Statement on the Arrest, Detention, and Deportation of Ali Abunimah in Switzerland

The DDGC Germanists for Palestine Research Co-Op and the Coalition of Women in German BDS Working Group express our unwavering solidarity with Ali Abunimah, co-founder and editor of The Electronic Intifada, and condemn his arrest by Swiss authorities ahead of a scheduled speaking event in Zurich on January 25, as well as his subsequent detention and deportation, and we demand the withdrawal of the outrageous and discriminatory ban on his entry to the country. 

Upon arrival in Switzerland, Abunimah was held and questioned for one hour at the airport before being released and then arrested that day after an emergency entry ban was imposed upon him. He is currently being detained in Swiss jail and set to be deported (Source: Electronic Intifada; Hebh Jemal on X). Meanwhile, Abunimah was baselessly smeared as an “Islamist Jew-hater” by the German-language Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung, in keeping with a disturbing pattern of German-language media using racist and Islamophobic language and stereotypes to target Abunimah and other Palestinian journalists.

In November 2024, the DDGC Germanists for Palestine Research Co-Op invited Abunimah to discuss his analysis of Germany’s relationship to Palestinians as well as previous attempts to silence and threaten him personally. Abunimah faced repression from the government in response to his participation in the Palästina-Kongress, a two-day conference highlighting student activism, international Palestine solidarity, and the German government’s role in the genocide in Gaza. The conference was scheduled to take place in Berlin in April 2024, but was shut down by police. When the event was moved online, Abunimah received a notice threatening him with fines and time in prison if he returned to Germany after participating in the conference. 

We urge our colleagues in German Studies not to remain silent about these and other escalations of anti-Palestinian racism in Switzerland, Germany, and Austria. For teachers and scholars of German language and culture, Palestine is not an optional subject. Anti-Palestinian racism is not merely part and parcel, but a cornerstone of German society’s increasing hostility towards people from Muslim-majority countries, and a front line in the current mainstreaming of ethnic nationalism. 

In reaffirming the profound importance and relevance of Ali Abunimah’s work to the core of German Studies, we stand in solidarity with all Palestinian political prisoners and all those who have been criminalized for dissent and resistance to racist violence.