German police already provide around-the-clock protection for synagogues and other Jewish institutions. But with antisemitic incidents on the rise, some in the German government are calling for tougher measures.
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00:00An attack in the U.S. that may influence German politics, as it fuels a debate about the security of Jews here in Germany.
00:10This is terrible. We mourn with the families and with the relatives.
00:15And on this occasion I also expressed my sympathy to my Israeli colleague Saar.
00:19It is necessary to investigate what the background is.
00:22And we see time and time again that Jews all over the world are exposed to dangers that are unacceptable.
00:30Jews and Jewish installations have long had special protections in Germany because of the country's Nazi past and its responsibility for the Holocaust.
00:43And as they are constantly under threat, security will step up further when Hamas carried out its terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
00:55But the attack in Washington could also have repercussions here.
01:00In a situation like the one in Washington, security has stepped up again a bit.
01:05That's why the global situation plays an important role here too.
01:08In Berlin, we protect more than 100 buildings around the clock.
01:12That includes, for example, Jewish kindergartens.
01:16This is all happening against the backdrop of a rise in anti-Semitism.
01:20The interior ministry reported a sharp rise in the number of cases and said there would be consequences, like deporting perpetrators without German nationality.
01:28It will have repercussions in terms of deportation of individuals who commit anti-Semitic crimes and do not hold German citizenship, but also in terms of protecting Jewish people and Jewish institutions in Germany.
01:47Since 2022, anti-Semitic cases have gone up 130 percent.
01:55Most are carried out by the far right, but religious extremists and the far left are also increasingly to blame, especially in the wake of Israel's war in Gaza.
02:04Three quarters of Jews surveyed in Berlin said they felt less safe than before the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.
02:12And more than a third say they stay away from events organized by the Jewish community because of fears about security.
02:19This share almost doubled over the last 18 months.
02:21Yet for Jews in Germany, such fears are not unusual.
02:23I went to a Jewish school, so I grew up with police and glass that is bulletproof.
02:29It's just the way we grew up.
02:30We know that people want to attack us and we've seen this increase, especially since October 7, but it's been a reality before.
02:36It's a responsibility of everyone who believes and believes in democracy because anti-Semitism in its core as conspiracy theories and as an eliminatory belief.
02:45It threatens all of democracy.
02:47It doesn't threaten just Jews, but that's where it hits.
02:50It hits our lives and it hits our realities.
02:52With politically motivated crimes on the rise, the situation for Jews in Germany could become even more difficult.