‘’Dr Klein rightly points out the problem of antisemitism in Germany, but his well meant advice is not, to my humble opinion, the solution at all. What is next? Should I shave off my beard? Change my name? This is the road where his comments lead to. My own parents had to hide during the Nazi period. I simply refuse to hide today, nor should anyone, least of all the man tasked with fighting antisemitism in Germany, be asking us to do just that.”
BERLIN/BRUSSELS/JERUSALEM— The German government’s Commissioner to combat antisemitism, Felix Klein, stated that the country’s Jewish community should avoid wearing kippot (skullcaps) in public because of of rising antisemitism, a statement that drew criticism from European Jewish groups, the U.S. Ambassador in Berlin and Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin.
Klein is the first federal government representative to declare that Jews cannot practice their religion in public spaces because of the danger of antisemitism in Germany.
‘’I cannot advise Jews to wear the kippot everywhere all the time in Germany,” he said in an interview with the Fuke media group.
He added that he “changed his mind on the topic compared to previously.”
One year ago, thousands people participated in kippah marches across Germany to protest antisemitism.
On Sunday, European Jewish Association (EJA) Chairman Rabbi Menachem Margolin and the Head of governmental relations for the Rabbinical Centre of Europe, Chief Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs of Netherlands expressed their disappointment and alarm at Klein’s comments.
In a statement, they said the comments, however well-intended towards the safety of Jews in Germany amounted to a policy of ‘’a surrender to hate.’’
‘’Jews cannot surrender to those who despise us. We do not alter who we are to placate the basest instincts of humanity. Dr Klein’s solution appears to be hide everything that is Jewish and then there is no antisemitism. This is a dangerous position to adopt and the EJA repudiates it in the strongest possible terms,” declared Rabbi Margolin.
Rabbi Jacobs added : ‘’Dr Klein rightly points out the problem of antisemitism in Germany, but his well meant advice is not, to my humble opinion, the solution at all. What is next? Should I shave off my beard? Change my name? This is the road where his comments lead to. My own parents had to hide during the Nazi period. I simply refuse to hide today, nor should anyone, least of all the man tasked with fighting antisemitism in Germany, be asking us to do just that.”
The U.S. Ambassdor to Germany Richard Grenell also declared in defiance to Klein’s statements that Jews in Germany should not conceal their religious identity and urged them to wear kippot.
In a tweet Grenell said: “The opposite is true. Wear your kippa. Wear your friend’s kippa. Borrow a kippa and wear it for our Jewish neighbors. Educate people that we are a diverse society.”
In Isael, President Reuven Rivlin said on Sunday “The statement of the German government’s antisemitism commissioner, that it would be preferable for Jews not wear a kippah in Germany out of fear for their safety, shocked me deeply.” He added “Responsibility for the welfare, the freedom and the right to religious belief of every member of the German Jewish community is in the hands of the German government and its law enforcement agencies. We acknowledge and appreciate moral position of the German government, and its commitment to the Jewish community that lives there, but fears about the security of German Jews are a capitulation to antisemitism and an admittance that, again, Jews are not safe on German soil.”
President Rivlin added: ”Responsibility for the welfare, the freedom and the right to religious belief of every member of the German Jewish community is in the hands of the German government and its law enforcement agencies. We acknowledge and appreciate moral position of the German government, and its commitment to the Jewish community that lives there, but fears about the security of German Jews are a capitulation to anti-Semitism and an admittance that, again, Jews are not safe on German soil.”
”We will never submit, will never lower our gaze and will never react to anti-Semitism with defeatism – and expect and demand our allies act in the same way,” he concluded in his statement.