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A federal court has issued a ruling that redefines the boundaries of free speech in the United States. Judge Trevor N. McFadden ruled that ‘desecrating’ the Israeli flag is not political expression but racial discrimination.

The decision means burning, tearing, or grabbing the Israeli flag can be prosecuted as hate conduct. By contrast, the US Supreme Court has long protected the burning of the American flag under the First Amendment.

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[-] suburban_hillbilly@lemmy.ml -4 points 1 day ago

Purposefully yanking on an Israeli flag tied around a Jewish person’s neck.

burning, tearing, or grabbing the Israeli flag

Do these phrases describe identical conduct?

[-] njm1314@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

I'm confused, a second ago you said he didn't say that. You said he didn't say burning tearing or grabbing Israeli flag is hate and not speech. Is that not still the case? Because the case was never about incidental contact. If I want to burn and Israeli flag I should be able to because I'm a fucking American and I have the freedom to burn any goddamn flag I want. Especially that of a fascist Nation. So we need to decide what your contention is here. Because if he did not say that I don't know why you're quoting it.

Secondly the idea that the flag was yanked because the woman suing says her flag was grabbed and yanked does that mean it was. That was never proven because the state decided they didn't have enough evidence and dropped it. The fact that the judge doesn't care about truth is not surprising though. Frankly I'm disinclined to believe her.

[-] suburban_hillbilly@lemmy.ml -1 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

You said he didn’t say burning tearing or grabbing Israeli flag is hate and not speech.

Because he didn't. I quoted the part of the article where it claimed the judge said something he didn't to point out that the judge did not, in fact, say that. I don't understand how you could possibly find that confusing. You quoted another part of the article that said something different than that part that I quoted like it was talking about the same thing. It wasn't. Which is why I put those two parts right next to each other asked the question. Obviously those two phrases don't mean the same thing and if you can't pretend that they do, then the entire conclusion of the article falls apart and everyone in this thread is just shouting at the wind. Which is why you haven't answered it.

Because the case was never about incidental contact.

Very good, gold star for you. The case is not about incidental contact. It's about a battery. Specifically, it's about a religious and ethnic minority individual literally being battered with their own religious iconography. The response of this article and to it of "muh freeze peach" is the most pathetic thing I've ever seen on here. You all need to trade in your red flags for some red caps because you're doing the exact same stupid shit Trumpers do every day.

If I want to burn and Israeli flag I should be able to because I’m a fucking American and I have the freedom to burn any goddamn flag I want.

Good news then friend, you still can if you still want to, because again the ruling under discussion here doesn't have any fucking thing to do with that.

this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2025
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