"People who have acquired German citizenship, including dual nationals, have declared their commitment to our system of values," said German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt at a news conference on November 19 on the subject, reported the news agency Reuters.

That means, if a citizen was found to not uphold German values, such as supporting the banned terrorist group Hamas, then they could lose their citizenship. Germany’s government has stood "firmly with Israel" following the Second World War and the Holocaust, which saw six million European Jews murdered as a result of the National Socialist (NAZI) regime.

Bilateral relations between Germany and Israel were established on May 12, 1965 and the relationship between the two countries has "continuously been deepened and grown stronger, both at the official level and in the sphere of civil society," notes the German Foreign Office.

The unique nature of German-Israeli relations is a "cornerstone of German foreign policy."

'Germany supports Israel's right to exist and its security'

"Germany supports Israel’s right to exist and its security," said German Chancellor Friederich Merz in a telephone conversation with Israeli President Itzchak Herzog in October this year. "This is part of the unchanging nature of German-Israeli relations. It is an expression of lasting historical responsibility."

There has been increasing concern among some politicians in Germany that there are now thousands, if not millions, of people who may support the Palestinian militant group Hamas' fight against Israel, over the right of Israel to exist in the Middle East.

Dobrindt said that if it became apparent to the authorities that those holding dual citizenship did not share the German system of values, "it should be possible to withdraw citizenship."

According to reports in the German media, the man in question, who was stripped of his German citizenship last week, arrived as a child in Berlin from Syria. One day after his naturalization, he reportedly posted a picture on Instagram showing two Hamas fighters, with the caption, "heroes of Palestine."

Berlin’s immigration office reportedly became aware of the case through German security agencies and now believes it was deceived by the man, who declared his "loyalty" to German values during his citizenship ceremony.

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Declaral of loyalty

This declaration of loyalty to certain values was introduced in June 2024 following a reform of the German citizenship law. All those who want to acquire German citizenship have to declare their commitment to a free democratic basic order, as well as acknowledge Germany’s special historical responsibility with regard to the protection of Jewish life and the state of Israel.

According to German media, the man in question had already come to police attention several times after participating in pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

Immigration officials reportedly notified the man that they would be withdrawing his citizenship. The conservative mayor of Berlin, Kai Wegner, from the CDU party, posted on the social media platform X, thanking them for their quick action.

Officials from Germany's Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) themselves did not reply to requests from Reuters for comment.

Possibility of withdrawing citizenship

Last week, the German tabloid newspaper Bild reported that the man in question was actually a Palestinian who arrived "as a baby" in Germany. There have been other cases of people with Palestinian nationality who had been living in Syria prior to migration to Germany.

Bild reported that the state regional migration office (Landesamt für Einwanderung LEA) would be looking into the case and that the man, named as Abdallah, had four weeks to counter the decision through his lawyers.

Starting in 2009, it has been possible to withdraw citizenship granted to someone within five years of the citizenship being conferred. In 2019, that possibility was lengthened from five to ten years. Since 2015, German citizenship has been withdrawn from 1,228 people, according to authorities.

Citizenship can also be withdrawn if someone is found to be fighting for a terrorist organization, if they try and hinder a criminal investigation, if they falsify their language certificates, or if they are found guilty of corruption, fraud, or threatening behavior.

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Legal scenarios explored

According to a report on the legal news portal Legal Tribune Online (LTO), the possibility to withdraw citizenship at a later date was deliberately left in by the previous government to avoid the possibility that anyone expressing antisemitic views could become a German citizen, especially if they already held another nationality.

LTO discusses how the German authorities might be able to take away this man’s and anyone else’s German citizenship.

In the first scenario, the man could lose his citizenship if German authorities are able to prove that he does not genuinely uphold the democratic principles of the "freiheitliche demokratische Grundordnung" (FDGO). Recognizing the legitimacy of these values is part of the oath you swear when you accept German nationality.

Any action that could be construed as violating human rights or contravening German law would also be seen as against the FDGO. Glorifying Hamas fighters and their ideology as heroes could then be seen as going against the FDGO and also as a tacit acceptance of "eliminatory antisemitism," reasoned LTO. The German authorities could then argue the man had only paid "lip-service" to the values he pretended to espouse in order to obtain citizenship.

In a second scenario, German authorities could argue that the man had ignored the promise of all German citizens to uphold an "historical responsibility" towards the state of Israel and the protection of "Jewish life."

Hamas fighters took Jewish lives and hostages on October 7 and have continued to try and do that since. "Anyone who expresses sympathy with terrorists, or those who threaten Jewish life, can’t really argue that they have taken Germany’s historical responsibility towards Jewish people seriously," reports LTO.

Timing of the post

Finally, the man could have his citizenship removed on the grounds of just paying "lip-service" to German values, according to LTO. This is because the man’s post reportedly came the day after he received his citizenship.

Had he posted it before, it would have been the responsibility of the LEA to see the post and then decide whether his attitudes were in line with the German values he was being asked to swear allegiance to. But since he posted it the day after, they should be able to successfully argue that the man was not honest about his real values, LTO writes.

It might be possible that the man could try and argue that he hadn’t realized that expressing support for Hamas tacitly aligns you with the elimination of the state of Israel, and that you just saw them as a resistance organization, and therefore that you hadn’t tried to cheat the state. But LTO said they found this argument would be hard to prove.

Perhaps before October 7, 2023, this might have been slightly easier to argue, reasoned LTO, but now glorifying Hamas after its actions in Israel on that day is already grounds for prosecution under other laws. Posting symbols of Hamas or certain slogans is also punishable by law in Germany, underlines LTO.

German citizenship

According to the German Federal Statistics office DeStatis, Germany naturalized a total of 292,020 citizens in 2024. During that year, the greatest single national group of citizens naturalized came from Syria.

People born in Syria and naturalized in Germany in 2024 numbered more than 83,000. This was more than all those coming from EU countries who were naturalized that year, and even more than all those coming from other non-EU countries on the geographical continent of Europe, which included citizens of Kosovo, Turkey, Serbia and the Russian Federation, as well as smaller groups of a number of unnamed countries.

Iraqi citizens (just over 13,545) formed the next largest national group to be naturalized in 2024, followed by citizens from the Russian Federation (12,980).

With Reuters and dpa

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