Germany: Covid-19 Triggers New Wave of Anti-Semitism

by Soeren Kern
February 24, 2021 at 5:00 am

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17095/germany-covid-antisemitism

Translations of this item:

German police reported a total of 2,275 anti-Semitic hate crimes — an average of six per day — in 2020, according to preliminary data provided by the federal government. The tally represents a more than 10% increase over the number of anti-Semitic crimes reported in 2019... Police were able to identify 1,367 suspects — but only five individuals were ultimately arrested.
It remains unclear why so few perpetrators have faced legal consequences for their crimes, especially when government officials repeatedly claim that fighting anti-Semitism is a top priority. A reason may be that it is politically incorrect to identify the true suspects.
German police, possibly under orders from political authorities, systematically assign unsolved anti-Semitic hate crimes to the far right.
"Why are the majority of anti-Semitic acts attributed to 'right-wing' German perpetrators? One can see a political motive behind this — growing anti-Semitism can be used politically as a weapon 'against the right.'" — Tichys Einblick.
"There has been criticism from experts for a long time that the allocation of the vast majority of anti-Semitism cases to right-wing extremist perpetrators is incorrect and that other groups of perpetrators, for example from Islamist and other Muslim circles, are given too little attention." — Die Welt.
"Even today, anti-Semitism is not just a phenomenon of the right-wing extremist fringes. It reaches into the middle of our society." — German Foreign Minister Heiko Mass.

Some German anti-lockdown protesters have trivialized the Holocaust by putting themselves on the same level as the Jews persecuted by the Nazi regime and by referring to themselves as resistance fighters opposing an allegedly undemocratic government. Some protesters have claimed that the government-imposed quarantines are equivalent to Nazi-era prison camps. Pictured: A demonstrator holds a poster comparing the Citizen Protection Law of Chancellor Angela Merkel's government with Adolf Hitler's 1933 Decree for the Protection of People and State, as police disperse a protest against government measures to limit the spread of coronavirus, on November 18, 2020 in Berlin. (Photo by Tobias Schwarz/AFP via Getty Images)

The number of anti-Semitic hate crimes in Germany surged to a two-decade high in 2020, according to new statistics released by the German government. Anti-Semitism in Germany has been steadily growing in recent years, fueled in part by far-left anti-Israel activists and by mass migration from the Muslim world. The problem is now being exacerbated by the Coronavirus pandemic, which far-right conspiracy theorists are blaming on both Jews and Israel.

German police reported a total of 2,275 anti-Semitic hate crimes — an average of six per day — in 2020, according to preliminary data provided by the federal government. The tally represents a more than 10% increase over the number of anti-Semitic crimes reported in 2019, itself a record-breaking year for such offenses. The official numbers represent only the crimes reported to the police; the actual number of incidents is presumably much bigger.

The new data, published on February 11 by the newspaper Tagesspiegel, shows that police were able to identify 1,367 suspects — but that only five individuals were ultimately arrested. The statistics also show that 55 (roughly 2.5%) of the crimes involved violence. This implies that most of the other incidents appear to involve anti-Semitic hate speech on the internet, property damage or propaganda crimes such as anti-Jewish graffiti.

The number of anti-Semitic crimes registered in 2020 was the highest since the Federal Criminal Police (Bundeskriminalamt, BKA) introduced the so-called Politically Motivated Crime (Politisch motivierte Kriminalität, PMK) recording system in 2001.

Identifying the Perpetrators

It remains unclear why so few perpetrators have faced legal consequences for their crimes, especially when government officials repeatedly claim that fighting anti-Semitism is a top priority. A reason may be that it is politically incorrect to identify the true suspects.

The anti-Semitism statistics for 2020 do not include information about the backgrounds of the perpetrators. Tagesspiegel, as is common with German media outlets, automatically blamed the far-right:

"From the point of view of the police, most anti-Semitic crimes can be attributed to right-wing perpetrators. Islamist, left-wing and other Jew haters are only a small minority in the statistics."

Independent studies, however, have found that right-wing extremists have been responsible for only a fraction of anti-Semitic attacks in Germany in recent years. The Berlin-based Research and Information Center on Antisemitism (Recherche- und Informationsstelle Antisemitismus, RIAS), for instance, reported that that the far-right was responsible for less than 20% of anti-Semitic hate crimes in Berlin in 2018.

A 2017 survey of German Jews by the University of Bielefeld found that 60% of anti-Semitic attacks were said to have been carried out by Muslims, compared to 19% by far-left extremists and 19% by far-right perpetrators. Muslims were also said to be responsible for 81% of anti-Semitic attacks involving physical violence. The survey found that 70% of German Jews believe that mass migration from the Muslim world has fueled anti-Semitism in Germany.

Nevertheless, German police, possibly under orders from political authorities, systematically assign unsolved anti-Semitic hate crimes to the far right. In one well-known case, police blamed far-right extremists for chanting the Nazi slogan "Sieg Heil" at an Islamist al-Quds rally in Berlin.

The director of RIAS, Benjamin Steinitz, said that slogans like "Sieg Heil" or "Jews out," which are automatically attributed to right-wing extremists, are also popular in Islamist circles. He added that most anti-Semitic incidents are attributed to German citizens, but the statistics do not reveal whether they are Muslim immigrants who have obtained German citizenship.

An April 2017 report by the Independent Expert Group on Anti-Semitism (Unabhängigen Expertenkreises Antisemitismus), which advises the German government, found:

"Xenophobic and anti-Semitic crimes are always assigned to the far right if no further specifics can be identified and for which no suspects have been identified. This may result in a distorted picture of the motivation for the crime and its perpetrators."

In May 2019, after the German Interior Ministry blamed 90% of the anti-Semitic attacks in Germany on "right-wing" perpetrators, the influential German blog Tichys Einblick wrote:

"The number of anti-Semitic acts in Germany has increased to a worrying degree.... This includes anti-Semitic graffiti or damage, threats against Jews or physical, violent assaults. Anti-Semitism is shameful for the whole country. In the statistics, 90% of the crimes are right-wing extremist perpetrators. But... most of the perpetrators are anonymous and are never caught. How do you know whether a swastika graffiti or an insult against Jews comes from right-wing German perpetrators? The police simply 'suspect' this.

"Only recently, a parliamentary inquiry revealed that a large part of the anti-Semitic crimes there — 120 of 253 cases — were assigned to the 'right' in the statistics, although the perpetrators' motives were unknown....

"The well-known historian and anti-Semitism expert Michael Wolfssohn described Muslim anti-Semitism as the most dangerous threat to Jews in Germany and Europe.

"Why are the majority of anti-Semitic acts attributed to 'right-wing' German perpetrators? One can see a political motive behind this — growing anti-Semitism can be used politically as a weapon 'against the right.'"

In July 2019, after police provided the German Senate with inaccurate statistics on the perpetrators of anti-Semitic hate crimes, the newspaper Die Welt wrote:

"There has been criticism from experts for a long time that the allocation of the vast majority of anti-Semitism cases to right-wing extremist perpetrators is incorrect and that other groups of perpetrators, for example from Islamist and other Muslim circles, are given too little attention."

In January 2021, Israel's Ministry of Diaspora Affairs wrote about anti-Semitism in Germany:

"Police sometimes don't even interfere in antisemitic incidents and instead stand nearby watching. In most cases, they don't react because they don't recognize an antisemitic incident or don't understand that expressing antisemitic statements is a problem, and thus don't see any reason to interfere. This lack of awareness also leads to the fact that most complaints by victims of antisemitic crimes are not being processed by the police.

"In addition to this, the police continue to assign antisemitic incidents to the 'Right' when no further specifications are identifiable, and the suspects are unknown. The Bundestag [Parliamentary] reports, which are based on the data reported by the police, attribute the overwhelming majority (94%) of incidents to rightwing motives. As in previous years, this number is being contested by organizations monitoring antisemitism, politicians, Jewish leaders and experts, as well as the Federal Commissioner for Antisemitism, who argue that the police's system of categorizing incidents leads to a distorted picture concerning the motive and the perpetrators' circle, and thus hampers effective policy making."

In 2020, the highest-profile anti-Semitic incident in Germany involved the Chief Rabbi of Munich, Shmuel Aharon Brodman. On July 9, while exiting a tram, he was verbally assaulted by four men who insulted him and made disparaging comments about the State of Israel. According to Brodman, the men spoke both English and Arabic. Police later said that the alleged suspects were between 20 and 30 years of age and of Arab descent.

To be sure, the far-right also bears responsibility for anti-Semitism in Germany — just not all of it, as is often claimed. One of Germany's leading anti-Semitism scholars, Monica Schwarz-Friesel, has noted that what makes the far right particularly frightening — and therefore more newsworthy — is that they are completely open about their hatred of Jews and Israel. By contrast, she said, Jew haters on the far left tend to shroud their anti-Semitism behind the guise of anti-Zionism and Palestinian activism.

Coronavirus-Related Anti-Semitism

The surge in anti-Semitism in Germany in 2020 is also related to the Coronavirus pandemic, which fringe groups are using as a pretext to spread anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. Some of the conspiracy theories consist of medieval anti-Jewish scapegoating repackaged for a modern pandemic. A common claim is that Jews manufactured the Coronavirus to advance their supposed global control.

Most Coronavirus-related anti-Semitism is spread on the internet. A comprehensive assessment of Coronavirus-related anti-Semitism in Germany can be found in the 2020 Annual Report on Anti-Semitism published by Israel's Ministry of Diaspora Affairs on January 27, 2021:

"In 2020, a total of 42.3K German posts, written by 11.24K users, were categorized as antisemitic by the ACMS [Anti-Semitism Cyber Monitoring System]. New Antisemitism [manifested as opposition to Zionism and criticism of the Israeli government] (39.1%) and Classic Antisemitism [manifested as demonization of Jews, Jewish conspiracy theories and call for explicit violence against Jews] (40.5%) accounted for almost the same share of antisemitic discourse, and Holocaust Denial and Distortion accounted for 20.4%....

"The number of posts featuring Holocaust trivialization and antisemitic conspiracy theories referencing Covid-19 have been on the rise since March. The most common types of antisemitic posts relate to different forms of conspiracy theories and among them 53.4% contained Classic Antisemitism....

"Other altered antisemitic codes include theories surrounding 'Jewish influence,' and claims the pandemic serves the Jews to amass enormous profits from the vaccines, and thus take over the world's economy, and ultimately, world domination....

"Well-known Jewish personalities such as members of the Rothschild family or George Soros are referred to as backers, masterminds, or profiteers of the pandemic because of their alleged influence on the pharmaceutical industry.

"Anti-vaxxers also compare alleged 'vaccination stations' to Auschwitz, and claim that the police are developing a dictatorship which will persecute those who refuse the vaccine by sending them to concentration camps...."

Coronavirus Protests

As in other European countries, central and local governments in Germany have tried to contain the pandemic with lockdowns and other severe restrictions on personal movement. The extended social distancing measures, which have caused widespread economic and financial distress, have sparked anti-government protests.

Germans opposed to government lockdowns hail from across the political spectrum: this is not a strictly left or right issue, but one of freedom of expression and freedom of assembly to protest against what many perceive to be a massive government assault on civil liberties.

Some of the protests are being organized by a small but growing grassroots movement called Querdenker ("Unconventional Thinkers" or "Out-of-the-Box Thinkers") that opposes German Chancellor Angela Merkel's "Merkill Corona dictatorship."

The Querdenker movement was founded by Michael Ballweg, a Stuttgart-based software entrepreneur, to pressure the Merkel government to lift the Coronavirus-related restrictions on basic constitutional rights. It's manifesto states:

"We insist on the first 20 articles of our constitution: human rights; personal rights; freedom of belief and conscience; freedom of opinion; freedom of assembly; freedom of movement. We are non-partisan and do not exclude any opinion."

The movement, which now has 70 branches across Germany, has organized more than 100 Coronavirus protests, which, according to the group, have been attended by at least 100,000 people.

One of the largest Querdenker demonstrations to date took place in Berlin on August 29, 2020. An estimated 40,000 people — libertarians, constitutionalists, Greens, esoterics, naturopaths, LGBT activists, pandemic deniers, anti-vaccine and anti-mask activists and families with children — gathered to protest the government's Coronavirus policies. The protests turned violent after being infiltrated by several hundred far-right agitators waving Nazi-era flags.

Since then, dozens of anti-Semitic incidents have been reported at such rallies. Some protesters have been seen wearing t-shirts with Nazi-era yellow stars in which the word "Jew" was replaced with "unvaccinated." Others have carried posters with the inscription, "Vaccination makes you free," a reference to the "Work makes you free" slogan placed at the entrance to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Some have referred to the "final solution of the Corona question" as well as of "vaccination in Dachau."

Other protesters have trivialized the Holocaust by putting themselves on the same level as the Jews persecuted by the Nazi regime and by referring to themselves as resistance fighters opposing an allegedly undemocratic government. Some protesters have claimed that the government-imposed quarantines are equivalent to Nazi-era prison camps. Others have said that after being in quarantine, they now know how Anne Frank felt.

"By comparing the measures taken to contain the pandemic to the Holocaust, the Shoah is being trivialized," said Alexander Rasumny of RIAS. "Something like that is hurtful for all people who have a personal point of reference to the Shoah, actually for all Jewish people."

Foreign Minister Heiko Maas recently warned that many of the conspiracy theories about the Coronavirus pandemic had made it clear: "Even today, anti-Semitism is not just a phenomenon of the right-wing extremist fringes. It reaches into the middle of our society."

The German government's anti-Semitism commissioner, Felix Klein, warned that the Coronavirus pandemic is becoming a breeding ground for anti-Jewish agitation:

"Unfortunately, it is not surprising that Jews and Israel are primary targets. Anti-Semitic hate speech spreads quickly on the internet and in particular on the common social media platforms.

"We are talking about a Jewish takeover of the world economy, Jewish profits from a possible vaccine, biological weapons developed by Israel, or a Jewish attempt to reduce the world population. The crudest forms of anti-Semitism are breaking out.

"The past has tragically shown that words can become deeds. Each and every individual is challenged here by intervening and reporting anti-Semitic defamations to the platform operators."

Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht announced more intensive action against anti-Jewish statements on the internet. "We will require more accountability from online platforms. They must not to allow themselves to be misused to agitate and hurl conspiracy theories."

Meanwhile, German analyst Stefan Frank has detailed how left-leaning media in Germany and elsewhere are also responsible for pushing anti-Israel and anti-Zionist memes related to the pandemic:

"Anti-Israel activists in the media are currently running a downright fake news campaign aimed at giving the public the false news that the Palestinians are not getting vaccines and that Israel is to blame. Not only AP and ZDF, but also a number of others are involved....

"Behind this is not just a general aversion to Israel, but the conscious strategy of never reporting anything positive about Israel. If the vaccinations have started in Israel, readers might get the idea that this is a good thing. That is why the message has to be turned into its opposite by omitting relevant information, distorting it and outright lies."

Select Commentary

The 2020 Annual Report on Anti-Semitism published by Israel's Ministry of Diaspora Affairs on January 27, 2021 noted:

"In 2021, Germany will be celebrating 1,700 years of Jewish life in its territory [the first documentary evidence of settlement of Jewish communities north of the Alps comes from the year 321. In an edict, Emperor Constantine allowed the magistrate of Cologne to accept Jewish members] but is still struggling with antisemitism....

"We identified a massive increase in consumption of conspiracy theories claiming that Jews sought to profit from the Coronavirus from the pharmaceutical industry, that Jews were disproportionately responsible for spreading the virus, or that Jews are using the virus to create a New World Order that will tighten their grasp over world economies. Anti-vaxxers wore yellow stars in demonstrations and posted them to their social media profiles; comparing coronavirus restrictions to the Nazi restrictions placed against Jews during the Holocaust while claiming they were being led to the vaccine 'like sheep to the slaughter.'

The head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, said:

"In view of the numerous anti-Semitic incidents at the Corona-denial demonstrations last year and the conspiracy myths on the internet, it was unfortunately to be expected that the number of anti-Semitic crimes would rise again. Now it is a sad certainty. The preliminary statistics show that the radicalization of society is advancing and respect for minorities is falling."

The German government's anti-Semitism commissioner, Felix Klein, added:

"The rise in anti-Semitism must be a warning to us. In the course of the so-called Corona protests, the limits of what can be said were shifted, the Shoah was relativized, and well-known anti-Semitic hate images renewed.

"The increase in criminal offenses is a clear sign that democracy must show itself to be defensive, especially in crises such as the ongoing pandemic. Social cohesion is measured especially here in Germany by how firmly we stand together against hatred of Jews."

In a Die Welt essay — "More Than Two Thousand Crimes but Only Five Arrests?" — columnist Henryk Broder concluded:

"With the exception of Bremen and Hamburg, every federal state has an 'anti-Semitism officer,' and in Berlin there are even four. They all agree: 'There is no place for anti-Semitism in Germany.' Negative consequences of the Enlightenment? People who cling to conspiracy theories might be tempted to believe in a correlation, possibly even a causality: the more anti-Semitism is fought, the more it spreads. Awareness campaigns can also have negative consequences. People do exactly what they are warned not to do. Smoking, drinking, having unprotected sex, eating an unhealthy diet, driving a car faster than allowed. That is why, for example, suicides are reported very cautiously, and nobody should be encouraged to imitate them.

"If this were also the case with anti-Semitism, the concept of anti-Semitism would have to be rethought. The traditional recipes have proven to be of little help: reading the diaries of Anne Frank, Elie Wiesel and Imre Kertész, visits to concentration camps, conversations with contemporary witnesses. The movie 'Schindler's List' arrived at German cinemas in 1994 and had more than six million (!) viewers. The film 'changed the image of the Nazi dictatorship and the historical awareness of the murder of European Jews' (Deutschlandfunk Kultur). Viewed in this way, Germany should have long been an anti-Semitism free zone, a role model for the whole world, with a foreign minister who 'went into politics because of Auschwitz.' It's really bad that you cannot force reality to behave as theory would like it to."

Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute.

© 2024 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

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Comment on this item

20 Reader Comments

Eliot Schickler • Feb 15, 2024 at 05:37

Germany and all other countries need a zero-tolerance policy towards anti-Semitism no matter who the culprits are!

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Dinis Carvalho • Mar 10, 2021 at 00:11

Chinese Communist Party government really know how to distract people and divert people's attention. The CCP diverts your attention about the corona virus (Wuhan virus) to become. They say, the virus is not from China, it's from USA, Russia, outer space, not from China. They will use their own media to direct you attention to other to blame; blame the Jews, the American, the rest of the world, CCP is always right, actually they are LEFT.

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Hartmut Brocharski • Mar 2, 2021 at 05:25

The indigenous population has not become more anti-Semitic as such, it is mainly the imported (Muslim) anti Jewish sentiments which are of growing concern. Ask Jewish shop owners in Berlin and other metropolitan areas and they will confirm this exactly.

For many Muslims in Germany, the Jews are at fault for each and every one of their miseries, whether it be unemployment, poverty, housing shortage etc. COVID is just an additional narrative here.

The worst thing is that political correctness has also engulfed this topic to an extend that officials, media and even the main Jewish organization (who fails to represent their clients, btw) would rather put an entire population under general suspicion than openly calling the actual perpetrators out.

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Dalip Khetarpal • Feb 25, 2021 at 13:56

Anti-Semitism is most shameful, disgraceful and baneful for the whole world. Michael Wolfssohn, a renowned historian and anti-Semitism expert, has rightly considered that Muslim anti-Semitism is the most fatal threat to Jews in Germany, Europe, and the entire world. The number of anti-Semitic acts in Germany are increasing day by day, including anti-Semitic graffiti, threats and damages, physical, mental and violent attacks against Jews. According to the statistics, 90% of the crimes committed are right-wing extremist perpetrators, but they are hidden and not brought to light and so, are never caught. But the fact remains that Jews and Israel are the main targets. Anti-Semitic hate speech also spreads very fast on the internet and social media, defaming the country as well, rather unnecessarily. As such, laws that curtail antisemitism should be framed and passed and liberal entry into Germany or any country of Europe, should be banned. Unless such stringent actions are taken, peace can never prevail. In fact earlier lax laws have caused all the present trouble.

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Richard Kronenfeld • Feb 24, 2021 at 21:19

This is nothing new for the Germans. In the 14th century they blamed the Jews for the Black Plague and massacred us.

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Hartmut Brocharski

Richard Kronenfeld • Mar 3, 2021 at 02:03

Neither was this a German-specific incident nor is this related to today's issues in any way though.

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Jim • Feb 24, 2021 at 18:19

It seems as though there are several strands of anti-Semitism at work today in Europe and America. In Germany there are some who buy the argument that in the past, the Jews controlled the slave trade and profited from the shipment of slaves from Africa to the Americas. Supposedly they also controlled prostitution. In America some unenlightened people think that blacks are victims of exploitive Jewish landlords and exploitation. Blaming Jews for controlling the pharma industry and worsening the covid crisis is another strand. All these claims are based on prejudice and do not withstand investigative reportage.

The left seems to have a major role in encouraging irrational fears, but the establishment Republicans also play a role for various reasons, such as self-enrichment. Discouraging Germans from supporting AfD is probably one reason for blaming anti-Semitic attacks on the right and not on certain migrant groups that may be heavily involved.

Electing Biden seems, at least so far, a poor move if one wants to fight the problems of anti-Semitism in America and promote peace in the Near East and Europe. But probably it is much more complicated.

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Mark Matthias • Feb 24, 2021 at 18:05

It's heartbreaking to hear this news. I could ask, When will enough be enough for the hellish perpetrations against the Jews, often by people who profess Christ? If they think they are serving Him they really did a grave disservice to the Book. Talk about ruining His message. Nevertheless, no one can explain the atrocities in this world committed by humans against humans, even in the coterie of intellectuals -- even if they could they cannot explain how to stop it. Again it's a theological matter.

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David Walker • Feb 24, 2021 at 11:37

Obviously it's only antisemitism or racism if right-wing white Western people are perpetrating it.

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tiki • Feb 24, 2021 at 10:38

Germany...."Covid 19 triggers a new wave of Jew hate".

German Jew haters are sooooo easy to satisfy!

Well, let them cook slow & long in their Covid hate until their next excuse to hate Jews.

In the meantime Israel continues to vaccinate it's population against Covid while Germany continues to wait!

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Stephen

tiki • Feb 25, 2021 at 09:41

The reason for Germans waiting for the Covid vaccine is down to the unbelievable incompetence of the EU. If the UK was still in the EU then our death toll would be even higher.

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studly • Feb 24, 2021 at 10:18

It is said "look to the past to see the future ". It is different in Germany as anti-Semitism never left the hearts and minds of some Germans. Now with a huge Muslim influx into Germany, it tells the believers of the Koran to kill Jews. Read the Koran there are many words indicating this action. France, Belgium has all ready shown the hate to Jews. The EU is blaming the Jews and Israel for all the problems in the world.

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Harvey L • Feb 24, 2021 at 09:29

Before the arrival of Muslims to Western Europe, anti semitism could be mainly attributed to the right - now however it is equally from the left. The official politically case as in Europe and the USA is that it is always from the right which as most people who have access to sites like this know it is from Islamists and the left. Governments don't want to be politically incorrect by criticising these people as after all it might interfere with their business interests with these countries.

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cammo99 • Feb 24, 2021 at 08:11

I am supposed to believe the millions of Islamist "immigrants" have nothing to do with this. Who says they can not assimilate and in the process also corrupt anew Germans who in their hearts never believed Hitler was the monster he was. That and a lot of dollars from pro-Palestinians incited Germans and arouse the need to further vilify the Nazi's principle victims to justify what their grandparents did. This is like watching a global pandemic of a mental disease; a new strain of the "Lost Cause" being birthed.

Urs Breitsprecher
Partner, Reef - Rechtsanwälte
In the last few years, Islamic finance went through a rapid development that was moved by investors who were looking for legal (Halal) investments in Germany. Between 4.4 million and 4.7 million Muslims live in Germany at the moment. This equals to about 5.4–5.7% of the total population.

Is it mere coincidence that anti Semitism has exploded in the wake of permitting halal banking. Halal banking is one of the most obvious sharia law edicts that is anti Eastern and a thowo back to The Merchant of Venice.
May 18, 2020 Urs Breitsprecher IR Global
"As a major economy in Europe, Germany represents a relevant market for Islamic finance in Western Europe. Needless to say, the markets in France and England are more developed. Crucial progress for the Islamic financial market in Germany was made by granting a fully fledged Islamic banking license to KT Bank in March 2015, a subsidiary of a Kuwaiti–Turkish holding bank. After intensive preparations, the Kuwaiti–Turkish bank has done the pioneering work and become the trailblazer on the market. It was the first Halal bank in Europe and no laws in Germany needed to be changed."

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Dinis Carvalho • Feb 24, 2021 at 08:02

Merkel letting million of Middle Easterners into Europe is a fail policy, nobody benefit from it (except for the human traffickers). About the Coronavirus, they blame the Jews, and they forget where this came from. They forget that the spread of the virus come from the Chinese Communist Party government, they don't mention that.

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Alan • Feb 24, 2021 at 07:29

The German people will suffer as will others around the world as the government bureaucrats refuse to recognize the true cause and solutions needed for the crises with anti-Semitism and the CCP virus. Unfortunately, they will hold on to their political approaches for dear life until enough suffering of the masses forces their hands or removes them from power.

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Paul66 • Feb 24, 2021 at 06:54

Portrayal of Nazism as right wing and linking anti-Semitism to right wing ideologies have been masterstrokes of Soviet propaganda of 1940's. The aimed to:
1. Whitewash own Soviet brutal anti-Semitism of 1930's.
2. Portray Soviet invasion of Eastern Europe as the only solution to anti-Semitism of Nazis (German National-Socialists, who were certainly not conservatives).
3. Paint everyone who opposed Soviets as Nazi sympathizers and anti-Semites.
All three claims are blatantly wrong, but they were successful in shaping post-WWII political narrative.

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Nemo of Erewhon • Feb 24, 2021 at 06:29

Any basic knowledge of Islam reveals extreme anti semitism embedded in the ideology. This stems from Mohammad's migration to Medina where there was a large Jewish population . They rejected Mohammad as a prophet for the Jews, ridiculing his ignorance of Judaism. Mohammad subsequently manufactured reasons to expel and slaughter the Jewish tribes. This has been carried down through the ages, greatly increased by Koranic verses and the ahadith. In Islamic eschatology the Jewish people will be exterminated at the end of the age.
Considering that the increase in Jewish persecution, not just in Germany but in other parts of Europe and in Britain, has resurfaced in any meaningful way since the influx of Muslims into the West, it does not take an expert in social phenomena to work out that the two are connected.

What is the "far right" ? What are their political beliefs? Are they classical Liberals, Conservatives, Libertarians, believers in free market Capitalism? I very much doubt it, but all these could be called right wing . An extreme right wing ideology would increase these ideas not diminish them. A believer in freedom and democracy would become even more concerned with freedom and democracy, not suddenly switch to traditional left wing ideology of repression.

Obviously the far right is meant to be the Fascists. But fascism and Hitler's brand of it are left wing ideologies. It's followers believe in a collective, all-powerful state totalitarian dictatorship, as far removed from right wing ideas as can be. National Socialism, Fascism, are manifestations of the left. They are "right" on the left wing spectrum unlike the Bolsheviks but far from any form of right wing philosophy.

The left are anti Semitic. Stalin was anti Semitic, Lenin was anti Semitic, Hitler was anti Semitic, even the British Socialists have displayed serious anti-semitism. Islam is not aligned to any secular ideology but have enough common ground with the left to work with them.
In short, put the blame on anti-semitism where it belongs , Islam and left-wing ideology.

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Ivo Nekvapil • Feb 24, 2021 at 05:33

It's amazing that there should be so much antisemitism today in Germany today, February 2021. For GS, why is this, hasn't Germany learnt enough from the Holocaust!!!!
It seems not.
This is unbelievable!!

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Nemo of Erewhon

Ivo Nekvapil • Apr 19, 2021 at 05:52

It is not the The Germans who are anti Semitic in any significant numbers. Most of those that are, or might be, don't do anything overt about it. The persecution of Jews is from Islam and the "true believers" . Jew hatred is embedded in the Koran and ahadith. It was and is a very foolish policy to invite unlimited amounts of Muslims into the West without first studying and understanding the history and ideology of Islam. Any pious Muslim that follows the words of Allah and Mohammad will be anti Jewish, it is a basic part of the scripture and Islamic history and eschatology.
Yes, at times some Jews did rise to prominence in Spain and some other conquered areas but their position was always tenuous. The Muslim '"Street" would periodically become agitated by Muslim clerics and demand the removal of Jews in high places, often with deadly consequence for the Jewish official, and even for the Caliph for promoting him in the first place.
Normally, under Islamic rule, Jews and Christians were kept in a humbled, servile condition by the rules that were attached to dhimmitude. Their lives hung on a thread and even slight infringements would result in death and the destruction and looting of the whole dhimmi group. Even as late as the 19th century, Western officials have witnessed appalling treatment of Jews and Christians at the hands of the Muslim mob for "offences" such as walking too close to a mosque.
Under some Muslim rulers Jews and Christians, considered unclean, were forbidden to go out in rain in case water running from their garments polluted Muslims in any way. In short Islam and Jewry do not mix. The true believer will always view them, and Christians, as inferior.

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