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Germany has been funding, supporting, and abetting Israel’s genocide in Gaza since it began. In 2023, it Israel with €326.5 million worth of military equipment and war weapons – a tenfold increase from the previous year. However, from January to August 21, this year, Germany approved only €14.5 million of which only €32,449 accounted for the weapons of war category. This drop was due to pressure from internal legal groups who argued that German weapons exports to Israel breached humanitarian law.

Then, in October, Germany €31 million of arms exports to Israel. Foreign Ministry spokesman Sebastian Fischer “We see no signs that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza."

In addition to this military support and genocide denial, Germany has also been among the most brutal in attacking Palestinian solidarity movements and suppressing speech in support of Palestinian liberation within Germany. Protestors have been smeared, physically attacked, accused of anti-Semitism, and intimidated by the state police.

For , the “Students for Palestine” at Freie Universität Berlin (FUB) occupied a lecture hall in November 2023, demanding a ceasefire in Gaza. Students were keeping up with the university’s legacy, dating back to 1966, when a lecture hall was occupied in protest for democratic reforms and against the Vietnam War. However, despite the university’s tolerance to panel talks and workshops on Palestine and its rejection to the IHRA-definition of anti-Semitism, the university ordered the eviction of protesters and called the police on campus.

The University had filed criminal charges against the student protesters for trespassing, and Berlin Senate reinstated disciplinary regulations at Berlin universities, supported by the presidencies of FUB, Humboldt University Deb Berlin�� and Universität der Künste.

This suppression was not confined to university campuses and community protests, however. Renowned Palestinian plastic surgeon Ghassan Abu-Sittah was denied entry into Germany and back to the UK. He was scheduled to speak at the Palestine Congress in Berlin, which was dismantled by hundreds of police officers less than two hours after it started.

Commenting on this suppression, Hanna Kienzler, Professor of Global health at King’s College London said: “I am outraged that the German government actively supports Israel’s genocide against Palestinians and appalled that it silences and persecutes its own citizens who speak out against it.”

This form of repression has not been limited to Palestinians, it also extends to their supporters as well. Former Greek Finance Minister Yani Varoufaksi was also entry into Germany. Both him and Abu Sitta were accused of anti-Semitic speech.

In Germany, stating facts about the number of children killed, mutilated, or maimed or using descriptive scholarly language such as genocide of Nakba is now considered anti-Semitism.

In the face of the repression, denial, and silencing, a group of scholars and civil servants in Germany published a titled “Germany Must Stop Supporting the Annihilation of Palestinians,” addressed to the country’s federal government. In this letter, the scholars expressed their outrage over the government’s stance and their pain in witnessing the live-streamed annihilation of Palestinian life.

They are demanding an end to Germany's complicity with Israel through financial, military, and legal support. They also called for Germany to exert pressure on Israel to end the killing, maiming, and destruction in Gaza. The letter was signed by professors, researchers, medical doctors (including Dr. Abu-Sittah), cultural workers, and authors globally. So far, it has more than 4,000 signatures.

According to researcher and academic Hanna AlTaher, who is among the initiators of the letter, the German media has ignored the action, and the government has yet to respond. “The letter was deliberately written in English and is open for everyone to sign, including people from outside Germany, to make Germany's complicity widely visible, pressure them into taking a clear stance on the side of justice. Even if they will not, it is everyone's duty to stand up to our governments,” said AlTaher.

AlTaher stressed the importance of the letter amidst Israel’s ongoing crimes, adding that it “demands and shows that it is possible to speak up, and we should speak up as long as we can […] no one can say they didn’t know. They know, they just don’t care”.

Michael Barenboim, another initiator of the open letter, rightly pointed out that “Germany has a responsibility rooted in history – namely to do everything it can to prevent crimes like in Gaza.”

AlTaher had recently that Palestinians are not only ignored and silenced in Germany, but that the ultimate silence lies in the fact that academia disturbingly prefers Palestinians dead/silent rather than alive. She adds that this is not just symbolic, especially when we examine decades of Germany’s acceptance of Israel’s killing of Palestinian as a necessary act for ‘self-defence.’

Indeed, perhaps this letter serves as a historical evidence for future generations who will wonder how the world let this genocide continue for over a year, and how Germany in particular responded after pledging ‘never again’ following the Holocaust. This document shows that many opposed the genocide in Gaza, stood in solidarity with Palestinian freedom, and fought to pressure their government to take a stance for justice and freedom.

Samar Saeed is a Ph.D. candidate in the History Department at Georgetown University.

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