Germany takes action to combat hate crimes in response to synagogue attack

Germany will require internet providers to report hate speech and threats online as part of a program to combat hate crimes driven in part by the deadly attack near a synagogue on Yom Kippur. It was not enough to express shock at that violent attack in Halle, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said at a news conference announcing the Cabinet's approval of the nine-point program on Wednesday. Action must be taken, including tightening gun control laws, he said. Internet providers are now only required to remove or block such hate speech and threats. A central reporting position will be opened at the Federal Criminal Police Office. Prosecution should be easier, and gun sales harder, according to the new measures: For one thing, members of organizations that are under observation as anti-Democratic should not be able to purchase guns, according to the new rules. “The internet is not a lawless zone,” Minister of Justice Christine Lambrecht said at the news conference, according to German news reports. Preventive programs also will receive more funding, with plans to provide at least $128 million through 2023 for some 4,000 existing programs. Some of the announced measures will require a Bundestag vote. One goal is to make it easier to prosecute anyone who threatens politicians and spreads extreme right-wing hate online. The move follows the murder of Walter Lübcke, a politician in Hesse, who was shot by a neo-Nazi extremist in June. Josef Schuster, head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, told reporters it was “high time that action was taken.”

Germany takes action to combat hate crimes in response to synagogue attack

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