An original translation from Jüdische Allgemeine, the largest German-language Jewish publication online and offline.
OPINION
Bochum is everywhere
The Jewish Community advises their members to not wear Jewish symbols. The reason: they are being threatened by muslim Migrants
December 14., 2017 – by Philipp Peyman Engel
Not long ago, there was a report in a local Bochum radio station that went widely unnoted, but it was an alarming signal. According to the report, the Jewish Community Bochum advises their members from now on, to not wear kippah or other Jewish symbols in public. The reason: there have been repeated attacks in the past, when community members were identifiable as Jews on the street. Particularly Turkish and Arab migrants are responsible for the attacks, the community announces.
Reality in other German cities is not different from Bochum. In Berlin, it has long been daily life for Jews, from Neukölln over Kreuzberg to Wedding, to not wear Jewish symbols in public. The same can be heard from many Jewish communities, from Kiel to Konstanz. For non-Jewish Germans the antisemitic excesses of muslim Migrants might come as a surprise. For the Jewish community, they are part of life.
CLARITY. It is all the more important to point out in all clarity and without prohibitions of speech: the muslim community has got an enormous problem with antisemitism in their own ranks. The hatred for Israel, the abhorrence of everything Jewish, is not seen as anything offensive by many Arabs and Turks in Germany. But when it goes unpunished that the antisemitic mob in Berlin desecrate Israel flags in front of everyone’s eyes, and cheers the massacre of a Jewish tribe that Mohammed’s army once committed, then this is highly dangerous.
Contrary to what has happened, the police should intervene immediately and with all toughness. The only answer should be: a strong rule of law, consequent intervention, a clear naming of the problem, and more than just trite »Never again!«-phrases.
When politicians like Sigmar Gabriel demand »zero tolerance« in their Sunday speeches towards such excesses, but on all other days of the week, tolerate the hate, then something is going very wrong. In Bochum, Berlin and in many other German cities, where aggressive Muslims try to make Jewish life impossible.
