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.

  • Successful_Try543@feddit.org
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    edit-2
    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
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      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
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        5 months ago

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