The Ministerial Committee on Legislation on Sunday approved a bill that seeks to ban the use of Nazi symbols, attributes and language in Israel unless for historical, educational or documentary purposes. The bill, whose language was reviewed by the Justice and Public Security ministries, will be presented to the Knesset for its preliminary reading in the coming days. Explicit legislation barring the use of Nazi terminology currently exists in Germany, Poland and Hungary. Many other Western nations, especially in Europe, ban such use under anti-incitement laws. The bill, promoted by MK Dr. Shimon Ohayon (Yisrael Beytenu), head of the Knesset lobby against anti-Semitism, seeks to make the use of Nazi symbols a criminal offense punishable by a 100,000 shekel ($28,700) fine and up to six months' incarceration. The bill seeks to ban the use of the term "Nazi" and any use of the swastika symbol, attire resembling concentration camp uniforms, a yellow Star of David or any other symbol that has a clear link to Nazism. The legislation allows such use for academic, documentary or historical purposes. "The unbearable ease with which daily use of Nazi terminology is made as part of the public and political discourse, in blatant disregard of the feelings of Holocaust survivors and their descendants, deserves every condemnation. The reality we live in lends special importance to the need to anchor, legally, the proscription against the use of Holocaust and Nazism symbols, to prevent this phenomenon from spreading further," the bill's brief said. "We have to stand guard -- we cannot make light of any use of Nazi symbols," Ohayon said.
New legislation seeks to ban use of Nazi symbols
Bill aims to combat "the unbearable ease with which daily use of Nazi terminology is made part of the public and political discourse" • "We cannot make light of any use of Nazi symbols," says MK Shimon Ohayon (Yisrael Beytenu).
Load more...