No, this isn’t ominous at all:
#Breaking: The German government advises citizens not to wear a kipa– a Jewish skullcap– in public.
(2019) pic.twitter.com/r1PWHDhHK6— Noga Tarnopolsky (@NTarnopolsky) May 25, 2019
TIMES OF ISRAEL – The German government’s top official against anti-Semitism said Saturday he wouldn’t advise Jews to wear skullcaps in parts of the country.
Felix Klein was quoted in an interview with the Funke newspaper group as saying that “my opinion has unfortunately changed compared with what it used to be” on the matter. He said: “I cannot recommend to Jews that they wear the skullcap at all times everywhere in Germany.” He didn’t elaborate on what places and times might be risky.
Klein blamed “increasing social disinhibition and brutality.”
Government statistics released earlier this month showed that the number of anti-Semitic and anti-foreigner incidents rose in Germany last year, despite an overall drop in politically motivated crimes.
Anti-Semitic incidents rose by 19.6 percent to 1,799 in 2018, with 89.1% of them involving far-right perpetrators.
Foreign Minister Heiko Maas commented on the figures, noting at a conference inaugurating a European network to combat anti-Semitism that hatred of Jews in Germany was “not an imported product,” German news agency dpa reported.
However, Maas said that in the fight against anti-Semitism, crimes by immigrants should also be looked at “just as decisively.”
Far too often we see anti-Semitic crimes in our own country – especially in New York where many orthodox Jews live.
But for the German government to now be warning Jews not to self-identify by wearing skullcaps will immediately remind people of Nazi Germany before World War II.
And note that this government statistic is saying that nearly 90 percent of these incidents of anti-Semitic crimes are done by the far-right. Now when they say far-right, I believe what they are referring to is neo-Nazi type groups that have gained popularity in the country in the aftermath of the mass migration.
Here’s a report by Sky News that should give you some idea of the far-right in Germany:
Top photo by AP Photo/Markus Schreiber