Berlin Police Chief Issues Warning for Jews in City's Arab Neighborhoods
Berliner Zeitung daily newspaper that the city does not have specific "no-go zones" for people, but some areas are unsafe for members of the Jewish and LGBTQ communities.
There has been a rise of antisemitic incidents in the German capital since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. A group of schoolchildren recently was attacked in the city."There are no so-called no-go areas, meaning areas that are too dangerous to enter," Slowik said. "However, there are areas, and we must be honest at this stage, where I would advise people who wear a kippah or are openly homosexual or lesbians to be more attentive."Newsweek reached out to the Berlin mayor's office on Tuesday for comment.Slowik said she did not want to defame a particular group "as perpetrators," but she did recognize that there are "certain neighborhoods.""There are, unfortunately, neighborhoods in Berlin with a majority of residents from Arab backgrounds where there is open sympathy for terrorist organizations and very blatant antisemitism," Slowik said.On October 7, 2023, Hamas and other Palestinian nationalist militant groups launched a coordinated invasion from the Gaza Strip into Israel.
The attack killed 1,200 people and about 250 were kidnapped, with dozens still held in Gaza. Israel's subsequent military campaign has led to more than 43,000 deaths, according to Gaza health officials, who report that more than half of those killed are women and children, though their tally does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.Since the attack, there has been a rise of antisemitism globally.
Last week, hundreds of "wanted" posters targeted teachers and staff at the University of Rochester in New York.Tensions have risen in Europe as well.
