German Interior Minister: ‘If you don’t share our values, you can’t get a German passport. We have drawn a crystal clear red line here.’
By Shula Rosen, United with Israel
German’s Federal Interior Ministry announced updates to rules governing naturalization, including the right to deny citizenship to those who post, share or chant slogans such as “From the River to the Sea.”
Among the changes is the shortening the length of time before overseas workers can apply for German citizenship from eight to five years.
However, the Interior Ministry has also tightened rules designed to prevent racism and antisemitism from growing in the immigrant community in particular and in German society in general.
The German Federal Ministry of the Interior stated the aim of the new legislation is that “racism, antisemitism or any other form of misanthropy will rule out naturalization.”
Clause 10.1.1.1.3.1 emphasizes “Germany’s special historical responsibility for the National Socialist injustice and its consequences, especially for the protection of Jewish life.”
Prospective immigrants may also be excluded from becoming citizens if they deny the Holocaust or accusing Jews or the State of Israel for fabricating or exaggerating the Holocaust.
The new rules listed prohibited slogans, such as “From the River to the Sea Palestine Will Be Free,” “Let’s Go Bomb Tel Aviv,” “Death to Israel” and “Israel, Child Murderer.”
In addition, using maps which replace the State of Israel with a Palestinian flag is also disqualified.
Those who not only utter, but post, share and like such slogans may not qualify for German citizenship.
Although the German states have autonomy over naturalization rules in their territory, a spokesperson explained to the dpa said 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.”
According to Der Spiegel, questions about the Holocaust, Judaism and Israel will be asked on citizenship tests in Germany to screen out candidates who may hold extremist views.
“If you don’t share our values, you can’t get a German passport. We have drawn a crystal clear red line here,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told Der Spiegel.