Protesters can question Israel's right to exist - court

Pro-Palestinian protesters are legally entitled to question Israel's right to exist, a German court ruled on Monday, challenging a police ban.

The Higher Administrative Court in Münster said Dusseldorf police should not have prohibited the organizers of a protest last weekend from rejecting Israel's right to exist during the gathering.

Denying Israel's right to exist is not in itself a criminal offence, the court said. Critical discussion of the founding of Israel and the demand for peaceful change to the existing situation in the Middle East are fundamentally protected by freedom of expression, it added.

The judges also took issue with a ban on the use of three slogans that police had insisted could only be read out once at the beginning of the protest.

According to the court, the slogan "There is only one state - Palestine 48" should not have been banned because it lacks any concrete connection to the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which is prohibited in Germany.

The slogan refers to the year 1948, when Israel was founded in a bloody conflict.

In contrast, the slogan "Yalla, yalla, Intifada," was found to have been lawfully banned. Against the backdrop of the Gaza conflict, the statement cannot be understood as a mere call for peaceful protest, the judges found.

Finally, the court was unable to determine in the summary proceedings whether the highly controversial term "From the river to the sea" could be legally used.

However, the court said the ban of the slogan should be enforced in the public interest.

The slogan dates back to the 1960s and is intended to express the desire for the complete liberation of Palestine, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea - where Israel is located.