In November of 2025, the Berlin State Office for Migration (LEA) revoked the citizenship of a Palestinian man over one of his Instagram stories. Though residing in Germany since he was two months old, Abdallah A. had to wait more than 30 years to be granted German citizenship. However, after posting a celebratory photo of his new passport on Instagram, a slew of Zionist bloggers and right-wing pundits set a witch hunt in motion, culminating into a series of press inquiries being sent to the Berlin authorities insisting his citizenship be revoked. The story in question? A photo showing two men holding a Palestinian flag, masked, facing the sea and wearing green headbands.
Though Abdallah had never been convicted of a crime, the State rescinded his naturalization, accusing him of “fraudulently obtaining” German citizenship. The government based this drastic move on the dreaded 2024 reform to citizenship law, which added to the naturalization process a commitment to Germany’s “historical responsibility,” and allowed for a ten-year window for authorities to revoke said-citizenship. The language used in the amendment was a deliberately broad nod to the German Staatsräson, opening an avenue to weaponize immigration law to sanction political speech supporting Palestinian liberation.
The State’s attack on Abdallah and his livelihood underlines the alarming rate at which counterinsurgency efforts against the Palestinian liberation movement in Germany have grown since October 2023. Demonstrations have been banned, students are being forcefully silenced, homes are being raided over social media posts, lecturers and artists are being disinvited, accounts are being frozen, activists are being surveilled — all attempts at criminalizing and silencing any dissidence to the State’s immovable support for the genocidal campaign on Palestine. And now, a person who has spent his entire life in Germany is being stripped of his rights and rendered stateless, all without a criminal conviction and solely on the basis of his political views.
A key element in Abdallah’s struggle against the State’s decision is the demonization of the Palestinian resistance. In Germany, any support for the Palestinian people’s right to protect their land and livelihoods against Zionist occupation is equated to supporting terrorism. The State’s revoking of Abdallah’s citizenship due to an alleged support for Hamas further entrenches this atmosphere of fear, repressing pro-Palestinian speech and delegitimizing any protest against German complicity in genocide.
Another crucial aspect of Abdallah’s case is the expanding collaboration between the Zionist and right-wing media and the German government in the repressive campaign of hunting down political dissidence. When Abdallah celebrated his newly-acquired citizenship and posted a photo of his passport on Instagram, far-right news portal Nius, newspaper Berliner Zeitung, and influencer and Weltwoche columnist Anabel Schunke all sent out inquiries to the State Office for Immigration demanding his naturalization be rescinded. In the case files, authorities also cited @RakMakkabi as one of its sources, a racist Zionist account on X which habitually stalks and harasses pro-Palestinian voices.
This collaboration between the State and the media works to establish a pervasive atmosphere of fear and silence within German society, encouraging a culture of denunciation and pointing fingers at political dissidents. Since October 7, right-wing media outlets and individuals alike have taken it upon themselves to surveil and report pro-Palestinian social media content to government authorities.
Abdallah is fighting this decision, supported by the ELSC and Amnesty Germany. Palestine at the Forefront will update on different ways to support him and the legal efforts in this column and on our Instagram account.
