Overview

• Hensel will remain in office until a successor is appointed, with an outside limit of December 31, according to the Senate.
• He said ongoing hostility and personal assaults drove his decision, referencing a reported May incident in traffic in which police intervened after he and his daughter were harassed while a Hebrew song played.
• The Science Authority said it will move quickly to fill the role.
• His reappointment in November 2024 was contested by the Israelitischer Tempelverband, and an administrative court later found procedural errors but let him stay in office.
• Since 2021 he has shaped Hamburg’s anti-antisemitism strategy and commissioned a dark-figure study documenting unreported experiences of antisemitism.