"It's not possible right now for German students to study in a German university without facing antisemitism," Ron Dekel, President of the Jewish Students' Union of Germany (JSUD), told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday, a week after suffering two antisemitic incidents.
Last Thursday, Dekel was at the Bundestag with a colleague from JSUD to discuss the rise in antisemitism with politicians. Soon after leaving, just meters from the Parliament, two women in a car approached him, playing Palestinian music as they drove slowly past. Dekel told the Post that the women followed him and his colleague for around 200 meters. The driver then started screaming f*** Israel, free Palestine, and showing Dekel the middle finger. The car then drove off.
Dekel made a video about the incident, including footage he took of the women at the time. The video went viral, gaining 900,000 views before Instagram took it down.
He assumed the woman must have seen it, because two days later, on Saturday, as Dekel was leaving the synagogue at around 4:30 pm, he found the same woman waiting for him.
"She started telling me, 'Take down the video, I'm suing you.' I just continued walking because at first I didn't really recognize her. But after Shabbat, when I looked again at the video, I realized that she was actually the same person."
The woman was not alone when she confronted him outside the synagogue. She was joined by a group of about five people who were leaning on a car.
Dekel told the Post that he felt unsafe, so he spent the rest of Shabbat at the student union office, which is close to the synagogue. When his friends (who had been with him) returned to the synagogue about three hours later, the woman was still there. She had reportedly attempted to enter the synagogue, but the policeman stationed outside had not let her in.
"It doesn't seem like an accident because she not only waited for me to come out but then also waited multiple hours for me to come back to synagogue. Especially because I'm constantly walking around that area, very visibly Jewish with the kippah, and wearing JSUD merchandise with a very visible blue color and Jewish print."
Dekel reported both incidents. Police told him that the woman is now claiming that they provoked her.
"This kind of thing just happens constantly to German Jews in general, especially to young Jews."
Antisemitism found everywhere in Germany
Dekel told the Post that antisemitism in German universities is widespread. While reporting of incidents may be better in bigger cities, where more Jews live, "when we talk with our students all across Germany, we really see that that's an issue everywhere."
"We had, for example, a Jewish head of the student body in a university called Rheinwald. I've never heard about that city before that incident happened. They voted to have Jews out of the student representation, and the woman had to leave her position."
"Then, last year we wrote to the 60 biggest universities in Germany if they want to put up a hanukkiah that we would provide for them next to the Christmas tree, they didn't need to do anything. Only two universities said yes. The others said they were secular campuses and could not show a Jewish symbol."
Dekel also referenced the incident of Lahav Shapira, a student at the Free University of Berlin who was violently assaulted in February 2024 by another university student, Mustafa S. The latter hit Shapira in the face with his fist and then kicked him in the face while he was lying on the ground. Shapira suffered severe facial fractures, a brain hemorrhage, and significant eye damage in the assault.
Despite this, the appeals chamber of the Berlin Regional Court ruled last week that the attack was not antisemitic.
"He was nearly beaten to death, he barely survived," said Dekel. "It's the biggest university in Berlin and they didn't change their policies they are inviting people like Francesca Albanese to the university, someone who compared Israel to Nazi Germany, who speaks about the Jewish lobby in the US. That's not freedom of speech, that's like full antisemitism."
"I would even go so far as to say it's not possible right now for German students to study in a German university without facing antisemitism."
Just last week, Dekel himself went to the toilet at his university and found the words 'kill all Jews' scrawled on the wall.
He said this is reflective of how Germany is seeing a resurgence of traditional, medieval-style antisemitism.
"I think before, they had to code it in order to hide it, in order to be a society that will accept it. But now it's just very straightforward."
"Antisemitism here comes from every part of society. Not just right or left."
Nevertheless, Dekel said there is now a growing movement in Germany of young Jewish students who are "not letting antisemitic protesters and people taking our spaces away" and are showing themselves as visibly Jewish in public.
"Young Jews are being visible, are reclaiming their spaces, and it's something very powerful. I believe in a future for Jews in Germany, for Jews in Europe, but I think we have to fight for it."
Dekel does see a future for himself in Germany.
"In my kind of public position, I get a lot of hate. I get death threats almost weekly. I wouldn't do this if I didn't strongly believe that there is a Jewish future here in Germany."
"I don't really see alternatives for European Jewry than to fight for a future in their countries."