Germany seeks rule in Europe - for jews

[yankeedoodle]

'Every 2nd Jew in Germany wishes to leave': Berlin to seek EU-wide criminalization of Holocaust denial
https://www.rt.com/news/479244-germany-eu-ban-holocaust-denial/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=aplication_chrome&utm_campaign=chrome

Jews in Germany feel threatened to such an extent that almost half have thought about emigration, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said, demanding a harsher response to anti-Semitism, not only in his country but across the EU as well.

Jews in Germany are "openly attacked" on the streets and face threats and abuse online on a daily basis, the minister wrote, in a guest article for the German weekly Der Spiegel ahead of the 75th anniversary of the Nazi Auschwitz death-camp liberation. Maas said that over 400 anti-Semitic incidents were recorded in Berlin alone over six months last year.

It does not surprise me that almost every second Jew in Germany has already thought about leaving the country.

The minister particularly mentioned a shooting attack in the eastern German city of Halle last October, when a far-right extremist sought to attack a local synagogue but eventually failed to force his way into the building, instead killing two people at random.

Maas slammed anti-Semitism as "an absolute nightmare" and "a terrible disgrace 75 years after the liberation of Auschwitz," arguing that it is a Europe-wide problem that requires the efforts of all EU members in order to be solved.

According to the minister, the measures Germany plans to champion during its presidencies of the Council of the European Union and of the Council of Europe, both of which it will assume later this year, will include the creation of a European network of anti-Semitism commissioners and a crackdown on online hate crime and disinformation.

He also specifically mentioned that Berlin plans to "ensure that all EU member states finally make it a crime to deny the Holocaust" and will help set up a Global Task Force Against Holocaust Denial.

The issue of anti-Semitism once again came to the fore in Germany in the spring of 2019, when the nation's anti-Semitism chief advised Jews against wearing kippahs "anywhere at any time in Germany" – supposedly out of concern for their safety. The approach was quickly branded "defeatist" by various politicians, including Israel's President Reuven Rivlin.

Just days after the official's provocative statement, Chancellor Angela Merkel herself said literally every single Jewish facility in Germany needed police protection. The problem has been traditionally blamed on Germany's troubled Nazi past and linked to right-wing extremists, prompting the security services to step up their fight against the far-right over the past year.

Meanwhile, some analysts believe that Merkel's own overly lax 'open door' immigration policy, which allowed about a million of refugees and migrants from the Middle East and North Africa to come to the country during the refugee crisis, might also play a role here.

Uniting all Europeans under one banner in the name of fighting anti-Semitism might also prove tricky, since that would require a unified approach to the issue. Poland, in particular, has a simmering row with Israel over its historical role in the Holocaust while its ongoing dispute with Russia over the causes of WWII even prevented its president, Andrzej Duda from attending the recent World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem.

[yankeedoodle]

Germany Hopeful As Rise In 'Antisemitism' Could Cause Jews To Leave On 'Massive Scale'
https://christiansfortruth.com/germany-hopeful-as-rise-in-antisemitism-could-cause-jews-to-leave-on-massive-scale/

Despite passing many new draconian laws making any criticism of Jews subject to fines and imprisonment, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas warned Sunday that Jews could leave Germany on a "massive" scale if even more 'urgent action' was not taken to stem rising antisemitism:

https://www.timesofisrael.com/germany-warns-of-mass-exit-of-jews-if-anti-semitism-persists/
Writing in Der Spiegel weekly on the eve of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp, Maas said anti-Jewish insults and attacks, in real life and online, had become "a daily occurrence."

Almost one in two Jews has considered leaving Germany, he said, a country that has long taken pains to confront its Nazi past.

"We need to take urgent countermeasures to make sure that such thoughts do not turn into a bitter reality and lead to a massive departure of Jews from Germany," he wrote.

The fight against anti-Semitism would be a priority when Germany takes over the rotating EU presidency in July and the chairmanship of the Council of Europe, the bloc's leading human rights body, in November, Maas vowed.

Germany will push for tougher legal consequences for anti-Semitic acts, he said, and for more EU nations to make Holocaust denial a crime — currently illegal in over a dozen member states including Germany, Belgium and Italy.

Berlin will also step up the battle against anti-Jewish hate speech and disinformation on social media, Maas wrote, saying perpetrators "should feel the full force of the law across Europe."

An anti-Semitic attack in the eastern German city of Halle in October — in which a gunman tried but failed to storm a synagogue before killing a passerby and a customer at a kebab shop — showed that "Jewish sites and communities" needed better protection "everywhere in Europe."

To help make that happen, Germany will contribute 500,000 euros ($550,000) to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) this year, Maas said.

The diplomat stressed the importance of educating young people about the horrors of World War II, when six million Jews were murdered by the Nazis.

Research had shown that "a third of young Europeans indicated knowing little to nothing about the Holocaust," he said.

Writing in Der Spiegel weekly on the eve of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp, Maas said anti-Jewish insults and attacks, in real life and online, had become "a daily occurrence."

Almost one in two Jews has considered leaving Germany, he said, a country that has long taken pains to confront its Nazi past.

"We need to take urgent countermeasures to make sure that such thoughts do not turn into a bitter reality and lead to a massive departure of Jews from Germany," he wrote.

The fight against anti-Semitism would be a priority when Germany takes over the rotating EU presidency in July and the chairmanship of the Council of Europe, the bloc's leading human rights body, in November, Maas vowed.

Germany will push for tougher legal consequences for anti-Semitic acts, he said, and for more EU nations to make Holocaust denial a crime — currently illegal in over a dozen member states including Germany, Belgium and Italy.

Berlin will also step up the battle against anti-Jewish hate speech and disinformation on social media, Maas wrote, saying perpetrators "should feel the full force of the law across Europe."

An anti-Semitic attack in the eastern German city of Halle in October — in which a gunman tried but failed to storm a synagogue before killing a passerby and a customer at a kebab shop — showed that "Jewish sites and communities" needed better protection "everywhere in Europe."

To help make that happen, Germany will contribute 500,000 euros ($550,000) to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) this year, Maas said.

The diplomat stressed the importance of educating young people about the horrors of World War II, when six million Jews were murdered by the Nazis.

Research had shown that "a third of young Europeans indicated knowing little to nothing about the Holocaust," he said.