The German elections – a warning

I was here at the embassy just two weeks ago to pick up my German citizenship – I got it because my parents fled from Nazi Germany in the late '30s. This time I bring greetings of solidarity from the Jewish Socialists’ Group.
In common with our own home-grown fascists and other far-right parties in Europe, the AfD claim that they can’t be antisemitic because they support Israel. They applaud Israel’s genocidal actions against the Palestinians as being a necessary way to counter what they call Islamic extremism.
Germany’s defence of Israel’s actions, and the clampdown on pro-Palestinian protests and speech, helped the AfD. They’ve come second and won’t be in government but it’s already mainstreamed its agenda.
In Germany in 2024 the Federal Criminal Police Office reported that 469 Islamophobic attacks had taken place by the end of September, primarily targeting women and religious institutions. It’s likely that this number is underestimated due to distrust of the authorities and the misclassification of incidents.
A European Islamophobia Report in 2023 confirmed the correlation between rising anti-Muslim hatred and the events post-7th October, saying that “the war exacerbated Islamophobic rhetoric, framing pro-Palestinian solidarity as extremism".  And nowhere in Europe is anti-Palestinian repression as vicious as it is in Germany.
Just two weeks ago in Berlin, German police violently shut down a Pro-Palestine rally, citing a ban on Arabic speech and music. A post by the Berlin Police Department on X regarding the protest stated that: “Slogans and posters are only permitted in German and English.” We can only imagine how much those police actions will have pleased AfD supporters.
We can’t forget the fightback against the far right. It was wonderful to see the huge demonstrations against the AfD last weekend all over Germany
It is only a matter of time before the AfD and other far-right groups will have Jews in their sights again. Fascists don’t replace targets, they accumulate them.    
We won’t let that happen.
As Jewish Socialists we say: "There can be no secure future for Jews, other minorities, working people and the unemployed under an economic system that promotes greed over need." The fight against fascism requires a fight against capitalism and against war!