A ‘kippah rally’ in Berlin in April 2018 expressing solidarity with Germany’s Jewish community. Photo: Reuters / Fabrizio Bensch.

“Antisemitism and hatred of Jews is growing” in Germany, the mayor of Frankfurt warned on Wednesday.

Speaking in Tel Aviv at Muni Expo 2020, Mayor Uwe Becker posited, “What increases antisemitism is a lack of knowledge. People don’t know about Jewish life, young people in Germany know about hate and the Shoah, but they don’t know about normal Jewish life in the 21st century. The average Germany child learns that in 1933 Germans started killing Jews, and then by 1945 the war was over. Children don’t learn about Jewish life; they only know that Jews are victims.”

“We have a problem with the antisemitism of adults, not only children,” he added. “Antisemitism is from the far left to the far right, influenced by anti-Zionism which becomes antisemitism. From the guilt of the past, we have the responsibility of the future.”

Another speaker at the gathering of municipal officials from around the world was Nick Forbes, head of the Newcastle City Council in the UK, who decried the levels of racism and xenophobia in his country.

“I stand for a Britain which is open, welcoming, accepting and multicultural,” he stated. “We need to understand what’s driving communities apart, what’s driving the rhetoric that puts communities against each other.”

“In my country the UK, we have seen no economic growth for years, and when people are dissatisfied with their lives, they look for someone to blame,” he continued. “We have to focus to support our economy, create jobs [and] make people feel secure in their future, [to have] hate crimes start to diminish.”