DayofPal– Outrage among human rights advocates erupted after German authorities have separated a Palestinian-Jordanian mother from her one-year-old son, citing the infant as a “security threat”.
Critics say the move reflects a growing crackdown on Palestinian solidarity in Europe.
Dima, a nurse with German residency who moved to the country from Jordan in 2017, gave birth to her son in 2023. A year later, she and her husband traveled to Jordan to introduce their newborn to extended family.
When the family attempted to return to Germany in August 2024, border authorities denied re-entry to the baby, despite his German-issued residency documents, on the grounds of national security.
The European Legal Support Centre (ELSC), which is supporting the family’s case, described the decision as one of the most severe examples of Germany weaponizing its immigration system against pro-Palestinian voices.
“The German state systematically exploits residence, asylum, and citizenship laws to punish already marginalized communities,” an ELSC spokesperson said. “To label a one-year-old a ‘security threat’ marks a grotesque new low.”
Initially, German embassy officials in Amman assured the family that the issue was bureaucratic. However, months later, correspondence from Germany’s migration office confirmed the refusal was linked to an ongoing investigation, bot into the child, but into Dima herself.
She was informed that the Verfassungsschutz, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, had opened a probe over her alleged involvement in Palestinian advocacy, particularly activities connected to Samidoun Deutschland, a pro-Palestinian group banned by the German government in 2023.
Dima maintains that she has always acted within the bounds of the law. “I always went to authorized demonstrations. I always registered actions in advance,” she said. “They just want to silence my voice.”
Her lawyer, Ebru Akcan Asilturk, argues that German authorities used a technicality in the child’s temporary residency status to trap the family in Jordan, and then used that as a pretext to separate mother and child.
“They engineered this,” Asilturk stated, “not out of concern for security, but to punish lawful activism.”
In February 2025, a Berlin court ruled that the baby’s return to Germany was not urgent. The court suggested that the parents could either stay in Jordan with the child or travel back and forth, effectively forcing them to choose between their residency rights and their parental bond.
For the past nine months, Dima and her husband have taken turns living with their son in Jordan, each alternating time with him while struggling to maintain their legal presence and livelihood in Germany.
“He started calling anyone in the street ‘papa’… he lost the connection,” Dima said tearfully.
The ELSC has since filed a case with Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court, challenging the legality and proportionality of the state’s actions. A higher administrative court is also reviewing the family’s appeal.
Dima, the first in her family born outside Palestine, comes from a lineage twice displaced, her mother’s family in 1948, and her father’s in 1967.
Despite the challenges, she said her activism in Germany had made her feel spiritually closer to Palestine.
“Sometimes, during the chants, I felt like I was in Palestine,” she said. “But this separation… this is the hardest part.”
“I know I’m not the only one,” Dima added. “Others didn’t have the support to fight this. I just happened to be the one who could.”
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