Courtesy of JNS. Photo credit: John MacDougall/AFP via Getty Images
Germany’s Commissioner for Jewish Life and the Fight against Antisemitism Felix Klein speaks to an AFP reporter in his office in the Interior Ministry in Berlin on Sept. 19, 2024
(JNS) — Germany has experienced a “tsunami of antisemitism” since Hamas’s onslaught in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, while the anniversary of the atrocities could be a “trigger event” for civil unrest, two German officials said on Friday in separate statements.
Felix Klein, the first holder of the office of Federal Government Commissioner for Jewish Life in Germany and the Fight against Antisemitism, voiced stark warnings over the increase in anti-Jewish hate worldwide.
Speaking to AFP, he said that both in Germany and elsewhere the Hamas attack had led to “further breaches in the existing defenses in our society.”
He cited crime statistics in 2023, pointing to about 5,000 antisemitic incidents in Germany of which “half were committed after Oct. 7.”
Klein noted that the rise in antisemitism consisted of “classic German” right-wing elements, along with left-wing and Islamist elements who formed alliances around this issue.
Meanwhile, head of Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) Thomas Haldenwang warned that the anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack could serve as “great potential for emotionalization, polarization and radicalization,” AFP reported.
“The potential danger of possible terrorist attacks against Jewish and Israeli individuals and institutions, as well as against ‘the West’ as a whole, has increased significantly in the past six months,” he continued.
“Islamists have understood how to use the current Middle East crisis to revitalize their propaganda and mobilize their followers,” he noted, pointing to the lethal stabbing in the city of Solingen last month.
The Islamic State group is “using its propaganda to use the situation in Gaza to create emotions and encourage young Muslims in the West in particular to carry out terrorist attacks,” Haldenwang added.
A number of large pro-Palestinian demonstrations are scheduled to take place on Monday across Germany, the report added.
Berlin’s police spokesperson warned that “we are looking at the coming days with great concern” after witnessing “hatred, antisemitism and violent excesses” by some pro-Palestinian activists.
On average, about 33 anti-Jewish incidents occurred a day in Germany from Oct. 7 until the end of the year, compared to a little more than seven daily from Jan. 1 to Oct. 7, 2023, according to the new data, released on Tuesday by the Bundesverband RIAS, which is funded by the German state.
Two-thirds of the instances that involved “extreme violence, assaults and threats” also took place after Oct. 7, per the study.
“The unprecedented rise in antisemitic incidents must be understood as a wake-up call,” stated Benjamin Steinitz, managing director of the Bundesverband RIAS. “The state has the responsibility to ensure that Jews can safely participate in civic life.”
