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Voraussetzung für die Einbürgerung ist ein Bekenntnis zur freiheitlichen demokratischen Grundordnung. Bewerberinnen und Bewerber müssen sich auch zur besonderen historischen Verantwortung Deutschlands für nationalsozialistische Verbrechen und zum Schutz jüdischen Lebens bekennen. Auf eine verpflichtende Anerkennung des Existenzrechts Israels wurde im Gesetzgebungsverfahren verzichtet, auch weil dann genauer definiert werden müsste, welche Grenzziehung Israels genau zugrunde gelegt wird.
In days of telephone and email exchanges with public health and statistical experts in America I found a general belief that the civilian death toll in Gaza, both from the bombings and their aftermath, had to be significantly higher than reported, but none of the scientists and statisticians—appropriately—was willing to say so in print because of a lack of access to accurate data. I also asked one well-informed American official what he thought the actual civilian death count in Gaza might be and he answered, without pause: “We just don’t know.”
One public health expert acknowledged: “No clear and definite body count is possible, given the continuing Israeli bombing.” He added, caustically, “How many bombs does it take to kill a human being?”
Gaza was an ideal target for an air attack, he said. “No functioning fire department. No fire trucks. No water. No place to escape. No hospitals. No electricity. People living in tents and bodies stacked up all over . . . being eaten by stray dogs.
“What the fuck is wrong with the international medical community?” he asked. “Who are we kidding? Without a ceasefire, a million people are going to starve. This is not a debating point. How can you count something when the system is biting its own tail.” He was referring to the fact that the health system in Gaza—its hospitals and service agencies—”is being targeted and shattered” by Israeli aircraft and those responsible for the counting of the dead and injured “are themselves dead.”
Martin Amis. Photograph: Martin Lawrence/Daily Mail/Shutterstock
One of the real truths of the 21st century, and earlier, is that history is speeding up. We’re all on a sort of rollercoaster now. There are existential threats that weren’t fully acknowledged not so long ago. We are sort of hurtling forward. It’s more of a task to ask people to slow down.
—Martin Amis
