Germany’s Jews told not to wear skullcaps

THE leader of Germany’s Jewish community has advised followers to avoid wearing skullcaps after a spate of anti-Semitic attacks.

Josef Schuster said Jews should exercise caution in big cities.

Last week, two young men wearing skullcaps ( kippahs) were assaulted in Berlin by an attacker shouting anti-Semitic abuse.

Mr Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, told Berlin radio: ‘Defiantly showing your colours would in principle be the right way to go [to tackle anti-Semitism]. Nevertheless, I would advise individual people against openly wearing a kippah in big German cities.’

At the weekend, Chancellor Angela Merkel told Israeli TV that as well as anti-Semitic abuse coming from right-wing groups, similar threats were being made by some Muslim refugees.

Germany’s Jewish population has grown rapidly since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Before 1989, the population was below 30,000, but an influx of Jews, mainly from the former Soviet Union, has raised the number to more than 200,000.