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Angela Merkel joins Berlin rally against antisemitism
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(7 months later)
Germany will do all it can to fight antisemitism, Angela Merkel has said, following a surge of abuse against Jews and spreading anti-Israeli sentiment aroused by the Gaza conflict.
This could be because it launched early, our rights have expired, there was a legal issue, or for another reason.
The chancellor made her pledge on Sunday to thousands at a landmark rally protesting against a rise in antisemitism that authorities and Jewish leaders blame mainly on Muslim extremists and young immigrants.
She said anyone who attacked Jews was attacking all of Germany. "That people in Germany are threatened and abused because of their Jewish appearance or their support for Israel is an outrageous scandal that we won't accept," Merkel said. "It's our national and civic duty to fight antisemitism."
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Merkel rarely attends demonstrations, but she joined the German president, Joachim Gauck, and Jewish community leaders for the rally at the Brandenburg gate in central Berlin.
"Anyone who hits someone wearing a skullcap is hitting us all. Anyone who damages a Jewish gravestone is disgracing our culture. Anyone who attacks a synagogue is attacking the foundations of our free society," she said.
The rally itself, organised by the Central Council of Jews in Germany, was extraordinary. Jews in Germany generally keep a low profile, but community leaders have said Jews were feeling threatened by antisemitism after the Gaza conflict.
More than half a million Jews lived in Germany when the Nazis took power in 1933. That number was reduced to about 30,000 by the Holocaust. The population has since grown to about 200,000, a source of pride for Merkel and many Germans.
The German government said 131 antisemitic incidents were reported in July and 53 in June, up from a total of 159 in the second quarter.
Merkel said authorities would use all means at hand to fight antisemitism.
"That far more than 100,000 Jews are now living in Germany is something of a miracle," Merkel saidin an unusually personal speech. "It's a gift and it fills me with a deepest gratitude.
"Jewish life is part of our identity and culture. It hurts me when I hear that young Jewish parents are asking if it's safe to raise their children here or elderly ask if it was right to stay here."
The Gaza conflict between Palestine and Israel has caused tension to flare between local Muslim and Jewish populations across Europe. Antisemitic chants and threats marred pro-Palestinian protests in France, Germany and Italy in July.
European leaders rushed to reassure local Jewish communities of their safety.
The French office of the American Jewish Committee said last week that French interior ministry figures showed there were 527 antisemitic incidents in France between 1 January and 31 July, up 91% from the same period in 2013.
In Britain, antisemitic incidents rose to a near-record level after an Israeli assault on the Palestinian enclave of Gaza began in July, the Community Security Trust, a Jewish advisory body, said that month.
The trust said there were 304 antisemitic incidents between January and June, a 36% rise compared with a year earlier.
Ronald S Lauder, the president of the World Jewish Congress, praised Germany's efforts to fight antisemitism at the rally.
"There are some places where I'd expect to see this," Lauder said. "But not in Germany. Since the end of the war Germany has strongly supported the Jewish rebirth. So why has all this good work been darkened by the stain of anti-Ssemitism?"
In July, petrol bombs were thrown at a synagogue in the western town of Wuppertal and a man wearing a skullcap was beaten up on a street corner in Berlin.
