This statement is to express solidarity with scholars and students who have recently been targeted in Germany for expressing and organising solidarity activities with Palestine. On 13th May 2025, the European Legal Support Centre published their database of repression against Palestinian activism in Germany, stating that while the government continues to support Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestine, they are systematically repressing solidarity and silencing dissent within their countries. This alarming crackdown on critical and democratic activism in Germany has been going on since October 2023, but has been both increasing and overshadowed in the media by events in the US. As with similar cases there, we are concerned about the government-led systematic erosion of freedom of expression, assembly and protest, and academic and journalistic freedom in relation to expressions of solidarity with Palestine. We are also concerned about silence and complicity in the civil society landscape.
Peaceful demonstrations by climate activists and supporters of Palestinian rights have been repeatedly met with excessive police force, including the use of pain grips and violent dispersals, leading to one protest participant being beaten unconscious by the police and the arrest of minors. Moreover, protest camps on university premises were violently cleared by the police, leading to students facing criminal charges and the threat of deportation for their participation. Events featuring pro-Palestinian perspectives, including talks by UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, were cancelled due to political pressure. Academics who spoke out against these repressive actions faced public attacks by the federal Minister of Education Bettina Stark-Watzinger, threats to their funding, and in some cases, the loss of academic positions. This has also affected international scholars such as Ghassan Hage who was dismissed by the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Nancy Fraser who lost the Albertus Magnus Professorship at the University of Cologne and the Rector of Glasgow University Professor Ghassan Abu Sittah who was denied entry to Germany. The network Scholars at Risk recorded the list of restrictions in academic institutions. In addition to this, both artists and migrants have been targeted by German organisations and politicians.
Political measures and legal uncertainty have led to silencing and fear among political scientists. The German Bundestag passed a resolution adopting the controversial IHRA definition of antisemitism as a standard for political decisions, creating legal uncertainty and raising serious concerns over freedom of expression, academic freedom, and artistic freedom. The state has increasingly linked German citizenship with forcing migrants/applicants for residency to affirm Israel’s right to exist, and used immigration controls and border enforcement to silence dissent. A database of repression against Palestinian activism in Germany from the European Legal Support Centre shows more than 766 repressions.
In addition to government-led repression, we are concerned about the complicity of key democratic institutions, such as universities, media, and civil society, in silencing pro-Palestinian voices. Media outlets across the spectrum, including national news agency Tagesschau and the left-leaning news outlet taz.de, have faced criticism for biased reporting and self-censorship, often privileging Israeli narratives while sidelining Palestinian perspectives and smearing Palestinian solidarity. Many journalists report self-censorship driven by fears of defamation and professional retaliation. Civil society actors, including feminist and anti-racist organisations, whitewash and pinkwash Germany’s unconditional commitment to Israel as part of its raison d’état. Human rights organisations are either silent about naming genocide or are simply avoiding the topic. Worse than silence, parts of the antifascist movement express unconditional solidarity with Israel, including Antifa protesting with antifascist and Israeli flags together. Antifascist solidarity with Israel obscures the far-right government and renders anti-fascist Jewish and Israeli voices against Genocide invisible. The feminist organisation Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy (CFFP) continuously silenced pro-Palestinian staff and activism, and hosted Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock shortly after she endorsed the use of German arms in Gaza against civilians. When called out for their complicity, Kristina Lunz called this a “misogynist witch hunt” by a “lynch mob.” The complicity and silence of German democratic, leftist and feminist voices have led to unnoticed repressions and shrinking voices showing solidarity with an ongoing genocide in Gaza.
The RPRN stands in solidarity with activists and scholars in Germany who are facing both antisemitic and anti-Muslim racism, as well as repression by public institutions, media and civil society. Under the pretext of security and anti-hate policies, critical voices, especially those from racialized, feminist, and anticolonial movements, are being delegitimized, censored, and punished. This signals a troubling shift from democratic values toward authoritarian control over public discourse. These developments reflect a broader turn toward reactionary politics: the expansion of state power, the use of antisemitism accusations to silence dissent, and the policing of political expression under the banner of combating hate speech.