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.

  • Maybe the last sentence is hard to see because it’s under the picture, but I clearly wrote:

    So by definition, no, I don’t recognize the current form of the Israeli state, which claims the entire Palestinian territory.

    I explained the reasoning behind this stance in my previous comment.

    • poVoq@slrpnk.netM
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      4 days ago

      I specifically responded to your last sentence. If you are OK with for example Israel in the UN recognised borders of 1947, then you don’t deny the right of the state of Israel to exist, which is all that is being asked for.

      • The current Israeli state defines itself as holding all of the territory. I do not recognize that state. The current form of the Israeli state is not suitable for a peaceful solution to the problems in the region. I don’t think that the idea of an Israeli state should be completely abolished, but it must not try to occupy more territory than was planned by the UN in 1947. Until then, I can’t take these terrorists seriously.

        I actually read the new law, and it doesn’t seem that bad. I haven’t found a single question that directly requires an applicant to recognize the state of Israel, but there are some questions that involve Israel and kinda require that someone at least acknowledges the existence of Israel, in order to answer them.