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Berlin’s immigration authorities are moving to deport four young foreign residents on allegations related to participation in protests against Israel’s war on Gaza, an unprecedented move that raises serious concerns over civil liberties in Germany.

The deportation orders, issued under German migration law, were made amid political pressure and over internal objections from the head of the state of Berlin’s immigration agency.

The internal strife arose because three of those targeted for deportation are citizens of European Union member states who normally enjoy freedom of movement between E.U. countries. None of the four has been convicted of any crimes.

“What we’re seeing here is straight out of the far right’s playbook,” said Alexander Gorski, a lawyer representing two of the protesters. “You can see it in the U.S. and Germany, too: Political dissent is silenced by targeting the migration status of protesters.”

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[-] truthfultemporarily@feddit.org 145 points 2 weeks ago

If you search for it, its only reported by two outlets. There is not a single German newspaper reporting this, including left wing or Berlin regional ones. Searching for the names in the articles returns no results linked to Berlin or Free Palestine at all. The name of the public official also turns up nothing.

Could be misinformation.

[-] IndustryStandard@lemmy.world 55 points 2 weeks ago

Already addressed this elsewhere so pasting the same comment; It is possible the American student contacted TheIntercept first. If TheIntercept is the first source then German media will likely pick up the story soon.

I also searched for the lawyer

“What we’re seeing here is straight out of the far right’s playbook,” said Alexander Gorski, a lawyer representing two of the protesters. “You can see it in the U.S. and Germany, too: Political dissent is silenced by targeting the migration status of protesters.”

Alexander Gorski is the same person who overturned Ghassan Abu-Sittah's ban from Germany which does lend a lot of credibility unless TheIntercept is straight up making up quotes from people out of thin air.

The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) announced in a social media post on Tuesday that it, along with lawyer Alexander Gorski and the European Legal Support Centre, had successfully challenged the travel ban imposed on Abu Sitta by Germany.

[-] Not_mikey@lemmy.dbzer0.com 25 points 2 weeks ago
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[-] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 20 points 2 weeks ago

That's fair, but then again the Intercept is a pretty reputable site and the story seems legit.

[-] pwalker@discuss.tchncs.de 19 points 2 weeks ago

I was also sceptical but it seems to be generally true, however the details of it are way more complicated. Read for yourself if you know German or use a translator, one of the biggest Berlin newspapers picked it up and added details : https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/nach-beteiligung-an-palastina-protesten-in-berlin-drei-eu-burgern-und-einem-studenten-aus-den-usa-droht-ausweisung-13468543.html

[-] shaserlark@sh.itjust.works 18 points 2 weeks ago

At this point it’s equally likely that the mainstream media just don’t care because of their reason of state. Idk how their reporting is on other Palestine related content but in my country it’s mostly silence, I learn about what’s happening mostly from The Guardian and Al Jazeera because most media outlets simply don’t give a fuck about Palestinian life.

[-] truthfultemporarily@feddit.org 12 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah, no. There are many left wing German newspapers.

[-] fantasty@programming.dev 14 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXkS0ykfvvI

Absolutely not true. Listen to this interview if you wanna get an accurate picture (unfortunately in German but there should be AI generated subtitles). The situation is grim.

The reality is that the news are probably true, and it’s quite common that people will either gaslight or simply not give a fuck. Germany went absolutely fascist, it’s a terrible situation. Even "left-wing" newspapers like TAZ aren’t very left wing when it comes to Palestinians. Your typical liberal German academic will deny this but who’s even asking them anymore?

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[-] IndianaJones@lemmy.dbzer0.com 84 points 2 weeks ago

I fucking hate the timeline we're living in

[-] technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 56 points 2 weeks ago

Fash support fash. Germany has been supporting genocide for a long time.

It's really amazing how liberals will completely accept genocide up until the very second that it affects them.

[-] Sauerkraut@discuss.tchncs.de 27 points 2 weeks ago

It is heart breaking to see Germany begin to give in to fascism again. What happened to "never again!" ???

[-] Tryenjer@lemmy.world 16 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

It was a lie.

And in a decade or so, before you know it, Deutschland will be invading Poland again.

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[-] explodicle@sh.itjust.works 16 points 2 weeks ago

Look, if we don't tolerate at least a little genocide of somebody else, then we're basically throwing our votes away. /s

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[-] index@sh.itjust.works 54 points 2 weeks ago

Just yesterday people were cheering up germany government for rearming for war and everyone arguing against it was being downvoted.

https://lemmy.world/post/27602242

[-] eugenevdebs@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 2 weeks ago

"I think re-arming doesn't do anything but spend money that could be better spent on helping people."

"Shut up, this is exactly what we need right now!"

"So you don't care about helping people?"

"That's a strawman!"

Wow it looks like we were right again, but still downvoted and removed. Odd how that always works.

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[-] LordWiggle@lemmy.world 49 points 2 weeks ago

Fucking disgusting.

[-] asg101 49 points 2 weeks ago

International law: Conducting and Support of Genocide is Illegal.

U.S./Germany law: Protesting Genocide is Illegal.

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[-] jagermo@feddit.org 37 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I have some notes on that. 3 of the 4 are EU citizens, that makes deportations highly complicated. I also can't find another source, ~~and the intercept has a history of pushing some shady things.~~ Something feels off.

[-] IndustryStandard@lemmy.world 19 points 2 weeks ago

They are naming the people being deported, maybe one of our German friends can dig up some German articles with their names?

The four people slated for deportation, Cooper Longbottom, Kasia Wlaszczyk, Shane O’Brien, and Roberta Murray, are citizens of, respectively, the U.S., Poland, and in the latter two cases Ireland.

[-] djsp@feddit.org 22 points 2 weeks ago

I searched for German articles about this, but found none. However, the three parties expected to form the next government –the SPD, the CDU and its Bavarian sibling, the CSU– are considering to weaponize migration background against “sponsors of terror, antisemites and extremists”, which could be construed to include some peaceful critics of the Israeli government and military and their actions and plans.

[-] IndustryStandard@lemmy.world 18 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Thanks. It is possible the American student contacted TheIntercept first. If TheIntercept is the first source then German media will likely pick up the story soon.

I also searched for the lawyer

“What we’re seeing here is straight out of the far right’s playbook,” said Alexander Gorski, a lawyer representing two of the protesters. “You can see it in the U.S. and Germany, too: Political dissent is silenced by targeting the migration status of protesters.”

Apparently Alexander Gorski is the same person who overturned Ghassan Abu-Sittah's ban from Germany which does lend a lot of credibility unless TheIntercept is straight up making up quotes from people out of thin air.

The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) announced in a social media post on Tuesday that it, along with lawyer Alexander Gorski and the European Legal Support Centre, had successfully challenged the travel ban imposed on Abu Sitta by Germany.

[-] truthfultemporarily@feddit.org 14 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah nothing in the taz - Germanys biggest left wing newspaper. Nothing in the Zeit and nothing in Tagespiegel (Berlin Newspaper) either.

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[-] amino 11 points 2 weeks ago

although this article is republished from the Intercept, here's some info about the author:

Hanno Hauenstein is a Berlin-based independent journalist and author. His work has appeared in publications including The Guardian, The Intercept, and Berliner Zeitung.

[-] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 11 points 2 weeks ago

What shady stuff have they published in the past? I’ve generally found their coverage good and they often cover stories like this that other mainstream sources won’t.

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[-] amino 28 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

looks like German libs are doing the Kamala speedrun.

it's not a coincidence they went after trans immigrants first, they know it's easy to use us as guinea pigs for setting legal precedent.

[-] Chainweasel@lemmy.world 25 points 2 weeks ago

I'm pretty sure Kamala, being a private citizen and not the president, has nothing to do with the deportations taking place in America right now.
I'd check who the current president is and assign blame to him.

[-] amino 23 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

sure, if you wanna do a dog-shit ahistorical analysis of what lead to this, you could place the blame entirely on Trump.

do you seriously expect us to ignore the direct parallel between the Democrats adopting fascist rhetoric and deportations and the social Democrats in Germany adopting AfD propaganda in their program?

you either didn't pay attention when she threw us under the bus to win the fascist electorate or You actively cheered her on as she was doing it. same for her being a rabid Zionist.

[-] Mrkawfee@lemmy.world 20 points 2 weeks ago

Agreed. The Democrats started this Mcarthyist witchhunt about Hamas supporting students and anti Zionism is anti semitism baloney. Thanks to them the Republicans were gifted with a ready made clampdown on civil rights.

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[-] match@pawb.social 14 points 2 weeks ago

nah you right

[-] torrentialgrain@lemm.ee 13 points 2 weeks ago
[-] shaserlark@sh.itjust.works 11 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

As a trans person in this timeline obviously they’re not okay, are you doing anything to make the situation better for them in any possible way? If not better lose the snarkiness

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[-] SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world 20 points 2 weeks ago

If those EU citizens take it to EU court they’d probably win very easily. Can’t just take away freedom of movement, one of the tenets of the Union, without any due process. Seriously fuck the German politicians who pressured for this. Guess fascism is making a return, didn’t even need the AfD for that.

[-] Mrkawfee@lemmy.world 19 points 2 weeks ago

Nazis being Nazis

[-] HK65@sopuli.xyz 18 points 2 weeks ago

I hope they can escalate to Strasbourg. Can they?

Germany is way out of line here.

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[-] Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 2 weeks ago

"Good" old Nazi thinking never left the German elites, hence their "unwavering support" for a nation committing Genocide very openly because of the race of its people, hence the highly manipulated Press over there spreading and amplifying race-based views and hence their casual bypassing of legal rights to silence those who would demonstrate against such ultra-racism and the support of Genocide based on it.

They might have changed who the ubermenschen and the untermenshen are but they still keep on classifying people into those two categories by race and treating then very differently, as well as using force to silence dissent against such views and practices.

In light of Russia's aggressiveness, the recent news of Germany militarizing itself sounds like good news, but in light of the increasing regression of Germany back to their old extreme-racist and repressive practices those are very bad news - a Germany which thinks race justifies Genocide and suppresses by force dissent from such way of thinking is bound to sooner or later once again use such military power against those they deem "lesser races"

[-] Gammelfisch@lemmy.world 11 points 2 weeks ago

Israel applying pressure on Germany.

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[-] Gammelfisch@lemmy.world 11 points 2 weeks ago

Albert Einstein is 100% correct.

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this post was submitted on 01 Apr 2025
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