The ruling cliques in Berlin and Paris have attempted to prevent or otherwise criminalize pro-Palestine rallies over the last two weeks, and the move has been met with fierce resistance.

Currently, the French government is employing the police to brutalize Palestinians and their allies in the streets, using tear gas and water cannons against us. This is in the context of increasingly fascist-leaning policies in both countries. The government in Paris is reeling from a series of coups d’états in West Africa, which have led to an anti-colonial national bourgeoisie from the military taking power in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger.

Macron and other French representatives of neoliberal fascism are trying to find ways to maintain their military presence in the continent after such a rebuke from Bamako, Niamey, and Ouagadougou.

Georges Ibrahim Abdallah is still languishing in Lannemezan prison in France for fighting for Palestinian rights to resist colonialism. The Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network has been on the frontline of this fight to free Abdallah, and this same group is now facing repression in Germany, with threats to make this organization illegal, and threats to deport movement leaders like Ziad Abdulnasser.

This repression in Germany is not new, with the Munich city council calling BDS an "anti-Semitic" movement in 2017, and while this decision was appealed and considered unconstitutional by German federal law, the Bundestag passed a federal law in 2019 claiming that BDS is an anti-Semitic movement. In 2008, it was discovered that Germany and "Israel" were in the process of developing a nuclear warning system in secret, and in 2023, Germany bought the Arrow 3 missile system from "Israel" to provide to the Banderite clique in Kiev.

From the halls of the Bundestag, an anti-Palestinian sentiment pervades much of German society. Outside of the governing clique in Berlin, there exists a movement in Germany called the ‘anti-Deutsch’ movement. This movement came from a split in the German left in the 1990s in which anti-imperialists chose solidarity with Palestine, while Trotskyists, anarchists, and liberals chose to say that Marxist theories of imperialism are ‘structurally anti-Semitic’ and that therefore the anti-Deutsch see "Israel" as an example of a genuinely left-wing state.

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Needless to say, the analysis of the anti-Deutsch movement lacks credibility and stems from ‘Deutsche Schuld’ or German guilt for massacring Jews in World War II. A lingering question which remains for many; why does Germany not give up one of their 16 states for a Jewish state if they feel so bad for the atrocities they committed? What is clear is that there is a shadow of fascist politics which pervades Germany, and that should be remembered throughout what is being shared in this article and others.

This repression in Germany has personally affected me, and what I am about to share is being shared for the first time in public here. In August, I was denied a research job and PhD position in Germany for my writings published on Al Mayadeen’s English website. The justification for denying me the job was that I am "too partisan about Palestine" in my writing. The leader of the Junior Research Group did not wish to be accused of ‘anti-Semitism’ and therefore revoked an employment offer a mere month before I was meant to pick up my whole life and move to Germany. So while the subject matter of the research concerns anti-imperialism in Africa, the same sentiment is not extended to Palestinians struggling against colonialism and imperialism in West Asia.

I feel nothing but pity for the Europeans who fall into this trap of false equivalency, because they are held hostage by their corrupt governments. Anyone can read my writings and they will find no traces of anti-Semitism, which as a Muslim, I believe is a stain on the human spirit. Simply because I speak up for my people’s right to resist colonialism, I was denied a job which I earned on merit. Yet, despite any emotional suffering on my end, this denial of work is nothing more than a speck of dust compared to our martyrs and heroic soldiers in the Resistance who suffer violence and death every minute of every hour of every day that this illegal entity exists. To those who defend the Zionist colony–whether in conscious support or by failing to find the courage to defend Palestine out loud–I want to quote a beacon of light in our struggle, Ahmad Sa’adat: "What you call a list of accusations… are in reality my patriotic duties". It is the patriotic duty of every Palestinian everywhere to stand as a united front with our brave resistance in their battle against tyranny and colonial occupation. I thank Al Mayadeen for giving me a platform to amplify the anti-imperialist message.

In the United States, Palestinians and pro-Palestine groups face repression in the same manner. As of 2021, 35 out of the 50 states in the US have some sort of anti-BDS law on the books. In the midst of this heroic operation, the US government is affirming its support for what activists have called ‘forever wars’. According to a report from Al Mayadeen:

Late on Monday night, it was reported that the White House is preparing a support package that includes aid for "Israel," along with assistance for Ukraine, funding for strengthening the US-Mexico border, and aid for Taiwan.

Meanwhile, anti-Zionist Jews in America are harassed by their congregations and called base and vile names by their Zionist coreligionists. One Jewish Saturday school teacher near Chicago was fired for attending a pro-Palestine rally, and others have faced ostracization from their families and synagogues for standing up for truth and justice.

The Holy Land Five–Palestinians in the US accused of ‘funding terrorism’ through their charity–remain behind lock and key, with no sign that they will be released any time soon. In 2018, a speech language pathologist working in the state of Texas was denied a contract extension because she refused to sign what is in essence a ‘pledge of allegiance’ to the state of "Israel".

So before Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, Palestinians and Arabs in the US were facing pressure, and now Palestinians are not allowed to celebrate the powerful symbolism of Palestinians–both soldiers of the resistance and citizens of Gaza–breaking the fences, which have served to keep Gaza down. Many people in the American and European left demand that Palestinians include all sorts of caveats and exceptions to our solidarity with our people on the ground, rather than examining how their own societies promote and materially support genocide, occupation, and settler colonialism. In the meantime, we must remain united and steadfast in our hopes for liberation and peace in the region.