According to the court, Belarra’s comments on Israel’s attacks on Gaza were not aimed at promoting hostility towards Jewish people.
Spain’s Supreme Court has ruled that comments about Israel by the leader of the left-wing Podemos party are not hate crimes and are protected by freedom of expression, the Anadolu news agency reported.
“The Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court has rejected for processing a complaint filed against lawmaker and former minister Ione Belarra for the crime of hate speech for the statements she made against Israel’s ‘apartheid policies’ towards Palestine and where she stated that said country was carrying out “a planned genocide,” the court said in a statement.
“The high court highlights in an order that the criticism of the military action that is the subject of the complaint cannot be classified as anti-Semitic or as hate speech simply because it is addressed to the government of Israel and adds that it occurred within the framework of a public and democratic debate, is protected by freedom of expression and cannot be criminally sanctioned,” it said.
Zionism and Indoctrination – Modest Proposal to Prevent Hurt Feelings over Anti-Israel Demos
According to the court, Belarra’s comments on Israel’s attacks on Gaza were not aimed at promoting hostility towards Jewish people or inciting hatred or acts of violence against Jews, Anadolu reported.
Consequently, and according to what was reported by the public prosecutor’s office in its report, the court declined to proceed with the complaint by the pro-Israeli Action and Communication on the Middle East organization.
Over 35,000 Killed
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 35,647 Palestinians have been killed, and 79,852 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
(Anadolu, PC)
Dead is Dead: no matter who gets offended.