New report shows antisemitic incidents increased by 29% in 2021 in Germany

A report published by Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution shows that there has been a 29 percent increase in antisemitic incidents in 2021, compared to a year earlier.

The report shows that 3,027 antisemitic incidents were recorded in 2021. This is up from 2,351 in 2020.

Although the overwhelming majority of the incidents were reported as being related to far-right extremism, there are indications that antisemitic attacks motivated by Islamism are also increasing.

Many of the crimes are to do with the publication of hate speech that is banned in Germany, such as Holocaust denial, but there were also examples of attacks on individuals and Jewish religious institutions.

The number of incidents increased during the conflict between the genocidal antisemitic terror group Hamas and Israel in May 2021, as well as coronavirus conspiracy theories.

However, the Director of the Berlin-based Research and Information Centre on Antisemitism (RIAS), Benjamin Steinetz, warned that there is a “dark field of antisemitic incidents” that are not reported and thus not represented in government statistics. Mr Steinetz said: “We have to assume that…recorded incidents are only the tip of the iceberg.”

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