German court convicts activist for singing ‘From the river to the sea’

The judge said the sentence “denies Israel’s right to exist,” but the woman’s lawyer says the ruling is a defeat for free speech

A Berlin court has convicted a pro-Palestinian activist of condoning a crime for chanting “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” at a rally in the German capital, four days after Hamas attacks on Israel, in what her defense team called a defeat for free speech.

Presiding judge Birgit Balzer on Tuesday fined Ava Moayeri, a 22-year-old German-Iranian national, €600 (£515), rejecting her argument that she was simply expressing support for “peace and justice” in the Middle East by shouting the phrase in a busy street.

Balzer said she “could not understand” the logic of previous German court rulings that had determined the dictum to be “ambiguous,” saying it was clear to her that it “denied the right of the State of Israel to exist.”

She said that this view could be covered by freedom of expression in Germany, but that the use of the slogan had to be assessed in the context of “the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust – that’s the elephant in the room”.

The case, heard under tight security, is one of several since the Hamas attacks in Israel on October 7 and the subsequent destruction of Gaza that have examined Germany’s strict limits on pro-Palestinian protests. Moayeri’s lawyers said it was the first trial in Berlin to focus on the use of the politically charged phrase.

Balzer said the slogan was particularly controversial in Germany, which views support for Israel as a political issue. Reason of State, or the reason of state, at the heart of its national identity because of its responsibility in the Holocaust.

She added that Germans had an obligation to make the country’s Jews feel “safe and comfortable,” especially in the face of a rise in anti-Semitic crimes since October 7.

About 100 protesters gathered outside the court chanted “Free, free Palestine” as the verdict was read. Moayeri smiled at 20 supporters allowed to attend the hearing, many wearing keffiyehs, and was greeted with cheers as she left the building. Two members of the audience shouted “Against repression” after the judge closed the trial.

The sentence handed down to Moayeri, who had no prior criminal record and described herself as a feminist and refugee activist, was less than the €900 fine sought by state prosecutors, who later said they would consider appealing.

Giving bail for a crime can result in a prison sentence of up to three years.

Moayeri’s lawyer, Alexander Gorski, condemned what he called a victory for “state oppression” of the protesters and said he would challenge the verdict in a higher court.

The defendant was one of the co-organizers of a demonstration on October 11 near Sonnenallee in the diverse Neukölln neighborhood, a bustling boulevard that has been the scene of several pro-Palestinian protests, some of them violent.

However, Moayeri told the court that the rally in question, which took place late in the morning, was organised in response to media reports that a teacher had beaten a pro-Palestinian student and that the protesters had gathered to condemn “violence in schools”.

Two police officers dispatched to the scene of the demonstration, which was banned by Berlin authorities, disputed this version in court, saying that participants waved Palestinian flags and wore keffiyehs and that none of the slogans chanted mentioned school security.

Moayeri’s legal team said the slogan should be seen as a “central expression of the global Palestine solidarity movement” whose historical origins predate Hamas. They said Moayeri should be taken literally when she says she rejects “all forms of anti-Semitism.”

“Between the river and the sea” is a fragment of a slogan used since the 1960s by a multitude of activists with diverse agendas. It is interpreted in different ways around the world, from genocidal to democratic.

The full saying refers to the land between the Jordan River to the east and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, encompassing Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.

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