Global Courant
Last year, 2,480 incidents of anti-Semitism were recorded in Germany, slightly fewer than the year before, according to the Department of Research and Information on Anti-Semitism. Germany reportedly saw an average of seven anti-Semitic incidents per day. Extremely violent anti-Semitic crimes such as shootings also reached a record nine incidents, according to the report.
A group that tracks anti-Semitism in Germany said on Tuesday it documented 2,480 incidents in the country last year — averaging just under seven incidents a day.
In its annual report, the Department of Research and Information on Anti-Semitism, or RIAS, said that while it recorded a slight drop in anti-Semitic incidents in 2022 compared to the previous year, there were nine incidents of extreme violence — the highest number of such cases since the start of national registration in 2017.
Those extremely violent crimes include a shooting at a former rabbi’s house next to an old synagogue in the western city of Essen last November. The German federal prosecutor is now investigating the case along with two other violent anti-Semitic crimes, on suspicion that they may have been carried out in collaboration with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
CALIFORNIA EDUCATION LEADERS PUSH CRT LESSONS LIVING THE MARXIST WHO LOOK UP TO OSAMA BIN LADEN
More often, however, “they are everyday situations in which Jews are confronted with anti-Semitism,” Benjamin Steinitz, the head of RIAS, told reporters in Berlin.
These incidents can happen anywhere from work to home, to public transport, in the supermarket or at a concert. Such “everyday” anti-Semitic incidents have diverse political backgrounds and often include trivialization of the Holocaust, in which the German Nazis and their accomplices murdered 6 million European Jews.
Clouds cover the sky over the Star of David atop the “New Synagogue” in central Berlin, Germany, on June 27, 2023. The annual anti-Semitism report of the Department of Research and Information on Anti-Semitism is presented in Berlin. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Many anti-Semitic hate crimes also include common tropes related to Jews or conspiracy theories, such as the coronavirus pandemic with its anti-Jewish narratives and the Middle East conflict with anti-Semitic criticism of Israel.
Every fifth anti-Semitic incident has a conspiracy background, according to what RIAS documented. 13% of all incidents involved a right-wing extremist background, while 53% of the incidents could not be clearly linked to a specific political background.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Germany’s government commissioner for combating anti-Semitism, Felix Klein, pointed specifically to anti-Semitic incidents in the German cultural sector, with the head of a major art exhibition in Germany, the documenta fifteen, resigning last year after an exhibition containing anti-Semitic elements sparked protests in the country.
‘Documenta Fifteen was rightly the talk of the town,’ said Klein. “But many anti-Semitic incidents also take place below the threshold of public attention in the cultural sector – as in other areas of social life, they are part of the daily life of Jews.”
Jews exposed to anti-Semitism in Germany can contact RIAS, which not only documents the incidents, but also assists those involved in further contacts with the criminal investigation department aimed at combating anti-Semitism and groups helping victims of Jew-hatred.
