Overview

• Samuel Salzborn warns that since October 7, 2023, antisemitic hate in Berlin has become everyday and unrestrained, leaving many Jews feeling unsafe after threats, insults and assaults.
• He frames the climate as an attack on democracy that curtails rights such as human dignity, non-discrimination and religious freedom, and he laments a "deafening silence" across society.
• He says attacks on police during pro-Palestinian demonstrations challenge the state's monopoly on force, while journalists covering events face verbal and physical assaults.
• He cites antisemitic boycott actions against cultural institutions and violent university occupations as assaults on artistic and academic freedom and on Jewish students and staff.
• Coverage recalls the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack that killed about 1,200 people and took over 250 hostages, notes more than 66,000 Palestinian deaths reported by the Hamas-run Gaza health authority, and describes mounting strain on coexistence in Berlin.