Anti-Semitism in Berlin Hits All-time High

Anti-Semitic incidents in Berlin, Germany, were up almost 50 percent compared to the previous year, Germany’s Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism (rias) reported on May 22.

The organization recorded 1,270 incidents, marking a record number for Berlin since the rias began its work in 2015. Over 60 percent of these incidents (783) were recorded between October 7 and the end of 2023.

The incidents have also become more violent, with 34 anti-Semitic assaults recorded. Incidents include molotov cocktails thrown at a synagogue and Jewish community center in Berlin and fireworks thrown at people speaking Hebrew in a bar.

Anti-Semitism has continued in 2024, with a total of 793 offenses in Germany between January and March alone, according to statistics from Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office.

Blame the Jews: The rias report says anti-Semitic abuse largely results from people holding the Jews accountable for the actions of the State of Israel in Gaza. In countries across the world, university students and other Hamas supporters have shifted the blame for the atrocious October 7 attacks to the Jewish state.

[M]ore often than not, as of late, we’ve seen protests directed at the State of Israel devolve into anti-Semitic rhetoric and the use of anti-Semitic images. If you are blaming the entire Jewish diaspora, Jews around the world, for the actions of the Israeli government, that is a form of anti-Semitism. If you are using images that show Jews as somehow particularly murderous, that’s playing on medieval anti-Jewish stereotypes that have been with us for almost a century, and that is a form of anti-Semitism.
—Robert Williams, executive director of the University of Southern California Shoah Foundation

German Jew-hatred: Since Hamas invaded Israel, radical Muslims and their supporters and anti-Semites around the world have been emboldened in their hatred for Israel and Jews. Such hatred, especially in Germany, brings back tragic memories of the past. Is history repeating itself?

To learn more, read “Echoes of the 1930s.”