Dhe debate about how to deal with a suspected student after an attack on a Jewish fellow student is becoming more heated: Berlin’s Science Senator is facing calls for her resignation after statements made in the RBB. Bavaria’s anti-Semitism commissioner Ludwig Spaenle accused SPD politician Ina Czyborra on Wednesday of trivializing and “whitewashing”: “The only option is to resign.”
Berlin AfD MP Martin Trefzer also sees it this way: “Ina Czyborra has become a burden in the fight against rampant anti-Semitism at Berlin universities,” he explained. The Science Senator has disqualified herself from carrying out her office.
FDP state deputy Sebastian Czaja made similar comments to “Bild”. “The Science Senator’s statements are so outrageous that they justify her resignation!” said Czaja. “Any training company would have thrown such a violent offender out the door. Universities should not be measured with an alleged intellectual double standard.”
Czyborra sticks to the line of a house ban
While several parties are calling for a change in the law to enable universities to de-register in such cases, Czyborra is sticking to the line of a ban on entering the premises. “Before stricter measures are discussed, the existing resources must be exhausted, even if this ultimately has to be dealt with in court,” she said. She called a house ban in the current case “urgently necessary”.
The Central Council of Jews had demanded strict consequences from the university after the alleged attack on a Jewish student at the Free University (FU) in Berlin. “Anyone who beats a Jewish fellow student into hospital because he is a Jew has no place at a German university,” explained Central Council President Josef Schuster on Tuesday in Berlin. “There is no alternative to exmatriculating the student in question.”
According to the university and Science Senator Czyborra, such an expulsion is not legally possible, at best a three-month house ban. FU President Günter Matthias Ziegler told RBB “Abendschau”: “I have the impression that we need to sharpen things up, at least in the tools we have. And that what exists at the moment, a house ban limited to three months, may not be enough for the situations we have.” He tells the “Tagesspiegel” that a change to the law must be discussed objectively and calmly. At the same time, he warned against “tests of mentality”.
Lior Steiner, founder of the Jewish Student Association at the FU, called for clear steps. “And the steps must come immediately. Otherwise, there have already been individual reports from students and fellow students of mine that they would like to leave the university.”
Wegner open to debate about changing the higher education law
Berlin’s governing mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) called for the perpetrator to be punished quickly and harshly. “We have to give the universities tools so that they can act consistently and quickly,” wrote the CDU politician at added: “The universities, in this case the Free University and its management, are called upon to act and no longer tolerate or downplay anti-Semitic incidents. The university management must take action so that Jewish students feel safe again at the Free University and can study without fear.”
The SPD state chairwoman Franziska Giffey explained on X: “The protection of Jews in all places in our city is our duty.” This also applies to universities. “If we lack the legal means there to enforce this protection, we must tighten them up so that such acts also have consequences at universities.”
Stark-Watzinger calls for greater protection for Jewish students
Federal Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP) also called for an adjustment to the Berlin Higher Education Act so that perpetrators can also be expelled from universities. The freedom and protection of Jewish students should not go back and forth in ping-pong between the university and the state legislature, Stark-Watzinger told the television station WELT on Wednesday. The university must be strengthened so that it can take action against anti-Semitism and the resulting violence, Stark-Watzinger continued. “The university laws should be adjusted.” The minister continued: “Universities are places of maximum freedom, but they are not lawless spaces. And that’s why protection must be guaranteed here.”
Fractures to the nose, eye socket and cheekbones – Jewish FU student describes attack
The FU student Lahav Shapira is said to have been recognized by a Muslim fellow student during an argument in a bar in Berlin-Mitte and beaten until he was hospitalized – presumably because he supported Israel. In an interview with journalist Antonia Yamin, he describes the brutal attack.
The science policy spokesman for the CDU parliamentary group in the Berlin House of Representatives, Adrian Grasse, wants to campaign for the reinstatement of regulatory law, as he explained when asked. “In view of recent events, I will raise the issue again in the coalition.” The instrument of exmatriculation is also needed “to protect Jewish students and to make it clear that anti-Semitism has no place at our universities.” He expects the availability of this remedy alone to have a preventative effect.
The 30-year-old Jewish student Lahav Shapira was hospitalized at the weekend with broken bones in his face. A 23-year-old pro-Palestinian fellow student is said to have hit and kicked him in Berlin-Mitte. The police reported that the two initially got into an argument before the 23-year-old struck. The alleged perpetrator initially fled, but was then identified.
Pro-Palestine demo planned in front of the FU cafeteria
Since then, the university has been criticized from several quarters. The federal government’s anti-Semitism commissioner, Felix Klein, told the “Tagesspiegel” that the university management was “far too tolerant” and left too much uncommented. Among other things, a lecture hall occupation by a group called “FU Students for a Free Palestine” caused a stir in December.
And the next pro-Palestine demo is coming. A private person had registered 100 participants for Thursday (12 p.m. to 2 p.m.), a police spokeswoman said on Wednesday when asked. The location is Otto-von-Simson-Straße 26, where the large FU cafeteria is located. According to the police, the title of the announced event also states that the rally is directed “against the selective solidarity of the university management and restrictions on democratic rights.” The FU announced in advance that the event was not approved.
FU files a criminal complaint because of the content of the poster calling for a demo
On the same date, a call for a demo from a “Palestine Committee FU Berlin” is circulating on social media with, among other things, the inscription “Freedom for Palestine!” When asked, the FU announced that it had filed a criminal complaint based on the content of posters calling for a rally.