anti-Semitism
Central Council sees new dimension of hatred of Jews in schools
A solidarity demonstration for Israel at the Brandenburg Gate. photo
© Fabian Sommer/dpa
Initiatives like “Meet a Jew” address anti-Semitism in schools. With the bloody terrorist attack on Israel, the Central Council of Jews is now observing a worrying development.
The Central Council of Jews in Germany complains about a new quality of anti-Semitic sentiment in schools. “The open one Unfortunately, anti-Semitism in German schools is not surprising for us,” said a spokesman in response to a dpa request. Unfortunately, the problem has been known for a long time. “The current support for the cruel terror of Hamas in Israel, which shows a new dimension of hatred of Jews in German schools, But it’s still a shock.”
The speaker referred to initiatives against anti-Semitism in schools. In the Central Council’s “Meet a Jew” project, anti-Semitic hostilities against Jewish volunteers who travel to numerous schools nationwide to exchange ideas with non-Jewish students have only rarely occurred in the past. “Muslim students in particular often went home with an aha effect about the many similarities of their faith,” said the spokesman.
“An indictment”
“It is all the more depressing that a planned meeting for this week in Lower Saxony was canceled by the school because the mood of the student body was so heatedly anti-Israel and anti-Jewish that they could not rule out riots,” he said. “This is a disgrace, even if it is still too early for a comprehensive analysis of the Hamas terror on the Meet-a-Jew encounters.” The project will be continued in any case.
According to the spokesman, the Central Council is also committed to combating hatred of Jews in schools at another level. “The Central Council is working in several working groups with the Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (KMK) and other partners on educational policy answers to how anti-Semitic narratives that these young people know from their home environment and social media should be dealt with.” Disinformation campaigns via social media, for example, need to be looked at much more clearly.
“The situation is becoming increasingly tense regionally”
The chairman of the German Teachers’ Association, Stefan Düll, told the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung” on the subject of anti-Semitism in schools: “The situation is becoming increasingly tense regionally. This is particularly true for schools where many students with roots in the Arab region are taught.” There is often a consolidated anti-Semitic worldview here, which children and young people have been taught at home or in schools in their home countries. Social networks are also a big problem. “Anti-Semitism is often practiced openly there.”
The independent Federal Commissioner for Anti-Discrimination, Ferda Ataman, is also concerned about the situation in schools. “Since Hamas’ war of terror, we have observed a sharp increase in anti-Semitic, anti-Israel and Islamist slogans there,” she told the “Tagesspiegel”.
Ataman called on the federal and state governments to take action. So far, German anti-discrimination law has not helped against discrimination in schools. “It’s unbelievable: anti-Semitic bullying and discrimination is still not banned in German classrooms. An exception is Berlin, where there is a state anti-discrimination law,” she said. They demanded that other countries also introduce such laws.
Conference of Ministers of Education: Maintain peace in schools
The Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs announced yesterday that, together with all relevant authorities, it would do everything possible to maintain school peace “by condemning and preventing any form of anti-Semitism, expressions of solidarity with and justifications for terrorist activities.”
“Our schools are the place where peace, reconciliation and tolerance are taught,” the statement said. “There is no place for anti-Semitism and no place for hatred of Israel in our schools, universities and research institutions!” The Ministers and Senators of the federal states responsible for education are brought together in the Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs.