Since the outbreak of the war between Israel and Hamas, Germany has seen a large uptick in the number of recorded antisemitism incidents, including the attempted firebombing of a Berlin synagogue and an anti-Israel riot in the German capital that led to 20 police being injured.
The Federal Association of Research and Information Centres on Anti-Semitism (Rias), has recorded 202 antisemitic incidents since the conflict between Israel and Hamas began on October 7th. The newspaper Die Welt reported that the figure is a 240% increase compared to the same period last year.
The vast majority of the incidents are anti-Israel in nature—nine in ten of those reported. Rias claimed that Israel is largely being blamed for the massacres carried out by Hamas.
In fifteen cases, residences of Jews were marked with a Star of David, evoking scenes from the 1930s when the German Nazi party’s Stormtroopers, the Sturmabteilung, painted Stars of David on businesses that were later targeted for attacks and boycotts.
Rias claimed that the labelling of residences with Stars of David was particularly disturbing.
The group also noted that openly antisemitic demonstrations have taken place in parts of Germany, including a rally last weekend in Berlin’s Potsdamer Platz in which the 1,000 or so attendees shouted slogans calling for the destruction of Israel and glorified the actions of Hamas.
On Wednesday evening, a spontaneous pro-Palestine demonstration in Berlin turned into a riot as local police officers were attacked with bottles, stones and fireworks, leading to around 20 officers being injured as a result of the violence.
Police union regional leader Stephan Weh commented on the violence saying, “The pictures from yesterday evening clearly show that we are experiencing the effects of a religious war on the streets of the capital and that our emergency services are becoming targets of religious fanaticism.”
The riot took place at Berlin’s iconic Brandenburg Gate at around 9:15 pm and involved around 300 people but when the protestors attempted to move after holding a brief vigil, the scenes became violent and police were attacked.
Elsewhere in the area of Neukölln at around 11:20 pm, another group gathered and began setting objects on fire in the road. Emergency services were attacked when they attempted to put out the fires with a police water cannon, which was, in turn, then used on the rioters.
Police were forced to do firefighting duties as the Berlin fire brigade explained that the situation was too dangerous for them to operate safely.
“Due to protesting persons, firefighting can only be carried out by securing the Berlin police. Our emergency services were previously attacked and shot at with pyrotechnics. We have 40 people on site,” the fire brigade said.
During the early hours of Wednesday, October 18th, two unknown assailants attempted to firebomb a synagogue in the Mitte district of Berlin on Brunnenstraße at around 3:45 am. The attack is believed to have involved Molotov cocktail-style weapons
Gideon Joffe, chairman of the Jewish Community of Berlin expressed outrage over the attempted firebombing saying:
85 years after the Kristallnacht pogrom, synagogues in Germany’s capital are burning again. The anti-Jewish violence on the streets of Berlin has thus reached a new dimension. Quite rightly, the security measures for Jewish institutions in Berlin have been increased. And it was probably possible to prevent even worse things from happening for the time being. But despite everything, Jews in our city no longer feel safe.
The Central Council of Jews also commented on the attempted arson stating, “This arson attack is the logical continuation of the glorification of Hamas terror on German streets. The ‘Day of Wrath’ is not just a phase. It is psychological terror that leads to concrete attacks.”
The “Day of Wrath” or “Day of Jihad” was called by former Hamas leader Khalid Mashal for Friday, October 13th. He called on Muslims across the world to stage mass protests against Israel and to take action to engage in “holy war.”
Chancellor Olaf Scholz reacted to the surge of antisemitism by stating that his government would be stepping up security measures for the Jewish community in Germany.
“It is quite clear that we will not and will never accept attacks against Jewish institutions,” Sholz said during a visit to Cairo.
“The assembly authorities must do their part, and the police must do their part to protect Jewish institutions. And that’s what we’re going to do and we’re going to step up everything,” he said. He added his own personal outrage regarding the attempted arson.
Antisemitism in Berlin had been on the rise even before the outbreak of the war between Hamas and Israel. A 2019 report claimed that there had been over a thousand antisemitic cases in 2018 alone.
