German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged all people in his country to protect Jews in light of the recent incidents that Germany classifies as anti-Semitic incidents, while the European Commission said that anti-Semitic incidents in Europe have reached unprecedented rates.
In an interview with the German newspaper “Mannheimer Morgen” published on Monday, November 6, Scholz said: “Whoever attacks Jews in Germany, attacks all of us.”
The politician, who belongs to the Social Democratic Party, continued that the state protects Jewish institutions, and said: “We will not accept anti-Semitism. We have very clear laws. Burning Israeli flags is punishable by law. Celebrating the killing of innocents is punishable by law. Chanting anti-Semitic slogans is punishable by law.”
Scholz stated that it is the duty of law enforcement agencies to apply penalties for such violations, according to the Deutsche Welle website.
Scholz, who called for “the fight against anti-Semitism,” expressed his confidence in the police and the judiciary in Germany, noting that “the law enforcement agencies have the necessary means and must use them decisively. My impression is that the police authorities and the courts know what to do.”
Germany has recently witnessed repeated pro-Palestinian demonstrations after the continuous Israeli bombing of Gaza for a month following the attack launched by Hamas on Israel on the 7th of last month.
The police are currently investigating several cases that occurred during last Saturday’s demonstrations, on suspicion of incitement and stirring up strife.
For its part, the European Commission condemned the increase in anti-Semitism across the European Union since the outbreak of the war between Israel and Hamas, saying that “European Jews are once again living in fear.”
The Commission said in a statement: “The escalation of anti-Semitic incidents across Europe has reached extraordinary levels in the past few days, reminding us of some of the darkest times in history.”
The Commission pointed to anti-Semitic acts in Austria, France, Germany and Spain, also noting the presence of “demonstrators chanting hate slogans against Jews.”
It stressed that “anti-Semitism must be confronted, as well as the rise in hatred against Muslims, which we have witnessed over the past weeks and has no place in Europe.” Anti-Semitic acts escalated around the world amid the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
About 1,400 people have been killed in Israel since the beginning of the war, most of them civilians, and most of them on the first day of the Hamas attack, according to Israeli authorities. Nearly 9,500 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed since October 7 as a result of the Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip, according to Hamas health authorities.
Israel refuses to implement multiple international resolutions to establish a Palestinian state on the borders of the land it occupied in 1967.
