A Jewish student at the Freie Universität Berlin is beaten so badly by a fellow student hostile to Israel outside a bar that he needs hospital treatment, because he is a Jew. For weeks and months beforehand the Jewish student had already been defamed in the anti-Israel circles of the university and made a target of hatred of Jews. Now several fractures in his face make clear the severity of the physical violence that came from the perpetrator. The president of the FU Berlin, Günter Ziegler, who until now has stood out rather for less assertive action, is now having possible consequences for the violent student examined. Berlin’s senator for science, Ina Czyborra, who in her statement initially declared that she was fundamentally opposed to expulsions from university for „political reasons“, was called upon by us to clarify her position on the antisemitic act of violence. In her most recent statement the senator for science now points out that an expulsion is not legally possible and that a ban from the premises should be imposed on the violent student.
The previous Berlin government reformed the Higher Education Act in such a way that an expulsion is formally not possible in such cases. It is, however, the responsibility of the current government and in particular of the senator for science to close the legal gaps here, as is necessary.
Merely imposing a ban from the premises for a few months does not solve the problem. For once the period of the ban has expired, further Jewish students would be exposed to this violent student.
What is needed are real and concrete consequences for perpetrators of antisemitic violence and measures to protect Jewish students at universities and higher education institutions.
A first step would be to ban the perpetrator from the premises until the act has been clarified and, after clarification, to expel him if appropriate. As a second step it must be clear that such acts do not occur out of nowhere in a vacuum, but arise in an atmosphere. At the FU Berlin and elsewhere too.
