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.
Wait, hold up. This headline and summary is absurdly misleading.
Racial hate is not a crime itself. It is not against the law to be racist or say racist things. We know this because we have actual Nazis in the Republican party running parts of the government.
So you can still burn an Israeli flag. This jusge ruled that grabbing the flag off the shoulders of an Israeli citizen during a protest was racially motivated. It’s assault and theft either way. You’re not allowed to take things from other people. If you buy your own flag and then burn it, that’s not a crime.
The tenuous link between the headline and the truth is that the judge ruled that the attack was racially motivated and not politically motivated, because the flag displays the star of David and therefore the flag is a symbol of all Jewish people, not merely a political symbol of the state. I disagree, but that’s a finer point of contention than saying “judge says you can’t burn foreign flags.”