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Straits Times
6 days ago
- General
- Straits Times
Antisemitic incidents in Germany almost double in 2024, report says
FILE PHOTO: People protest outside Berlin's Humboldt University in support of Israel and against antisemitism, in Berlin, Germany, October 5, 2024. REUTERS/Christian Mang/File Photo Antisemitic incidents in Germany almost double in 2024, report says BERLIN - The number of antisemitic incidents in Germany almost doubled last year, at a time of continued war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, the semi-official German body that tracks antisemitism reported on Wednesday. The Federal Research and Information Point for Antisemitism (RIAS) said it had registered 8,627 incidents of violence, vandalism and threats against Jews in Germany last year, almost twice the 4,886 recorded in 2023, and far ahead of 2020's 1,957. "Objectively, the risk of being persecuted as a Jew in Germany has increased since October 7, 2023," Benjamin Steinitz, head of RIAS, told a news briefing on the report, referring to the start of the Gaza war. "But debates about what counts as an expression of antisemitism seem to take up more space than empathy for the victims." The largest category of incidents reported by RIAS - about 25% of the total - fell within the category of "anti-Israeli antisemitism", which covers criticisms of Israeli policy that some regard as legitimate political expression in a democracy. In a report published last month, Jewish activist group Diaspora Alliance questioned what it said was RIAS methodology equating such criticism with antisemitism. Alliance activist Jossi Bartal said RIAS' approach "delegitimises criticism of the Israeli state, marking every expression of Palestinian identity as suspect", alluding to Israeli policy towards Palestinians in occupied territories. Steinitz told the briefing in response to questions that the Diaspora Alliance report distorted RIAS' work. "I think the aim of publishing the report now was to present our work as somehow controversial and discredit the experiences of victims." Antisemitic violence, vandalism and threats have surged in recent years, with far-right Germans responsible for around three times as many incidents as Islamists, RIAS reported. For Germany, tracking such incidents and countering antisemitism is central to its post-war project of atoning for the Nazi-era Holocaust of Europe's Jews. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
German spy agency pauses 'extremist' classification for AfD party, local court says
FILE PHOTO: Supporters of the Alternative for Germany party (AfD) wave flags as they take part in an AfD campaign rally in Hohenschoenhausen, Berlin, Germany, February 22, 2025. REUTERS/Christian Mang/File Photo BERLIN - Germany's domestic spy agency BfV will temporarily refrain from classifying the Alternative for Germany party as an extremist organization, pending litigation by the AfD, a court in the western city of Cologne said on Thursday. The agency would not publicly refer to the AfD as a "confirmed right-wing extremist movement" until the court has ruled on an AfD motion to issue a temporary injunction, the statement said. The extremist classification announced last week allows the Cologne-based spy agency to step up monitoring of the AfD, for example by recruiting informants and intercepting party communications. The agency's 1,100-page experts' report, which is not to be released to the public, found the AfD to be a racist and anti-Muslim organisation. The AfD says its designation is a politically motivated attempt to discredit and criminalise it. The AfD's leadership on Thursday welcomed the decision by the BfV, which the court said was not acknowledging any legal obligation. "This is a first important step towards our actual exoneration and thus countering the accusation of right-wing extremism," party leaders Tino Chrupalla and Alice Weidel said in a joint statement. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
05-05-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
Kremlin says Germany's decision on AfD is a restrictive measure
FILE PHOTO: Supporters of the Alternative for Germany party (AfD) wave flags as they take part in an AfD campaign rally in Hohenschoenhausen, Berlin, Germany, February 22, 2025. REUTERS/Christian Mang/File Photo MOSCOW - The Kremlin said on Monday that Germany's decision to classify the Alternative for Germany party as an "extremist" entity is a restrictive measure against European non-mainstream forces. Germany's domestic intelligence agency classified the AfD as an extremist entity that threatens democracy, a move enabling it to better monitor the party that came second in February's federal election. "The European political landscape itself is now full of various restrictive measures against those political forces and individuals whose world view does not fit into the dominant mainstream," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. He added that it was Germany's internal affair and that Russia has no intention to interfere. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
Why has German spy agency classified far-right AfD as 'extremist'?
FILE PHOTO: Supporters of the Alternative for Germany party (AfD) wave flags as they take part in an AfD campaign rally in Hohenschoenhausen, Berlin, Germany, February 22, 2025. REUTERS/Christian Mang/File Photo BERLIN - Germany's spy agency on Friday classified the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) as "extremist", enabling it to step up monitoring of the country's biggest opposition party, which decried the move as a "blow against democracy". The decision by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) was based on findings in a 1,100-page confidential report compiled by experts. Here are some of the key findings and pieces of evidence cited, according to security officials who have seen the report: ANTI-MIGRANT INCITEMENT Party officials frequently described citizens of immigrant background as "passport Germans" and used terms such as "population replacement" to describe what they say is the impact of large-scale migration. Migrants were often compared to invasive species or described as "knife migrants" or "knifemen". In October 2023, the party leadership accused the Greens in posts on social media of having a "Population Replacement General Plan", which carried echoes of "General Plan East", the Nazis' label for their plan for a genocide of Jews and other ethnic groups in eastern Europe during World War Two. Party co-leader Alice Weidel described knife crime in July 2023 as something exclusive to "people from a totally alien culture, from violent cultures ... It doesn't exist in our culture ... It only exists in the cultures of Africa and the Middle East". Senior party official Hannes Gnauck said on August 11: "We have to be able to decide again who belongs to our country and who doesn't. There's more to being German than a citizenship certificate... We are linked by an invisible band that you don't have to explain." RACISM The party youth wing ran a campaign, involving a song, a mini-game and a video clip, that depicted Black men as violent in "an extraordinarily racist way". ISLAMOPHOBIA Asserting that there had been 761 mass rapes in Germany the previous year, Weidel in 2023 said: "What we are seeing on German streets is jihad. A religious war is being fought against the German population." ATTACKING GERMAN DEMOCRACY AfD co-leader Tino Chrupalla described the destruction of the Nord Stream gas pipelines in 2022, and the lack of an immediate response, as proof "that this country can't be sovereign. That's not how you react when you're attacked." He later described mainstream parties as "American vassals". The Nord Stream pipelines, which brought Russian gas under the Baltic Sea to Germany, were blown up shortly after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
The Star
23-04-2025
- Business
- The Star
Delivery Hero to exit Thailand
FILE PHOTO: Cyclists drive past an advertisement promoting the grocery delivery company "foodpanda", in Berlin, Germany, August 13, 2021. Picture taken August 13, 2021. REUTERS/Christian Mang/File Photo (Reuters) - Delivery Hero's Asia-based business foodpanda is to stop operating its platform in Thailand on May 23, the German food delivery firm said on Wednesday. "Delivery Hero will continue concentrating efforts in other parts of APAC where the Group sees greater return," the firm added. The company's regional team, which is based in Thailand, will continue operations as usual, the company said. (Reporting by Tristan Veyet in Gdansk, editing by Miranda Murray)
