Police raid Berlin conference as repression of Palestine activism escalates in Germany

“It’s a clear violation of our freedom of speech,” one of the Palestine Congress organizers told me. “The fact that the German government and the press have labeled the conference as an antisemitic hate gathering, without even engaging with the content of the conference or mentioning that a prominent Jewish group is helping organize and a quarter o... See more

This is not the first time Berlin police raided people’s homes over social media posts. Earlier this month, police knocked down the door of a middle-aged woman who wrote “from the river to the sea Palestine will be free” on her social media and arrested her. She was charged with “using the symbols of unconstitutional organizations,” Berlin police s... See more

A Palestinian friend of mine, Mahmoud, is currently being targeted by the state of Karlsruhe for saying the following during a protest: “Palestine is for all people, from the river to the sea, regardless of their denomination or religion.” That was enough for the state to say he had committed a hate crime by questioning Israel’s right to exist. He ... See more