In Germany Now, Wearing the Kippah Can Be Dangerous

by Hugh Fitzgerald

So it has come to this.

Jews in Germany now are so worried about assaults by Muslims that some — many — of them are afraid to wear their kippahs in public. The other day, just to test whether attacks on Jews were a problem in Germany — which he initially doubted —  an Israeli Arab went walking with a friend in Berlin. They were both wearing kippahs. He was set upon and beaten with a belt, until his Muslim aggressor was pulled away by two other Muslims. He captured it all on video, and that video went viral. He had learned a lesson he was not expecting; wearing the kippah was indeed dangerous.

The latest in the kippah saga, and about antisemitism in Germany, is in this story, “Germany’s Jews urged not to wear kippahs after attacks, BBC, April 24, 2018:

The leader of Germany’s Jewish community has advised Jews to avoid wearing traditional skullcaps (kippahs) following anti-Semitic attacks.

Josef Schuster, the president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, told Berlin public radio that Jews should exercise caution in big cities.

His comments come ahead of a “Berlin Wears Kippah” solidarity march in the German capital on Wednesday.

Last week, two young men wearing kippahs were assaulted in the city.

The attacker was filmed shouting anti-Semitic abuse.

Jewish organisations in Germany have expressed alarm over a number of recent anti-Semitic insults and threats in schools.

At the weekend, Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned what she described as “another form of anti-Semitism.”

She told Israel’s Channel 10 TV network that aside from anti-Semitism by right-wing groups, similar threats were coming from some Muslim refugees in the country.

Does Angela Merkel have any idea how many antisemitic attacks have been carried out by “right-wing” groups and how many by Muslims? If she does, why not share that information with the German public?

Is this the first time that Angela Merkel has realized that “some Muslims” exhibit antisemitic behavior? Angela Merkel has done more to make Germany safe for Muslim antisemites, merely by letting in a million Muslims, than anyone else in the world. She is the leader of a country that, within living memory, murdered six million Jews. She has, therefore, a special duty to ensure that Jews are safe in Germany. She has a responsibility to promptly and exhaustively  investigate when Jews in Germany are threatened or attacked, when Jewish children are beaten up by Muslim classmates, when Jews in general are fearful even of walking outside. It is not “right-wing” Germans, though such exist, who are making Jews fearful in Germany today. It is not “extremists,” but mainstream Muslims, who take the antisemitic verses in the Qur’an and stories in the hadith to heart and act upon them. Angela Merkel has a duty to study the Quran, and to give special attention to the passages denouncing Jews, which until now she clearly has not done.

Here’s what could be done to shame Angela Merkel into studying Islamic antisemitism. First, take that most useful list of antisemitic verses in the Qur’an, compiled by Robert Spencer, where he gives a brief summary of each verse’s contents, as well as its sura and ayat. Thus, for example, when Spencer refers in his own words to the contents of verses that accuse Jews of “fabricating things and falsely ascribing them to Allah (2:79; 3:75; 3:181),” you should prepare for any debate by having written out the full text of each verse — 2:79, 3:75, 3:181– so that they are ready to be read out.

Spencer’s list of those antisemitic verses in the Qur’an is overwhelming and devastating:

The Qur’an depicts the Jews as inveterately evil and bent on destroying the wellbeing of the Muslims. They are the strongest of all people in enmity toward the Muslims (5:82); as fabricating things and falsely ascribing them to Allah (2:79; 3:75, 3:181); claiming that Allah’s power is limited (5:64); loving to listen to lies (5:41); disobeying Allah and never observing his commands (5:13); disputing and quarreling (2:247); hiding the truth and misleading people (3:78); staging rebellion against the prophets and rejecting their guidance (2:55); being hypocritical (2:14, 2:44); giving preference to their own interests over the teachings of Muhammad (2:87); wishing evil for people and trying to mislead them (2:109); feeling pain when others are happy or fortunate (3:120); being arrogant about their being Allah’s beloved people (5:18); devouring people’s wealth by subterfuge (4:161); slandering the true religion and being cursed by Allah (4:46); killing the prophets (2:61); being merciless and heartless (2:74); never keeping their promises or fulfilling their words (2:100); being unrestrained in committing sins (5:79); being cowardly (59:13-14); being miserly (4:53); being transformed into apes and pigs for breaking the Sabbath (2:63-65; 5:59-60; 7:166); and more.

He then discusses the major Qur’anic commentators on those verses:

The classic Qur’anic commentators not do not mitigate the Qur’an’s words against Jews, but only add fuel to the fire. Ibn Kathir explained Qur’an 2:61 (“They were covered with humiliation and misery; they drew on themselves the wrath of Allah”) this way: “This Ayah [verse] indicates that the Children of Israel were plagued with humiliation, and that this will continue, meaning that it will never cease. They will continue to suffer humiliation at the hands of all who interact with them, along with the disgrace that they feel inwardly.” Another Middle Ages commentator of lingering influence, Abdallah ibn Umar al-Baidawi, explains the same verse this way: “The Jews are mostly humiliated and wretched either of their own accord, or out of coercion of the fear of having their jizya [punitive tax] doubled.”

Ibn Kathir notes Islamic traditions that predict that at the end of the world, “the Jews will support the Dajjal (False Messiah), and the Muslims, along with ‘Isa [Jesus], son of Mary, will kill the Jews.” The idea in Islam that the end times will be marked by Muslims killing Jews comes from the prophet Muhammad himself, who said, “The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say. ‘O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him.’” This is, not unexpectedly, a favorite motif among contemporary jihadists.

Now, in order to force Islamic antisemitism into the German national consciousness, and to bring it, in particular, to Merkel’s attention, there ought to be a public reading of the several dozen indisputably antisemitic verses in the Qur’an, in the Bundestag itself, by some of its members.

Let the reading in the Bundestag be made into an event, publicized in advance, well-covered by the media. Let millions in Germany hear those antisemitic verses in the Qur’an as they are read out in the Bundestag, then reported on, by being transcribed, in the press, broadcast on radio and television, uploaded to YouTube, and blogged about incessantly, so that few in Germany can any longer remain insufficiently aware of Islamic antisemitism. Chancellor Merkel herself will have to pay stunned attention. She must be forced to realize the full folly of her heedless mass immigration policies, for which not she, but Germany’s Jews, are now paying the highest price.

That is one thing that might be done.

Here is another.

There will no doubt be more marches where, in a sign of solidarity with Jews, many non-Jews will wear the kippah, as they did on April 24, at “Berlin Wears The Kippah.” But it would be still better if hundreds of thousands of non-Jewish Germans could continue to wear these kippahs long after these marches are over, not only as a sign of solidarity with Jews who feel besieged, but also to confuse Muslims, making them unsure of their prey. It would also be useful if the police, as part of their attempt to suppress antisemitic acts, were to send out small groups of policemen, all specially trained in, and adept at, unarmed combat, such as Krav Maga, but also — just in case — armed with concealed weapons. These groups — each consisting of two to four policemen — could fan out across German cities, at irregular hours, including Muslim neighborhoods, wearing kippahs and other clothing seemingly identifying them as Jews. And if set upon, they could give their Muslim attackers the surprise of their lives — before, of course, arresting them. If there are enough such arrests, this should discourage Muslims from such attacks.

Meanwhile, the debate among German Jews on the pros and cons of wearing the kippah continues.

Here again is Josef Schuster, the head of the main German Jewish organization, who still thinks Jews should not risk wearing a kippah: 

“Defiantly showing your colors would in principle be the right way to go [to tackle anti-Semitism],” he said.

“Nevertheless, I would advise individual people against openly wearing a kippah in big German cities,” Mr Schuster added.

But he also stressed that if Germans refused to stand up to anti-Semitism “our democracy would be at risk.”

“This is not only about anti-Semitism – it goes along with racism, it goes along with xenophobia. You need a clear stop sign here.”

We are left in some confusion. According to Schuster, German Jews shouldn’t wear the kippah, as it’s now too dangerous, but if Germans don’t stand up to antisemitism, “our democracy would be at risk.” Isn’t wearing the kippah a very good way for Germans to “stand up to antisemitism”? Or does Josef Schuster have another idea?

What about reaction from other groups?

Mr Schuster’s comments apparently contradict the position taken on the kippah issue by the Berlin-based Jewish Forum for Democracy and Against Anti-Semitism – the organisation which shared video of last week’s attack on Facebook.

“I used to always advise my Jewish friends and acquaintances not to wear a kippah so as not to show their Jewish identity. I changed my opinion,” a spokesman said last week.

“We must take up this fight and be visible again in public.”

Separately, the head of Germany’s Central Council of Muslims condemned recent anti-Semitic attacks.

“Anti-Semitism, racism and hatred are great sins in Islam, therefore we will also never tolerate that,” Aiman Mazyek told Germany’s Rheinische Post newspaper.

Aiman Mazyek’s statement that “antisemitism [is a] great sin in Islam” is not true; he knows it is not true, but hopes the German kuffars won’t, or if they know that far from being a “great sin,” it is encouraged in Islam, will nonetheless hold back from criticising him, lest they be accused of islamophobia. There should be no more fear of that idiotic charge and no more tolerance for this kind of bald-faced taqiyya. Mazyek needs to be called on his outrageous remark (he is, by the way, always trotted out as a “Muslim moderate,” marching side-by-side with Angela Merkel to “denounce” the Paris attacks and also, at the same time, anti-Islam “bigotry”). He should be asked to comment on the nearly three dozen antisemitic verses in the Qur’an, as listed above. How will he, how can he, respond? In Germany, as in France, people are getting fed up with the nonsense and lies about Islam to which they have been subjected. And another question for Aimay Mazyek: In what Qur’anic verses or hadith are Muslims instructed to regard antisemitism as a “great sin”?

Germany’s Jewish population has grown rapidly since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

Before 1989, the population was below 30,000 but an influx of Jews, mainly from the former Soviet Union, has raised the number to more than 200,000.

In summary, these are the steps that need to be taken. First, the German public needs to know that these attacks by Muslims on Jews, on the streets, on public transport, and in the schools, are widespread. They need precise data, so far not provided by the German government, on antisemitic attacks by Muslims, including the many attacks on Jewish students by their Muslim classmates. Second, Germans need to know that these antisemitic acts are not confined to “extremists,” but are committed by mainstream Muslims following verses in the Qur’an. Third, Chancellor Merkel, in order to better serve those she presumes to protect and instruct, needs to be informed about the antisemitic passages in the Qur’an and hadith. She must be constantly reminded of the contents of the Qur’an, and forced eventually to acknowledge not jut the antisemitism of “some Muslims,” but the immutable antisemitism of Islam itself. Fourth, the most effective way to inform Merkel and the public about this matter would be for members of the Bundestag to use that chamber as a bully pulpit from which to read out those antisemitic passages. Such a platform would help the subject stay in the public’s eye, whether on the front pages of national newspapers, on television and radio news programs, or on YouTube.

Learning about the textual sources of Islamic antisemitism is necessary, a condition precedent, to taking actions that will reduce the danger of attacks on Jews in Germany. I suggested above that the best way to decrease these attacks is through deception — after all, “war is deceit,” said Muhammad — utilizing small police units of men trained in combat, and who, wearing their kippahs, can patrol in Muslim neighborhoods, where, if attacked, they can give their attackers a sound thrashing before arresting them. That won’t eliminate, but it will discourage and confuse would-be attackers. We need many more people wearing kippahs, not fewer, with some of them being policemen or similar personnel serving as deliberate decoys, of the kind Muslim attackers will learn, to their sorrow, are not to be tangled with.

Most of all, Merkel’s political opponents have to keep up the pressure on her to demonstrate that she has learned her lesson — better late than never — about Islamic antisemitism. The Franco-German dress designer Karl Lagerfeld described her failure quite clearly: “You cannot kill millions of Jews and then take in millions of their worst enemies afterwards, even if there are decades [between the two events],” the German fashion designer told a French television chat show. This dress designer exhibits far greater moral sense than does the German chancellor.

Perhaps this “Berlin Wears The Kippah” event will be only the first of many where Germans, in these demonstrations of mass solidarity with Jews threatened by Muslims, will show they can no longer be silenced by charges of “Islamophobia.” Perhaps, too, Merkel, chastened by what she will finally have been forced by circumstances to learn about Islam, will end once and for all her mad policy of allowing massive numbers of Muslim immigrants into the country. Germany owes its Jews freedom from fear.  It owes its Muslim migrants nothing.

First published in Jihad Watch.