 9th), the activists disrupted a panel organized jointly by the Hertie School and the HU with former and active judges on the question of constitutional jurisprudence “under pressure”.
According to a joint statement from the two universities, the activists first read out a 15-minute statement.
The activists then accused her of “committing genocide,” as can be seen in a video from the “democ.” association.
There was another demonstration against Israel's military deployment in the Gaza Strip at the Free University of Berlin on Friday.
© Monika Skolimowska/dpa
“As a university, we are a place where even extremely controversial positions can be discussed,” the HU quoted its President Julia von Blumenthal in the statement.
The activists were allowed to present their statement.
But they wouldn't have accepted an answer from Barak-Erez.
The content of the statement is not documented.
In the video distributed by
“democ.”
via X, formerly Twitter, political scientist von Blumenthal can be seen explaining that openness to dialogue is a two-way street.
The reaction of individual activists: “No dialogue with those who commit genocide”.
Humboldt University President on disruptive action: “Shameful”
Von Blumenthal apologized to her guests.
After the event, she called it “shameful” that the discussion could not take place as planned.
Later in the evening, the discussion continued “in a smaller circle,” the statement said.
Barak-Erez and her colleagues at the Israeli Supreme Court recently ruled against the so-called judicial reform, with which the ultra-right government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tried to disempower the court.
Before the war began, hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets against the plans.
Moshe Radman, one of the leaders of the protest movement, accused Netanyahu in
Spiegel
of wanting to transform Israel into “a radical, religious, fascist country.”
Anti-Israel rallies at Berlin universities – Jewish activist beaten to hospital
Anti-Israel protests with anti-Semitic statements have taken place again and again in Berlin since Hamas attacked Israel - including at universities.
A hotspot for these demonstrations was and is the Free University of Berlin (FU).
Activists occupied a lecture hall there in December.
The State of Israel's right to exist was denied there,
Zeit Online
reported .
One of the counter-demonstrators was the Jewish student teacher Lahav Shapira.
Shapira was beaten to the hospital by a suspected fellow student last Friday evening (February 2) in Berlin.
The investigation is ongoing, the Jewish Student Union called for
a
ban on the alleged perpetrator and measures to protect Jewish students.
The investigation is ongoing and the FU says it is considering a ban on the house.
Accusation of genocide against Israel is legally controversial - Hamas' intention to do so is clear
Following an urgent application from South Africa, the International Court of Justice in The Hague is considering the question of whether Israel's military offensive in Gaza could fall under the United Nations Genocide Convention.
At the end of January, a preliminary decision was made: Israel does not have to end its military operation, but does have to do more to protect and care for the two million civilians in Gaza.
“The decisive factor” for the classification as genocide is “that perpetrators have the intention to destroy a specific group in whole or in part,” said Bonn international law expert Stefan Talmon to
ZDF
.
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Oliver Harry Gerson, international criminal law expert at the HU, told the broadcaster in October that “so far” he does not see this fulfilled.
Talmon argued that the Hamas massacres in southern Israel on October 7, 2023 amounted to genocide because the terrorist organization aimed to “destroy the Jewish people as a whole.”
It could take years for a final verdict on South Africa's lawsuit to be made in The Hague.
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