In Berlin alone, the NGOs recorded more than 900 occurrences of anti-Semitism last year, sixty percent more than in 2016. It was mostly insulting or propaganda on the street or the Internet. According to Mareš, however, the problem is that historical anti-Semitism is often hidden under the cover of anti-Zionism, under the resistance to the state of Israel.
“Anti-Semitism is sometimes hard to distinguish from anti-Zionism and resistance to Israel. To a certain extent, a new wave of migrants from Muslim countries is responsible for it,” Mareš warned and added that those Muslims often have critical attitudes to Jews referring, for example, to quotes from the Koran directed against the Jews.
The prejudices and hatred of the Jews are not manifested only by the Muslims, but also supporters of the far right demonstrate it increasingly. Also, the number of violent acts increases, not only in Germany but also in France or Italy. Therefore, it’s not only Israel trying to persuade European states to intervene and accept a declaration on anti-Semitism.
“The problem for Israel is that there is a huge wave of resistance, which is not justified by rational arguments, but rather by the fact that Israel is perceived as an evil,” Mareš said.
