Yesterday evening an Israeli wearing a kippah was physically attacked in Berlin. The attack must clearly be classified as an antisemitic act, since the attacker shouts the Arabic word “Yahudi” (German: Jude, Jew) in a threatening tone while repeatedly striking the young Israeli with a belt.
This assault shows how right the Federal Government was to appoint an Antisemitism Commissioner. What matters now is that Dr Felix Klein is integrated politically and equipped logistically well enough to be able to tackle such incidents, which sadly keep recurring, and to ensure that they are prevented. This should be done on the basis of upbringing and education, but also of sanctions and enforcement.
Events of this kind are not isolated cases; they genuinely reflect the attitude of considerable parts of our population. The only thing that is an “isolated case” here is that this incident was filmed.
Dr Elio Adler, Chairman of the Board of WerteInitiative – jüdisch-deutsche Positionen, comments: “To believe that this young attacker’s hatred is directed only against Jews is naive. Someone who acts in this way rejects our form of living together in society as a whole. It should be in Germany’s very own interest either to educate such people in accordance with our free democratic basic order, or else to punish them so severely that it no longer even occurs to them to voice their crude ideas in any way, let alone to express them violently.”
It is high time that the Federal Republic of Germany showed itself capable of defending itself against these attempts to erode the free democratic basic order. The objective must be that Jews can venture onto German streets without fear and also recognisably as Jews.
Link to the video: https://youtu.be/6wyo3qsv7U8
