The AfD presents itself as a friend of Israel and Judaism. But most Jewish associations see it very differently.

Two and a half weeks before the federal election, 60 Jewish organizations and associations have now called on citizens not to vote for the AfD on September 26th.

In the party, anti-Semitism, racism and misanthropy would find a breeding ground, it says in the call.

In addition, AfD politicians would relativize the Shoah, the National Socialist genocide against the Jews of Europe.

Markus Wehner

Political correspondent in Berlin.

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In the AfD's election manifesto, Jews and Jewish life only appear in the context of Muslims threatening Jews.

“The AfD pushes Jews to get their racist and anti-Muslim slogans to the people.

But we do not want to and will not be this fig leaf ”, it continues.

AfD politicians would also run alongside hooligans and right-wing extremists in the lateral thinker demos against the corona policy.

"Where people compare themselves to Anne Frank or Sophie Scholl and mock the suffering suffered by millions of Shoah victims by wearing the so-called yellow star."

Despite different attitudes and political positions, the Jewish organizations are united in the conviction "that the AfD is a danger to our country". That is why they call for “an undoubtedly democratic party” to be elected and thereby help “to ban the AfD from the Bundestag”. The signatories include the Central Council of Jews in Germany, the World Jewish Congress, the European Jewish Congress and numerous regional associations of Jewish communities in the federal states.  

The deputy AfD chairwoman Beatrix von Storch criticized the call by the Jewish organizations. “With initiatives such as the ban on Hezbollah and the anti-Semitic BDS movement and the abolition of the discriminatory labeling requirement for Jewish products from the West Bank, the AfD has done more to protect Jewish life than any other party in the Bundestag. We are therefore expecting strong support for the AfD among Jewish voters, ”von Storch told the FAZ. Even the“ call by functionaries staged before the election ”will not change much.

The AfD currently comes in polls for the federal election to eleven to 12 percent. A party-affiliated association “Jews in the AfD” has existed for almost three years, although it has only a few members and hardly plays a role in party life. The AfD's election manifesto states: “Jewish life in Germany is not only threatened by right-wing extremists, but increasingly also by Muslims who are hostile to Jews and Israel. Attacks on Jews as well as anti-Semitic insults must consistently be punished under criminal law. The Al-Quds-Days in Berlin, where demonstrators demand the destruction of Israel, must be banned permanently. "