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.
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.
Put him in the middle of Gaza with no help and see how funny he finds himself.
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.
He didn’t do it on accident and was fully aware of what he was doing and where he was doing it. Lock that scum up I say.
You must be new to the world or just lacking experience in your adult life.
I guess you’ve never seen young people support bad guys specifically because it’s provocative. They don’t know any better and to assume that this kid wants a nazi regime because he did a hitler salute is asinine.
I could see him finding real support now among those who do want a nazi regime because of how he was treated by us. We should be compassionate with these kids instead of trying to beat them into submission.
If they’re doing it to be provocative, then they know exactly what they’re doing and why it’s bad. No sympathy for Nazi supporters or those who make light of Nazi atrocities. This kid deserves the punishment.
You’re free to think that, but I respectfully disagree.
If he kept doing it, sure. But taking him aside and talking to him could be more effective and less damaging than getting the authorities involved and humiliating him to “prove a point.”
Show him that we’re on the same side. If we treat him like an enemy when he really isn’t one, he very well may become one.
Less damaging to whom? To the kid who did a Nazi salute? Sure, definitely. How about to society? Tolerance for Nazis and Nazi symbology only emboldens Nazis and weakens everyone else. Especially in these times when fascists control the most powerful country on Earth.