A video conference in Germany disrupted by antisemitic agitators. Photo: Screenshot.

Germany saw a 13% rise in antisemitic crimes over the past year, soon-to-be-published police data reveals.

German newspaper Welt am Sonntag reported on Sunday that the country’s Federal Criminal Police Office is set to release data next week that shows 2,000 antisemitic crimes were committed over the past year, along with a sharp rise in other politically motivated crimes.

41,000 cases of political crime were reported overall, a 14% rise over the year 2018. 22,000 of them were committed by the extreme right and 10,000 by the extreme left.

The crimes ranged from vandalism to much more serious violent offenses.

The states of Thuringia and Brandenburg showed particularly notable jumps, by 40% and 52% respectively.

Thorsten Frei, deputy parliamentary leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party, the Christian Democrats, said the data shows a “massive problem” and pointed to online hate as a source of the violence.

Jörg Radek, deputy leader of the GdP police union, commented, “People’s reticence to resort to violence has fallen. People become violent more quickly because they are increasingly confident that their acts are socially accepted.”

He added, “All violence from the right and left must be outlawed, whether it’s directed at a camera crew, emergency workers, or the crew of a police patrol car.”

A similar report last year came under criticism as observers charged that the data was based on the incorrect assumption that far right activists are to blame for the vast bulk of anti-Jewish incidents in the country — despite evidence from Jewish victims indicating that Muslims influenced by Islamist and antisemitic beliefs are behind an increasing number of these outrages.