Germany’s new citizenship law requires applicants to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist. 

The new policy, set to be implemented on Thursday, marks an effort to ensure newcomers align with German “values,” government officials say. 

The law comes as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz moves to shorten the wait period for newcomers to receive German citizenship and allow first-generation migrants to hold dual citizenship. 

“Anyone who shares our values and makes an effort can now get a German passport more quickly and no longer has to give up part of their identity by giving up their old nationality,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said on Tuesday.

While the new policy aims to expedite the citizenship process, the German government has subsequently pledged to apply greater scrutiny to those who they let in. 

“But we have also made it just as clear: anyone who does not share our values ​​cannot get a German passport. We have drawn a crystal-clear red line here and made the law much stricter than before,” Ms. Faeser added. 

While the ministry previously suggested that the new law would include questions on Jewish history, it confirmed the inclusion of the Israel stipulation on Tuesday.  

Given the country’s troubled history, the German government cites fighting antisemitism as “a key responsibility of our constitutional democracy and of society as a whole.” 

Germany boasts some of the most comprehensive laws against antisemitic speech. The German penal code prohibits public denial of the holocaust and even the dissemination of Nazi propaganda — including images of swastikas and pro-Hitler memorabilia. 

However, antisemitic incidents in Germany rose more than 80 percent last year, prompted by Hamas’s brutal attack on Israel on October 7 and Israel’s subsequent defensive war in Gaza, according to a report by German organization RIAS. 

More than 70 percent of the incidents reported after October 7 were “Israel-related,” the reporting agency claims.

“In many cases, previously existing stereotypes that serve to deny, relativize or justify violence against Jews, were transferred to the events of October 7,” the organization adds.