The number of antisemitic crimes in the German city of Hamburg doubled from 2023 to 2024, the head of the Hamburg State Office for the Protection of the Constitution said on Monday.
A total number of 249 antisemitic crimes were recorded in the city in 2024, almost twice that of 2023 (132 cases).
Torsten Voss, in an interview with the Hamburger Abendblatt (the Hamburg Evening Paper), said the antisemitic crimes registered by security authorities in the city in 2023 were almost exclusively by right-wing extremists.
However, in 2024, the number of antisemitic crimes motivated by religious ideology or politics (relating to foreign elements) rose significantly, surpassing those by right-wing extremists. One hundred and nine crimes were of a right-wing extremist background, and 111 cases were of a foreign ideology or a religious background.
“This is a novelty for Hamburg,” Voss told the paper.
He referenced an incident on May 25, when Stefan Hensel, Hamburg’s antisemitism commissioner, was the victim of an antisemitic crime.
Hensel was at a traffic light in a car with his daughter, playing Israeli music, when a man insulted him from a van through the open window, calling him a “child murderer” and a “f***ing Israeli.” The man then tried to push Hensel off the road with his car.
Antisemitic crimes have risen significantly in the form of anti-Israel insults
“We must never get used to such crimes, and we won’t,” said Voss. “The rise in criminal offenses is clearly linked to the terrorist Hamas attack on Israel,” he continued. “Since then, antisemitic crimes have risen significantly, particularly online, for example in the form of anti-Israel insults.”
Voss noted that, as a member of the Round Table Against Antisemitism and for the Protection of Jewish Life in Hamburg, he speaks to members of the Jewish community.
He relayed to the Abendblatt that the community has “long felt threatened by Islamists,” but that this was “not reflected in statistics before the Hamas attack.”
This has changed: “Now, unfortunately, the perceived threat is also reflected in recorded criminal offenses.”
What Hamburg is experiencing now is what he calls “Querfront” antisemitism, which roughly translates to Jew-hatred “on all fronts.”
“We are recording antisemitic crimes motivated by left-wing, right-wing, and Islamist extremism,” he said. “As different as these groups are ideologically, they share a common enemy image. And in some cases, the boundaries between these groups are blurring.”
While Voss said that right-wing antisemitism in Hamburg is predominantly confined to online spaces (“society largely denies it any public space”), left-wing antisemitism occurs publicly.
He referenced an event in mid-July named Methfesselfest, organized by the left-wing extremist German Communist Party. Despite multiple warnings by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the fact that one of the participating groups, Thawra, was recently classified as extremist, the event went ahead.
Thawra (Arabic for “revolution”) is a Hamburg-based pro-Palestinian group of people that Voss referred to as “ideological Hamas supporters.”
“[Its] pronounced antisemitism, rejection of Israel’s right to exist, and cooperation with violent left-wing extremist groups make Thawra an object of our surveillance,” he said.
While their active core members are believed to be in the low double digits, “their mobilization potential is significantly higher,” he added.
Voss said he continues to be concerned about the threat from Iran to Jewish citizens and synagogues, noting that the main worry relates to individuals with criminal backgrounds who are paid to gather intel or maybe carry out attacks.
As an example, at the start of July, an Afghan-Danish national was arrested in Denmark and extradited to Germany after he was revealed to be an Iranian spy planning attacks on Jewish people in Germany.
Voss did, however, note that Hamburg’s decision to close the Islamic Center in the Blue Mosque (IZH) on July 24 on account of its role in propagating antisemitism has made a slight difference.
“There is no longer a central location in Hamburg where Shi’ite Islamists can meet unmonitored. By closing the IZH, we shut down the main outpost of the Tehran regime in Germany and Europe. Public prayers still take place in front of the mosque on Thursdays and Fridays with 80 to over 100 people.”
“However, so far, there has been no visible antisemitic or anti-Israel agitation at these gatherings,” he said.