Britain should follow Germany’s lead in weeding out anti-Semites

On the surface of it, Germany’s new pathway to citizenship sounds like a rare dose of sense from the one country in the Western world whose modern history means it still understands why Israel has a right to exist.

The shake-up makes it easier to get German citizenship, allowing people to apply five rather than eight years after they arrive in the country – and just three years for those with good language skills. But for die-hard anti-Semites, the process will get harder, with questions that may involve naming the date of Israel’s founding and showing knowledge of Germany’s commitment to Israel, its laws punishing Holocaust denial and even the requirements for joining a Jewish sports club. 

Given the extraordinarily obvious link – Islamism – between obsessive hatred of Israel and animosity towards Jews in general, such questions should help to weed out those migrants who pose a danger to national security. ‘Antisemitism,