Katharina von Schnurbein and Felix Klein. Credit: Wolfgang Kumm/dpa/picture alliance
At the end of 2022, the German Cabinet released its National Strategy against Anti-Semitism and for Jewish Life, which has received criticism from the Jewish world for not mentioning the regime of Iran and Palestinian anti-Semitism – which have targeting Jews in Europe and Israel.
Behind this strategy are Germany's federal commissioner for combating anti-Semitism, Felix Klein, and the european commission coordinator on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life, Katharina von Schnurbein.
In a statement to JNS, Rabbi Abraham Cooper of The Simon Wiesenthal Center said: “Dr. Felix Klein is a highly respected official with whom the Simon Wiesenthal Center has had important meetings and exchanges. What Dr. Klein says as Germany’s top official dealing with antisemitism has great impact, not only in Berlin but globally. We understand that his 55-page national strategy to combat antisemitism makes no mention of Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas or the PFLP [Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine]. This would constitute a fatal flaw in creating a national game plan to thwart antisemitic hate, violence, and even terrorism”.
Cooper's suggestion is that there be a second report in which Germany focuses on Iran and its terrorist allies.
The Brig. Gen. (res.) Amir Avivi, chairman and founder of the Israel Defense and Security Forum (IDSF), told JNS: “While I commend the German government for publishing its first comprehensive plan to ‘combat antisemitism and promote Jewish life in Germany,’ I find it very disturbing that two of the vilest modern-day proponents of Jew-hatred and violence against Jews on German soil are not named and shamed in the report even once: the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Palestinian Authority”.
Klein, on the other hand, declared: “In its national strategy, the federal government of Germany makes clear that it fights against all forms of antisemitism in equal measure. Germany’s punitive measures to fight antisemitism range from efficient investigation and monitoring to prosecution and the banning of organizations”.
With information from JNS and Benjamin Weinthal
