German Jews advised not to wear cap as anti-semitic attacks rise

A GERMAN government watchdog has issued a warning to Jews not to wear religious caps for their own safety, amid a rise in anti-semitic attacks.

Felix Klein, Germany’s official antisemitism commissioner, warned it was unsafe to wear the traditional yar- mulke, or kippah, in public.

“I cannot recommend Jews to wear the kippah at any time, anywhere in Germany,” Mr Klein said in an interview with local newspapers. “Sadly I have to say this.”

His warning comes a year after similar advice from Germany’s largest Jew- ish organisation, following a disturbing increase in anti-semitic attacks.

According to official figures, 1,799 hate crimes were committed against Jewish people in Germany last year, an increase of more than 10 per cent compared with 2017.

They included 62 cases of violence against Jews, up from 37 in 2017. There had been concern in recent years that Muslim immigration could be fuelling the rise in violence against Jews, but an official report published earlier this month found that 90 per cent of 2017’s anti-semitic attacks came from the farright extremists. Mr Klein blamed “increasing social disinhibition brutalisation” for the rise.

“The internet and social media have contributed greatly to this, as well as the continued attacks on our culture of remembrance,” he said, referring to German attitudes to the Holocaust.

Björn Höcke, a senior politician from the far-right Alternative for Germany and party (AFD), called in 2017 for a “180-degree turn” in the German culture of atonement for the crimes of the Second World War and described the national Holocaust memorial in Berlin as a “shameful monument”.

Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews, said: “It has long been the case that Jews are at risk in some major cities if they are recognisable as Jews.”

But there was some criticism of the apparent suggestion that Jews should hide their faith.

“This shocked me deeply,” said Reuven Rivlin, Israel’s president. “We will never submit, will never lower our gaze and will never react to anti-semitism with defeatism – and we expect and demand our allies act in the same way.”

Joachim Herrmann, Bavaria’s state interior minister, said wearing that the kippah was part of religious freedom.

“Everyone can – and should – wear his skullcap wherever and whenever he wants,” he said.