A lack of freedom of expression: US government criticizes Germany

The US government of President Donald Trump has attested Germany defects in freedom of expression and increasing anti-Semitism through migration. The human rights situation in the Federal Republic deteriorated over the past year, according to the annual report of the US State Department, which was presented in Washington on Tuesday. “Restrictions on freedom of expression” and anti -Semitic violence were “significant human rights problems” in Germany, the authors write.

“Censorship” in Germany, for example, is on online platforms, according to the US human rights report, referring to the EU support for Facebook or X, hate messages. In the fight against the causes of anti -Semitism, the German federal authorities also focused too much on right -wing extremists and downplayed the role of immigrated Muslims.

The Trump government has similar criticism in the report in other European countries such as France and Great Britain. In contrast, good grades receive authoritarian goals like El Salvador, which Trump supports his deportation policy.

The report states in Germany that the German Basic Law guarantees press and freedom of expression. “Nevertheless, the government has imposed restrictions on the freedom of expression of groups in accordance with national law, which it regarded as extremist.” In the past year, several people were arrested or convicted of refusal to hatred the racial hatred and support or denial of the Holocaust. The authors do not call specific cases.

At the same time, the Trump government criticizes the report that “anti-Semitic crimes” had “more than doubled” in Germany in the first nine months of 2024. In the fight against the causes, however, the federal authorities focused too much on right -wing extremists and played down the role of immigrated Muslims.

“Research suggests that an important driver of anti -Semitism in Germany (…) was the mass immigration (legal, illegal and over asylum) of population groups that are more likely to represent anti -Semitic beliefs as native Germans, with record numbers of migrants from Syria, Afghanistan and Turkey in recent years,” the report said.

In the past few months, statements by US government members had caused irritation on German and European politics. In February, US Vice President JD Vance accused Europeans at the Munich Security Conference.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio even spoke of “Capped Tyranny” in Germany after the Protection of the Constitution had temporarily classified the AfD in May as “secured right-wing extremist”. Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) banned such interference in domestic politics.

In the US government report, El Salvador gets good grades. In the Central American country there are “no credible reports of serious violations of human rights,” it says. On the other hand, organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders accuse the Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele to systematically cope with democracy since 2019, to harass media and to harass them.

Trump has irregular immigrants deported to countries such as El Salvador or South Sudan, which are considered to be injustice. The US President claims that the migrants concerned are consistently criminal, rapists and murderers.

The US State Department, on the other hand, certifies a poor human rights situation, countries such as Brazil or South Africa with which Trump is crossed. The US President accuses South Africa of a “genocide” of white farmers. He also tries to force Brazil with the help of high tariffs to drop a trial against his confidante, former President Jair Bolsonaro. The Supreme Court of Brazil accuses Bolsonaro of a coup attempt in January 2023. The case is reminiscent of the storm of Trump supporters at the US Congress in January 2021.