An Israeli high school student was arrested and questioned by police for doing a Nazi salute during a school trip to Auschwitz, Israeli media reported on Sunday.

The teenager from Kiryat Bialik was on his school’s field trip to Poland when he did the gesture under the entrance sign to the camp.

He was questioned for two hours by Polish police and was fined approximately NIS 1,500 after security guards observed him performing the salute. The museum also captured the incident on its security cameras; the footage was handed over to the police.

Polish police charged him with promoting Nazism, local media reported. Performing a seig heil is illegal in Poland, and carries a potential sentence of up to two years in prison.

  • Zacryon@feddit.org
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    24 hours ago

    “Hey look! I’m on the news!”

    Well, better a stupid teenager than a stupid adult. There is hope. Not much, but a little at least.

  • FundMECFS@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    2 days ago

    Personally knowing some young Israeli’s.

    A lot of them don’t take the holocaust very seriously and tend to joke about it a lot, (maybe it’s a coping mechanism)? In any case, this is probably a case of an edgy high schooler trying to make their friends laugh.

    • geneva_convenience@lemmy.mlOP
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      2 days ago

      Could be a coping mechanism. If they took it seriously they would probably have to reflect about the similarities between the Nazis and Israel.

      • ilega_dh@feddit.nl
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        2 days ago

        It’s not that deep. Lots of teenagers do edgy stuff just because it’s edgy and not allowed.

        He’ll look back in 10 years cringing about himself.

        • lmmarsano@lemmynsfw.com
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          1 day ago

          It’s not that deep. Lots of teenagers do edgy stuff just because it’s edgy and not allowed.

          Thank goodness we can arrest them for it. Imagine the objective harm & deprivation of rights or peaceful access to opportunities or resources that teenage edginess causes to society. Right?

      • sunflowercowboy@feddit.org
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        2 days ago

        It makes sense, essentially by remaining oblivious and reductive about one act you can then allow yourself to also be blind to your own current amoral actions. Essentially it’s easier to stay dense than it is to actually face the reality you are a part of.

        • melpomenesclevage@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          1 day ago

          no. No I think they know what side of that conflict they would have been on. because it’s the side their ancestors were on-literally, look at what the zionists were doing during the run-up to world war two. it’s so bad. then look at how they treated holocaust survivors after. also not great.

  • Treczoks@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    No need to put a stupid teenager in prison for a longer time for being stupid, but: A day or two behind bars on top of the fine might have had a better educational effect.

    • Akasazh@feddit.nl
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      2 days ago

      Put him in the middle of Gaza with no help and see how funny he finds himself.

      • RandomPrivacyGuy@lemm.ee
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        2 days ago

        Are you suggesting something bad would happen to a teenage Israeli student if he happened to be in the middle of Gaza with no help? Curious.

        • Akasazh@feddit.nl
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          1 day ago

          Not per se, bit he’d have a more poignant look at persecution and extermination of people. If historical evidence falls to impress him maybe direct confrontation with violence might connect to his synapses

        • FilthyHookerSpit@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          I took it as “Put him, alone, in the middle of people his country is currently genociding so so he can see the horrors of Genocide, the kind his own people once faced. This should reframe why his Nazi salute was a poor decision.” But I can see how it can be interpreted the other way by looking at the “with no help” part.

    • commander@lemmings.world
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      Could easily see this radicalizing him if he isn’t already.

      It’s easy to make dumb edgy jokes as a teenager without actually believing whatever you’re joking about.

      Humiliating this kid like this is really just trying to make an example out of him rather than solving any problem or helping him in any way.

      This could’ve easily been solved by the teacher taking him aside and explaining to him why that’s not acceptable. If he keeps doing it after being warned, then it’s fine to escalate.

  • TheImpressiveX@lemm.ee
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    3 days ago

    It wasn’t a Nazi salute. It was a heartfelt and perhaps ill-advised gesture that, in the moment, could be misinterpreted as a Nazi salute. I think we shouldn’t be so quick to jump to conclusions.

    /s

  • jsomae@lemmy.ml
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    2 days ago

    This is an idiotic teenager and should have no bearing on your opinion of Israel. (I shouldn’t have to say this, but if I don’t somebody will m’accuse: please note that I’m not defending Israel.)

  • nthavoc@lemmy.today
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    2 days ago

    Stupid fucking parents letting their stupid fucking kids get raised by the stupid fucking internet. I base this solely on just observation in the news about how “funny” nazi shit has become to edgy teenagers now a days. I also base this on the fact that every time an AI has been released to “learn” from the internet, it comes back a shitty hardcore nazi. I get that kids do stupid shit, but they deserve to find out what’s in store for them with this edge lord garbage.

    I’m ranting like an old person now dammit!!!

    • pulsewidth@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Remember that Pewdiepie arranging, paying for, and posting separate videos of people holding signs saying “Hitler did nothing wrong”, and “Death to all Jews” were just jokes bro. To an audience of literally tens of millions of kids.

      And people here still Stan for him. I’ll take my downvotes now.

      • CarbonBasedNPU@lemm.ee
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        I don’t know if it was managed by a PR company or what but he really did “retire” at the absolute perfect time to still continue to exist as a positive image to most of the people who used to watch him. I think if he stuck around even a year longer the drama cycle would have hit him hard.

        • Fluke@lemm.ee
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          “Retire”?

          He’s still a “thing”. People were stanning the cunt just last week for installing Linux on his new gaming PC FFS.

          This timeline is a fucking crass joke.

  • redlemace@lemmy.world
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    I’m stunned … again !! … I have visited Auschwitz and it’s impressive beyond words. At the entrance of the former gas chambers there is a sign asking to respect and remember those who died in there and keep silent in the chambers. Everyone did except for Israeli students. That is what brought the tears to my eyes. Betrayed and disrespected again, this time by their own.

    • MordercaSkurwysyn@lemm.ee
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      Oh believe me, Israeli trips in Kraków are the worst kind of tourists in every aspect possible. They are louder than British stag parties, more obnoxious than Americans and their favourite thing is crying about antisemitism when they are removed from somewhere for causing disturbances or making a huge mess. They do not understand the idea of rubbish bins and you can trace their paths by following cigarette butts, empty crisps packets and spit.

    • fossilesque@mander.xyz
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      3 days ago

      When I was there a decade ago, people were taking selfies at the gas chambers. It was all a bit surreal to be honest. The museum is amazing, but the visitors were a mixed bag.

      • The Quuuuuill@slrpnk.net
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        3 days ago

        this reflects something i’ve been seeing rising here inemy hometown. when i was 15 i survived a terrorist attack. the whole community had a conversation about the appropriate way to address thiseand how to be respectful of the direct victims. 18 years later, you’d never even know we talked about any of that. the memorial is a popular place to take beaming graduation photos. the terrorist attack has been renamed in the popular lexicon from “place massacre” to “date shooting”. the institutions that promised us they saw and heard our pain and they would help us forge a new future are international sponsors of terror now.

        it hurts. it hurts a lot.

        • fossilesque@mander.xyz
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          3 days ago

          I’m sorry you are going through that, my friend. May the path ahead be lined with good people and warm smiles. We often forget we live on a palimset of everything that came before.

  • 21Cabbage@lemmynsfw.com
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    3 days ago

    I’m not going to give some asshat teenager the same level of shit as Elon. It’s a hell of a lot more likely in that context that he really was kidding, just distastefully.

  • Venus_Ziegenfalle@feddit.org
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    3 days ago

    This happens a lot more than you’d think. I experienced something similar in Dachau and the guide told me if someone does something unhinged/disrespectful during a tour there’s a 9 out of 10 chance it’s a descendant of a holocaust victim. She didn’t say why she thought that is but she said it’s something that puts the staff on edge whenever there’s an Israeli group visiting. I’m surprised they got the cops involved though.

    • Duamerthrax@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Not nazi salutes, but Hasidic tour groups in the US has a similar reputation for disrespectful behavior. They’re also the most visibly Jewish group to passerbys, so they drag the whole group’s image down with them and embolden anti-semites.