Mr. Klein, Israel is being shot at with thousands of rockets from the Gaza Strip, and Israel flags are being burned in front of synagogues in Germany. How do you rate this recent outbreak of anti-Semitic violence?
Michael Hanfeld
responsible editor for features online and "media".
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Thomas Thiel
Editor in the features section.
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We are currently receiving terrifying images of destruction and suffering from the Middle East.
At the same time, we see in Germany, four thousand kilometers away, that violent rioters march in front of synagogues, Israeli flags are burning and anti-Semitic slogans are openly chanted in a repugnant way during protest marches.
It is appalling how obviously Jews here in Germany are being held responsible for actions of the Israeli government in which they are wholly unaffected.
Solidarity with Palestinians or criticism of the Israeli government are no justifications for violence.
What do the riots mean for the security of Jewish citizens in this country?
The police and judiciary are better prepared than they were a few years ago to deal with anti-Semitic crimes.
Burning state flags is a criminal offense.
Anti-Semitic motives can now expressly exacerbate the penalty.
We have achieved a lot here to better protect people of the Jewish faith in Germany.
It is now a matter of adequately adapting the protection of Jewish institutions in this country during the tense situation in the Middle East.
It is also important to bring suspected anti-Semitic offenders to court quickly.
Does the struggle against anti-Semitism in our country lack a strategy, as the historian Peter Longerich criticized in this newspaper?
Mr. Longerich analyzed important topics very accurately. He has lamented the low public response to the report of the Independent Expert Group on Anti-Semitism. I can only agree. However, the low level of public interest is by no means synonymous with a lack of strategy; on the contrary: the report provides for very clear steps, and since I was appointed in 2018, four of the five central demands have already been implemented: the creation of a federal commissioner , i.e. my office, establishment of a federal-state commission, appointment of an advisory group with experts from science, step-by-step nationwide development of a survey,Documentation and publication of anti-Semitic incidents below the criminal liability threshold as well as the start of long-term research funding on anti-Semitism. We still have to take care of the permanent support of civil society organizations that strive to combat anti-Semitism.
The number of anti-Semitic crimes is increasing every year. Shouldn't we be more specific about that?
I am in the process of formulating a national strategy for the fight against anti-Semitism. We are currently preparing a civil society hearing. There are three reasons we're only getting this off the ground now. One is the establishment of the cabinet committee against racism and right-wing extremism as a result of the Hanau attack. In this context, a large number of measures against right-wing extremism have recently been adopted. It is now important that this find its way into the National Strategy against Anti-Semitism. It would not make sense to create parallel structures. The second reason is the fact that a strategy is currently being prepared at European level which should be dovetailed with our national strategy. It is important that we have a European standard forhow to identify and punish anti-Semitism, for example on the Internet. The last reason is of a political-strategic nature: I have decided to listen to civil society and to prepare the cornerstones of the national strategy in this legislative period to such an extent that they will be included in the coalition agreement of the new federal government. It's better than writing something down with a hot needle.