25.07.24

Editorial Note

In what became a routine occurrence on German campuses, pro-Palestinian students protested the Gaza War while using vicious antisemitic tropes against Israel.  At the beginning of May, the police cleared one such protest camp at the Free University of Berlin. Around a hundred Berlin teachers expressed their solidarity with the demonstrators in a “statement by teachers at Berlin universities.” The protest, especially faculty involvement, created a political controversy that reached Parliament. 

In late June, the German Parliament, the Bundestag, held a discussion by the Committee on Education, Research, and Technology Assessment on the topic of “Combating Antisemitism in Educational and Research Institutions.”  The public hearing featured eight experts who announced a unanimous call to fight antisemitism in educational and research institutions and criticized the pro-Palestinian protest camps in German universities. Jews must be able to live, learn, and study freely and safely, the experts demanded. 

Elio Adler of the Values Initiative in the committee said, “Liberal democracy and society as a whole are currently under extreme pressure,” Some universities have become places where hostage-taking, terrorism and rape “are not only not mentioned or trivialized, but even glorified,” Adler added. The participants in such cases are encouraged by forces that are interested in destabilizing the Western world; the expert specifically mentioned Russia and Iran. Regarding the interests of the Palestinians, Adler found that they were merely being abused as a “political football” in order to “saw away at the pillars of our coexistence.” 

Shila Erlbaum from the Central Council of Jews in Germany “strongly condemns antisemitic attacks on Jewish pupils, students and teachers.” According to her, pro-Palestinian protest camps at universities are nothing more than “externally controlled propaganda events for the ideology of Hamas,” for which some students make themselves “useful idiots,” she said. Erlbaum criticized the repeated attempts to legitimize antisemitism with supposed freedom of expression. She emphasized: “Antisemitism is not an opinion, but hatred.” She called for content about Judaism, antisemitism, and Israel to be included in compulsory school curricula.“ 

Dr. Felix Klein, Federal Government Commissioner for Jewish Life in Germany and the Fight against Antisemitism said, “We are experiencing an absolutely untenable situation for Jews in educational institutions throughout Germany.” Jews are currently being prevented from exercising their fundamental right to education, he said. Klein expressly praised the work of the police, which is taking “consistent but also cautious action against so-called protest camps.” He called for real consequences for anti-Semitic statements and proposed measures at universities to prevent violations of the law at events, as well as the appointment of antisemitism officers at universities. 

Susanne Krause-Hinrichs from the Foundation for Tolerance and International Understanding pointed out that antisemitism related to Israel has spread at German universities. Teachers have not been adequately trained in Israeli history. Even in the training of teachers, there is a lack of knowledge about Israel’s history and how to deal with anti-Semitic incidents in practice. The use of antisemitism commissioners could help here, said Krause-Hinrichs. There is also a lack of legal and constitutional basis for combating antisemitism and protecting Jews.

Stefan Müller from the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences emphasized that antisemitism is a learned phenomenon and can, therefore, be changed. Since October 7, 2023, Jewish university members and students have been withdrawing from universities and are increasingly exposed to attacks. Müller called for the Jewish presence on campus to be secured and the visibility of Jewish life in academia to be strengthened institutionally and structurally. All university members must find an atmosphere at their institutes in which they can research, study and learn safely and free from fear and discrimination. He also called for reliable data and facts on the subject of antisemitism. 

Noam Petri of the Jewish Student Union of Germany criticized the anti-Israel and anti-Semitic protests by students at German universities in recent weeks. Petri noted the hypocrisy and double standards applied: teachers who defended the anti-Jewish protests would not stand for similar treatment of anti-Muslim protest. While “Islamophobia “ is automatically applied to even the slightest criticism of Islamist terrorism, harsh attacks on Jews are considered free speech.  

Walter Rosenthal of the German Rectors’ Conference explained that, according to a recent report by the Research and Information Center on Antisemitism (RIAS), ten percent of anti-Semitic incidents take place in cultural, scientific, and educational institutions. However, Jewish students, researchers, and employees must feel safe at universities under all circumstances. Universities must not be places of violence, antisemitism, and exclusion, but must be based on the free democratic basic order. Rosenthal demanded that the boycott of Israeli academic institutions must continue to be prevented.“

Samuel Salzborn of the Berlin School of Economics and Law explained that an “anti-Semitic mood of incitement” is noticeable in Berlin’s universities. He condemned the protest camps and threats against university presidents by the activists. Such actions are not just attacks against Jews but on the basic values of democracy.  

Universities are places of controversy, exchange, and pluralism, but that is not what the activists are concerned about, but rather the massive intimidation of Jewish and Israeli students.

The German Federal Government is currently taking steps to fight antisemitism. Bettina Stark-Watzinger, the Federal Education Minister is considering introducing an antisemitism clause in scientific funding applications. “This is a debate that should be conducted with science in order to find the right path,” she told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Antisemitism should never be promoted with taxpayers’ money. At the same time, however, she reiterated that funding from her Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) would be awarded in exclusively science-led procedures according to excellence criteria and not according to political worldview. 

The BMBF announced reviewing funding commitments to numerous university professors who signed a letter against the police clearing of an anti-Semitic and terror-glorifying protest camp in Berlin. 

IAM will report on the developments in due course.

REFERENCES;

Google Translate

https://www.bundestag.de/dokumente/textarchiv/2024/kw26-pa-bildung-fachgespraech-1008934

Experts agree: anti-Semitism in education and research must be combated

The Committee on Education, Research and Technology Assessment discussed the topic of ” Combating anti-Semitism in educational and research institutions ” in a public expert discussion on Wednesday, June 26, 2024. The eight invited experts unanimously called for the fight against anti-Semitism in educational and research institutions and criticized pro-Palestinian protest camps at German universities. Jews must be able to live, learn and study freely and safely, the experts demanded.

“Liberal democracy under extreme pressure”

Liberal democracy and society as a whole are currently under extreme pressure, said Elio Adler of the Values Initiative in the committee. Some universities have become places where hostage-taking, terrorism and rape “are not only not mentioned or trivialised, but even glorified,” said Adler.

The participants in such events are encouraged by forces that are interested in destabilizing the Western world; the expert specifically mentioned Russia and Iran. Regarding the interests of the Palestinians, Adler found that they were merely being abused as a “political football” in order to “saw away at the pillars of our coexistence.”

“Anti-Semitism is not an opinion, but hatred”

Shila Erlbaum from the Central Council of Jews in Germany strongly condemned anti-Semitic attacks on Jewish pupils, students and teachers. Pro-Palestinian protest camps at universities are nothing more than “externally controlled propaganda events for the ideology of Hamas” for which some students make themselves “useful idiots”.

Erlbaum criticized the repeated attempts to legitimize anti-Semitism with supposed freedom of expression and emphasized: “Anti-Semitism is not an opinion, but hatred.” She called for content about Judaism, anti-Semitism and Israel to be included in compulsory school curricula.

“Absolutely untenable situation”

“We are experiencing an absolutely untenable situation for Jews in educational institutions throughout Germany,” said Dr. Felix Klein, Federal Government Commissioner for Jewish Life in Germany and the Fight against Anti-Semitism. Jews are currently being prevented from exercising their fundamental right to education.

Klein expressly praised the work of the police, which is taking “consistent but also cautious action against so-called protest camps.” He called for consequences for anti-Semitic statements and measures at universities to prevent violations of the law at events, as well as the appointment of anti-Semitism officers at universities.

“There is a lack of knowledge about Israel’s history”

Susanne Krause-Hinrichs from the Foundation for Tolerance and International Understanding pointed out that anti-Semitism related to Israel has spread at German universities. Teachers have not been adequately trained in Israeli history. Even in the training of teachers, there is a lack of knowledge about Israel’s history and how to deal with anti-Semitic incidents in practice.

The use of anti-Semitism commissioners could help here, said Krause-Hinrichs. There is also a lack of legal and constitutional basis for combating anti-Semitism and protecting Jews.

“Ensuring Jewish presence on campus”

Stefan Müller from the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences emphasized that anti-Semitism is a learned phenomenon and can therefore be changed. Since October 7, 2023, Jewish university members and students have been withdrawing from universities and are increasingly exposed to attacks.

Müller called for the Jewish presence on campus to be secured and the visibility of Jewish life in academia to be strengthened institutionally and structurally. All university members must find an atmosphere at their institutes in which they can research, study and learn safely and free from fear and discrimination. He also called for reliable data and facts on the subject of anti-Semitism.

“You don’t surrender to extremists”

Noam Petri of the Jewish Student Union of Germany criticized the anti-Israel and anti-Semitic protests by students at German universities in recent weeks.

Petri critically noted that teachers who defended these protests would not be concerned about academic freedom if panel discussions were disrupted by protesters, institutes destroyed and students threatened with Islamist terror symbols. He also said: “You don’t capitulate to extremists, you fight them – and it’s high time.”

Walter Rosenthal of the German Rectors’ Conference explained that, according to a recent report by the Research and Information Center on Anti-Semitism (RIAS), ten percent of anti-Semitic incidents take place in cultural, scientific and educational institutions. However, Jewish students, researchers and employees must feel safe at universities under all circumstances.

Universities must not be places of violence, anti-Semitism and exclusion, but must be based on the free democratic basic order. Rosenthal demanded that the boycott of Israeli academic institutions must continue to be prevented.

“Anti-Semitic mood noticeable”

An “anti-Semitic mood of incitement” is noticeable in Berlin’s universities, explained Samuel Salzborn of the Berlin School of Economics and Law , condemning the protest camps and threats against university presidents by the activists. Such actions are attacks against Jews and on the basic values of democracy, criticized Salzborn.

Universities are places of controversy, exchange and pluralism, but that is not what the activists are concerned about, but rather the massive intimidation of Jewish and Israeli students. (cha/26.06.2024)

Time: Wednesday, June 26, 2024, 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Location: Berlin, Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus, Conference Room 3.101

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Google Translate

https://www.juedische-allgemeine.de/politik/stark-watzinger-erwaegt-antisemitismusklausel/

Stark-Watzinger considers anti-Semitism clause

Hatred of Jews should never be promoted with taxpayers’ money, says the Education Minister

25.06.2024 08:08

Federal Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP) is considering introducing an anti-Semitism clause in scientific funding applications.

“This is a debate that should be conducted with science in order to find the right path,” she told the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.” Anti-Semitism should never be promoted with taxpayers’ money.

At the same time, however, she reiterated that funding from her Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) would be awarded in exclusively science-led procedures according to excellence criteria and not according to political worldview.

Secretary of State had to go

Following the BMBF’s review of funding commitments to numerous university professors who signed a letter against the police clearing of an anti-Semitic and terror-glorifying protest camp in Berlin, the minister is under criticism. She says she knew nothing about the review and did not want it.

“Anyone who knows how ministries work also knows that we have a certain division of labor in the management,” said Stark-Watzinger, referring to State Secretary Sabine Döring, who was placed on temporary retirement last week because of the reviews.

“We have now created transparency about the processes in the ministry. It was important to first clarify things and then speak out,” added the minister. The scientists’ open letter was covered by freedom of expression. However, she believes it is wrong, “because you cannot rule out criminal prosecution for crimes across the board.”

Questioning in the Bundestag is pending

For weeks, anti-Israel protests by students at several German universities had sparked controversy. At the beginning of May, one such protest camp at the Free University of Berlin was cleared by police.

Around 100 Berlin teachers expressed their solidarity with the demonstrators in a “statement by teachers at Berlin universities.” Stark-Watzinger had clearly criticized this at the time.

This week, the minister must answer questions in the Bundestag’s research committee and at the government questioning session in parliament – about the events in her ministry. 

kna/ja