Rabbi Menachem Margolin, Director General of the European Jewish Association and of the Rabbinical Center of Europe, has denounced a statement made by the head of Germany's Jewish community who advised Jews not to wear a kippah in areas were a large Muslim population lives, in the wake of increasing anti-Semitism in Europe.
Josef Schuster, President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany said in a radio interview, that although most Jewish institutions in Germany are protected, security measures in the country need to be more frequently evaluated.
’Hiding is not the right way to tackle anti-Semitism, but it was important to analyze if it really makes sense to identify oneself as a Jew by wearing a kippah, for example in areas with a large Muslim population, or whether it's better to wear different headgear there," he said.
"It is a development that I did not expect five years ago and that's a bit shocking," he added, expressing concern about a new anti-Semitism combining views from the political extreme right with anti-Israeli sentiment and hostility from young Muslims.
Rabbi Margolin denounced what he called a ''dangerous statement that was better left unsaid.'' ''The call for Jews to hide their identity instead of calling upon European governments to provide all the necessary resources in order to battle anti-Semitism is irresponsible. If this statement was maid by a non Jew, he would be considered an anti-Semite. We hope and expect that Mr. Schuster will clarify or take back his unproductive and hurtfull statement,'' he added.
Attacks against Jews in Germany have increased to 1,076 in 2014 from 788 cases in 2013, the daily Die Welt reported, citing the Amadeu Antonio Foundation.
The foundation gets its figures from the federal government.
Since 1991 the number of Jews belonging to a religious community in Germany has more than tripled to some 105,000, boosted by an influx from the former Soviet Union. About the same number are non-practicing Jews or people with Jewish roots.
Last week, the publishers of a monthly Jewish magazine in Berlin Judisches Berlin (Jewish Berlin) decided to start mailing the publication in unmarked envelopes to try to reduce the chances that recipients may face “hostility” over receiving a Jewish publication.
“Despite considerably higher costs, the community’s executive board decided to send the community magazine in a neutral envelope, in order to reduce the hostility toward our more than 10,000 members,” Berlin Jewish community spokesman Ilan Kiesling told The Jerusalem Post.
A column in the German newspaper Berliner Zeitung expressed dismay that the Jewish community was now relegated to “hiding” its own newspaper out of fear for anti-Semitic attacks.