Germany’s new citizenship test requires applicants to affirm Israel’s right to exist, sparking a heated debate. This controversial measure, aimed at countering antisemitism, raises questions about free speech and the role of political views in national identity. As antisemitic incidents rise, largely driven by political speech against Israel, critics argue that this requirement amounts to thought-policing. The law reflects a broader trend in Western countries to suppress dissenting views on Israel, igniting discussions about democracy, identity, and freedom.

As the war in Gaza continues, Western countries are taking increasingly worrisome steps to eradicate ideas and expressions that contradict pro-Israel narratives. In the latest example of such an over-the-top approach, German legislation now demands citizenship candidates to confirm that the State of Israel has a “right to exist.”

“New test questions have been added on the topics of antisemitism, the right of the State of Israel to exist, and Jewish life in Germany,” the interior ministry told the Financial Times. The new law becomes effective on Thursday. Two days before, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser stated:

“Anyone who shares our values and makes an effort can now get a German passport more quickly and no longer has to give up part of their identity by giving up their old nationality. But we have also made it just as clear: anyone who does not share our values ​​cannot get a German passport. We have drawn a crystal-clear red line here and made the law much stricter than before.”

Somehow, “sharing German values” now entails adopting a very precise political stance against a single foreign country 1,900 miles away.

Whatever your feelings on Israel, the notion that any country on Earth has a “right to exist” is deeply troubling. “After all, what is a country — or, in more precise terminology, a state — other than a political arrangement?” argued Brian McGlinchey of Stark Realities. “And why would any political arrangement be deemed as having ‘rights,’ much less a supposed right to never be altered or canceled?”

Der Spiegel, a German weekly, stated in March that applicants for German citizenship will also be required to memorize Israel’s creation year and Germany’s consequences for denying the Holocaust.

The German government stated that its new rules are necessary to combat an alleged increase in antisemitic attacks. According to the New York Times: “Antisemitic incidents logged by [Germany’s commissioner for fighting antisemitism] increased 83 percent, year on year, in 2023 to 4,782.”

The Times goes on to say that “the vast majority” of the alleged occurrences were “acts of publicly documented hate speech.” It is worth noting that in 2017, Germany formally accepted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) controversially broad definition of antisemitism. Examples from that description include “claiming that the existence of the State of Israel is a racist endeavor” and “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination”—in other words, the alleged “right” of the State of Israel to exist. 

Put it all together, Germany’s rising number of “antisemitic incidents” in 2023 is undoubtedly driven in large part by mere political speech in response to the Gaza war, such as demands for a new political order in what is now Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza, or assertions that the State of Israel is a racist enterprise. Every sign, sticker, and speech that declares “Zionism is Racism” or “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” might be considered an “antisemitic incident.” (Of course, this is not to deny that there are genuine antisemitic instances in the figures.)

Germany’s new requirement that prospective citizens acknowledge Israel’s “right to exist” is only one of many examples of Western governments’ thought-policing on the country’s behalf.

As Israel launched its onslaught on Gaza in response to Hamas’ invasion of southern Israel on October 7, Germany and France prohibited pro-Palestinian protests. This month, Germany labeled the “Boycott, Divest, Sanction” (BDS) campaign, which targets Israel, as an “extremist movement.” BDS campaigners, like those who protested apartheid South Africa in the 1980s, propose using economic pressure to bring about a new political order in Israel.

In the United States, the House of Representatives enacted the Antisemitism Awareness Act in May, which included the same expansive IHRA definition. It subjected institutions to federal penalties if students or teachers made a prohibited statement or argument about Israel. Despite passing the House with a 320-91 vote, it has yet to be taken up in the Senate.

Recently, GreatGameIndia reported that in a groundbreaking decision, Israel’s high court has ruled that ultra-Orthodox Jewish students must now be drafted into the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), overturning decades of exemption.