Jewish leaders: Anti-Semitism and radical Islam increasing in Germany

With radical Islam spreading in Europe, Germany sees a major rise in anti-Semitism.

Anti-Semitism in Germany is increasing with areas in the country considered too dangerous for Jews to venture, the head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany said this weekend.

“In some districts in major cities, I’d advise people not to identify themselves as Jews,” said Josef Schuster, who also serves as a World Jewish Congress (WJC) Vice President. Schuster delivered these comments in an interview with Bild am Sonntag, cited by Deutsche Welle. “Experience has shown that openly wearing a kippa or a necklace with the Star of David is enough to attract verbal or physical threats,” Schuster warned.

Schuster, who earlier this year called for the government to establish an anti-Semitism commission, criticized what he viewed as a lack of progress in contending with the issue.

“The European Union (EU) Parliament has recommended that all member states appoint such a representative … so it would be very strange if Germany didn’t appoint a commissioner to fight anti-Semitism,” he said.

Last week the American Jewish Committee (AJC) released a report showing that anti-Semitism was on the rise in the Berlin school system, especially among Turkish and Arab students.

According to the study, nearly 30 teachers from more than 20 schools in Berlin reported an increase in the number of anti-Semitic incidents, including the use of the word “Jew” as a generic insult.

The researchers behind the report also cited “warnings from individual teachers and experts over the increasing spread of different forms of Salafism [a form of radical Islam] in Berlin schools.”

There are no official statistics on anti-Semitic incidents in Berlin schools, although the Research and Information Office on Anti-Semitism in Berlin recorded 470 such incidents in Berlin last year.

According to a separate study from the Hanns Seidel Foundation that was released early last month, “more than half of Muslim asylum seekers showed clear tendencies of an anti-Semitic attitude pattern.”

By: World Israel News Staff

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