An Israeli student was arrested and fined for performing a Nazi salute at Auschwitz during a school trip.
An Israeli high school student was arrested and questioned by police for doing a Nazi salute during a school trip to Auschwitz, Israeli media reported on Sunday.
The teenager from Kiryat Bialik was on his school's field trip to Poland when he did the gesture under the entrance sign to the camp.
He was questioned for two hours by Polish police and was fined approximately NIS 1,500 after security guards observed him performing the salute. The museum also captured the incident on its security cameras; the footage was handed over to the police.
Polish police charged him with promoting Nazism, local media reported. Performing a seig heil is illegal in Poland, and carries a potential sentence of up to two years in prison.
A lot of them don’t take the holocaust very seriously and tend to joke about it a lot, (maybe it’s a coping mechanism)? In any case, this is probably a case of an edgy high schooler trying to make their friends laugh.
no, they already know that. they can learn from anyone around them. they go to auschwitz to learn the proudest traditions of their people, and why they can never be allowed to fail again.
No need to put a stupid teenager in prison for a longer time for being stupid, but: A day or two behind bars on top of the fine might have had a better educational effect.
You must be new to the world or just lacking experience in your adult life.
I guess you've never seen young people support bad guys specifically because it's provocative. They don't know any better and to assume that this kid wants a nazi regime because he did a hitler salute is asinine.
I could see him finding real support now among those who do want a nazi regime because of how he was treated by us. We should be compassionate with these kids instead of trying to beat them into submission.
Could easily see this radicalizing him if he isn't already.
It's easy to make dumb edgy jokes as a teenager without actually believing whatever you're joking about.
Humiliating this kid like this is really just trying to make an example out of him rather than solving any problem or helping him in any way.
This could've easily been solved by the teacher taking him aside and explaining to him why that's not acceptable. If he keeps doing it after being warned, then it's fine to escalate.
This is an idiotic teenager and should have no bearing on your opinion of Israel. (I shouldn't have to say this, but if I don't somebody will m'accuse: please note that I'm not defending Israel.)
If it had been an American teenager, I doubt there would have been an article posted at all. But if there had been, I doubt such a comment would be downvoted.
I feel like a similar proportion of teenagers from Israel and America are idiots like this one. I remember many teenagers from my highschool (Canada) who would be this kind of dumb. Based on this, I don't see why people would react differently to my comment, though maybe it'd come across different if the reader is American, not sure. (I think I'd make the same inference about Canadian high schooler as another country's though.)
...that said, I do agree with you. I have noticed for instance that Japanese high schoolers in public seem to be incredibly polite compared to Canadian ones. You can make a small inference perhaps about the high schools from a country based on a single point of data like this. But -- I don't think this really says very much about the disposition toward Nazism (of the original German trappings) in the general Israeli public.
Ikr? I saw someone post one of those grandfather didn't fight for this meme and I can help think that he would shoot the guys hold that flag you hugging
Stupid fucking parents letting their stupid fucking kids get raised by the stupid fucking internet. I base this solely on just observation in the news about how "funny" nazi shit has become to edgy teenagers now a days. I also base this on the fact that every time an AI has been released to "learn" from the internet, it comes back a shitty hardcore nazi. I get that kids do stupid shit, but they deserve to find out what's in store for them with this edge lord garbage.
Remember that Pewdiepie arranging, paying for, and posting separate videos of people holding signs saying "Hitler did nothing wrong", and "Death to all Jews" were just jokes bro. To an audience of literally tens of millions of kids.
And people here still Stan for him. I'll take my downvotes now.
I don't know if it was managed by a PR company or what but he really did "retire" at the absolute perfect time to still continue to exist as a positive image to most of the people who used to watch him. I think if he stuck around even a year longer the drama cycle would have hit him hard.
So a repeat offender who collects Nazi trash should just get a slap on the wrist and be ignored? We here in Austria do it well. First you get a fine and if you do it again you’re going to prison. Exactly where Nazis belong.
Fuck nazis. The atrocities they performed.. what this kid did.. should be death penalty. Yes I'm being serious. This world has no room for nazi bullshit. The only good nazi is a dead one
I've been tempted to give a Nazi solute when a police officer was trying to illegally force me to give ID when I hadn't done anything wrong and they knew it and didn't even claim to suspect me of a crime. It's an ironic or protest solute, but a photo of me doing it would look bad, which is why I haven't. Fuck authoritarianism.
It wasn't a Nazi salute. It was a heartfelt and perhaps ill-advised gesture that, in the moment, could be misinterpreted as a Nazi salute. I think we shouldn't be so quick to jump to conclusions.
I'm not going to give some asshat teenager the same level of shit as Elon. It's a hell of a lot more likely in that context that he really was kidding, just distastefully.
People making political decisions over edgy memes lead to the rise of modern fascism in the US, stop treating it like it has no impact. Kid metaphorically talked shit, this is the proverbial get hit.
I'm stunned .... again !! .... I have visited Auschwitz and it's impressive beyond words. At the entrance of the former gas chambers there is a sign asking to respect and remember those who died in there and keep silent in the chambers. Everyone did except for Israeli students. That is what brought the tears to my eyes. Betrayed and disrespected again, this time by their own.
Oh believe me, Israeli trips in Kraków are the worst kind of tourists in every aspect possible. They are louder than British stag parties, more obnoxious than Americans and their favourite thing is crying about antisemitism when they are removed from somewhere for causing disturbances or making a huge mess. They do not understand the idea of rubbish bins and you can trace their paths by following cigarette butts, empty crisps packets and spit.
Is there any chance the ones making all the ruckus and disrespect were non-Jewish Israelis? That's not an excuse but it makes it make more sense than actual Jews being so disrespectful. And if it is young Jews doing it, can you make it make sense? Do you have some sense for why / how they might be thinking?
Keeping in mind just being bad tourists doesn't quite explain it. Kids groups tend to be shite tourists no matter where they are from. But even I knew as a 10yo not to act stupid when visiting some of the more somber locations I went to in the US; no less as a 21yo when I visited Dachau as a non-Jew.
This also mirrors my experience at Aushwitz. Israeli teenagers were generally being dicks around the site and then unrolled several large Israeli flags to take group photos with.
Can't blame the teens too much as their teachers had no problem with/promoted the behaviour.
I left the place traumatised, these kids... not so much.
When I was there a decade ago, people were taking selfies at the gas chambers. It was all a bit surreal to be honest. The museum is amazing, but the visitors were a mixed bag.
this reflects something i've been seeing rising here inemy hometown. when i was 15 i survived a terrorist attack. the whole community had a conversation about the appropriate way to address thiseand how to be respectful of the direct victims. 18 years later, you'd never even know we talked about any of that. the memorial is a popular place to take beaming graduation photos. the terrorist attack has been renamed in the popular lexicon from "place massacre" to "date shooting". the institutions that promised us they saw and heard our pain and they would help us forge a new future are international sponsors of terror now.
This happens a lot more than you'd think. I experienced something similar in Dachau and the guide told me if someone does something unhinged/disrespectful during a tour there's a 9 out of 10 chance it's a descendant of a holocaust victim. She didn't say why she thought that is but she said it's something that puts the staff on edge whenever there's an Israeli group visiting. I'm surprised they got the cops involved though.
Not nazi salutes, but Hasidic tour groups in the US has a similar reputation for disrespectful behavior. They're also the most visibly Jewish group to passerbys, so they drag the whole group's image down with them and embolden anti-semites.
P. S. If my maths is right he can do it almost 15 million times before he runs out of money, I might have to email Vic gov to ask them to review the fine to be wealth-adjusted.
Depends. Europe isn't exactly his fan right now, so unless he gets diplomatic immunity, he could get some real charges. He would just pay them off and cry about it on twitter, but it would be a very popular action for any Euro authority to take.
Teens doing dumb stuff isn’t a hall pass.
Actions have consequences. Those consequences take this into account and often are mitigated but still enforced
Yeah the kid got like a $400 fine and told not to do that again. I think that's a fair punishment for doing something really really stupid as a teenager.
Most of the time I would agree with this. If a teen gets caught stealing or vandalizing I think they need to be taught a lesson. However, this feels like something done just to break the rules which is on point for most teens.
"The Ministry of Education said that it had disciplined the student from an educational standpoint and that it would conduct an inquiry into the incident to ensure it did not happen again.
"The Ministry of Education takes this serious incident very seriously. This is inappropriate behavior that completely contradicts Israeli educational values and the significance of the trip to Poland," the ministry wrote in a statement, as reported by Channel 13 News. "The student was immediately addressed from both an educational and disciplinary standpoint and will undergo a full inquiry upon returning to Israel. Ministry officials will thoroughly examine the circumstances of the incident and formulate additional educational measures to ensure such incidents do not happen again."
Additionally, the Kiryat Bialik Municipality said in a statement that it would also be disciplining the student, Channel 13 News reported. "
Sounds like his school and community are planning on punishment.
Nothings gonna happen to that kid. This is the classic Israeli "We will conduct an investigation" response with zero follow through. They do this to get away with genocide, i'm sure they'll be able to get away with a "misinterpreted hand gesture."
That's what his co-student said. While that may be the case, it sure doesn't sound like it, and they have the receipts so - I wouldn't be betting a lot on that horse.