Germany has tolerated a legal loophole for far too long, one that antisemites have repeatedly exploited.

But on July 10, 2026, the Bundesrat, the upper house representing Germany’s sixteen state governments, finally moved to resolve it. The Bundesrat backed a bill that would criminalize the public denial of Israel’s right to exist. If this becomes law, anyone publicly calling for the destruction of the Jewish state could face up to five years in prison or a fine.

For decades, Germany’s Jewish community has watched this legal loophole remain wide open. Under current law, perpetrators have repeatedly escaped criminal prosecution after publicly demanding Israel’s destruction. The issue lies in the German Criminal Code (Strafgesetzbuch, § 130 StGB). The law protects people and groups within Germany, not the existence of a foreign state.

Extremists quickly learned to exploit this distinction. They simply disguised their hatred as “political opposition” to a foreign state while chanting for its erasure. For Germany’s Jewish community, those slogans are never about distant foreign policy. They are directed at Jews here at home. This is a textbook example of Israel-related antisemitism: hostility toward Jews expressed through the delegitimization of the Jewish state. The Bundesrat’s initiative finally acknowledges the reality Jewish communities know all too well: anti-Zionism is nothing but a mask for targeted Antisemitism.

As expected, critics claim this proposal threatens freedom of expression. It is true that Germany’s constitution, the Basic Law, fiercely protects open debate. The Federal Constitutional Court has traditionally exercised considerable restraint when reviewing laws that restrict political speech. Until now, Holocaust denial was the standalone exception, justified by Germany’s unique historical responsibility. The Bundesrat’s argument follows the same logic: Germany has continuously declared that Israel’s security is part of its Staatsräson (state reason). If Germany truly accepts that Israel’s existence is inseparable from the lessons of the Shoah, then calling for the destruction of the Jewish state is a modern expression of Holocaust distortion, and denying Israel’s right to exist is a direct assault on the constitutional and moral foundations of Germany.

The draft now moves to the federal government before heading to the Bundestag, the primary legislative parliament, for the final vote. Whether Parliament ultimately adopts the proposal remains uncertain. But Germany has finally begun to close a legal loophole that should never have existed.

Dr. John Meister is board member of the German-Israeli Society in Hamburg, Germany.