The head of Germany’s Central Council of Muslims has said anti-Semitism is sinful and must be tackled. His comments came after Chancellor Angela Merkel voiced concern about a “new phenomenon” of anti-Jewish sentiment.
Hatred and abuse of Jewish people are against the tenets of Islam, the president of Germany’s Central Council of Muslims, Aiman Mazyek (pictured above), said, adding that the Muslim community had work to do in tackling the problem.
“Anti-Semitism, racism and hatred are great sins in Islam, therefore we will also never tolerate that,” Mazyek told the Tuesday edition of the regional newspaper Rheinische Post.
The Muslim leader made his comments in response to remarks by German Chancellor Angela Merkel to an Israeli broadcaster at the weekend. Merkel told Channel 10 News that “refugees and other people of Arab origin are bringing a different form of anti-Semitism into the country.”
Read more: Anti-Semitism in Germany: Are immigrants unfairly portrayed in the media?
Mazyek said he accepted that Merkel’s comments had been sufficiently “nuanced,” recognizing that anti-Semitism had not arrived with refugees. However, he admitted there was a problem.
“We take it very seriously that there is anti-Semitism present among some refugees,” Mazyek told the Düsseldorf-based newspaper. He added that the Central Council was organizing meetings between Jews and refugees, and that it was running educational programs that included visits to memorial sites at former concentration camps.
Merkel had made her comments after reports of several anti-Semitic attacks by Muslims in Germany in recent weeks. In one instance that was caught on camera last Tuesday, a man was attacked for wearing a Jewish skullcap in Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg district. The victim, in fact, said he was not Jewish but an Arab Israeli. A 19-year-old Syrian turned himself in to the police after the attack sparked outrage across Germany.
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