Chancellor Scholz says he’s outraged by the spread of antisemitism.
By Susan Tawil, World Israel News
Germany’s parliament is working on a new law to prevent antisemitic immigrants from ever becoming citizens.
The German Interior Minister, Nancy Faeser, met Wednesday, October 25 with Israeli Ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, to announce the new directive. Faeser also said that supporters of the Hamas terror group would be prosecuted with the “full force of the law.”
Since the start of the October 7th Hamas terrorist war against Israel, there has been a jump in antisemitic incidents in Germany, among them the firebombing of the Kahal Adass Jisroel synagogue in Berlin. Security for Jewish institutions in Germany has consequently been increased.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke Sunday, October 22 at the inauguration of a new synagogue and said that he was “outraged” by the antisemitic agitation spreading in Germany. “The vow of ‘Never Again’ must be unbreakable,” he declared.
Also voicing their objection to the spate of anti-Semitism, 106 major German companies ran a full-page ad in Sunday’s leading German newspapers.
The ad was sponsored by prominent corporations such as auto makers Audi, BMW, Daimler, Porsche, and VW; Lufthansa airline; Deutsche Bank, Bosch, and Siemens (technology and engineering).
The companies spoke out against “all forms of hatred and anti-Semitism” and condemned Hamas for its terror attacks against Israeli civilians. Germany is committed to its “historic responsibility,” the ad stated, tacitly referencing the former Nazi state’s guilt over the Holocaust. The ad was headed “Nie Wieder ist Jetzt”—“Never Again is Now.”
There are now about 118,000 Jews in Germany, about 1.4%. There are also 5.5 million Muslims in Germany – mostly first and second generation immigrants – comprising approximately 6.5% of the population. The Pew Research Center 2017 report (based on immigration rates at the time of the study) projected that 20% of Germany’s population would be Muslim by 2050.