Israeli flag.. (photo credit: REUTERS)
BERLIN - The Vienna police are pursuing criminal charges against three pro-Israel activists for waving an Israeli flag at a protest against the designation of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
The police are seeking a 100 euro fine or two days in jail for the waving of the flag at the December 8 rally near the US embassy in the capital.
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The criminal notice, dated January 3, states that the activists "showed an Israeli flag at a rally in an extremely provocative way and manner that was visible for participants at the rally and thereby produced considerable offense and provocation among the Palestinian protestors."
The German-language edition of the news site Vice first reported on Tuesday on the penalties against the three men and conducted an interview with one of the pro-Israel protestors.
"My mother is Israeli, her family are refugees from Iraq and Libya. An Arab-speaking friend from Israel was able to translate some of the slogans yelled [at the rally], for example, the Arabic battle cry to massacre Jews, 'Jews, remember Khaybar, the army of Muhammad is returning,' and the Persian slogan 'Death to Israel."'
The phrases are frequently used when attacking Jews and Israelis. Islamists chanted them on the Mavi Marmara Gaza flotilla ship in May 2010.
The activist, who was given the name Matthias F. by Vice to ostensibly protect his privacy, said he heard other chants of "Intifada" and "Child murderer Israel" at the rally, which was attended by hundreds of anti-Israel protestors.
He added that they "were shocked by these slogans and did not want to leave the slogans unchallenged. Antisemitism and hate of Israel should not be tolerated."
Vice showed a copy of the police notice with the criminal penalties on its website. The notice said the pro-Israel activity was "especially reckless" which "disturbed the public order."
The police, according to Matthias, made efforts to discourage the waving of the Israeli flag. The protestors were permitted to wave Palestinian and Turkish flags. The mean rolled out the Israeli flag and were quickly confronted by Palestinian demonstrators, who triggered a scuffle with the pro-Israeli activists, according to the Vice interview. The police confiscated the Israeli flag and took the down the personal identity information of the three men. The Palestinian attackers were allowed to return to the demonstration.
Matthias said the prosecution is "unbelievable. We simply held a flag." He said the men plan to seek legal aid and appeal the penalty. "It can't be that antisemitic slogans can be hollered and go unpunished while showing an Israeli flag is reason to be fined."