{"id":133874,"date":"2026-09-22T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=133874"},"modified":"2026-09-19T07:06:45","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T05:06:45","slug":"21-00-122","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=133874","title":{"rendered":"Germany\u2019s CDU Party Unveils New Antisemitism Initiative Amid Wave of Attacks on Jews"},"content":{"rendered":"<hr>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.algemeiner.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"center alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/www.reunion68.com\/Biuletyn\/img\/algem.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"35%\"><\/a><span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #000080;\"><span><strong><a style=\"color: #000080; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.algemeiner.com\/2026\/09\/18\/germanys-cdu-party-unveils-new-antisemitism-initiative-amid-wave-attacks-jews\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Germany\u2019s CDU Party Unveils New Antisemitism Initiative Amid Wave of Attacks on Jews<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Ailin Vilches Arguello<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<hr style=\"height: 15px; background: #d0e6fa; width: 100%;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.algemeiner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2025-11-30T145314Z_1138658755_MT1SIPA0009AZGQC_RTRMADP_3_SIPA-USA-1.jpg\" width=\"100%\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><em>Pro-Israel demonstrators gathered at Bebelplatz in central Berlin on Nov. 30, 2025, before marching toward the Brandenburg Gate. Participants held Israeli flags and signs condemning rising antisemitism in Germany. Photo: Michael Kuenne\/PRESSCOV\/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"post_content\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party in the German state of Hamburg has unveiled a sweeping new initiative to confront rising antisemitism, as Jews and Israelis across the country face a growing wave of targeted attacks, harassment, and violence that has intensified fears over their safety and ability to live openly.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">CDU officials in Hamburg, a city-state in Germany\u2019s north, introduced a 12-point plan against antisemitism on Friday in cooperation with former antisemitism commissioner Stefan Hensel, seeking to strengthen efforts to combat rising anti-Jewish hatred and an increasingly hostile climate.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Hensel \u2014 who resigned from his post at the end of 2025 \u2014 has repeatedly criticized Hamburg\u2019s state government over what he described as insufficient political support and shortcomings in implementing the city-state\u2019s strategy to combat antisemitism.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Months after the position was left vacant, historian Anna von Villiez was appointed in June as Hamburg\u2019s new Commissioner for Jewish Life and the Prevention and Combating of Antisemitism.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">With the new initiative, the CDU is calling for Hamburg\u2019s currently voluntary antisemitism commissioner role to be made a full-time position with expanded staffing and funding, as well as access to information and case files in proceedings involving suspected antisemitic motives.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Among other measures, the action plan places a strong focus on schools and universities, calling for antisemitism to be made a mandatory part of teacher training and professional development, while ensuring that every student in Hamburg encounters Jewish life firsthand at least once during their school years through visits to synagogues and other Jewish institutions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">CDU officials also propose a university code of conduct that would allow sanctions ranging from warnings to expulsion in the most serious cases, while requiring all state-run and state-recognized universities to appoint dedicated antisemitism officers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The newly introduced plan also seeks to advance the long-discussed idea of a city partnership between Hamburg and an Israeli municipality, creating a formal relationship designed to promote exchanges between schools, universities, associations, and civil society organizations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The 12-point plan further calls for an annual report on antisemitic incidents, an expansion of the Hamburg-Israel youth exchange program, and continued progress on rebuilding the Bornplatz Synagogue \u2014 Hamburg\u2019s former main synagogue, which was destroyed during the Nazi era and has since become a major project of remembrance and reconciliation in the city.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Like most countries across Europe and the broader Western world, Germany has seen a shocking rise in antisemitic incidents over the last three years, in the wake of the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">According to Germany\u2019s Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism (RIAS), 8,725 antisemitic incidents were recorded nationwide in 2025, marking a slight increase from the previous year and setting a new record.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">While last year\u2019s total reflects only a modest rise of 98 incidents compared with 2024, this latest figure represents a roughly 248 percent surge from 2022, before the Oct. 7 atrocities, when 2,480 incidents were documented.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">With an average of roughly 24 incidents per day, the report recorded 178 physical assaults and 257 threats, alongside widespread harassment, property damage, and intimidation targeting Jewish individuals and institutions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">In one of the latest incidents, German police on Thursday arrested a man of reportedly Afghan origin on suspicion of attempting to set fire to the Bergische Synagoge in Wuppertal, a city in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, just days before Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar when worshipers atone for their sins.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">According to local media reports, the suspect allegedly threw several bags containing flammable liquid at the synagogue entrance, set them alight, and then fled the scene.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Fortunately, the flames were extinguished within minutes, preventing any injuries and leaving the building with only minor damage.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The Bergische Synagoge was also attacked in 2014, when three Palestinian men hurled six Molotov cocktails at the building, sparking a fire that was quickly extinguished.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">At the time, a German court sentenced the three men to suspended prison terms and community service, but found insufficient evidence to establish that the attack was antisemitically motivated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, strongly condemned the latest attack, warning that assaults deliberately timed around Jewish holidays are intended to spread fear and increasingly force Jewish life out of the public sphere.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">\u201cWhat deeply concerns me is the composure with which the perpetrator carried out this attack in broad daylight in Wuppertal. There was no apparent sense that he was doing something wrong, nor any sign of shame,\u201d Schuster told the German newspaper <em>J\u00fcdische Allgemeine<\/em>. \u201cThis act shows just how far the normalization of antisemitism has progressed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<hr style=\"height: 15px; background: #d0e6fa; width: 100%;\">\n<div id=\"content\" class=\"content-alignment\">\n<div id=\"watch-description\" class=\"yt-uix-button-panel\">\n<div id=\"watch-description-text\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<p><em>Zawarto\u015b\u0107 publikowanych artyku\u0142\u00f3w i materia\u0142\u00f3w nie reprezentuje pogl\u0105d\u00f3w ani opinii Reunion&#8217;68,<\/em><em><br \/>\nani te\u017c webmastera Blogu Reunion&#8217;68, chyba ze jest to wyra\u017anie zaznaczone.<br \/>\nTwoje uwagi, linki, w\u0142asne artyku\u0142y lub wiadomo\u015bci prze\u015blij na adres:<br \/>\n<\/em><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em><a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"mailto:webmaster@reunion68.com\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">webmaster@reunion68.com<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<hr style=\"width: 100%;\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Germany\u2019s CDU Party Unveils New Antisemitism Initiative Amid Wave of Attacks on Jews Ailin Vilches Arguello Pro-Israel demonstrators gathered at Bebelplatz in central Berlin on Nov. 30, 2025, before marching toward the Brandenburg Gate. Participants held Israeli flags and signs condemning rising antisemitism in Germany. Photo: Michael Kuenne\/PRESSCOV\/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect The center-right Christian [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[33,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133874"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=133874"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":133914,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133874\/revisions\/133914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=133874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=133874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=133874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}