German Jewish leader: Threshold for violence against Jews is falling

One year after the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, the leading organization for Jews in Germany is warning of increasing threats to Jewish life in the country.

"The inhibition threshold for inciting and carrying out violence against Jews is falling," Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, told dpa.

"This is a shocking development that we cannot simply accept."

Fighters for the Palestinian Islamist Hamas militia and other groups attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. They killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 hostages to the Gaza Strip.

Israel responded with an offensive in Gaza that health authorities there say has killed nearly 42,000 people. The figures do not distinguish between combatant and civilian deaths.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Germany are frequent, often accompanied by harsh accusations against Israel. Schuster noted that Jews in Germany increasingly feel abandoned, which reawakens deeply rooted traumas.

There is a "persistent surge of anti-Semitic acts" and a "mechanism of hatred," Schuster warned. The most common is Israel-related anti-Semitism. Anti-Zionism has become socially acceptable again as a battle cry.

"We have to sharpen our focus on what people who are committed to the Jewish community and to democracy need in order to continue their work at all," Schuster warned.

He said that politicians must strengthen the fight against anti-Semitism not only rhetorically, but "concretely through state measures and protective mechanisms."