Two antisemitic stickers were found pinned to the windows of a Hamburg subway car between the Brambach and St. Pauli stations on Thursday.One of the two stickers included a yellow heart with the text. "I ☣ CORONA". The second one was in the form of a yellow Star of David with the caption "Corovnavirus ☣ Fake!!"
The shape and color of one of the stickers embodies the so-called "Jewish Star" patch that Jews had to wear in Nazi-era Germany and its occupied territories.
Deputy chairman of the World Zionist Organization Yaakov Hagoel responded to the event, saying: "The coronavirus does not differentiate race, gender or religion, but gives fertile ground to antisemitic conspiracies."
He continued, emphasizing that "this phenomenon, of accusing the Jews of creating pandemics, diseases and more, is not new. We saw it in the Middle Ages during the Black Plague. Then, like today, people incited against the Jews and accused them of being behind the plague.
"The big difference between then and now is that today we have the State of Israel, strong, proud, and we will continue to fight and defeat antisemitism with our heads held high."