Bavarian Deputy State Premier Hubert Aiwanger has been accused of making antisemitic jokes as a teenager. His reaction and attacks on his accusers have only made matters worse, say critics.
German police reported a total of 2,275 anti-Semitic hate crimes an average of six per day in 2020, according to preliminary data provided by the federal government. The tally represents a more than 10% increase over the number of anti-Semitic crimes reported in 2019. Police were able to identify 1,367 suspects but only five individuals were ultimately arrested.
It remains unclear why so few perpetrators have faced legal consequences for their crimes, especially when government officials repeatedly claim that fighting anti-Semitism is a top priority. A reason may be that it is politically incorrect to identify the true suspects.
German police, possibly under orders from political authorities, systematically assign unsolved anti-Semitic hate crimes to the far right.