Now the outrage is great again in Berlin and in the federal government. Because 500 men and women marched through Neukölln and Kreuzberg on Saturday and were free to shout in Arabic: “Death to Israel, death to the Jews.” Because the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the radical Islamic Hamas, and other terrorist groups were cheered. And because the protesters have glorified assassins as martyrs and the rockets that have been fired at Israel these days from the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.
And because participants shouted: “Tel Aviv, the answer will come.” A threat against the metropolis with which the future Berlin coalition partners CDU and SPD are aiming for a city partnership.
And the politics? Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) demanded that the agitators be identified and held accountable. Berlin’s Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) condemned the anti-Semitic threats. “Hate has no place in our society,” she said.
CDU boss Kai Wegner, who will probably become the governing mayor, called the pictures shocking. Anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism should have no place in Berlin. Its secretary-general, Stefan Evers, declared that whoever wishes Israel dead “abuses our freedoms for pure misanthropy”. Justice Minister Marco Buschmann sensed the offense of incitement to hatred. It wasn’t that difficult either.
What if neo-Nazis celebrate terror against Jews at a demo?
So let’s imagine how neo-Nazis and right-wing extremists parade through the city and celebrate terrorist attacks on Jews. Left-wing groups would demonstrate, blocking the route if necessary. The police would probably react harshly to neo-Nazis who wished Jews dead and worshiped terror. She would stop such activities, arrest participants, break up the demonstration. If it hadn’t already been banned.
The police have long since proved that this is possible with pro-Palestine demonstrations. In 2022, she had banned several rallies, also supported by left-wing groups, on the anniversary of the “expulsion of the Palestinians”, and the judiciary confirmed the tough approach.
The author is deputy head of the Berlin department. For him, the reaction of politicians to hatred of Jews has degenerated into a ritual – because it was to be expected, but nothing happened.
The courts referred to experience: because such demonstrations call for crimes, inflammatory and therefore punishable slogans are shouted. And because the “highly anti-Israel mood, which has reached the point of anti-Semitism and the negation of Israel’s right to exist” is suitable for conveying a readiness to use violence.
Despite this experience, the mob marched through the city again that year. And that Holy Saturday was just the beginning of a series of anti-Israel, anti-Semitic demonstrations this spring. Although the police were also on duty with interpreters, they allowed the anti-Israel, anti-Semitic slogans to echo through the streets.
It may be that the police did not intervene in order not to escalate the situation. Still, she seemed taken aback. How else can it be that she initially spoke of a trouble-free course? How can it be that by Sunday afternoon – 24 hours after the demonstration – no investigations had been initiated, even though the hate slogans had long been documented and made public? Why did it have to be publicly criticized for the police to take action at all? What a failure!
Certainly everyone should be allowed to demonstrate for what they like. Incidentally, also for criticism of Israel. On Saturday it was about the ongoing conflicts surrounding the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. But there are red lines.
Either nobody had the fall height on the screen when offshoots of terrorist groups call for a demonstration, or nobody initially recognized why what was being chanted was a problem. There is no other way to explain the processes. In any case, it is disgraceful. The surprised outrage of politicians therefore degenerates into a ritual and comes to nothing as long as hatred of Israel and the Jews can continue to march through the streets of Berlin.
