Staff at German Workplaces in Jordan Threatened With Dismissal Over Palestine Views

Date: 31 October 2023 - 21:55

News ID: ۱۲۰۹۲۹

AMMAN (Dispatches) – Staff in German governmental and non-governmental organizations operating in Jordan, including the German Embassy, are facing potential dismissal threats if they engage in online pro-Palestine advocacy, according to testimonies shared with Middle East Eye.
In some cases, employees have also been requested to express their disapproval of Hamas’s operation in southern parts of the occupied territories on 7 October. These actions seem to align with the stance of the ruling Social Democratic Party in Germany, which is currently endorsing the occupying regime’s military operations in Gaza.
In response to the latest measures against staff at German workplaces, the Jordanian NGO Action to Support the Resistance and Confront Normalization, an alliance of political parties, labor unions, and independent entities, has strongly criticized what it views as “foreign organizations in Jordan exerting pressure on their employees to elicit positions sympathetic to Zionist activities”.
Mohammad al-Absi, the coordinator of the organization, decried the policies adopted by these foreign entities, saying, “Certain foreign organizations operating in Jordan, which have consistently misrepresented their values and ideals as champions of freedom, liberal values, human rights, social democracy, and other misleading slogans, are now pressuring their employees. Our group has obtained evidence and complaints from some of these employees.”
Al-Absi further explained that this pressure on employees manifests in two primary forms: first, employees are pushed to adopt positions and beliefs that condemn and disavow resistance and violence associated with acts of armed resistance. Second, employees are restricted from writing, publishing, or sharing any content that supports the Palestinian cause or expresses solidarity with it.