Thread by @MAAS_UK

p.dw.com/p/3R0Ms?maca=e… Opinion: The deadly danger of being a Jew in Germany.

That an article is headlined like this without hyperbole 80 years after World War 2 and 74 years after the end of the Holocaust should shock us all.
/1

The piece highlights antisemitism from the far right, far left and Islamists in Germany as across Europe has been on the rise for a number of years.

What happened in #Halle was awful where two people were murdered, but it wasn't the first time a synagogue had been targeted. /2

@dwnews highlights examples since the end of World War 2 where antisemitic attacks on synagogues have occured.

Worryingly, a number of these attacks have happened in the last 5 years.

We screenshot evidence of the attacks on Synagogues in Germany in a thread below. /3

The first attack on a Synagogue after World War 2 took place in a Synagogue in Cologne.

It was carried out by two people from a far right background.

Those who carried out the attack were bought to justice and from it a key law on incitement against the people became law. /4

In March 1994 Germany was shocked by an arson attack on a Synagogue in Lubeck.

It served as a reminder that antisemitism had never left Germany.

It was carried out by far right extremists and four people were convicted.

The same Synagogue came under arson attack in 1995. /5

The next attack occured in Essen in October 2000.

Showing how reactions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can play itself out in a violence in Europe, 100 Palestinians from Lebanon armed with paving stones hurled them at a Synagogue in Essen. A policeman was injured. /6

In October 2000 Dusseldorf's New Synagogue was attacked with incendiary devices and rocks.

The reason given for the attack by a 19 year old Palestinian and 20 year old Moroccan was:
"Revenge against Jews and the state of Israel." /7

The comments serve as a reminder of how some hatred of Israel spills out in to pure Antisemitism.

Nobody is saying Israel cannot be criticised, but that does not include antisemitic language or violent antisemitic attacks such as the attack on the New Synagogue in Dusseldorf. /8

Shortly after the New Synagogue in Mainz was built in September 2010, it was hit by an arson attack on October 30th 2010.

The Synagogue was erected on the same spot where the old Synagogue was burnt to the ground during Kristallnacht. /9

Thankfully despite the attempts of antisemites, the New Synagogue in Mainz remains standing. /10

In July 2014 the front door of a Synagogue in Wuppertal had incendiary devices hurled at it.

Despite the fact a Synagogue was attacked, a court ruled there was no "Antisemitic motives."

Unsurprisingly representatives of the Jewish community in Wuppertal were outraged. /11

It is important that we take note of the words of the Chair of the Wuppertal Jewish Community who stated of the court decision.

It was "An invitation to further crimes." /12

Sadly, what happened in Halle was not the first antisemitic attack of October 2019 as Jewish communiti in Germany observed their High Holy Days.

On October 4 2019, in between Rosh Hashanah & Yom Kippur a man wielding a knife climbed over a barrier at Berlin's New Synagogue. /13

Thankfully security personnel overwhelmed the man with a knife.

The motive of the man with the knife was found to be unclear.

He was released to the dismay of German Jewish communal leaders. /14

Now we come to the latest attack.

It happened whilst 80 people in Halle Synagogue were observing Yom Kippur, three days ago.

The far right shooter attempted to enter the synagogue, but was stopped by a safety door.

He then injured two passers by and shot dead two people. /15

The shooter has admitted that his motivation for the shooting was antisemitism. /16

Now we come back to the article in @dwnews which started the thread.

Across Germany, the UK and worldwide we are seeing the rise of Antisemitism.

We must combat it.

Surely we do not want a world where Jews feel their lives are at risk if they show their faith openly. /17