How the genocide in Gaza is being used to fuel prejudice at home

Imagine encountering a few workers in your apartment building and offering them a friendly greeting. Minutes later, police officers knock on your door. You’re under arrest for saying “hello”. The issue? You did it in Arabic.

That’s the situation a woman in Paris found herself in recently, after her neighbours reportedly overheard her utter assalam alaykum, “peace be upon you” in Arabic, and called the police.

Following the attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7, European leaders, along with media and other institutions, have displayed a series of reactions that have grown increasingly concerning and inconsistent as days pass.

Initially, there was the unified display of support for Israel – an understandable response given the loss of civilian life, were it not for the glaring lack of similar empathy extended to Palestinians being killed by Israeli occupation forces and illegal settlers almost every day. This support remained unshaken by the Israeli government’s completely disproportionate, criminal response, which currently threatens to wipe out a population of 2,200,000 non-combatants via indiscriminate bombing, forced displacement and intentional starvation.

Then, there was the banning of demonstrations in support of Palestinians being decimated by US- and Europe-made bombs, usually under the pretext of combating antisemitism – even though many of the voices trying to speak up in defence of Gazans are Jewish – the clear implication being that hostility towards Jews is pervasive among Muslim and Arab communities in Europe. In Germany, the displaying of Palestinian flags also became prohibited, and a student was even punched by a teacher for carrying one to school.

Berlin’s Neukölln district, home to a large population of Turkish and Arab descent, has become an alarming symbol of this open display of racism. A heavy, uninterrupted presence of riot police has effectively turned the neighbourhood into a police state, with officers harassing residents and carrying out grotesque actions such as the stomping out of vigil candles, the shoving and arresting of children, and the detaining of a lone Jewish protester holding up a sign.

Mainstream media and politicians have only stoked flames further. Writing for Der Spiegel about the current political climate in Neukölln, Katrin Elger painted a picture of a neighbourhood in which Jewish people walk and live in fear, before throwing all journalistic integrity to the wind by implying that two immigrant men she interviewed – alongside “so many in the Middle East” – thought Israelis were “dirty swine”, words they never said. No Jewish people were interviewed, and some Jewish Neukölln residents – including journalist Ben Mauk, who was recently pepper-sprayed by police while filming a violent arrest in the area – swiftly discredit her account.

Also in Der Spiegel, German chancellor Olaf Scholz, a social democrat, channelled his inner Donald Trump by arguing for mass deportations. In the midst of all the mass hysteria, journalist Fatina Keilani felt enough at ease to simply say the quiet part out loud: “Islamophobia may be justified.”

Antisemitism is a problem in Europe, and it’s been on the rise in the past days. It has no place in any society and should be combatted vigorously. The same is true for Islamophobia. We would do well to remember that, out of all 2,480 incidents of antisemitism documented in Germany in 2022, 470 were attributable to offenders with a far-right background – a number far larger than the 16 who had an Islamic or Islamist one. To also remember that, as all this unfolds, the fascist AfD party is polling in second place nationwide. And that far-right views are prevalent exactly among the people currently violating individual rights on a daily basis in places such as Neukölln.

As over 100 Jewish artists, writers and scientists living in Germany encapsulated in a beautiful open letter: “As Jews, we reject this pretext for racist violence and express our full solidarity with our Arab, Muslim and especially Palestinian neighbours. We refuse to live in prejudiced fear.”

The same should be true for all of us.

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