A pair of Israeli’s in Berlin have been forced to close their bookshop after receiving multiple threats from far-left Antifa extremists because they wanted to hold a study group on a thinker who inspired Italian fascism in the 1920s.
The two young men, named Amir and Doron, ran the bookshop up until the threats from the far-left extremists made the business unprofitable. The threats came after the pair, along with an American friend, announced a study of futurist thinker Julius Evola, an Italian intellectual who was involved with the fascist movement, Die Welt reports.
The bookshop, named “Topics” as all the books are arranged by topic, was located in the Neukölln area of Berlin, a stronghold of the far-left extremist Antifa scene. In a Facebook post, the pair says that the Antifa extremists were upset that they would dare hold a workshop on a fascist thinker in an area that is seen as a stronghold of the left.
The real reason for the workshop, according to the shop owners, was to examine the influence of Julius Evola on the “alt-right” movement in America to better understand it. The post led to many negative comments from Antifa supporters who were against the proposed workshop.
Both of the Israelis are the grandsons of Holocaust survivors and though anti-Semitism is rising in Berlin, particularly in the public school system, it is unknown if the far-left extremists targetted them for being Israelis.
Anti-Semitism on the far-left has also been growing across Europe and has become widely visible with prominent left-wing figures like Labour MP Naz Shah supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. Shah was also accused of anti-Semitic rhetoric which forced her to resign from a senior position in the Labour shadow cabinet.
The left-wing extremist scene in Berlin is also known to regularly engage in violence, primarily toward police officers. The attacks have escalated to the point where the chief of the cities domestic intelligence service Bern Palenda has warned that the extremists may be prepared to kill if they think it is needed.
Berlin is not the only city in Germany to have a violent far-left scene either. Most recently during the G20 summit in Hamburg, thousands of Antifa “black block” extremists caused mass vandalism and violence leading to the injury of almost 500 police officers. The head of the police special armed forces commented afterwards that he had never seen such violence directed at his officers.