A group tracking antisemitism in Germany said Tuesday that it documented a drastic increase of antisemitic incidents in the country in the month after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7.
The RIAS group said it recorded 994 incidents, which is an average of 29 incidents per day and an increase of 320% compared to the same time period in 2022. The group looked at the time period from Oct. 7 to Nov. 9.
Among the 994 antisemitic incidents, there were three cases of extreme violence, 29 attacks, targeted damage to 72 properties, 32 threats, four mass mailings and 854 cases of offensive behavior.
Many Jews in Germany experienced antisemitic incidents in their everyday lives and even those who weren’t exposed to any antisemitic incidents reported feelings of insecurity and fear, said RIAS, which is an abbreviation in German for the Department for Research and Information on Antisemitism.
That’s not what they’re saying. These counts usually consider anti-Zionism the same as anti-Semitism, so the question becomes: How much of that 320% is actual anti-Semitism vs anti-Zionism. I mean, it says 854 case of offensive behavior. How many of those were “Palestine should be free” or “fuck Zionism”?
Not saying actual anti-Semitism didn’t increase; I know it did.
The actual count of these offensive behavior incidents isn’t so relevant, I feel. The institute in the article is attempting to quantify the level of antisemitism, and while I’d agree that statements decrying Israeli occupation or yearning for Palestinian freedom aren’t in any way antisemitic incidents and, if included (which doesn’t seem unlikely, but I didn’t see a way to check), shouldn’t be. Though it does make the number bigger, and maybe they are hoping to create a shock through that to encourage action against the violence and more tangible attacks, which are far more distressing to me.
Having slurs thrown at you because you decided to wear a Star of David around your neck isn’t a terribly uncommon experience, but it’s unsettling in the very least. And the user using an increase in antisemitic violence, physical attacks, a place of worship being bombed, as a pulpit to decry Zionism is vulgar and shows an utter disregard for the people harmed by bigotry.