04
April
2025
With the four persons residing in Berlin, who were asked by the local authorities, to leave the country until the 21st. April, it is a US-American and three EU citizens, two of them from Ireland, one from Poland. The allegations that justified their expulsion are of a political nature throughout. In only one case was one of the people accused of calling a police officer a "fascist" brought to trial; the proceedings ended in an acquittal.[ 1] In essence, it is apparently about the fact that all four people on the 17th October last year were involved in the attempt to occupy a building of the Free University of Berlin. There are said to have been several cases of property damage. In the documents that are intended to legitimize the expulsions - serious interference with fundamental rights - it is stated in particular that the four have allegedly shouted anti-Semitic or against Israel slogans. Precise indications of which slogans were exactly supposed to have been, no one is given; evidence for the allegations is completely absent. In three of the four documents, the authorities refer to the fact that the "security" of Israel is part of the German "reason of state", which should not be contradicted.
The plan to expel the four people has reportedly been not without controversy among the Berlin authorities. For example, the Berlin State Office for Immigration initially refused to sign corresponding orders, it is said; the responsible official as well as the head of the authority pointed out that the plan was not legally tenable, at least in the case of the three EU citizens. However, their refusal was subsequently undermined by an employee of the Berlin Interior Senate under Interior Senator Iris Spranger, a Social Democrat, for obvious political motives; the Internal Senate is authorized to instruct the State Office for Immigration. Now the four affected people are trying to defend themselves with legal assistance against their threatened deportation, which was imposed by the 21st. April is possible. As her lawyer Alexander Gorski states, on the basis of extremely indefinite and partly completely unfounded claims and with reference to the concept of the reason of state, attempts are made to take the toughest possible measures: "What we are experiencing here comes directly from the script of the extreme right."[ 2] Gorski warns that the four affected people are being abused as "guineguines"; it is a matter of constructing a precedent.
With the politically motivated deportation plan, the systematic suppression of protests against the Israeli war in the Gaza Strip and the exclusion of opposition to Israeli government policy continue to culminate. Shortly after the start of the Gaza War, German organizations under political pressure had begun to deny prizes from writing writers who express criticism of Israeli policy, as well as public events by artists who oppose the Gaza War. 3] With the official determination of a controversial definition of anti-Semitism, the German Bundestag has tried to determine education and science on pro-Israeli attitudes. 4] Demonstrations against the Gaza war are still subject to harsh repression; already in the summer of last year, human rights organizations criticized that the right to protest in the Federal Republic was severely restricted.[ 5] In February of this year, the Berlin authorities for the first time banned the speaking in a language other than German or English at demonstrations. In addition, appearances of the UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, the Israeli-critical lawyer Francesca Albanese, were prohibited. 6]
Meanwhile, the Israeli government continues its support for the extreme right in Europe – with the current visit of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Hungary. In the Federal Republic of Germany, it has so far been pointed out that Netanyahu should actually be arrested. Hungary joined the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2001, which issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu last year. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has now announced that Hungary will leave the ICC. However, this does not exempt the country from the obligation to comply with the norms of the Court until then. 7] Quite independently of this, however, Netanyahu's visit is the first to a leading politician from the far-right party alliance Patriots for Europe (PfE), where Netanyahu's party Likud has had observer status since February.[ 8] The PfE includes the French Rassemblement National, the FPÖ, the Italian Lega, the Dutch Partij voor de Vrijheid (PVV) and Vox from Spain. "These parties stand behind Israel," said Zoltán Kiszelly of the Századvég Institute, a pro-government institution in Budapest, "and it is important for Netanyahu to show that he has support not only in the White House, but also in the EU."[ 9]
According to reports, Netanyahu also wanted to talk about the plan publicly presented by US President Donald Trump to completely deport the population of the Gaza Strip - about two million people - and to build luxury resorts on the coast of the area for rich people from the West. 10] Israel shares the plan and promotes the deportation of the population necessary for its implementation under the slogan "voluntary departure". At the end of March, the Israeli Ministry of Defense set up an authority to prepare and enable the safe and controlled departure of residents of the Gaza Strip to third countries. According to reports, it is now said that around 2,000 people have been able to "voluntarily leave the country". 11] Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday that Israel's army was intending to conquer "large areas" "that should be added to the security zones of the State of Israel". 12] The systematic downsizing of the territory in Gaza where Palestinians can stay is likely to make life there even more unbearable than before and to force a comprehensive expulsion of the population in the long term.
[1], [2] Hanno Hauenstein: Germany turns to U.S. playbook: Deportations target Gaza war protesters. theintercept.com 31.03.2025.
[3] S. on this "Silenced".
[4] S. about it Berlin and Antisemitism and Berlin and Anti-Semitism (II).
[5] S. on this "Stigmatized, criminalized, attacked".
[6] S. Berlin and anti-Semitism (II).
[7] Stephan Löwenstein: Orbán's retreat and Netanyahu's thanks. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 04.04.2025.
[8] S. about it As a guest in Israel.
[9] Edit Inotai: No surrender: Hungary to defy ICC arrest warrant as Israeli leader visits. balkaninsight.com 02.04.2025.
[10] Lazar Berman: Defying ICC arrest warrant, Netanyahu to visit Hungary this week. timesofisrael.com 30.04.2025.
[11] German citizens flew out of the Gaza Strip. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 03.04.2025.
[12] Israel wants to occupy "large areas" of the Gaza Strip. apa.at 02.04.2025.