Latest news with #FederalAssociationofDepartmentsforResearchandInformationonAntisemitism
DW
2 days ago
- Politics
- DW
Migrants responsible for increase in antisemitism, says Merz – DW – 06/06/2025
Skip next section Merz: 'We have imported antisemitism with big numbers of migrants' 06/06/2025 June 6, 2025 Merz: 'We have imported antisemitism with big numbers of migrants' Chancellor Friedrich Merz has told US media that migration is a factor behind the rise in antisemitism in Germany. In an interview with Fox News, Merz was asked what he was doing to combat antisemitism in Germany and he said: "This is, especially for Germany, a terrible challenge that we are faced with such an amount of cases of antisemitism in Germany." "We are doing everything we can to bring these numbers down," Merz continued. "We are prosecuting those who are against the law. And frankly, we have a sort of imported antisemitism with the big numbers of migrants we have within the last 10 years, and we have to tackle this and we have to resolve this problem." "I would like to make it very clear, that the German government, and the vast majority of the German parliament, is strictly against antisemitism and against these people and we are doing everything we can to bring these numbers down." Merz's comments come on the back of data which earlier this week showed the rising numbers in antisemitic incidents in Germany. In 2024, 8,627 antisemitic incidents occurred — 77% more than in 2023. The data published by the Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism (RIAS) showed that of the cases documented, 5,857 were classified as "antisemitism related to Israel." A total of 544 cases were attributed to right-wing extremist views.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Germany's Merz blames migration for 'imported' rising anti-Semitism
Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said migration is a significant factor behind the rise of anti-Semitism in Germany, calling it a "terrible challenge" for the country. "We have a sort of imported anti-Semitism with the big numbers of migrants we have within the last 10 years," Merz said late on Thursday in an interview with US broadcaster Fox News. The phrase "imported anti-Semitism" has stirred controversy in Germany. It suggests that anti-Semitism is mainly a result of immigration, a view often echoed in right-wing circles. Critics say the term unfairly targets Muslims and migrants, while downplaying anti-Semitism within broader German society. Anti-Semitic incidents in Germany surged sharply in 2024, according to figures published by a monitoring organization on Wednesday. The report from the Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism (RIAS) documented 8,627 anti-Semitic incidents — a 77% increase compared to the previous year. Of these, 5,857 cases were classified as "anti-Semitism related to Israel" - meaning incidents in which Jews living in Germany are held responsible for the actions of the Israeli government, or where Israel's right to exist is disputed. The figure was more than twice as many as recorded in 2023. A total of 544 cases were attributed to right-wing extremist views, a record since RIAS began documenting cases nationwide in 2020. "We are doing everything we can to bring these numbers down," Merz said, adding that Germany was prosecuting those who break the law.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
German, Israeli ministers commemorate Holocaust ahead of Berlin talks
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar was in Berlin on Thursday for talks with his German counterpart Johann Wadephul, amid high international pressure on Israel over the humanitarian situation in the embattled Gaza Strip. On the first stop of his visit, Saar joined Wadephul at the Holocaust memorial in the centre of the German capital, which commemorates the six million Jews killed by the Nazi regime across Europe. "The fight against anti-Semitism, standing up for Jewish life in Germany and the commitment to the security and peaceful future of the state of Israel is and will remain our obligation," Wadephul said as he laid a wreath at the memorial in central Berlin with Saar. The memorial "reminds us Germans to remember the victims, to honour the survivors and to learn the lessons from the crimes against humanity of the Shoah," said the German minister. For his part, Saar said that 80 years after the end of the Holocaust, "the lessons seem to have been forgotten." "In Germany, there's an anti-Semitic incident once every hour," said Saar, referring to a report published by a monitor on Wednesday. Wadephul said he was "deeply" ashamed that the number of anti-Semitic offences in Germany has reached a new high, that Jewish residents no longer feel safe in the country and that they are advising their children not to speak Hebrew on the street. "And that is why the federal government will oppose all forms of anti-Semitism with clarity, rigour and consistency," he added. Second meeting in a month Wadephul met Saar in Israel on May 11 during his first official visit after taking office. The ministers are expected to discuss Israel's military campaign in Gaza and the catastrophic situation facing the civilian population in talks later on Thursday. The meeting comes after Wadephul on Wednesday pledged further German arms deliveries to Israel during an address to parliament. Wadephul had caused concern within the German government for earlier comments to a newspaper in which he said arms deliveries to Israel were dependent on a legal review of Israel's military conduct in the Gaza Strip. 'Jewish people are afraid' During the visit to the Holocaust memorial, the Israeli minister stressed the importance of paying attention to the recent rise in anti-Semitic crimes in Germany and across Europe. "Anti-Semitism is raging today unchecked in the world and especially on European soil," he claimed, adding that one anti-Semitic incident was recorded in Germany every hour, with 8,600 recorded in 2024. The minister was apparently citing figures released by Germany's Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism (RIAS), which documented 8,637 anti-Semitic incidents in the country in 2024, a rise of 77% year-over-year. However, the independent organization has been criticized by the German-Israeli journalist Itay Mashiach on behalf of the Diaspora Alliance, an organization that fights anti-Semitism, of "opaque methods," accusing it of overemphasizing "Israel-related anti-Semitism." "Today in Europe, today in Germany, Jewish people are afraid," Saar continued. "They don't feel safe in public." "Ancient hatred has been transformed into a modern plan of action to deprive (...) the Jewish people's right to its own nation state," Saar said. "To remove the right of Israel, the most attacked and threatened country in the world, to defend itself. And to put the Jewish people once again under the threat of elimination by enemies who are openly calling and acting to eliminate." Calls have been growing including among Israel's European allies to slap an embargo on weapons exports to the country over the devastating humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Record number of anti-Semitic attacks recorded in Germany in 2024
Anti-Semitic incidents in Germany were up by 77% in 2024 compared to the previous year, according to figures published by a monitoring organization on Wednesday, with the increase being partially attributed to the ongoing war in Gaza and the far right. "Never before have we been aware of more attacks against Jews in a calendar year than in the past year," said Benjamin Steinitz, managing director of the Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism (RIAS). The 2024 report details 8,627 anti-Semitic incidents, including eight cases of extreme violence, 186 attacks, 443 cases of property damage and 300 cases involving threats. Cases classified as "offensive behaviour" were reported most frequently with 7,541 incidents, including 1,802 cases recorded at public gatherings. The latter category defined incidents as anti-Semitic based on the content of speeches or other material used as calls to action. A total of 544 cases were attributed to right-wing extremist views, a record since RIAS began documenting cases nationwide in 2020. Meanwhile, 5,857 cases were classified as "anti-Semitism related to Israel" - meaning incidents in which Jews living in Germany are held responsible for the actions of the Israeli government, or where Israel's right to exist is disputed. The figure was more than twice as many as recorded in 2023. Steinitz stressed that the category did not include cases of mere criticism of the Israeli government. The rise in anti-Semitic attacks since the October 7 attacks in Israel recorded by RIAS, which documents cases reported by victims or eyewitnesses, is also reflected in official data. However, a recently published report by the German-Israeli journalist Itay Mashiach on behalf of the Diaspora Alliance, an organization that fights anti-Semitism, accuses RIAS of "opaque methods," criticizing it for overemphasizing "Israel-related anti-Semitism." RIAS recorded a total of 450 anti-Semitic incidents at universities last year, followed by 284 at schools, including 19 attacks. Steinitz described the Hamas-led attacks on Israel in October 2023, which triggered Israel's devastating military campaign in the Gaza Strip, as a turning point. "The risk of being attacked as a Jew in Germany has objectively increased since October 7," he said. Among the cases of extreme anti-Semitic violence recorded by RIAS last year is that of a Jewish student who was attacked by a fellow student outside a bar in Berlin. In the same category, the association also included a terrorist attack on a city festival in the western city of Solingen, which left three dead, as well as an attack by a suspected Islamist on the Israeli consulate general in Munich. Among the 186 registered attacks was the case of a Jewish pupil who was held by two men on her way to school who called her a "dirty Jew." In another incident in a park in the eastern city of Leipzig, 10 to 15 right-wing extremists attacked three men who had been talking about anti-Semitism. Among the cases of property damages, 50 incidents were recorded in residential areas. In March 2024, unknown perpetrators daubed two swastikas next to the front door of the home of a Jewish couple in Hamburg, while in April, a Star of David was smeared onto the house of a Jewish person living in Leipzig. Steinitz rejected the accusations levelled against the association, and the German government's anti-Semitism commissioner Felix Klein said he has "great confidence in the work of RIAS." Klein described the new figures as shocking and stressed the need for the fight against anti-Semitism to become "even more focused, intensive and successful." Cooperation with states, municipalities, associations, organizations and individuals is necessary "so that we can ideally see the numbers of anti-Semitic incidents fall again as soon as possible."
