Germany’s domestic intelligence service has published its first detailed report on Muslim anti-Semitism spreading across the country.
Muslim anti-Semitism poses a significant threat to German society, the report titled “Antisemitism in Islamism” concluded. “The antisemitic ideology being spread by Islamist group and individuals poses a significant challenge for the peaceful and tolerant coexistence in Germany,” the 44-page document said.
This is the first report of its kind by any European intelligence agency. “This report is a major break with the German past.” Tel Aviv-based Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies noted. “Never before has any European intelligence agency published a report on Muslim antisemitism.” The report “exposes in reasonable detail the antisemitism originating in parts of the country’s Muslim community,” the think tank added.
In Islamist propaganda, the classical anti-Semitism has morphed into the hatred of the Jewish State. Islamist groups made no distinction between Jews living in Germany and the state of Israel. “All Islamist group have one thing in common; they do not distinguish — either verbally or contextually — between the state of Israel and the Jewish people. Thus, centuries old anti-Semitic Stereotype are projected today on the state of Israel,” the report said.
The intelligence report, made public mid-April, analyzed the ideologically underpinnings of Muslim anti-Semitism and the operation network spreading it.
The report uncovered an intricate network of Islamist organisations fueling anti-Semitic hatred in Germany. The intelligence service identified the Muslim Brotherhood, Hizb ut-Tahrir, Iran-backed Hezbollah, Turkish-Islamist Millî Görüş, and Islamist Hamas as main culprits. The United States, Israel, and other Western countries have classified many of the groups operating legally in Germany as terrorist groups.
The ISIS-affiliated Salafist groups have put Germany’s tiny Jewish minority group in its cross-hairs. “German Jews and the State of Israel” are “among the main targets” for the country’s 11,000-strong Salafist movement, the report disclosed.
Arab terrorist organizations, namely Hamas and Hezbollah, have recruited members and raised money in Germany. Approximately, 950 Hezbollah and 300 Hamas activists have operated in Germany, a separate assessment by the domestic intelligence service revealed.
Hamas “is primarily engaged in recruiting new supporter among Palestinians living in the country and in collecting financial donations. It also spreads anti-Semitic and anti-Israel ideology in Germany.”
Hezbollah “activists and supporters take part in the annual al-Quds demonstrations that regularly end up in anti-Semetic incidents.”
The report comes amid reports of a sharp rise in violent anti-Semitism in Germany. “The Antisemitism is turning violent,” German daily Tagesspiegel reported last month. “It is manifested more brutally; the number of physical attack is on the rise.
A recent study published by Berlin-based Research and Information Center for Anti-Semitism (RIAS) showed a 155 percent rise in violent anti-Semetic incidents in Berlin in 2018 compared to the previous year. More than a thousand incidents were recorded in the German capital alone, the RIAS report disclosed.
The country’s domestic intelligence service expected anti-Semitic incidents to rise in Germany. The extent of anti-Semitic crimes recorded are merely the “tip of the iceberg,” the report warned:
So far, the recorded acts of violence are few in number. However, lone incidents show that the ideological radicalization of people, and the incitement of hate and violence through anti-Semitic ideas prepare a breeding ground for violent escalations. [Page 38]
The issue of radical Islam has caused a rift between country’s political class and the intelligence community. Germany’s domestic intelligence service has repeatedly warned of the Islamist threat posed by mass migration. The Chancellor Angela Merkel-led government has stuck to its open door immigration policy. The agency has been outspoken against government’s plan to bring back the families of the ISIS fighters to Germany. The government has defended the move, citing “humanitarian considerations and Germany’s duty to protect its citizens.”
While the German intelligence raises the alarm over the growing Muslim anti-Semitism, the political elite in Berlin refuse to see the proverbial elephant in the room. When Muslim demonstrators chanted “death to Jews” at Berlin’s landmark Brandenburg Gates in response to President Donald Trump’s formal recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Chancellor Merkel refused to condemn Muslim anti-Semitism. She merely condemned “all forms of antisemitism and xenophobia.”
Germany’s domestic intelligence service is correct it its assessment that Muslim anti-Semitism poses a wider threat to German society — not just to the country’s beleaguered Jewish minority. Going by the past track record, however, it’s unlikely that the German political class will put aside virtue signaling to the country’s Muslim community and tackle the issue head on.
[Excerpts from the original German report translated by the author]
[Cover image via BILD Zeitung]
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