BERLIN (AP) – Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Sunday that he is outraged by the antisemitic agitation spreading even to Germany as the Israel-Hamas war rages, and warned at the inauguration of a new synagogue that the vow of “never again” must be unbreakable.
Scholz’s remarks come as antisemitic incidents have been rising in Germany following the violent escalation of the war in Gaza. Assailants threw two Molotov cocktails at a synagogue in Berlin on Wednesday, prompting Scholz to say that attacks on Jewish institutions would never be accepted.
He expanded on his comments at the inauguration of the temple in Dessau, a city in eastern Germany whose synagogue was destroyed by the Nazis 85 years ago.
He spoke of the “barbaric terror of Hamas” in describing the Oct. 7 militant attack from Gaza on Israeli civilians, and concern about the tensions that have been rising since.
“I am deeply outraged by the way in which antisemitic hatred and inhuman agitation have been breaking out since that fateful October 7, on the internet, in social media around the world, and shamefully also here in Germany,” Scholz said. “Here in Germany, of all places.”
“That is why our ‘never again’ must be unbreakable,” Scholz said as he gathered with Jewish leaders at the Weill Synagogue, noting that the community has recently grown as it welcomed people from Ukraine.
The synagogue is named after German-born composer Kurt Weill, who fled Nazi Germany in 1933, and his father Albert Weill, who was a cantor in Dessau.
“This synagogue here in the middle in Dessau says that Jewish life is and remains a part of Germany. It belongs here,” Scholz said. “Germany will do everything to protect and strengthen Jewish life.”
Police have increased security for Jewish institutions in Berlin and all over Germany.
Israeli flags that were flown after the Oct. 7 attack as a sign of solidarity in front of city halls all over the country have been torn down and burnt. Several building in Berlin where Jews live had the star of David painted on doors and walls.