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Morocco World
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Morocco World
Germany Moves to Deport Four Pro-Palestine Activists
Rabat – Berlin's immigration authorities have ordered four young foreign residents to leave Germany over accusation 'antisemitism' and 'support for terrorism' to due their participation in peaceful protests condemning Israel's genocide in Gaza. The deportation orders are set to take effect in less than one month despite the four individuals – three EU citizens and an American – not having been convicted of any crime. The activists, who must leave Germany by April 21, issued a joint statement accusing the German officials of weaponizing immigration law in order to silence pro-Palestinian voices. The unprecedented move has sparked concerns over freedom of speech and civil liberties in Germany, with many comparing it to the Trump administration's crackdown on pro-Palestine activism in the US. Alexander Gorski, a lawyer representing two out of the quartet, warned that Germany is witnessing a state of political descent into far-right policies. 'What we're seeing here is straight out of the far right's playbook […] You can see it in the U.S. and Germany, too: Political dissent is silenced by targeting the migration status of protesters,' said Gorski. The lawyer noted that this isn't the first where German authorities using migration law as a 'tool of repression against social movements' stating that he has encountered more than a dozen cases of Palestinian and other Arab nationals whose refugee status or residency were revoked because of their participation in pro-Palestinian rallies or even over social media posts condemning Israel's actions in Gaza since October 2023. Under German migration law, authorities can issue deportation orders without the presence of a criminal record if the cited reason is severe enough to warrant such a punishment. 'The key question is: How severe is the threat and how proportionate the response?' said Thomas Oberhäuser, a lawyer and chair of the executive committee on migration law at the German Bar Association. 'If someone is being expelled simply for their political beliefs, that's a massive overreach.' German officials have repeatedly justified their crackdown on pro-Palestine voices as a measure to combat anti-semitism and protect the country's Jewish population, thus atoning for its Holocaust. However, many argue that Germany has failed to break from its Nazi past, pointing to its treatment of anti-Zionist Jews who have spoken up in support of Palestine. In October 2023, German authorities arrested Iris Hefets, a German-Israeli psychoanalyst in Berlin, on charges of anti-Semitism, for merely walking alone with a placard reading 'As an Israeli and as a Jew, stop the genocide in Gaza.' That same month, more than a hundred German-Jewish artists, writers, academics, journalists and cultural workers published an open letter condemning Germany's repression of pro-Palestinian speech and widespread accusations of anti-Semitism directed at everyone who criticizes Israel's actions. Tags: Berlin Germanyfree palestineGaza protests
The Intercept
31-03-2025
- Politics
- The Intercept
Germany Turns to U.S. Playbook: Deportations Target Gaza War Protesters
Berlin's immigration authorities are moving to deport four young foreign residents on allegations related to participation in protests against Israel's war on Gaza, an unprecedented move that raises serious concerns over civil liberties in Germany. The deportation orders, issued under German migration law, were made amid political pressure and over internal objections from the head of the state of Berlin's immigration agency. The internal strife arose because three of those targeted for deportation are citizens of European Union member states who normally enjoy freedom of movement between E.U. countries. The orders — issued by the state of Berlin, whose Senate administration oversees immigration enforcement — are set to take effect in less than a month. None of the four has been convicted of any crimes. The cases are drawing comparisons to the U.S.'s use of deportation orders to suppress social movements. 'If someone is being expelled simply for their political beliefs, that's a massive overreach.' 'What we're seeing here is straight out of the far right's playbook,' said Alexander Gorski, a lawyer representing two of the protesters. 'You can see it in the U.S. and Germany, too: Political dissent is silenced by targeting the migration status of protesters.' 'From a legal perspective, we were alarmed by the reasoning, which reminded us of the case of Mahmoud Khalil,' Gorski said, referring to the Palestinian Columbia University graduate and U.S. permanent resident who was seized from his apartment building on allegations related to campus pro-Palestine activities. The four people slated for deportation, Cooper Longbottom, Kasia Wlaszczyk, Shane O'Brien, and Roberta Murray, are citizens of, respectively, the U.S., Poland, and in the latter two cases Ireland. Under German migration law, authorities don't need a criminal conviction to issue a deportation order, said Thomas Oberhäuser, a lawyer and chair of the executive committee on migration law at the German Bar Association. The reasons cited, however, must be proportional to severity of deportation, meaning that factors like whether someone will be separated from their family or lose their business come into play. 'The key question is: How severe is the threat and how proportionate the response?' said Oberhäuser, who is not involved in the case. 'If someone is being expelled simply for their political beliefs, that's a massive overreach.' Each of the four protesters faces separate allegations from the authorities, all of which are sourced from police files and tied to pro-Palestine actions in Berlin. Some, but not all, of the allegations would correspond to criminal charges in Germany; almost none of them have been brought before a criminal court. The protests in question include a mass sit-in at the Berlin central train station, a road blockade, and the late-2024 occupation of a building at the Free University Berlin. Read our complete coverage The only event that tied the four cases together was the allegation that the protesters participated in the university occupation, which involved property damage, and alleged obstruction of an arrest — a so-called de-arrest aimed at blocking a fellow protesters' detention. None of the protesters are accused of any particular acts of vandalism or the de-arrest at the university. Instead, the deportation order cites the suspicion that they took part in a coordinated group action. (The Free University told The Intercept it had no knowledge of the deportation orders.) Some of the allegations are minor. Two, for example, are accused of calling a police officer 'fascist' — insulting an officer, which is a crime. Three are accused of demonstrating with groups chanting slogans like 'From the river to the sea, Palestine Will be Free' — which was outlawed last year in Germany — and 'free Palestine.' Authorities also claim all four shouted antisemitic or anti-Israel slogans, though none are specified. Two are accused of grabbing an officers' or another protesters' arm in an attempt to stop arrests at the train station sit-in. O'Brien, one of the Irish citizens, is the only one of the four whose deportation order included a charge – the accusation that he called a police officer a 'fascist' – that has been brought before a criminal court in Berlin, where he was acquitted. All four are accused, without evidence, of supporting Hamas, a group Germany has designated as a terrorist organization. 'What we're seeing are the harshest possible measures available, based on accusations that are extremely vague.' Three of the four deportation orders explicitly invoke alleged public safety threats and support for Hamas to argue that the protesters are not entitled to their constitutional rights to free expression and assembly in deportation proceedings. 'What we're seeing are the harshest possible measures available, based on accusations that are extremely vague and in part completely unfounded,' said Gorski, the lawyer for two of the protesters. In an unprecedented move, said Gorski, three of the four deportation orders cite Germany's national pledge to defend Israel – the country's Staatsräson, German for reason of state – as justification. Oberhäuser, of the Bar Association's immigration committee, said Staatsräson is a principle rather than a meaningful legal category. And a parliamentary body recently argued that there are no legally binding effects of the provision. The distinction, said Oberhäuser, makes the use of Staatsräson in deportation proceedings legally dubious: 'That's impermissible under constitutional law.' Internal emails obtained by The Intercept show political pressure behind the scenes to issue the deportation orders, despite objections from Berlin immigration officials. The battle played out between bureaucrats from the branches of the Senate of Berlin, the state's executive governing body under the authority of Kai Wegner, the mayor, who is in turn elected by the city's parliamentary body. After the Berlin Senate's Interior Department asked for a signed deportation order, Silke Buhlmann, head of crime prevention and repatriation at the immigration agency, raised objections. 'There are no final criminal convictions to substantiate a sufficiently serious and actual threat.' In an email, Buhlmann noted her concerns were shared by the immigration agency's top official Engelhard Mazanke. Buhlmann explicitly warned that the legal basis for revoking the three EU citizens' freedom of movement was insufficient — and that deporting them would be unlawful. 'In coordination with Mr. Mazanke, I inform you that I cannot comply with your directive of December 20, 2024 — to conduct hearings for the individuals listed under a) to c) and subsequently determine loss of freedom of movement — for legal reasons,' Buhlmann wrote, referring to the three citizens of EU states as cases A to C. Buhlmann wrote that, though the police reports 'suggest a potential threat to public order from the individuals concerned, there are no final criminal convictions to substantiate a sufficiently serious and actual threat.' The internal objection, known as a remonstration, was quickly overruled by Berlin Senate Department official Christian Oestmann, who dismissed the concerns and ordered to proceed with the expulsion orders anyway. '[F]or these individuals, continued freedom of movement cannot be justified on grounds of public order and safety, regardless of any criminal convictions,' he wrote. 'I therefore request that the hearings be conducted immediately as instructed.' In a statement to The Intercept, a spokesperson for the Senate Department told The Intercept that the Interior department had authority over the immigration office. 'The Senate Department for the Interior and Sport exercises technical and administrative supervision over the State Office for Immigration,' the spokesperson said. 'As part of this role, it holds the authority to issue directives.' The Senate declined to comment on the specifics of the cases, citing privacy protections. The immigration agency did not respond to The Intercept's request for comment. In the end, Mazanke, the top immigration justice official, complied with the directive and signed the order. In Interviews with The Intercept, the four protesters on the receiving end of the deportation orders declined to discuss the specific allegations levelled against them. All four have, for the meantime, been ordered to leave Germany by April 21, 2025, or face forcible deportation. The most severe consequences would be faced by Longbottom, a 27-year-old American student from Seattle, Washington, who would be barred by the order from entering any of the 29 Schengen Zone countries for two years after leaving Germany. Longbottom, who denied any antisemitism, told The Intercept they have only six months left to complete their master's degree at Berlin's Alice Salomon University studying human rights work. 'Will I be able to finish my Master's program here? Where am I going to live?' Longbottom said. 'All of these questions are very unclear.' Longbottom, who is trans, lives in Berlin with their partner, an Italian citizen. The prospect of being separated weighs heavily on them. 'I don't have anything to start over with,' they said. 'As a trans person, the idea of going back to the U.S. right now feels really scary.' Kasia Wlaszczyk, 35, a cultural worker and Polish citizen, said he never imagined this could happen. He emphasized that allegations of antisemitism are predominantly a racist tactic levelled against Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims in Germany and the deportation orders reflected an increase in the use of the allegation against anyone standing in solidarity with them. 'Germany weaponizes these accusations,' he said. Wlaszczyk, who is also trans, hasn't lived in Poland since the age of ten. 'If this goes through, it would uproot me from the community I've built here.' he said. The sense of an impending loss of community was common among the protesters. 'They're being used as guinea pigs.' 'My illusion of Berlin has been shattered by the lack of response to the genocide,' said Shane O'Brien, 29, an Irish citizen. The violent repression of Arab communities in Berlin, he said, left him shaken. After three years in Berlin, the threat of removal now feels like a rupture to Roberta Murray, 31, who is also Irish. 'My life is here,' they said. 'I'm not making any plans for Ireland. I believe that we will win — and that we'll stay. I don't believe this will hold up in a court.' Gorski and other attorneys now filed an urgent motion for interim relief alongside a formal appeal challenging the legality of the deportation orders. He noted that he has worked on similar cases where migration law was used to target pro-Palestinian activists for their speech, but what sets the current four cases apart, he said, is the openness with which Germany's so-called Staatsräson is used to justify expulsions. 'These people's criminal records are clean,' Gorski said. Yet the Berlin government appears to be constructing a narrative of 'imminent danger' to sidestep due process. Gorski warned that the cases are a test run for broader repression against immigrants and activists in Germany, not just about four protesters. He said, 'They're being used as guinea pigs.'
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
SkyWater to Acquire Infineon's Austin Fab and Establish Strategic Partnership to Expand U.S. Foundry Capacity for Foundational Chips
Transaction strengthens U.S.-based production of essential chips for industrial, automotive and defense applications SkyWater plans to expand 200 mm capacity, technology offerings and capabilities while supporting U.S.-based dual-sourcing strategies in critical industries Long-term supply agreement ensures Infineon a continued high-volume manufacturing base in the U.S. BLOOMINGTON, Minn. & MUNICH, Germany, February 26, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SkyWater Technology (Nasdaq: SKYT) has entered into an agreement with Infineon Technologies AG (FSE: IFX / OTCQX: IFNNY) for SkyWater to purchase Infineon's 200 mm fab in Austin, Texas ("Fab 25") and a corresponding long-term supply agreement. SkyWater will operate the fab as a foundry, increasing available capacity in the U.S. for foundational chips on nodes from 130 nanometers down to 65 nanometers that are critical for many industrial, automotive and defense applications. Fab 25 will also substantially increase SkyWater's scale as a foundry and provide additional capabilities such as 65 nm infrastructure, expanded copper processing scale and high-voltage Bipolar-CMOS-DMOS (BCD) technology. The long-term supply agreement will enable Infineon to maintain a strong, efficient and scalable manufacturing footprint in the United States. Infineon and SkyWater believe that this strategic partnership will enhance the long-term viability and utilization of Fab 25. The transaction also affirms the long-term perspective for nearly 1,000 manufacturing jobs at Fab 25, since all current Fab 25 employees will become SkyWater employees as part of the agreement. SkyWater is a U.S.-based company with access to a broad customer base and a Trusted supplier of the U.S. Department of Defense. SkyWater believes the transaction will allow it to realize significant economies of scale, bring high-value manufacturing services to SkyWater's customers and support dual sourcing strategies for critical industries. Furthermore, SkyWater plans to transition the Fab 25 business model from Integrated Device Manufacturer (IDM) to foundry to bring substantial manufacturing capacity to a broad base of new customers over time. Foundational semiconductors are of strategic importance for several U.S. industries, including the defense sector. The partnership will strengthen the industrial base and domestic semiconductor supply chain in the U.S. as well as the resilience for critical foundational semiconductor technology. The closing of the transaction is subject to regulatory approval in the U.S. and is expected in the coming months. "The transaction fully aligns with Infineon's manufacturing strategy to create synergies with strategic foundry partners when in-house manufacturing does not offer competitive advantages," said Alexander Gorski, Executive Vice President and Head of Frontend Operations at Infineon. "The partnership with SkyWater creates mutual benefits and synergies, supports our profitable growth and provides us with a strong and trusted foundry partner, thereby safeguarding our long-term supply base in the U.S. We commend the contributions the Fab 25 team has made to our operations and thank the Austin community and our local and federal partners for their support and collaboration." "This milestone expands our partnership with Infineon and significantly increases our U.S. foundry capacity. We expect it will also enhance supply chain resilience for foundational chips that are critical to sensitive strategic applications, thereby strengthening both national and economic security," said Thomas Sonderman, SkyWater CEO. "This investment is an expansion that enhances our ability to serve both our defense and industrial customers. By leveraging the proven expertise of the talented team in Austin, we are positioning this fab as a cornerstone in the U.S. semiconductor foundry network—one that will extend our capabilities to support defense programs while also enabling new opportunities in commercial markets." The U.S. is a key business region for Infineon with around 4,000 employees, 15 locations dedicated to research and development activities and 1,000 employees in R&D roles. Infineon serves a multitude of American customers across all its market segments in automotive, industrial & infrastructure, as well as consumer, computing & communications. Currently, up to one billion semiconductor chips per year for major automotive, industrial and communications companies are manufactured in Fab 25. About Infineon Infineon Technologies AG is a global semiconductor leader in power systems and IoT. Infineon drives decarbonization and digitalization with its products and solutions. The company has around 58,060 employees worldwide and generated revenue of about €15 billion in the 2024 fiscal year (ending 30 September). Infineon is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: IFX) and in the USA on the OTCQX International over-the-counter market (ticker symbol: IFNNY). SkyWater Investor Webcast SkyWater will host a conference call today, Wednesday, February 26, 2025, at 7:30 a.m. CT (8:30 a.m. ET) to discuss its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2024 financial results. SkyWater will also discuss on the conference call additional information regarding the Fab 25 transaction. A live webcast of the call will be available online at SkyWater Form 8-K SkyWater is filing a Form 8-K with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that contains additional information regarding the Fab 25 transaction and related agreements. About SkyWater SkyWater (NASDAQ: SKYT) is a U.S.-based semiconductor manufacturer and a DMEA-accredited Category 1A Trusted Supplier. SkyWater's Technology as a Service model streamlines the path to production for customers with development services, high-volume production and heterogeneous integration solutions in its U.S. facilities. This pioneering model enables innovators to co-create the next wave of technology within diverse categories including mixed-signal CMOS, read-out ICs, rad-hard ICs, MEMS, superconducting ICs, photonics and advanced packaging. SkyWater serves the growing markets of aerospace & defense, automotive, biomedical, industrial and quantum computing. For more information, visit: SkyWater Technology Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements that are based on SkyWater's current expectations or forecasts of future events, rather than past events and outcomes, and such statements are not guarantees of future performance. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions, which may cause SkyWater's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Key factors that could cause SkyWater's actual results to be different than expected or anticipated include, but are not limited to, ability to obtain necessary regulatory approvals and satisfy other conditions to the proposed Fab 25 transaction on the anticipated timeframe or at all; ability to realize the expected benefits of the proposed Fab 25 transaction; ability to promptly and effectively integrate Fab 25's operations; negative effects relating to the announcement of the proposed Fab 25 transaction or the consummation of the proposed Fab 25 transaction on the market price of SkyWater's common stock; significant transaction costs and/or unknown or inestimable liabilities; general economic and business conditions that may affect the combined company following the consummation of the proposed Fab 25 transaction; and other factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of its annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and in other documents that SkyWater files with the SEC, which are available at SkyWater assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. SKYT-CORP View source version on Contacts SkyWater Media Contact: Lauri Julian SkyWater Investor Contact: Claire McAdams claire@ Infineon Investor Contact: Infineon Media Contact: Andre Tauber| Sign in to access your portfolio
