Poll: 46% of German Jewish communities report antisemitic targeting – leaders warn of 'new norm'

Jewish leaders in Germany are warning of a “new normal” of Jew-hatred in the country. A Central Council of Jews in Germany poll released on Friday found that nearly 50% of Jewish communities (46 out of 100) have been targeted by antisemitism. Reported incidents include hate speech, threatening phone calls, antisemitic graffiti, and property damage.

Both left-wing and Islamist extremist networks are cited as playing a significant role in the rise in antisemitic incidents in Germany since the Hamas Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack in southern Israel.

Central Council President Josef Schuster warned in an official statement, “A situation in which Jewish communities require constant protection and antisemitism has become normalized as part of the public sphere.”

More than 68% of the Jewish respondents said they feel “very unsafe” in Germany as a result of the surging antisemitism. “This finding clearly shows that the war in the Middle East was always just a pretext, never a reason for antisemitic attacks and hate speech in Germany,” Schuster assessed.

The poll also revealed that only 35% of the Jewish respondents said they feel supported by the broader society. Antisemitism increased by 77% in 2024 compared to 2023, according to the German antisemitism watchdog, RIAS. The majority of the latest antisemitism is reportedly linked to Israel and the conflict in the Middle East. As a result, many Jews are increasingly keeping a lower profile in public due to growing levels of antisemitism in Germany.

“Things that used to be taken for granted – openly wearing religious symbols, walking carefree to the synagogue – are now often accompanied by caution and more conscious consideration. At the same time, the emotional strain has increased significantly,” one participant responded in the survey.

“Antisemitism is no longer an isolated phenomenon, but a cross-cutting issue that connects various extremist groups,” warned a study by the Hessian State Office for the Protection of the Constitution. The report further assessed that this antisemitism is fueled by false narratives accusing Israel and Jews of “genocide in Gaza,” portraying Israel as a “colonial power” and inflammatory labels like “child murderer.”

Last September, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz vowed to fight antisemitism in all its forms.

“We are declaring war on every form of old and new antisemitism in Germany,” Merz stated during the reopening of a historic synagogue in Munich. “We will not tolerate antisemitism even when it is disguised under the pretense of freedom, of art, of culture, or of science.”

However, German Interior Minister Roman Poseck, who commissioned the RIAS report, warned that “antisemitic sentiments are becoming increasingly intolerable, even in public spaces.”

“Antisemitism is one of the greatest threats to our social cohesion – especially from Islamism and the left-wing extremist spectrum,” he said.

“I am deeply ashamed of what Jews in Germany have to endure 80 years after the end of the Second World War.” “We Germans, in particular, bear a lasting responsibility never to forget what happened.”

In January, the home of Germany’s antisemitism commissioner, Andreas Büttner, was torched and marked with Hamas symbols.