As coronavirus spreads in Germany, so does antisemitism

“There are direct links between the current spread of the coronavirus and that of antisemitism.”

THOUSANDS OF New Yorkers gather in Foley Square last week at the No Hate. No Fear. solidarity march against the rise of antisemitism (photo credit: ERIK MCGREGOR/LIGHTROCKET VIA GETTY IMAGES/JTA)
THOUSANDS OF New Yorkers gather in Foley Square last week at the No Hate. No Fear. solidarity march against the rise of antisemitism
(photo credit: ERIK MCGREGOR/LIGHTROCKET VIA GETTY IMAGES/JTA)

Germany has seen an increase of antisemitism along with the rise in coronavirus cases, the country’s antisemitism commissioner said.

“There are direct links between the current spread of the coronavirus and that of antisemitism,” Felix Klein said Tuesday in Berlin, the AFP news agency reported. “In recent weeks, right-wing radicals have increasingly tried to leverage the coronavirus crisis for their own ends.”

Klein described one current pandemic conspiracy theory which states that the coronavirus is a failed bioweapon set loose by the Mossad, Israel’s secret service.

He was in the German capital for the launch of a government research project involving several German universities to better understand the causes and manifestations of antisemitism.