Germany's Continuing Anti-Semitism Problem
by Judith Bergman • July 4, 2020 at 5:00 am
The German government's new report flies in the face of major EU reports... German statistics on anti-Semitism have been the object of criticism for quite some time.
"The majority of [anti-Semitism] cases in Berlin are attributed to right-wing extremists -- without evidence..." — Die Welt, May 7, 2019.
"For a long time, experts have criticized the attribution of the majority of cases to far-right perpetrators... and that too little attention is paid to other groups of perpetrators, such as those from Islamist and other Muslim circles". — Die Welt, May 7, 2019.
Yet, despite problematic evidence and flawed statistics, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer is still claiming that virtually all anti-Semitism comes from the far-right. Why?
Despite all these measures, anti-Semitic crime in Germany is the highest it has been in the past two decades. This news alone should raise concerns in Germany that hate-speech laws such as the NetzDG, while severely limiting free speech, are not working. It should also concern other EU countries, such as France, that are looking to Germany as an example to follow.
Almost all anti-Semitic crimes in Germany in 2019 were committed by right-wing extremists, according to a recently published government report, "Politically Motivated Crime in 2019." In the report, "politically motivated crimes" are divided into right-wing crimes, left-wing crimes, crimes motivated by foreign ideology, crimes motivated by religious ideology and unassigned crimes.
According to the report, anti-Semitic crimes were 13% higher in 2019 than in 2018, with 2,032 anti-Semitic crimes committed in 2019, the highest number in Germany since 2001. According to the report, 93.4% of those crimes were committed by right-wing extremists.
"The biggest threat is still the threat from the right," Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said following the release of the crime report. "We must remain alert and tackle it. It is an order of magnitude that accompanies us with concern, with great concern."
