New authoritarian resolution in German Parliament solidifies Zionism as Reason of State

Together with the CDU (Christian Conservatives), the governing parties in Germany (Social Democrats, Greens and Liberals) have agreed on a resolution to “protect Jewish life,” which is to be passed in the Bundestag on November 9.

The resolution is a further step towards authoritarianism and serves to suppress critical (anti-genocide) voices in Germany. The unconditional military, political and ideological support for the genocide in Gaza goes hand in hand with silencing any opposition at home.

The resolution states that it condemns “all forms of anti-Semitism” and calls on the federal government, states and municipalities to implement concrete measures “in the fight against hatred of Jews.” It took a year for the traffic light coalition and the CDU to agree on the text of the resolution. It says:

“Since Hamas’s cruel terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, we have seen hatred of Jews and Israel-related anti-Semitism in Germany at a level not seen for decades.” The development is “due both to increasingly open and violent anti-Semitism in right-wing extremist and Islamist circles and to a relativizing approach and increasing Israel-related and left-wing anti-imperialist anti-Semitism.”

The resolution text also contains the racist narrative of “imported anti-Semitism.” In recent months, “the frightening extent of anti-Semitism based on immigration from the countries of North Africa and the Near and Middle East, where anti-Semitism and hostility towards Israel are also widespread due to Islamist and anti-Israeli state indoctrination, has become clear.”

The resolution stipulates that the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, which declares criticism of Israel to be anti-Semitic, should be used as “authoritative”.

Der Spiegel reports that the following measures are to be implemented in the “fight against anti-Semitism”:

‘- No state support for anti-Semitism: “The German Bundestag reaffirms the budgetary regulations for the allocation of funds on the basis of the free democratic basic order for all recipients of federal grants. The German Bundestag reaffirms its decision to ensure that no organizations and projects are financially supported that spread anti-Semitism, question Israel’s right to exist, call for a boycott of Israel or actively support the BDS movement.”

– Changes to the law: Legal loopholes must be closed and repressive options consistently exhausted, it says. This applies particularly to criminal law as well as residence, asylum, and citizenship law.
Banning of organizations: Following the ban on the terrorist organization Hamas, other extremist organizations are to be reviewed and banned. “This includes examining a ban on the activities or organization of BDS in Germany.”

– Art and culture: States, the federal government and municipalities should, if they have not already done so, “develop legally secure, particularly budgetary regulations to ensure that no projects and plans with anti-Semitic goals and content are funded.” The anti-Semitism scandals of recent years – the paper explicitly mentions the documenta fifteen in Kassel and the Berlinale in February 2024 – “must be comprehensively addressed.”

– Schools and universities: Schools and universities are to be supported in punishing anti-Semitic attacks by applying house rules, for example, by excluding students from classes or even expelling them. The federal government is called upon to influence the states to review university laws for gaps in possible sanctions.’

In addition, the text affirms that Israel has a right to defend itself against “terrorism”; has a right to exist and that Israel’s security interests are a central principle of German foreign and security policy – in other words, another blank check to continue the genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza.

The resolution is not only a restriction of academic freedom and freedom of expression, but de facto an authoritarian measure to enforce subordination to German imperialism in all areas of society. Because the German state is not concerned with “protecting Jewish life”, it is concerned with securing its geopolitical interests in the Middle East through the attack dog of Western imperialism, Israel. The reference to “imported anti-Semitism” by Arabs, Muslims and migrants in a country that was the source of the Holocaust and which was never denazified, makes this clear.

To this day, some of the richest German companies are those that secured their wealth through the Nazi dictatorship. After the Second World War, countless leading Nazis were active in politics (mainly in the CDU and FDP) and the judiciary. The anti-Semitism of the fascists is real, but the equation of anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism not only trivializes this but legitimizes profits through arms deliveries (Germany is the second largest arms supplier to Israel), repressive migration policy, and ultimately the genocide of the Palestinians in the pseudo “fight against anti-Semitism.” The mask of the appearance of “liberal democracy” that the German state likes to boast about falls away with this authoritarian resolution.

The federal government was able to weaken the movement through police violence, repression, and criminalization of the Palestine solidarity movement last year, but not destroy it. The resolution appears to be another attempt to further silence anti-imperialist, anti-genocide voices. As Karl Liebknecht said over 100 years ago: “The main enemy is in our own country.”

Our task as socialists is to further weaken German imperialism, because weakening German imperialism also means weakening the ruling class worldwide, including the Zionist entity.