Leaders of the local Jewish community of Düsseldorf are calling for action against a local political party official who accused supporters of the state of Israel of betraying Germany.
Social Democratic Party (SPD) official Stefan Grönebaum stated that supporters of Israel, including those within his party, were an “organized, good networked ‘fifth column’ in the interests of Israel’s policies,” sparking harsh criticism and an official investigation by his employer, the Ministry of Economic Affairs of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
In a statement sent through the Ministry to the Jerusalem Post, Grönebaum said that he had "hurt feelings with my political criticism, I regret it very much. Israel’s right to exist is, in view of our history, beyond all questioning. I apologize to those who found my criticism as anti-Israel, anti-Jewish or antisemitic. That was meant in no way.”
However, Michael Szentei-Heise, the executive director of the Düsseldorf Jewish community, was unimpressed, telling the Post that he believed Grönebaum’s comments were anti-Semitic and that he was "certain that the Christian Democratic Union Party will examine the case and that there will be consequences.”
A new study released by the German government this week found that anti-Semitic and anti-Israel in Germany incidents can overwhelmingly be attributed to the extreme right.
According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, the report stated that out of 681 incidents between January and August, 92 percent were the work of right-wing extremists. Only 23 incidents were motivated by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or similar concerns.
Anti-Semitic incidents rose over 2016 though not significantly. However, given the small size of the community, even a small increase is significant and the new numbers “are all the more upsetting if you look at them in [that] context,” Charlotte Knobloch, head of the Jewish community of Upper Bavaria and Munich, told JTA.
According to Beck, the new numbers indicate that the issue of anti-Semitism is “not just from refugees, immigrants or Muslims.”
Sixty percent of German Jews have thought about emigrating because they no longer felt safe, according to a study cited by Die Welt in August.
