Jewish activist condemns Germany for silencing pro-Palestine voices

A leading Jewish peace activist in Berlin has criticised German authorities for suppressing the Palestine solidarity movement in the country.

Udi Raz, a 34-year-old Israeli national, has been at the forefront of the solidarity movement, which has been calling on the German government to suspend weapons sales to Israel.

Anadolu Agency met Raz at a protest march against a proposed regulation that would see students lose their degrees and qualifications if they participate in pro-Palestine rallies and demonstrations.

He said the government is trying to silence them.

"For months, we're witnessing how the German government does everything it can to silence us," he said.

"Not only to silence us but also to brutally attack and violate our civic rights, our very democratic rights that were promised to us by the virtue of the so-called Democratic Republic of Germany,” he said.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), German weapons accounted for 47 percent of all Israeli weapons imports last year, closely behind the US, with 53 percent.

Germany has been Israel's second-largest weapons supplier for the last 20 years.

Advocate for peace

Raz belongs to a rising number of anti-Zionist Jews in Germany who have been actively campaigning against Israel's brutality in Gaza since October 7, where it has now killed more than 34,000 Palestinians.

He is also a board member of the Jewish Voice for a Just Peace in the Middle East, a non-governmental organisation that has been branded anti-Semitic and has had its bank accounts frozen by the German state.

The NGO, which has been calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the suspension of German weapons sales to Israel, had also organised a three-day conference on Palestine which was shut down and banned by Berlin police last weekend.

The conference, which was supposed to kick off last Friday with notable speakers such as former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis and leading British-Palestinian surgeon Ghassan Abu Sitta, was canceled by Berlin police within the first two hours.

Following the cancellation, Raz was briefly arrested by police.

In recent months, several Jewish intellectuals, academics, artists and campaigners have faced backlash in Germany with many losing their jobs.

“Whenever we speak up, those in power point at us and accuse us of being antisemites, Islamists, extremists.

To my understanding, six months into an ongoing genocide, those who point at us and accuse us of being Israel haters are nothing less than genocide lovers," he said.