Applicants for German citizenship will be required to explicitly affirm Israel’s right to exist under a new citizenship law which came into effect on Tuesday.

The new law shortened the number of years that a person must have lived in Germany in order to obtain a passport, from eight to five years. It will also allow first-generation migrants to be dual citizens.

As part of the shake-up, new questions were added to the country’s citizenship test, including about Judaism and Israel’s right to exist.

  • gigachad@sh.itjust.works
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    5 months ago

    This is a good decision. Antisemitism is on the rise in Germany. 4782 antisemitic incidents in 2023, which is 83% more than the year before. 58% of these incidents occured after Oct 7.

    • poVoq@slrpnk.netM
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      5 months ago

      These statistic say little as the German police does not properly distinguish between antisemitism and anti-zionism.

      But regardless, if you are so extreme in your views that you can’t accept the existence of the state of Israel in some shape or form, you are probably not a good fit for German society.

      • gigachad@sh.itjust.works
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        5 months ago

        I’m not sure what you want to imply here. I do not see the benefit in asking the offender why they beat up the Jewish person.

        I cited numbers from a study by RIAS (Wiki, German), this is not from a police statistic.

        The study distinguishes Isreal-related antisemitism, meaning the incidents were directed against the Jewish state of Israel and denied its legitimacy. This kind of antisemitism was 52%.

        • poVoq@slrpnk.netM
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          5 months ago

          Incidence does not mean “beating up” someone. Spray painting “stop the genocide in Gaza” is sometimes counted as an “antisemitic incidence” in Germany.

          • YourPrivatHater@ani.social
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            5 months ago

            It is by definition the same. And if you think otherwise, you can do so outside of Germany, at best outside of EU.

              • Zagorath@aussie.zone
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                5 months ago

                by any definition

                The IHRA’s definition does, so you can’t say “any”.

                That said, the IHRA definition was pretty specifically created to be zionist and a shield for Israel, and should be rejected on those grounds.

              • Successful_Try543@feddit.org
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                5 months ago

                The definition used by German authorities subsumes antizionism, i.e. denying Israel’s right to exist as a special form of antisemitism.

                • poVoq@slrpnk.netM
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                  5 months ago

                  It is quite reductive to say anti-zionism is just denying the right of Israel to exist. Yes, the state of Israel is a deeply zionist project but you can accept the reality of this state existing and still be opposed to the idea of zionism in general.

                  I am opposed to the idea of colonialism in general but still accept the existence of states with a colonial history.

                  • Successful_Try543@feddit.org
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                    5 months ago

                    That’s a good point. I’ve always thought antizionism and denying Israel’s right to exist where somehow identical.

          • sunzu@kbin.run
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            5 months ago

            He has been around…

            At this point he is prolly helping the anti Israel camp the brain dead takes

      • Successful_Try543@feddit.org
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        5 months ago

        Just to give an orientation: denying Israel’s right to exist, i.e. antizionism, including the Slogan: ‘From the river to the sea – Palestina shall be free’, counts as antisemitism, while criticising the Israeli government for killing civilians does not. Cheering Hamas killing Israeli civilians counts as appreciation of terror and antisemitism.

        • Zagorath@aussie.zone
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          5 months ago

          denying Israel’s right to exist, i.e. antizionism, including the Slogan: ‘From the river to the sea – Palestina shall be free’, counts as antisemitism

          Yes, if you accept the definition of antisemitism preferred by the Israeli government, that’s true.

          It doesn’t make it true in the real world.

        • Akisamb
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          5 months ago

          including the Slogan: ‘From the river to the sea – Palestine shall be free’

          As it should, this phrase and it’s Israeli counterpart “between the sea and the Jordan there will be only Israeli sovereignty” are often accompanied by calls for mass deportation at best and genocide at worst.

          These sentences are not bad on their own, but the parties from which they originate (Hamas and Likud) have transparent desires for war crimes and genocide.

        • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
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          5 months ago

          denying Israel’s right to exist counts as antisemitism

          It’s not. Israel is an Apartheid state and can’t exist as anything but an Apartheid state.