this post was submitted on 14 Apr 2026
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[–] Asidonhopo@lemmy.world 10 points 7 hours ago (2 children)

Article is light on details, does this include criticism of the state of Israel or of Judaism as a religion or is it only racist speech against people with Semitic ancestry?

[–] perestroika@slrpnk.net 2 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

Details can be found here:

Alteration: https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/2037-IX

Paragraph one of Part One of Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (Vidomosti Verkhovnoi Rada of Ukraine, 2001, No. 25-26, p. 131) shall be supplemented with the words "manifestations of anti-Semitism" after the words "honor and dignity".

Code: https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/2341-14#Text

They upgraded paragraph 161 of the criminal code of Ukraine. It forbids discrimination, specifies punishments for deliberately inciting hate, and more severe punishments if the inciter also does violence or if the incitement leads to severe consequences.

Notably, so far it did not contain the word "antisemitism" and inciting hate against Jewish people was considered either as inciting ethnic, national or religious hate, according to the context. Now antisemitism is mentioned. No protected group is given more protection. I'm not sure if I agree with the wording (how does antisemitism differ from what was already forbidden?). But it's fairly standard text for an average European country.

Article 161. Violation of the equality of citizens depending on their racial, national, regional affiliation, religious beliefs, disability and on other grounds

  1. Intentional actions aimed at inciting national, regional, racial or religious enmity and hatred, at humiliating national honor and dignity, or insulting the feelings of citizens in connection with their religious beliefs, as well as direct or indirect restriction of the rights or establishment of direct or indirect privileges of citizens on the grounds of race, skin color, political, religious and other beliefs, gender, disability, ethnic and social origin, property status, place of residence, on language or other grounds -

shall be punishable by a fine of two hundred to five hundred non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens or restriction of liberty for a term of up to five years, or imprisonment for a term of up to three years, with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a term of up to three years or without it.

  1. The same actions, combined with violence, fraud or threats, as well as committed by an official, -

shall be punished by a fine of five hundred to one thousand tax-free minimum incomes of citizens or by imprisonment for a term of two to five years, with or without deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a term of up to three years.

  1. The actions provided for in parts one or two of this article, which were committed by an organized group of persons or caused grave consequences, -

shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of five to eight years.

Note. In this article, regional affiliation should be understood as a person's affiliation by birth or residence to a region - part of the territory of Ukraine or a territory of compact settlement of Ukrainians outside the territory of Ukraine - that differs from other territories by a number of historical, geographical, linguistic and other features.

[–] CanadaPlus@futurology.today 2 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

And it's eastern Europe, so it's not like it's going to be hard to find the latter.

Some of these comments seem to be imagining the state of tolerance is the same as in the West proper.

[–] Tolc@lemmy.world 47 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

Why is there need of special law against anti semitism? anti semitism is NOT different from any other kind of bigotry.

The way western countries engage in jewish exceptionalism like this is one of the major reason Israel has audacity to carry out its crimes, not to mention how these laws will be misused against pro palestine protestors.

[–] perestroika@slrpnk.net 10 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (1 children)

This is not a special law against antisemitism. This is a generic law against incitement of hate and discrimination, with more serious punishments if violence is done, or if a group does it, or if serious consequences happen.

They added the word "anti-semitism" to the list of forbidden forms of incitement (it already forbade inciting ethnic and religous hate).

The Israeli newspaper makes it sound special, but it really is not.

[–] Tolc@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (1 children)

They added the word “anti-semitism” to the list of forbidden forms of incitement.

Are there any other hate crimes regarding specific religion in that list?

[–] perestroika@slrpnk.net 4 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Nope. That makes it somewhat odd.

[–] Tolc@lemmy.world 1 points 4 hours ago

yup, thanks for the context tho.

[–] x00z@lemmy.world 15 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

There are orthodox jews worldwide that speak out loudly against the actions of Israel. I wonder if these jews could get jailed for antisemitism. I'm sure it's already possible in the UK.

[–] AmidFuror@fedia.io 5 points 6 hours ago (2 children)

I wonder if those Orthodox Jews are ever the victims of bigotry because people just assume they are for all of Israel's actions.

[–] x00z@lemmy.world 6 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

Not just bigotry, they are also getting killed: Antisemitic Attacks in 2025 Caused Highest Number of Deaths in 30 Years, Study Finds.

Last year saw the highest level of deadly violence against Jews around the world in over three decades, with 20 people killed ...

... a spike that began following the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack and Israel’s subsequent war in Gaza ...

Almost all of this increased "antisemitism" comes from hate towards Israel.

[–] Tolc@lemmy.world 2 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

I wonder how anti semitism is a different kind of bigotry than other bigotries, why do you need special law for this

[–] x00z@lemmy.world 2 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Well yes but that's not what AmidFuror was talking about.

[–] Tolc@lemmy.world 1 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

They are trying to make sense of special laws for certain ethnoreligion, thats what they are talking about

[–] x00z@lemmy.world 0 points 6 hours ago

Their comment has nothing to do with any laws.

[–] Fishnoodle@lemmy.world 24 points 12 hours ago

Don't fucking appease Zionist trash

[–] magnue@lemmy.world 9 points 12 hours ago

Very very bad

[–] AmidFuror@fedia.io -4 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

I think we're starting to see the intolerance of tolerance as the far left evolves into the thing it hates.

"Jewish people don't want the racist violence against them recognized; they want special treatment."

"Hate speech should be punished. You have to punch Nazis in the face. No, not that hate speech."

"I'm only against Zionism, but a lot of those rabbis in the synagogues are pro-Zionism, so it's ok if someone lobs a molotov cocktail on it while no one is there."

"European Jews in Israel should return to their home countries, if they'll have them. If not, they should be forced to go to an uninhabited island."

"That French Jew and his son must have said something to those Palestinians in Italy, or why else would he get beaten up?"

There's so much dog whistling here, the dogs are going nuts.

[–] Tolc@lemmy.world -2 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (1 children)

too much words, strawman for saying "I am a zionist"

[–] AmidFuror@fedia.io 4 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

I haven't read the law in the original Ukranian, but what the article describes is one that punishes anti-Semitism, not anti-Zionism. Why strawman it as banning criticism of Israel unless you see that in the text? Or do you just know what those Jews are up to?

[–] Tolc@lemmy.world 0 points 6 hours ago

I havent read the law too but its very easy to imagine how these laws can be arbitrary and be used to shield israel. We have couple of examples already