France Proposes Bill To Punish Critics of Israel With Jail & Huge Fines

Members of the French Senate have introduced a bill that will criminalize criticism of the state of Israel

The new bill would make such a ‘crime’ punishable by prison time and hefty fines.

It reads: “An insult committed against the State of Israel is punishable by two years of imprisonment and a fine of 75,000 euros” . The ‘ punishment’ could be even more.

Infowar reports:16 French Senators proposed a law that seeks to punish critics of Israel with three tiers of prison time and fines up to 100,000 euros.

The tiers are as follows:

• Those who contest the existence of the State of Israel by one of the means set out in Article 23 shall be punished by one year’s imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros.
• Insult committed against the State of Israel, by any of the means set out in Article 23, shall be punishable by two years’ imprisonment and a fine of 75,000 euros.
• Those who, by the same means, have directly provoked hatred or violence against the State of Israel shall be punished by five years’ imprisonment and a fine of 100,000 euros.

Article 23 of the bill outlines a long list of means of criticizing the state of Israel.

…by speeches, shouts or threats made in public places or meetings, or by writings, prints, drawings, engravings, paintings, emblems, images or any other written medium, speech or image, sold or distributed, offered for sale or exhibited in public places or meetings

Senator Stephane Le Rudulier claimed Friday that the bill was necessary because “anti-Zionism” is linked to the increase in anti-Semitism.

The anti-democratic proposal was widely panned on social media.