“Jews in danger,” said Chancellor Merz. Hamas wanted to “celebrate” 7 October with a massacre in Berlin

Speaking yesterday at a press conference in Berlin in the wake of the heavy defeats suffered by his party, the CDU, in two regional elections, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that “Jewish life in Germany is no longer safe”. Israel’s ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, also warned that Berlin’s Jewish community faces an “immediate existential threat” following the victory of Elif Eralp’s Die Linke in Berlin. As if the rise of the AfD were not enough, the far left is also making inroads on German streets where no Jew can walk safely if they are recognisable as such. Ibrahim Ibrahim was also present at the Die Linke rally, where he described Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar as a “martyr hero”. “The liberation of Palestine will be complete when Tel Aviv returns to Palestinian hands,” they shouted at campaign rallies for Eralp, who claims to want to combat anti-Semitism, but Jews do not trust her.

In Bild, the leader of German Jewry, Josef Schuster, warns that there are now ‘areas off-limits to Jews’. Seventy-five per cent of Jews refrain from wearing symbols of their faith in public, and forty-six per cent avoid ‘certain areas’. In Die Welt, Jacques Schuster, head of editorials at the major German daily, takes issue with those who have allowed this to happen: “Do they only get worked up when right-wing extremists march past Jewish places of worship? A large proportion of immigrants from the Middle East, who came here to work and be free, are using this freedom to turn against our open society. Furthermore, there is a left-wing milieu that views Arab immigrants with postcolonial caution and forgives many things that Germans would never tolerate.” The number of documented incidents of anti-Semitism in Germany in 2025 reached a record high of 8,725; this was announced by the Federal Association of Research and Information Centres on Anti-Semitism (RIAS), based in Berlin. In 2022, the number of recorded incidents stood at 2,480.

Two years ago, Barbara Slowik, the Berlin police chief, admitted: “There are neighbourhoods where the majority of the population is of Arab origin and harbours sympathies for terrorist groups”. Slowik had advised Jews and homosexuals to be cautious in “certain areas” of the German capital in a sensational interview with the Berliner Zeitung. Berlin’s rabbi, Daniel Alter – who was beaten up in the street whilst his daughter looked on – also denounced the existence of “areas off-limits to Jews in Germany”. But his warnings fell on deaf ears.

“Hamas planned coordinated terrorist attacks in Berlin and Vienna to mark the anniversary of the 7 October massacre in Israel,” according to a 214-page indictment filed by the German Federal Prosecutor. The attacks were to target Israeli and Jewish sites in the two European capitals. The political climate in Germany is becoming increasingly toxic; there is great fear on the streets of appearing Jewish, with numerous anti-Semitic attacks taking place; the authorities seem to be taking note of the situation, whilst Islamist terrorism operates in the shadows. Michael Koblenz, president of the Berlin-based Jewish football club Makkabi, told a round-table discussion last week ahead of the elections that, since 7 October, parents have been increasingly asking for police protection. “For Jews, Berlin is not a safe place,” said Koblenz. “Everyday life: a synagogue under maximum security, children in a nursery under maximum security, a Jewish school that looks like Fort Knox. When we play in Neukölln, the first question from parents is: do we have the police? My children had just been to Israel, where they were finally able to breathe a sigh of relief. There, they can just be children.” Koblenz concluded: “Soon there won’t be many Jews left here.” It is 2026, but it feels like 1936.