In a series of controversial moves, Germany has faced criticism for its treatment of pro-Palestinian activists and figures, including the denial of entry to British-Palestinian surgeon Ghassan Abu Sittah. Abu Sittah, who was recently elected Rector of the University of Glasgow and is known for his medical work in Gaza, was detained at a German airport and barred from attending a conference aimed at discussing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This incident coincides with German police actions against the Palestine Congress in Berlin, where electricity was cut off, and attendees, including Jewish activists holding a "Jews against Genocide" sign, were arrested. The German government's decision to approve the export of 3,000 anti-tank weapons to Israel has also been met with legal challenges from human rights organizations. These developments have sparked a wave of criticism and emergency protests, accusing Germany of suppressing free speech and demonstrating against its support for Israel, amidst reports of over 40,000 dead in Gaza. Abu Sittah's message, "Our revenge will be the laughter of our children", echoes as a powerful reminder of the stakes involved.
The German police have shut down the Palestine Congress. They've arrested Jewish activists. They've banned a British-Palestinian surgeon from entering the country. This is how Germany thinks it can make amends for its obscene past. https://t.co/L306da9rcq
In an exclusive interview with Middle East Eye, Ghassan Abu Sittah, a British-Palestinian doctor who has become known for his work in Gaza, detailed how he was detained at an airport in Germany and subsequently denied entry. Abu Sittah wanted to attend a conference where he would… https://t.co/UTTgsWIXpO
The German police are arresting Jews for opposing genocide. https://t.co/lqy3w4VymX
Germany cancels pro-Palestine event, bars entry to Gaza war witness https://t.co/GjNCKPmBML
British-Palestinian surgeon Ghassan Abu Sittah on Friday said Germany was "silencing a witness to genocide before the ICJ", which he said, "adds to Germany's complicity in the ongoing massacre" https://t.co/M1nfewTo7n
The German state is taking extraordinary measures to clamp down on pro-Palestinian activism, including arresting activists in their homes in the middle of the night. @hebh_jamal https://t.co/v9gewkVANv
German police arrest people outside the pro-Palestine Conference in Berlin, including anti-colonialism Jewish activists. https://t.co/7C1kfYTvmz https://t.co/b0UWJoRolP
The mayor of Berlin announced that local police had broken up a pro-Palestinian rally in the German capital: “We would like to thank the Berlin police for intervening in this hate incident, we have made it clear that hatred of Israel has no place in Berlin, and those who do not…
Chilling to see the German police arresting Jews again. Solidarity with Udi Raz and all who bravely speak up against occupation, apartheid and genocide in Palestine. The space to dissent from the German government’s support of Israel is shrinking fast. https://t.co/PRqcMLzual
Berlin’s mayor condemns the “antisemitism and hate against Jews” at the (now shut-down) Palästina Kongress. No word that Jüdische Stimme were co-organisers or that at least two Jewish activists have been arrested https://t.co/qEAeOCrUFF
Nothing to see here, just a German cop arresting a Jew for speaking out against the genocide in Gaza. https://t.co/61RR1h77JZ
German police raids the Palestine Congress in Berlin, cuts the electricity and disperses the gathering. Would there be any condemnation by @eu_eeas? https://t.co/d2AzcmNVXm
Germany today: A Jewish activist was arrested in Berlin for holding a “Jews against Genocide” banner outside the Palästina Kongress. https://t.co/cOmGHtTbjK
The wrong lesson from the Holocaust: the German government deports a leading war surgeon who was elected as Rector of the University of Glasgow this month to prevent him from describing in Berlin the atrocities he witnessed while serving in Gaza. https://t.co/6uLmV7yS32
Germany blocks Glasgow University’s anti-Israel rector from entry https://t.co/DPSCbEUnnT
Germany’s interior minister publicly blesses the police crackdown on the Palestine Congress today while smearing it as an “Islamist propaganda” that spreads “hatred against the Jews.” What the minister conveniently forgets is that the event was co-organized by Jewish activists. https://t.co/uK6NKlIvQS
The German government has banned Palestinian plastic and reconstructive surgeon Ghassan Abu Sitta from entering the country to join a conference on the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza. Abu Sitta served in Gaza during the first month of the genocide. He witnessed countless war… https://t.co/cIFc92whdv
Within a week in Germany, Nancy Fraser was stripped off her professorship for signing a letter, Ghassan Abu Sitta was denied entry at the airport to give a lecture, and Helen Fares lost her journalist job for promoting non-violent boycott as a means of protest.
The speech that I could not deliver because German police burst into our Berlin venue to disband our Palestine Congress (1930s style). Judge for yourselves the kind of society Germany is becoming when its police bans the following words: Friends, Congratulations, and heartfelt… https://t.co/6Rnw2bwQPL
Only in Germany, the Berlin police bans a conference and prevents participants from speaking for the risk of allegedly making anti-Semitic statements (read: speaking up against Israel’s genocide). This goes beyond censorship, it’s thought policing. https://t.co/pPimeceqHx
Hours after he was installed as Glasgow University Rector and without evidence of impropriety, @GhassanAbuSitt1 was detained and denied entry to Germany, where he was due to give a firsthand account from Gaza. The @ProgIntl extends solidarity to Dr. Abu-Sittah and condemns this…
Nothing to see here, just the German police arresting the third Jew today. Activist Udi Raz. https://t.co/MuPeiUDZXs
Emergency protest in LONDON today in front of the German embassy for its deportation of @GhassanAbuSitt1 and attack on Palestine Congress conference: 🚨EMERGENCY PROTEST🚨 Dr Ghassan has been detained in Berlin, and the conferemce he was going to speak at has been stormed by… https://t.co/JhlVtdNKtI
The same day a lawsuit is filed against Germany to stop arms sales to Israel, German authorities deny entry to @GhassanAbuSitt1. He's been a leading Palestinian voice shedding light on the genocidal horrors unfolding in Gaza. Silencing the voices of truth is a sign of culpability https://t.co/COWjzWezWj
Udi Raz, of the pro-Palestinian Jewish Voice for Peace, was arrested by German police. The reason for his arrest was his protest against Israel and his support for Palestine. In Germany, being against Israel and supporting Palestine is considered a crime. Why has the German… https://t.co/8VF2gZ1VTQ
Only fascist states and dictatorships require “legal reviews of speeches” for a human rights conference then have their security forces storm the venue. Germany is demonstrating every day that it is one. https://t.co/FtzlDC0jxe
BREAKING German police are now arresting people outside the building where the event was taking place. Those arrested include Udi Raz from Jewish Voice for Peace. Disgusting behaviour from the police, but unfortunately not surprising! #PalaestinaKongress #WeAccuseGermany https://t.co/ddgTY2Qw2M
German authorities has reportedly denied entry to doctor @GhassanAbuSitt1 to prevent him from participating in the Palestine Congress held in Berlin today. Meanwhile, the Berlin police forced shut the event while in session. Germany is going rabid. https://t.co/NBg2HiI8yD
The German police have stormed the building of the Palestine Congress and turned off the electricity supply. https://t.co/7C1kfYTvmz https://t.co/G8xQgLmm7Q
In the Fourth Reich, a physician who selflessly saved victims of the German-backed Holocaust in Gaza is treated like a criminal and his entry is verboten https://t.co/pWImIRL9vG
German police hiding behind the excuse of "legal reviews of speeches" to explain away their storming of our conference where Jews, Palestinians and other peace activists were discussing universal human rights across Israel-Palestine. Fascism is alive and well in Germany. #b0412… https://t.co/iUf1SnGYdh
What Germany's police has just done is proof that fascists no longer need to be in government to be in power. #b0412 #PalaestinaKongress #WeAccuseGermany https://t.co/3QPVWZpwVx
5 Gazans Sue Germany For Delivering Weapons To Israel https://t.co/RYljjcqJn2 https://t.co/7qZmIkjJlb
I keep getting pushback on my claims that Germany has always remained an authoritarian case, well I rest my case, you can't organize a Palestine conference without police shutting it down. Obviously the IDW/Quillette thugs would be nodding along in quiet approval to this. https://t.co/NY4HUUcmac
🆕Today, partners at @ECCHRBerlin—supported by us, @pchrgaza & @alhaq_org—have filed a lawsuit to halt the German arms export to Israel citing concerns under international, human rights, and German constitutional law. https://t.co/9WeARVFNFG
BREAKING: German police stormed the building and are demanding we stop the livestream of the Palestine Conference. This is what democracy in Europe right now really looks like! #PalaestinaKongress https://t.co/02feN0Xogj
🇩🇪⚡ 4 German human rights organizations file a lawsuit demanding that the government immediately cancel all arms sales to Israel. https://t.co/e2ns7wfhfN
This is extraordinarily serious. A prominent doctor, rector of a British university, British citizen, prevented from entering Germany in violation of every law simply because he is Palestinian https://t.co/OGDMvpza3P
Invited to address a conference in Berlin about my work in Gaza hospitals during the present conflict. The German government has forcibly prevented me from entering the country Silencing a witness to genocide before the ICJ adds to Germany's complicity in the ongoing massacre.
Outside our Palestine Congress in Berlin, a German Jewish member of Jewish Voice for Peace has been arrested, for holding up a sign reading "Jews against Genocide", by German police for... anti-semitism. Police also prevented the Rector of Glasgow University from entering. https://t.co/IS493VMiJA
Germany has reportedly denied entry to @GhassanAbuSitt1, preventing his participation in a Palestinian conference in Berlin. https://t.co/HILDjqfaBC
Almost a thousand German police were deployed to blockade the Palestine Congress in Berlin organised to highlight Germany's role in the Gaza gеnосide https://t.co/7CdFWHjPO4
⚠️ RIGHTS GROUPS FILE NEW CASE AGAINST GERMAN ARMS EXPORT TO ISRAEL Full Story → https://t.co/qOG4NWR2fH Human rights lawyers filed a lawsuit against a German government decision to approve the export of 3,000 anti-tank weapons to Israel, the second case of its kind this… https://t.co/y1g3sgFoWF
The new Rector of @UofGlasgow @GhassanAbuSitt1 finished his address with the immortal words of Bobby Sands MP… “Our revenge will be the laughter of our children.” 🇵🇸🤝🇮🇪 https://t.co/J9q0xJQL0d
Proud to stand with Palestinian Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah who today become Rector @UofGlasgow a great honour I once held- today he spoke in solidarity with the people of Gaza & of the need to divest in the arms trade & boycott those engaging in genocide & apartheid #Palestine 🇵🇸 https://t.co/rnaoN46aUu
Proud moment as fellow alumni Palestinian Dr. Abu-Sittah becomes Rector @UofGlasgow & addresses students “Our revenge will be the laughter of our children” dedicates his victory to over 40,000 dead in Gaza, members of his family & colleagues murdered by the state of Israel 🇵🇸❤️ https://t.co/4zfGD8Woiq
Multiple cases have been filed against Germany, trying to force the government to cease military support for Israel. https://t.co/6FCrw1vR8R