- Startseite
- Presse
- Reden, Interviews und Gastbeiträge
- Rede des Ministers beim 20. Geburtstag der Touro University Berlin
Rede des Ministers Dr. Marco Buschmann beim 20. Geburtstag der Touro University Berlin am 9. November 2023 im Original (Englisch)
Thank you very much for inviting me to the celebration of Touro University Berlin’s 20th anniversary.
We have not had much to celebrate in the past days and weeks. However, this anniversary can and should be celebrated – audibly, visibly, and in joyful acknowledgement of the amazing work of Touro University in Berlin over the last 20 years. Rabbi Teichtal once spoke of the candles that we must light to drive out the darkness. This anniversary is one of those candles, ladies and gentlemen.
“Rooted in Jewish tradition, built on Jewish values” – that is Touro University’s motto. The message it represents is not one of exclusion, but of welcome. The Jewish values it invokes are in fact – as this university so clearly demonstrates – “universal values”.
In this setting, students can choose from courses as varied as psychology, cybersecurity or business administration – as well as one particular programme of study which, if I am not mistaken, remains the only one of its kind in Germany: the Master of Arts in Holocaust Communication and Tolerance. This is a vital programme: just how vital has been painfully brought home to us in recent weeks.
Ladies and gentlemen, today is the ninth of November. For Germans, it is a day both of great joy, and great shame. Hope and elation, anger and hate, joy and exuberance, dread and terror: all these emotions are associated with the ninth of November. In light of recent weeks, in light of today’s world, it is sadly the darker side of this date that is foremost in our minds. Today, we are more likely to think of the pogrom of the ninth of November 1938 than the birth of Germany’s first democracy, or the day of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The events of the seventh of October shook us to our core. The atrocities committed by Hamas, which I would much rather not dwell on again today, are among the most heinous crimes against humanity. The impact they have had on Israel, and on Jews everywhere, is beyond measure. The author Dorit Rabinyan recently wrote of the “abysmal darkness” left in the wake of these crimes.
It causes me great pain and anger to see that this abyss extends as far as Germany: Jews are afraid to speak Hebrew in the streets, or no longer dare to wear the Kippah; Jewish institutions are targeted with threatening phone calls; the Star of David is sprayed on walls and Israeli flags are burned; crowds of demonstrators threaten Israel and Jews with death and destruction.
Ladies and gentlemen, I have just come from the German Bundestag, where we discussed how we can protect Jewish life in Germany.
One thing we all agree on is that there can be no place in our country for the crimes we have witnessed in recent weeks. These acts must not remain free of consequence. And there are ample possibilities for action under German criminal law –
as we saw just last week when the Federal Minister of the Interior announced a ban on the activities of Hamas and dismantled the Samidoun network.
Anyone who disseminates propaganda for unconstitutional and terrorist organisations, who displays the symbols of unconstitutional and terrorist organisations, who defaces flags and national emblems of foreign States, who supports foreign terrorist organisations or condones criminal acts is liable for prosecution.
As a state governed by the rule of law, we can and must respond to these threats. And when else is such a response warranted, if not when Jewish life in Germany is under attack? For me, the matter is straightforward: our authorities must take forceful action here – and they have my unwavering support.
When hate crimes are committed at demonstrations, suspects must be identified and evidence of their actions secured. This is more important even than de-escalation. Because without names, there is no way to bring charges or obtain convictions. There can be no doubt: the perpetrators of crimes must expect to be prosecuted.
And if these perpetrators are not German citizens, then their residence situation must also be carefully examined. In some cases, of course, this will mean expulsion. There is a clear public interest in expelling those who incite hatred against Jews from the country – and under no circ*mstances must they be eligible for a German passport.
That is why I want to introduce stricter rules in the field of citizenship law. In future, naturalization authorities are to investigate whether even minor offences such as verbal abuse were prompted by antisemitic motives. If a judge finds that an act was driven by antisemitic sentiment, the perpetrator will be barred from acquiring German citizenship. A defining feature of liberal citizenship laws is that they do not tolerate illiberal hate. Antisemites are not welcome in Germany – and will certainly not be given a German passport!
Now, I sometimes hear that such considerations relativise the antisemitism of German citizens. This is wrong, of course. There is antisemitism among German citizens too – and not just at the political extremes, but in mainstream society as well. That is one of the reasons behind the National Strategy against Antisemitism and for Jewish Life adopted by the Federal Government in November last year.
The antisemitism of German citizens is no less despicable. But just because we are forced to live alongside some antisemites does not mean that we must tolerate every other antisemite as well. In the fight against antisemitism, we must make use of every means available to us under the rule of law.
Another objection I sometimes hear and would like to counter is that we must look at both sides of the conflict.
I can only answer, ladies and gentlemen, that this is precisely what we do.
On the one side, we see a murderous terrorist organisation, and on the other innocent victims. On the one side, we see a fanatical Islamist regime, and on the other a liberal democracy. On the one side, we see vile antisemitic hate, and on the other Jews in fear of their lives, including here in Germany.
So we know exactly where we stand. We stand with the victims, with liberal democracy, with Jews. We stand with Israel.
Am Israel chai!
Thank you very much.
Stand: 09. November 2023
