Rights and Accountability 27 July 2024
I gave the talk anyway to thousands of people viewing it online, and you can watch it in the video above. It was part of the Palestine Conference in Exile held online on 25-26 July.
About two hours before my scheduled talk on 26 July, I received via a lawyer in Germany a 15-page notice from government authorities in Berlin informing me that I am prohibited from participating in the conference by any means, including online. The penalties include fines and up to one year in prison.
As I spoke from the United States, Germany can claim no jurisdiction over me, but I have been given to understand that German authorities may still open a criminal case against me for violating the order. So be it.As I stated in the talk, I do not take orders from a regime that is participating in a genocide, and I take inspiration from Martin Luther King Jr., who wrote in his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” that “one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”
I would have made the same decision to speak even if I had been in Germany, and I am conscious that those organizing for Palestinian rights there, especially members of the Palestinian community and their Jewish comrades, have already faced serious repression, including bans, police beatings, home raids, arrests and other repressive measures.
Conference organizers say that the ban “echoes previous oppressive measures” and shows “once again the repressive face of German democracy.”
The organizers add in reference to the action against me: “The persecution of a journalist exposing Germany’s support of genocide mirrors the suppression of dissent and it raises critical questions about whether Germany has fully internalized the lessons of its past or if it is repeating the same mistakes under a different guise.”
In April, German authorities violently raided and shut down a Palestine conference in Berlin, banning speakers including Greek politician Yanis Varoufakis, Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta, historian Salman Abu Sitta and me.
The only person who managed to speak before that conference was violently shut down was journalist Hebh Jamal. She participated in this conference too.
Ghassan Abu Sitta, the surgeon who treated victims in Gaza during the first month and a half of Israel’s genocide, was detained at the airport as he entered Germany to speak at the April conference, slapped with a ban on political activities, also threatened with fines and prison, and deported to the UK.
In Germany – the country whose leaders cry “Never Again!” – bearing witness to genocide is now a crime.
It was in response to that state violence and censorship that organizers held this conference completely online. Panels with other speakers will be published on the conference website in coming days.
Germany is guilty of genocide
My 20-minute talk covers Germany’s role in the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza, and Germany’s historical complicity with Zionism, a racist, fascistic and colonial ideology.
I talk about how Chancellor Olaf Scholz and foreign minister Annalena Baerbock have spread fabricated Israeli atrocity propaganda that justifies and incites genocide, and I called for both German leaders to be brought to justice.
I try to answer the question of why Germany, which purports to be a modern democracy, would arm and support Israel as it exterminates Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
I explain that, in fact, the German alliance with Zionism predates World War II and has its roots in the anti-Semitic ideas of Protestants in the 19th century. It continued through the Nazi Holocaust and remains intact into the present day.
Indeed, far from being the modern democracy it proclaims itself to be, many of the institutions of West Germany – later reunified Germany – were founded by former members of the Hitler regime.
Former Nazis occupied many senior positions in the government of West Germany.
Kurt Kiesinger, who was West German chancellor in the 1960s, had joined the Nazi party in 1933, the year Hitler came to power. He had, as journalist Beate Klarsfeld explained, been a “high officer of Nazi propaganda” during the war.
Modern Germany’s intelligence service, known by its initials BND, was founded by Reinhard Gehlen, a senior Nazi spy chief under Hitler, and later a close collaborator of the CIA.
And well into the 1970s, the top ranks of West Germany’s justice ministry teemed with former members of Hitler’s Nazi party.
Comments
Germany's threat against Ali Abunimah
Permalink Adrienne Weller replied on
I am angry at the arrogance of Germany. Ali's statement is stunning, informative and courageous. I admire and support Ali Abunimah and the Electronic Intifada. But I do disagree with his position on Russia and Ukraine. He is too intelligent not to know that Russia is not the Soviet Union. Russia is a capitalist, imperialist right wing country run by an anti-communist. The Ukraine has the right to self defense and self-determination, as do the Palestinians. Ukraine has ultra right forces and a neoliberal government. But the working people are fighting for their rights. I am confused by Ali's position. Can't he see the connection between the Palestinian's and the people of Ukraine's fight for liberty?
Palestine congress in exile
Permalink Hermann Dierkes replied on
As often: the means are corresponding criminal and dirty aims! Stay bold Ali!
Potential Complicity?
Permalink Douglas H Banik replied on
I think your comments regarding the installation of (former?) Nazis into the administrative and security positions after the War struck a nerve. I would guess that those folks have descendants currently living and working in Germany who don't want that particular dirty laundry hanging in their backyards. Some of them are likely to be part of the German government today.
solidarity
Permalink Alexandre Gorchkov replied on
Dear Ali,
I want to express my full solidarity with you and your colleagues. You are not only the most valuable in these dark times source of information and analysis, but also an inspiration. This pathetic pseudo-democrats will never break our will and steadfastness. Palestine will be free! And they will lose.
Alex Gorchkov
Tiohtià:ke (Montreal, Canada)
15-Page-Letter to Ali Abunimah from germany
Permalink Helmut Suttor replied on
Hello,
could you please sent me the total letter. I would pass it on to Prof Ambos. Ambos has taken a critical look at the ban on the Palestine Congress in Berlin (see link below)
https://verfassungsblog.de/sch...
About two hours before my scheduled talk on 26 July, I received via a lawyer in Germany a 15-page notice from government authorities in Berlin informing me that I am prohibited from participating in the conference by any means, including online. The penalties include fines and up to one year in prison.
Once again, the nation of
Permalink Eric Arthur Blair replied on
Once again, the nation of Germs is promoting a holocaust by criminalising human rights / antigenocidal activism.
History does not repeat itself but it sure does rhyme.
Change "teemed" to "teamed"
Permalink Hannah replied on
Thank you for your passionate and intelligent presentation.
Criticism of Germ hhlf'brotheran complicity in Israeli genocide
Permalink William H. Slavick replied on
My wife is German; two half-brothers served in the German army in WW2.One lost a leg.
zi HolocaustWe have found the German impunity granted Israeli crimes against Palistinians a consequence of ue undWW2 guilt. A major premise of the Zionist Jewish determination to have Palestine by forcibly removing its Palestinian population of millenia by force was that they had no claim to equal human dignity Zionist force should respect. This racist determination (in 1897) predated the Nazi Holocaust by more than 30 years!
You could mention that
Permalink joey_n replied on
You could mention that Germany is not a sovereign nation any more than Japan or South Korea are in that it has US military installations on its soil, ergo it is forced to tow the US line regarding Israel.
in solidarity..
Permalink Jacqueline shahinian replied on
Salam Ali,
Just wanted to thank you and express all my support; your intervention was brilliant and I hope it will reach the ears of all those ignorants out there.
Take great care of yourself and keep up the excellent work: we all need you - Palestine needs you.
In solidarity,
Jacqueline
Hiding the Truth
Permalink Ozark Grandpa replied on
Real journalism is fighting an existential battle against a determined enemy, a malevolent foe who has many weapons and people in its service. Keep up the good work - the truth will win out, but only after a horrendous battle, one that you and a few others seem to be prepared to fight.
As a Christian, I always pull for the Truth, no matter the cost, because I know what the end result of this battle is going to be.
I did not see in the comment policy any rule against links, and so I have a post to share about these entities who seek to keep the truth hidden: https://folkpotpourri.com/the-...
Hope this at least serves to show that not all Americans support the "Empire of Lies".
The German State has indeed learnt the lessons of its past well
Permalink tony greenstein replied on
I am curious as to what the German state means by saying 'never again'. Wasn't abolishing free speech and gaoling its critics the first action of the Nazi state when coming to power on January 30 1933? True they won't send you Ali to a rebuild Dachau, at least not yet, but the principle remains.
It is not for nothing that the German state is attacking the other victims of the Holocaust. Because if the direct victims were the Jews, Gypsies, Disabled etc. then the indirect victims were the Palestinians. The Nazi state, which was also very friendly to the Zionist movement, a fact forgotten today, created the conditions in which the Israeli State could come about.
Without the Jewish refugees that the German state and other anti-Semitic countries in the 1930s expelled or forced to leave, it is doubtful whether the Zionist settlers would have reached the critical mass necessary before they could establish a state.
In an interview with the American Jewish Times of April 1936, world famous biographer and Zionist, Emil Ludwig wrote that:
'Hitler will be forgotten in a few years, but he will have a beautiful monument in Palestine. You know, the coming of the Nazis was rather a welcome thing.... Thousands who seemed to be completely lost to Judaism were brought back to the fold by Hitler, and for that I am personally very grateful to him.”
When the German state today attacks supporters of the Palestinians what they are essentially doing is following the pro-Zionist policies of the Nazi state. Indeed support of Israel's genocide in Gaza helps the German state come to terms with its own holocausts, including that in Namibia/SW Africa.
Brilliant !
Permalink Tom Suárez replied on
Thank you so much for this spot-on talk. No wonder they want to arrest you.
Nadir
Permalink Peter Purich replied on
Truly, Germany at its nadir, debased itself, willingly declare "Palestine" is the new "Kike".
Censure, silent, imprison; protect and facilitate the new Holocaust in Palestine. Is that what Germans mean by "raison d'État"?
Ali, I will stand by with you, in every way.
In Solidarity!
the incredible intifada
Permalink mike from germany replied on
thx guys for that awesome stream today
thank u ali that u mentioned our support from germany (even thou it looks like very dark right now)
we wont rest until the palestinians can live in peace - thank u jon ali nora asa and all the other awesome guys at the EI
from germany
mike
I am ashamed
Permalink Dietmar replied on
As a German, I am ashamed about our government.
It is not just Germany, it is the entire EU that is a continuation of the Third Reich. Walter Hallstein, the first President of the EU, was a Nazi lawyer in his previous life, he worked on the Hitler-Mussolini Pact and drafted an administrative law system for the administration of Europe after the " Endsieg ". As the " Endsieg " was not achieved - mainly thanks to the Soviets - the project was then continued as the EU.
In this respect, it is not surprising that fascism is now appearing in Germany as the "defender of democracy". However, I hope and am convinced that more and more people are waking up. In the USA, many correlations can be clearly presented for which one has to expect a search by Nany Faeser's henchmen in Germany. It is therefore important that these correlations are clearly addressed and repeatedly published in the USA.
Historic Precedent for the Abolishment of a Rogue State
Permalink NN replied on
Best comprehensive summary of all the skeletons Germany has in the closet!
As for German "Staatsraison", i.e. Israel's "Right to exist", and what shall become of the zionist entity, there is a legal precedent from German history (mind you) as well. Namely the "Control Council Law No. 46" of February 25, 1947 which reads:
"The Prussian State which from early days has been a bearer of militarism and reaction in Germany has de facto ceased to exist.
Guided by the interests of preservation of peace and security of peoples and with the desire to assure further reconstruction of the political life of Germany on a democratic basis, the Control Council enacts as follows:
Article I
The Prussian State together with its central government and all its agencies are abolished. [...]"
Regretfully Klarsfeld's anti-fascist outlook is only from a zionist angle, as one could see now since she endorses LePen.
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