No German Citizenship for those opposed to Colonialism in Palestine

German Citizenship law is racist, now it is becoming more racist. The German state may make naturalization impossible if you are against the colonization of Palestine.

The genocide in Gaza has been going on for almost a year now. Through its military, political, and economic support of the Zionist entity (Israel), the German state is still complicit in the genocide in Gaza. The criminalization of the Palestine solidarity movement by the German state is getting worse every day, including in the legal situation.

Panorama reports that “From the point of view of the Ministry of the Interior (BMI), ‘From the River to the Sea’ can be a reason for exclusion from German citizenship. This is stated in the BMI’s “provisional application instructions” for the new citizenship law, which Panorama has seen.”

Panorama goes on to write that “The slogan “From the River to the Sea,” possibly with the addition “Palestine will be free” under 10.1.1.1.3.1. as a possible reason for exclusion from German citizenship. It could be incompatible with a commitment to the German constitution if it violates Germany’s special historical responsibility towards Jewish life. This also includes liking, sharing or commenting on the slogan on social networks.”

Not only is this a further level of criminalization and repression against those who dare to raise their voices against the colonization of Palestine, but it also shows that the German state is once again using migrants as a scapegoat for its own political interests. Furthermore, it was recently reported that “from January 2024 onwards, the BAMF will no longer decide on asylum applications from asylum seekers from Gaza if the reasons for asylum relate to the situation in Gaza and not to individual persecution or family asylum.”

In July, the Bundestag passed a law that expanded repressive deportation laws in the context of Palestinian solidarity. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) explains that under the new law, anyone without a German passport who “glorifies terrorist acts” will be expelled and deported. Even a like on social media, be it on YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok, is sufficient evidence to deport someone, even without a court order. Since the German state considers the slogan “from the river to the sea” to be support for Hamas (which the German state classifies as a “terrorist organization”), a mere like of a post on Instagram calling for equal rights and equality for all people between the Jordan and the Mediterranean can be considered “glorification of terrorist acts” which can lead to deportation.

Faeser has clarified that the law is geared “against Islamist and anti-Semitic hate crimes on the Internet.” As the German state conflates Antisemitism with Anti-Zionism and accuses anyone who stands with the Palestinian resistance against genocide, settler colonialism, and occupation as “Islamists,” the law is clearly geared against the Palestine solidarity movement in Germany. Hence, those German pundits, politicians, and journalists who celebrate the Israeli army’s war crimes in Gaza will not be affected by the new law. White German fascists who attack refugees and migrants are, of course, also not affected by the new law. While those migrants raise their voices in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance against the ongoing slaughter, rape, and mass murder of the Palestinian people face deportation.

This new law by the ruling Greens (Grünen), Social Democrats (SPD), and Liberals (FDP) is but a further step in the German state’s attempt to silence voices that stand in solidarity with Palestine. The reason why the German state fears the Palestine solidarity movement is not because of some notion of “German guilt” to atone for its genocidal past. Rather, because the Palestine solidarity movement attacks Germany’s support for Israel, it attacks Germany’s imperialist interests in the region directly. Hence, the movement for Palestine attacks the German state at its core, which the German ruling class cannot accept.

Despite German state media spouting racist, genocidal tropes 24/7 for over nine months, poles show that over 70% of Germans do not agree with the Israeli military’s actions in Gaza. The repressions against the Paelstine solidarity movement must be seen in this context. In order to deter the German masses from going to the streets for Palestine, the state creates an atmosphere of fear.

For example by depicting those who go to Palestine protests as Antisemites and Islamists. Or by banning Palestinian organizations. Or by brutally cracking down on Palestine demonstrations, as was the case last week in Berlin where five people had to be hospitalized and one person had to be flown out by a helicopter with a broken back after being brutalized by the police. Or by storming and banning any event based on broad alliances that focus on Germany’s complicity in the ongoing genocide, like the Palestine Congress, which was organized by Revolutionary Socialists like Revolutionäre Linke, Jewish Voice, Palestinian youth groups, Palestinian community groups, migrant and feminist groups, BDS, Gruppe ArbeiterInnenmacht and Diem25.

The German state defines who is a “terrorist” and who isn’t. This is not something new, but is the core tenet of the bourgeois state. In the 1970’s Western Germany deported hundreds of Palestinians and banned Palestinian organizations in the name of “fighting terrorism”. The bourgeois state always finds a scapegoat to distract from its class politics. To distract from the cuts to social services or failing infrastructure and inflation, the German state and its media apparatus is telling the public: “Look at those brown-skinned barbarians! Those Muslims, Arabs and Palestinians! They are here to steal your job and woman! They will Islamize this fine nation and pollute our fine culture!”

As Socialists we must not give one centimeter of concessions to such racist narratives, as the left-conservative Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht or the Zionist reformist “Left party” (Die Linke) have done again and again.

As Socialists we must continue to form broad alliances to fight against this state-run racist onslaught, against the German state’s complicity in the genocide in Gaza and against the criminalization and repressions against the Palestine solidarity movement!