Study on anti-Semitic wave: Islamists in particular stirred up hatred in German-speaking countries

Germany has not witnessed so much violence against Jews, so much openly displayed anti-Semitism since 1945: During Hamas’ war against Israel in May, anti-Semitic incidents increased in Germany. According to a new study, there were 261 incidents. The masterminds were mainly Islamists.

At least 261 anti-Semitic incidents took place in Germany from May 9 to 24, the period of the war of the radical Islamic Hamas against Israel. This is the finding of the Federal Association of Research and Information Centres on Anti-Semitism (RIAS) and the International Institute for Research on Education, Social and Anti-Semitism (IIBSA) in a new report. According to the authors of the study, the main aggressors were Islamist organisations that created a hateful atmosphere even before the outbreak of war. They misused religious holidays for Islamist purposes and anti-Semitic agitation.

There had not been a comparable wave of violence against Jews in Germany since 1945. The study results prove a hatred of Jews and the Jewish state that is particularly strong in Islamist circles and is also regularly encouraged there.War lasted eleven days, which Hamas started with thousands of rockets fired at the Jewish state at the time. The Israeli army responded with military strikes from the air. Aggressive anti-Semitic demonstrations in all German cities – also in Austria – were the result, attacks on synagogues, burning of Israeli flags and attacks, threats and insults against Jews increased in Germany to an extent not seen since 1945.All known incidents are documented in the 75-page report “Mobilisations of Israel-related antisemitism in Germany 2021”, including 10 physical attacks, 18 threats, 22 targeted damage to property, 7 cases of incitement in bulk emails, 204 cases of hurtful behaviour, i.e. antisemitic insults and abuse. 76 of these cases of hurtful behaviour were anti-Semitic content spread on signs or as slogans.

“The high point was Saturday May 15, when 59 anti-Semitic incidents related to this year’s escalation were documented,” the RIAS and IIBSA report says. This day also saw the largest number of rally participants, with more than 17,500 people at 43 gatherings.

The actors belonged to the left-wing/anti-imperialist spectrum, came partly from the political centre, and nationalist and neo-Nazi ideas also surfaced. However, according to the report, sympathisers of Islamist organisations, namely Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Millî-Görüş movement and the Turkish Diyanet, have particularly contributed to the spread of anti-Semitic hatred and the incitement of violence.

According to the report, these had already fomented an atmosphere of hatred before the start of the armed conflict. The Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood networks in particular had concentrated on Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa mosque there in order to give the conflict an Islamist-religious connotation. In this way, they were also able to build a bridge between the Arabic- and the Turkish-speaking groups. The escalation of the conflict had been placed at the end of Ramadan in order to achieve an international religious focus on Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa mosque.

With success: In addition to contributions by actors from the neo-Nazi spectrum and by German-speaking anti-Israeli activists, “particularly radical speeches and calls for violence at demonstrations and in posts on social media were also written in Arabic and Turkish”.

When Hamas began its bombardment with rockets, after the end of Ramadan, “the two following days, Friday 14 and Saturday 15 May (at the end of Eid) (…) were dedicated in many mosques around the world to Jerusalem, the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Palestine in connection with the war”.

The German and European structures of Hamas supporters were largely responsible for the organisation and promotion of the May marches, especially the Palestinian Community in Germany (PGD), RIAS and IIBSA point out. According to the Berlin Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the PGD is an “umbrella organisation of Palestinian organisations in Germany, most of whose members belong to Hamas or sympathise with it”.

On May 11, several people pelted the windows of the synagogue in Bonn with stones and set fire to an Israeli flag.

On May 12, participants in an unregistered demonstration in Gelsenkirchen march near the synagogue there and shout “Shit Jews” and “Child murderer Israel”.

On the night of May 13, a stone is thrown at a window of the synagogue in Mannheim.

A few hours later in Bremen, a member of the press documenting an anti-Israeli manifestation is insulted as “dirty Jews” and “dirty bastards”.

Two days later, on May 15, an anti-Israeli rally in Leipzig features a placard that reads: “It’s important to know that Israelis are in control of the international media.” Participants in the counter-demonstration there are called names including “cunt Jews”.

On the same day, at a rally in Oldenburg, someone displays a poster that reads: “Israel drinks the blood of our children from the glass of the United Nations” – a modernised version of the old ritual murder legend.

In those days in May, at rallies in Gelsenkirchen, Hanover, Bremen, Halle an der Saale, Bielefeld, Berlin, Hamburg, Mannheim and Münster, the Islamist slogan “Khaibar, Khaibar, ya yahud, jaish muhammad saya’ud!” is shouted, in German: “Khaibar, Khaibar, oh Jews, remember Khaibar, Muhammad’s army returns!” This slogan recalls a campaign by the Prophet Muhammad in 628 against an area inhabited by Jews in what is now Saudi Arabia. It ended with the conquest of the territory and, according to various sources, with a massacre of part of the Jewish population.

https://exxpress.at/studie-zu-antisemitischer-welle-vor-allem-islamisten-schueren-hass/

One thought on “Study on anti-Semitic wave: Islamists in particular stirred up hatred in German-speaking countries”

  1. Imported anti-Semitism in the last country that would want to see a return to the Nazi era. Germany worked very hard to become a decent country again after Hitler. Now they are throwing all that away. As an American who spent his Army years in Germany, and loves the country, I am very saddened to see this. Damn Merkel.,

Comments are closed.