ECAJ Research Officer Julie Nathan spoke to SBS News about antisemitism in Australia.

What is fuelling a new type of anti-semitism in Germany?

Rosemary Bolger
SBS News
April 28, 2018
Seven decades on from the Holocaust, Germany is con­front­ing what political and Jewish leaders call a “new phe­nomen­on” of anti-semitism.
While it’s difficult to gauge the extent of the issue from official figures, Jewish leaders have for some time warned of a rise in anti-Jewish sentiment.
A series of recent incidents – one caught on camera – have prompted outrage and wide­spread con­dem­na­tion from political, social and religious bodies.
What sparked the outrage?
The issue made inter­na­tion­al headlines when footage released earlier this month showed an attack on a young man wearing a kippah in a Berlin area.
A man could be heard shouting “Yahudi”, meaning Jew in Arabic, as he hit the victim with a belt.
A 19-year-old Syrian refugee later turned himself into police.
The attack prompted thousands of Jews and non-Jews to wear the religious skullcap in a demon­stra­tion of solid­ar­ity in Berlin on Thursday.
One breakaway demon­stra­tion of three people in the heart of Berlin’s Muslim area was called off when they said they were con­fron­ted by counter-pro­test­ers shouting “ter­ror­ists” and spat at.
Organ­isers of a major German music award have also cancelled the main prize in a row over antisemitic rap lyrics.
The prize had been handed to rap duo Kollegah and Farid Bang, who have a song that features a line that their bodies are “more defined than an Auschwitz prisoner”.
A new type of anti-semitism
As anti-semitism has surged in France and Austria, fuelled by far-right nation­al­ist groups, Germany has widely been con­sidered more tolerant of its 200,000 Jewish residents.
But following a spate of incidents in Germany, a strain of anti-semitism has been iden­ti­fied among the country’s Middle Eastern immig­rants, whose hostility towards Jews has been fanned by the Israeli-Palestini­an conflict.
As outrage grows, German Chan­cel­lor Angela Merkel acknow­ledged a “new phe­nomen­on” of anti-Jewish sentiment among Arab refugees.
Speaking on Israeli tele­vi­sion this week, Ms Merkel was careful not to exclus­ively blame refugees or German Muslims.
“We have a new phe­nomen­on, as we have many refugees among whom there are, for example, people of Arab origin who bring another form of anti-semitism into the country,” Ms Merkel said.
The head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Daniel Botmann has also referred to this different type of anti-semitism during a speech in Berlin, saying that anti-semitism among Muslims “poses great chal­lenges to us”.
He did note that it’s just one form of anti-semitism, with the increas­ing pop­ular­ity of far-right groups also fuelling anti-semitism across Europe.
“Non­ethe­less, Muslim com­munit­ies must credibly and thor­oughly fight anti-Semitism within their own ranks and make it their own matter.”
How is it being tackled?
The incidents have been widely condemned by politi­cians on all sides and religious leaders of different faiths.
The head of Germany’s Central Council of Muslims told a German newspaper that anti-semitism is sinful and must be tackled.
Aiman Mazyek told a press con­fer­ence that abusing any minority goes against Islamic teachings, but admitted anti-semitism is present among some refugees.
The Council is organ­ising meetings between Jews and refugees and running edu­ca­tion­al programs about Jewish history in Germany and the holocaust.
Others stress the import­ance of not over­stat­ing the blame on Muslim com­munit­ies.
The gov­ern­ment has also created a new position of Com­mis­sion for Jewish life in Germany who starts in May.
Is anti-semitism a problem in Australia too?
Australia has largely escaped the surge of anti-semitism sweeping countries in Europe, according to Jewish leaders.
“Generally Australia is still a very good country for Jews to live in. We are well accepted here. It’s generally pretty safe for Jews here unlike parts of Europe,” Julie Nathan, research officer at the Executive Council of Aus­trali­an Jewry, told SBS News.
But there does appear to have been a rise in anti-semitic incidents, figures reveal.
The most recent annual study on anti-semitism in Australia conducted by the Executive Council of Aus­trali­an Jewry recorded 230 incidents – a 9.5 percent increase on the previous year.
Ms Nathan said the per­pet­rat­ors come from different sections of the community.
“Often anti-semitism can be from the far-right. In par­tic­u­lar, a lot of posters and anti-semitic pro­pa­ganda comes from the far-right, whereas, har­ass­ment and verbal abuse come from many sectors, including the Muslim community.”
In the 2016 Report on Anti-semitism, Ms Nathan analysed police data on the ethnicity of per­pet­rat­ors of anti-semitic assaults and abuse in Melbourne and Sydney.
Of the 72 whose ethnicity was logged, 34 were Caucasian, 31 Middle Eastern, five Maori/Polynesian, and two African.
She cautioned that these stat­ist­ics are not neces­sar­ily rep­res­ent­at­ive, as the profiles of per­pet­rat­ors are often unknown.
The peak body for Aus­trali­an Muslims says there has always been a generally “positive and har­mo­ni­ous” rela­tion­ship between the Muslim and Jewish Com­munit­ies.
“Anti-semitism has, unfor­tu­nately, been around for a long time and is not something that is connected with Muslims or Islam spe­cific­ally,” Rateb Jneid, President of the Aus­trali­an Fed­er­a­tion of Islamic Councils told SBS News.
The Executive Council of Aus­trali­an Jewry is one of several minority groups calling for changes to the NSW racial incite­ment to violence laws that have not led to a single suc­cess­ful pro­sec­u­tion in 30 years.
“The bar is so high, there can be no realistic way to prove breaches of that law. For example, hate preachers could yell out in the street, as has occurred in Sydney, to kill Jews and those people can’t be pro­sec­uted unless someone hears that and then goes out and kills a Jew, and you can prove the con­nec­tion,” Ms Nathan said.