Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser announced further banning orders during a plenary debate on the protection of Jewish life in Germany. The SPD politician said on Thursday in Berlin that activity bans for the Islamist Hamas and the Samidoun network had recently come into force. She dissolved the German branch of Samidoun. German democracy is defending itself, said Faeser. She added: “We are already working on further bans.”
The reason for the debate in the Bundestag was the November pogroms 85 years ago, when synagogues and Jewish shops in Germany were set on fire and destroyed. Faeser emphasized that, remembering the collapse of civilization back then, it is important not to remain silent today when Jews become the targets of hatred and agitation. She said: “If Jewish children have to be afraid to go to daycare or school, when we need stricter security concepts to protect them from attacks on the way to class, ladies and gentlemen, then that shames me and it breaks me my heart.”
Referring to the Gaza war that began after Hamas’ attack in Israel on October 7, Faeser said the terrorists had cold-bloodedly hunted men, women and children that day. The principle now applies: “We stand firmly on Israel’s side, and I say it very clearly, there can be no buts these days.”
The memorial day for the 85th anniversary of the Nazi November pogroms is different, according to the Israeli Ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, from all previous ones. “The massacre of the Hamas terrorists on October 7th reminds us how important democracy is. Israel was founded so that we Jews would never have to experience again what happened to us under the Nazi dictatorship,” Prosor told the newspapers of the Funke media group. Now we have seen that Jews have been burned and mothers and their children have been executed. “It’s again about the question: civilization or barbarism.”
He doesn’t think history repeats itself, said the ambassador. “We have new circumstances and new actors. But we have to look the danger in the eye and not trivialize this ideology: Hamas and Hezbollah are not just against Israel.” The terrorist organizations perceived Western societies as a whole as decadent, loathed homosexuals and wanted to deny women basic rights. “We Jews only sit in the front row. If the Germans don’t act and take action against these people, they will cry tomorrow.”
On the anniversary of the Nazi November pogroms of 1938, the victims are remembered in many places in Germany. The central memorial event will take place in the morning in the Beth Zion synagogue in Berlin. Expected are Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster.
Joseph Schuster warned of spreading hatred of Jews in Germany. “The fight against the new anti-Semitism today is so important not least because anti-Semites, whether religiously or politically motivated, from the right or the left spectrum, never stop at anti-Semitism.” Showing moral courage and solidarity is therefore crucial. “It has never been more important to stand up for our democracy and our freedom with conviction. It has not been exposed to such a threat in a very long time,” said Schuster. The background is the many anti-Semitic incidents in Germany since Hamas’ attack on Israel – these are fueling fear among Jews.
In view of the currently rampant anti-Semitism among Jews in Germany, according to the President of the Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria, Charlotte Knobloch, also the confidence in the work of security forces. “Many believe that those responsible are no longer able to contain the hatred and violence against Jews,” Knobloch told the Daily Mirror.
At today’s rallies, people were reminded of demonstrations against Jews in the Weimar Republic. “I understand that, because anti-Jewish rallies also played an important role in the rise of National Socialism,” said the former president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany.
He understands that many Jews in Germany criticize a lack of compassion for the victims of Hamas terror Erfurt Bishop Ulrich Neymeyr. In a podcast in the series “With Heart and Attitude” of the Catholic Academy of the Dresden-Meißen Diocese, he emphasized that Jewish partners “quite rightly expect that we will help to ensure that the horror of the massacre on October 7th does not fade so quickly, how it actually fades”. Neymeyr is responsible for relations with Judaism in the Catholic German Bishops’ Conference. He warned that in debates about Israel’s conduct of the war in the Gaza Strip, people too quickly forget “what a cruel massacre that was.”
He also commented on the podcast the chairman of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany, Aiman Mazyek. Regarding anti-Semitic incidents at anti-Israel demonstrations, he said that the Middle East conflict had become a “projection surface for their sick ideologies” for numerous extreme groups. Mazyek called on Muslim associations to criticize such anti-Semitism from a theological perspective. The rejection of anti-Semitism is a question of the correct interpretation and practice of faith.