German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has called on Muslim associations in Germany to distance themselves from the violence of the Islamist Palestinian organisation Hamas on Israel.
“I expect a crystal-clear dissociation from the terror of Hamas, and this must be done in the coming days,” Faeser said in Frankfurt on Monday.
Following the large-scale surprise attack by Hamas fighters on Israel on October 7, the German government banned all activities of the group.
On Monday, Faeser visited a day-care centre and the primary school of the Jewish community in the western German city of Frankfurt.
This was a sign of solidarity, Faeser said.
The protection of Jewish institutions had top priority, she added.
“I am deeply ashamed that we have a situation in Germany where we still have to police day-care centres and primary schools,” the minister added.
The community’s chairman, Salomon Korn, said many members, including the children, were frightened and unsettled.
On Friday, when Hamas called for violence against Jewish institutions worldwide, 80 per cent of the children did not come to the community’s daycare centres and schools, he said.
The cohesion of society as a whole, also and especially with Muslim Germans, must be strengthened, Korn said.
“I invite all democrats, all people of whatever religion and origin, to stand by our side here.”
The president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, added that the protection measures for Jewish communities must remain permanently higher.
