THE Morning Star’s German sister paper Junge Welt has spoken out against the “grotesque and dangerous” intimidation of UN special rapporteur on Palestine Francesca Albanese when she spoke at its offices this week.

As reported in today’s Morning Star, Junge Welt allowed Ms Albanese to deliver a lecture on Israel’s violations of international law during its invasion of Gaza at its premises after the booked venue, Berlin’s Kuhlhaus, withdrew permission under pressure.

The UN official had had previous scheduled lectures cancelled by two German universities and has been denounced as an anti-semite for drawing attention to Israel’s war crimes.

In a show of force, 20 police vehicles surrounded the newspaper office while she gave the talk, and 100 riot officers, some carrying guns, were deployed to intimidate those attending the Italian lawyer’s speech.

Ms Albanese says she has never experienced “so many threats, such intimidation” as during her trip to Germany. “As a European, I will never forget it,” she said.

Former Junge Welt editor Arnold Scholzel wrote: “The dominant ideology has now reached something like this: anyone who talks about Israel’s colonial settlement history and its connection to the genocide in Gaza is a Jew-hater.”

He noted that Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner of the Christian Democrats, frontrunners in the looming federal election, had denounced Ms Albanese as “disgraceful.”

“The hatred Wegner preaches is evidence of arrogance towards UN representatives and disregard for international law,” he warned. “After Tuesday, a lot of people can see what democracy is worth in this country.”

Mr Scholzel tied the repression to Germany’s designation of the socialist newspaper as “extremist” for advocating the replacement of capitalism, saying free speech was at risk in the EU’s largest country.

In January, riot police attacked a section of the annual march to the graves of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht which carried Palestinian flags and chanted pro-Palestine slogans.

Repression of Palestine solidarity is an international phenomenon, with Human Rights Watch warning Palestinian voices are systematically censored on platforms owned by Meta, Mark Zuckerberg’s company which owns social media giants Facebook and Instagram.

An Al Jazeera investigation has found US universities are suspending students who attend Palestine demonstrations and banning them from campuses.