German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other prominent German political and religious leaders attended a rally in Berlin this weekend to show their support for the country’s Jewish minority and to express zero tolerance for anti-Semitism.
“That people in Germany are threatened and abused because of their appearance or their support for Israel is an outrageous scandal that we won’t accept,” Ms Merkel said. “It’s our national and civic duty to fight anti-Semitism.”
Ms Merkel only rarely attends demonstrations, but she joined German President Joachim Gauck and Jewish community leaders for the rally at the Brandenburg Gate in central Berlin.
She said: “Anyone who hits someone wearing a skullcap is hitting us all. Anyone who damages a Jewish gravestone is disgracing our culture. Anyone who attacks a synagogue is attacking the foundations of our free society.”
More than 500,000 Jews lived in Germany prior to the Holocaust but only about 30,000 survived. Merkel said, “That far more than 100,000 Jews are now living in Germany is something of a miracle.”
Reuters reported on the increase in anti-Semitic incidents that prompted the rally.
The German government said 131 anti-Semitic incidents were reported in July and 53 in June. That was up from a total of 159 in the second quarter. Merkel said authorities would use all means at hand to fight anti-Semitism. ….
In July, petrol bombs were thrown at a synagogue in the western town of Wuppertal and a man wearing a skullcap was beaten up on a street corner in Berlin.
A soccer match scheduled for next year between Israel and Germany was cancelled due to security fears.
Merkel reached out to Germany’s Jewish community, “We want Jews to feel safe in Germany. They should feel that this country is our common home, in which they like all people who live here have a good future.”
The rise in anti-Semitism in Germany is coming from a mix of the far left, far right and Muslim extremists, a senior Israeli government official told The Tower.
For some older Germans the attacks and racist chants and graffiti are reminiscent (via Google) of the black days of their youth.
“We haven’t heard these things on German streets for 50, 60 years,” said Dieter Graumann, president of the Central Council of Jews, sitting in his office on a Frankfurt side street. “The fact that people on German streets are saying Jews should burn, Jews should be slaughtered, Jews should be gassed. It hits a particular nerve for us.”
Germany’s main media outlets have also got behind the campaign to eradicate anti-Semitism.
A commentary in mass-circulation daily Bild said: “Stand up! Banish Anti-Semitism forever! By joining forces on Sunday at the Brandenburg Gate we will send a clear message against hatred towards Jews. Enough is enough! Anti-Semitism has no place in Germany!”
Earlier this month thousands attended a pro-Israel, pro-Kurdish rally in the German city of Frankfurt.
[Photo: AFP / YouTube ]