As part of sweeping changes to Germany’s citizenship law, German media and the country's federal interior ministry announced that individuals who like, comment, or post the pro-Palestinian slogan “From the River to the Sea” will be denied German citizenship.
Germany To Deny Citizenship to Those Who Post or Chant ‘From the River to the Sea’ pic.twitter.com/uwbLhxNRDX
— Eretz Israel (@EretzIsrael) October 1, 2024
Germany recently embarked on huge reforms to change its citizenship laws, which would make it easier for foreign residents to obtain German citizenship. For instance, individuals working in Germany can acquire citizenship after five years, compared to the previous eight years required by German law.
However, the German government also tightened rules and restrictions on obtaining citizenship, especially that “racism, antisemitism, or any other form of misanthropy rule out naturalization.”
One of the requirements of Germany’s citizenship laws, specifically clause 10.1.1.1.3.1, concerns “Germany’s special historical responsibility for the National Socialist injustice and its consequences, especially for the protection of Jewish life,” referring to the Holocaust perpetrated by the Nazis under Adolf Hitler during the Second World War that systematically killed 6 million Jews, mostly in concetration camps.
Massive flex from Germany
— J.A. Fernie (@J_A_Fernie) September 29, 2024
The clause stipulates that anyone who contravenes Germany’s legal commitment to protect Jews may not be eligible for German citizenship. It includes Holocaust denial and accusing either Jews or the State of Israel of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust.
Violations of this clause can be grounds for denying someone German citizenship since, according to German media outlet NDR (North German Radio and Television), such people are incompatible with a commitment to the German Constitution if they violate its special historical responsibility towards Jewish life.
Germany’s Federal Ministry of the Interior added that the context in which pro-Palestinian slogans are used should be taken into account when considering an individual’s application for German citizenship. For instance, if “statements such as ‘From the River to the Sea’ coincide with an explicit call for violent actions against the State of Israel,” it should be questioned during a citizenship interview.
Germany is under Zionist occupation all its institutions are infiltrated hijacked taken over and subverted in the service of the occupation invading Jewish terrorists and not in the service of the German people or their interests !
— jariah#2 (@Nariman79937301) September 30, 2024
While German states have autonomy over naturalization under their authority, a spokesperson explained to the Deutsche Presse-Agentur (German Press Agency) that “the practice of recent years has shown, however, that the states are guided by the Federal Ministry of the Interior’s application instructions, so that the legal regulations on nationality law are applied uniformly.”
It was previously reported last March that German citizenship test questions would now include questions about the Holocaust, Judaism, and the State of Israel to filter out those with antisemitic views.
“If you don’t share our values, you can’t get a German passport. We have drawn a crystal clear red line here,” Germany’s interior minister Nancy Faeser said.
Last August, a protester who chanted “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” at a rally in the German capital, Berlin, was fined 600 Euros by a German court.
