FOR nearly two years, Germany’s Palestine solidarity movement has been subjected to intense repression. Above all, the unrestrained brutality of Berlin police against pro-Palestinian demonstrations has become a symbol of this policy of suppression, carried out in the name of the German “Staatsrason” (“Reason of State”).

Across the country, censorship, bans, criminal charges, home raids and police violence against pro-Palestinian activists have become routine.

In November 2023, Hamas and the international prisoner solidarity network Samidoun were banned. In May 2024, Palastina Solidaritat Duisburg (Palestine Solidarity Duisburg) was outlawed as well.

The German parliament has publicly declared its intention to prohibit the international Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Meanwhile, the slogan “From the river to the sea Palestine will be free” has been designated as a “symbol” of Hamas, meaning that anyone using even the phrase “From the river to the sea” in public risks criminal charges, arrest or a house search.

Since the start of this year, deportations have also become part of the state’s anti-Palestinian campaign.

Growing international criticism
In October 2023, Human Rights Watch condemned the criminalisation of pro-Palestinian demonstrations and the education authorities’ “permission to ban students from wearing the Palestinian Keffiyeh black and white scarf and displaying ‘free Palestine’ stickers.”

A month later, the UN Human Rights Council accused Germany of restricting freedom of expression in relation to Palestine. Amnesty International, the European Legal Support Centre and other human rights organisations soon joined in the criticism.

Yet inside Germany, such reports have been largely ignored – just like Israel’s crimes in Gaza and the fact that the Federal Republic currently stands accused before the International Court of Justice of aiding and abetting genocide.

The strongly worded letter that Michael O’Flaherty, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, sent to Germany’s interior minister last June was likewise ignored by the ruling parties and mainstream media.

O’Flaherty drew attention to the “excessive use of force by police against protesters, including minors” and called on the government to respect human rights.

On October 16, the UN again spoke out. A group of UN special rapporteurs publicly urged the German authorities “to halt criminalisation and police violence against Palestinian solidarity activism.” They said they were “alarmed by the persistent pattern of police violence and apparent suppression of Palestine solidarity activism by Germany.”

According to the UN press release, “since October 2023, Germany has escalated and expanded restrictions with regard to Palestinian solidarity activism and protests even though actions have been overall peaceful and used to express legitimate demands.”

The experts also criticised the criminalisation of the slogan “From the River to the Sea Palestine will be free.” They noted that they had “regularly” raised concerns with the German government in the past about anti-Palestinian repression, accusing it of violating “international standards” and undermining democratic freedoms.

The rapporteurs concluded that “Germany must support, not suppress, actions aiming to stop atrocity crimes and genocide.” Their statement confirms what the Palestine solidarity movement in Germany has been saying for two years: it stands on the side of international law, while the German state continues to break it.

The question of “Staatsrason”
Although this latest criticism has received little attention from politicians or mainstream media, pressure behind the scenes appears to be growing.

Just as Israel’s starvation policy in Gaza, the resistance of its people, and the global protest movement, which has mobilised hundreds of thousands in Germany, have forced the government and media to soften their hard-line zionist stance.

But there should be no illusions. The German “Staatsrason” is a central pillar of the country’s ruling ideology – and a remarkably effective one.

By refusing to deny its historical crimes but instead brandishing them as a moral weapon; by not relativising them but singularising and fetishising them, German imperialism has fashioned a tool that fuses “enlightenment” and domination in a perverse way.

With the slogan “Never again Auschwitz” on its lips, Germany invaded another country for the first time since the second world war in 1999, achieving what the fascist Wehrmacht had already attempted in 1941: the final destruction of Yugoslavia.

Today, Germany arms open fascists wearing swastikas on their helmets in Ukraine, while simultaneously claiming to atone for its “historical guilt” by supplying Israel with weapons for a genocide against the so-called “new Nazis”: the Palestinians.

This does not mean that Germany’s “unconditional solidarity” with Israel is without economic interests. Corporations such as Siemens and ThyssenKrupp make billions in Israel, and even directly from the ongoing genocide.

But above all, Germany’s political obsession with Israel must be understood through its strategic alignment since 1945: Berlin has long believed that its “place in the sun” – as the old German colonial propaganda put it – can only be secured through its closest possible alliance with the US and Nato.

Hence its refusal to acknowledge facts that the rest of the world sees plainly: whether it is the sabotage of Nord Stream 2 – which Germany initially blamed on Russia and still refuses to attribute to the US and Ukraine – or the reality that Israel is not a victim, but is committing genocide in Gaza.

Yet, to this day, no mainstream German outlet has dared to use that word, and many individuals have been charged by the police merely for doing so.