In July 2014 in Berlin, demonstrators carried a picture of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and protested against Israel’s Operation Protective Edge in Gaza. Photo: Boris Niehaus via Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – The number of antisemitic incidents rose last year in Germany, according to a Berlin newspaper that quoted a government report.

1,453 antisemitic incidents were perpetrated in 2017, including 32 incidents of physical violence, 160 incidents of vandalism, and 898 incidents of incitement to violence or hate speech directed at Jews.

The German government expects the figures to rise even further since the data provided by the states is not yet final, the daily Tagesspiegel reported.

Most of the antisemitic incidents were due to extreme right-wing motivations: 1,377 incidents – 95 percent – were perpetrated by people holding extreme right-wing views. An additional 33 incidents were perpetrated by non-Muslim foreign citizens who hold antisemitic views.

Twenty-five antisemitic incidents were perpetrated “for religious reasons” by Muslims. Some of these Muslims were migrants and others were born in Germany. In the last 17 cases, authorities did not succeed in identifying the motivation behind the antisemitic attack.

Last month, the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, passed a bill to implement tougher laws to tackle antisemitism, including the creation of a commissioner post to develop and carry out a strategy for rooting out antisemitic sentiment and crime.