A landmark new citizenship law came into force in Germany on Tuesday with an explicit requirement for applicants to declare the state of Israel’s right to exist.
The socially liberal government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz made dual nationality a key campaign pledge when elected in 2021, promising to shorten the waiting time for new citizens to obtain a German passport to five years. The country did not previously allow dual citizenship for first-generation migrants.
But rising antisemitism, an increasingly fractious debate over Israel’s war against Hamas and a surge in popularity for anti-immigrant far-right politics have prompted Berlin to recast its citizenship overhaul as a tougher measure of loyalty to German values.