German Justice Minister defends Saxony-Anhalt state’s decision to link granting German citizenship to recognition of Israel’s right to exist
German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann expressed his understanding and belief that the decision of the state of Saxony-Anhalt that Israel’s right to exist must be recognized as a condition for obtaining German citizenship is a logical and understandable decision.
Buschmann considered that obligating the applicant to obtain German citizenship to this condition is a result of the free democratic basic system.
In his words, he attributed the specificity of his country’s relationship with Israel to what he described as “Germany’s responsibility for the unjust Nazi rule and the Holocaust”.
From his part, the Israeli ambassador in Berlin expressed his support for the German state of Saxony setting recognition of Israel’s right to exist as a basic condition for obtaining German citizenship.
Last November, the Minister of the Interior of the state of Saxony-Anhalt issued a decree requiring people wishing to obtain German citizenship to submit recognition of Israel’s right to exist, and that citizenship could only be obtained by acknowledging the paragraph related to Israel.
The paragraph states, “I explicitly acknowledge the special German responsibility towards the State of Israel and Israel’s right to exist, and I condemn any anti-Semitic efforts… I don’t pursue efforts directed against the State of Israel’s right to exist, nor have I pursued such efforts”.
Buschmann pointed out that the new naturalization law that the ruling coalition intends to introduce includes a regulation stipulating that conviction for a crime with a racist or anti-Semitic motive would prevent naturalization in the first place.
The head of the Federal Office for Combating Crime in Germany, Holger Münch, announced a sharp increase in the number of crimes that Germany classifies as anti-Semitic crimes.
In statements to the German Neue Züricher Zeitung newspaper published on Tuesday, Münch said that the scope of these crimes has acquired a new dimension, stressing the increase in anti-Semitism, whether within the right-wing or left-wing movement, in addition to anti-Semitism coming from abroad.
Münch explained that many people came to our country from areas where Israel is considered an enemy, and where there is a perception that it’s necessary to fight the Jews, and said that anti-Semitism coming from abroad must be named and addressed.
Münch believed that for this reason it’s important for immigrants to be informed about German history as well as German attitudes and values.
He said, “We must be clearer about what we expect from all the people who live here in Germany.”
Münch continued that it must be clear that there are certain values, especially those based on German history, that should not be compromised, and he gave an example of this: Israel’s right to exist, as well as the security of Jews in Germany.
According to Münch, since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, the German authorities have recorded more than 4,700 crimes related to this attack, noting that most of them are anti-Semitic crimes, causing material damage, propaganda, and incitement.
