Antisemitic incidents in Germany almost double in 2024, report says

By Thomas Escritt

BERLIN (Reuters) - The number of antisemitic incidents in Germany almost doubled last year, at a time of continued war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, the semi-official German body that tracks antisemitism reported on Wednesday.

The Federal Research and Information Point for Antisemitism (RIAS) said it had registered 8,627 incidents of violence, vandalism and threats against Jews in Germany last year, almost twice the 4,886 recorded in 2023, and far ahead of 2020's 1,957.

"Objectively, the risk of being persecuted as a Jew in Germany has increased since October 7, 2023," Benjamin Steinitz, head of RIAS, told a news briefing on the report, referring to the start of the Gaza war.

"But debates about what counts as an expression of antisemitism seem to take up more space than empathy for the victims."

The largest category of incidents reported by RIAS - about 25% of the total - fell within the category of "anti-Israeli antisemitism", which covers criticisms of Israeli policy that some regard as legitimate political expression in a democracy.

In a report published last month, Jewish activist group Diaspora Alliance questioned what it said was RIAS methodology equating such criticism with antisemitism.

Alliance activist Jossi Bartal said RIAS' approach "delegitimises criticism of the Israeli state, marking every expression of Palestinian identity as suspect", alluding to Israeli policy towards Palestinians in occupied territories.

Steinitz told the briefing in response to questions that the Diaspora Alliance report distorted RIAS' work. "I think the aim of publishing the report now was to present our work as somehow controversial and discredit the experiences of victims."

Antisemitic violence, vandalism and threats have surged in recent years, with far-right Germans responsible for around three times as many incidents as Islamists, RIAS reported.

For Germany, tracking such incidents and countering antisemitism is central to its post-war project of atoning for the Nazi-era Holocaust of Europe's Jews.

(Reporting by Thomas Escritt; editing by Mark Heinrich)