4 July 2025
Young South Africans Raise Alarm Over Germany-Backed Internship Programme’s Pro-Israel Bias
A deeply concerning question posed in the application process for a prestigious parliamentary research programme has sparked outrage among young South Africans and human rights advocates.
The Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) Parliamentary Research Programme, a German-funded initiative run in partnership with the South African Parliament, has come under fire for asking applicants:
“Do you believe Israel has a right to exist?”
Applicants say the question, posed alongside basic queries about South African governance, reveals a political litmus test and a dangerous intrusion of foreign ideological agendasinto local democratic institutions.
“This question is completely irrelevant to a research placement in Parliament and amounts to ideological screening,” said one applicant. “It is deeply inappropriate, especially as Israel faces global scrutiny for its genocidal campaign in Gaza.”
Since October 2023, Israel’s military has killed over 55,700 Palestinians, displaced over 90% of Gaza’s population, and targeted hospitals, UN staff, and journalists. Despite this, Germany, through arms sales and political support, has defied the United Nations (UN), the International Criminal Court (ICC), and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in protecting Israel from accountability.
The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security has recently strongly condemned German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s statement on 18 June 2025, in which he praised Israel for “doing the dirty work for all of us” in reference to airstrikes on Iran that killed over 900 people, including civilians. The Institute warns that such rhetoric from world leaders normalizes war crimes, dehumanizes entire populations, and undermines international law. It calls on Germany to uphold its constitutional and international obligations, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law.
The KAS, affiliated with Germany’s ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU), has been described as an instrument of German imperial soft power, advancing proWestern foreign policy, suppressing critical thought, and promoting apartheid apologism under the guise of democratic education.
“To ask South Africans to affirm the ‘right to exist’ of an apartheid state as a condition for entry into a parliamentary programme is unconscionable,” said the applicant. “It is nothing less than an attempt to criminalise solidarity with Palestinians and enforce silence around Israeli crimes.”
Human rights activists note that Palestinians have an inalienable right to selfdetermination, as affirmed by international law. They argue that Germany and its affiliated institutions like KAS are violating their legal obligationsby shielding Israel, and that third-party states, including South Africa, are duty-bound not to aid or abet the Israeli regime.
The press statement calls on the Speaker of Parliament to:
– Investigate the KAS application process and remove any politically biased questions;
– Review the terms of all foreign-funded parliamentary programmes;
– Affirm the right of South Africans to express solidarity with Palestine free from ideological vetting;
– Ensure that Parliament is not complicit in the global whitewashing of apartheid.
“South Africa’s moral standing in the world rests on its history of opposing apartheid,” the statement concludes. “That legacy must not be undermined by allowing foreign actors to promote Zionist propaganda and silence dissent in our democratic institutions.”
For media enquiries, interviews, or supporting documentation, please contact:
Usuf Chikte – 082 877 9522
Jaamia Galant – 079 231 4273
Martin Jansen – 082 870 2025
palestinesouthafrica@gmail.com