According to the German Press Agency, the state of SaxonyAnhalt has announced that residents who want to receive German citizenship must sign a declaration in which they affirm that they believe in Israel’s right to exist.
The state’s Interior Minister, Tamara Zieschang from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU, in the government in SaxonyAnhalt and in the opposition at the federal level), stated in a communication to the authorities responsible for naturalization procedures that every person who has the citizenship requested to confirm, in writing, “that it recognizes the right to the existence of the State of Israel and that it condemns all efforts directed against the existence of the State of Israel.”
Legal experts say it is not clear whether there is a legal basis for this request, which could be based on Germany’s support for Israel being a matter of state.
For several years now, in Germany, as in other European countries, criticism of the State of Israel has been summarized under the guise of antiSemitism. After the Hamas attacks on October 7, authorities initially banned expressions of solidarity with the Gaza Strip and in some places even banned the use of the kaffiyeh, the Palestinian scarf, only to later authorize them.
For its part, the Jewish community in the country expressed concern after a number of houses where Jewish people live were marked with Stars of David.
However, expressing critical positions on the Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip led to the cancellation of artists, even if they had also criticized the Hamas attack or, as in the case of Candice Breitz, were Jewish (whose exhibition was canceled). nothing to do with Israel or Gaza).