'No Jew in Germany': German police assault Israeli professor
It is unclear why the police confused the victim with the suspect.
By BENJAMIN WEINTHALUpdated: JULY 13, 2018 03:26People wear kippas as they attend a demonstration in front of a Jewish synagogue, to denounce an anti-Semitic attack on a young man wearing a kippa in the capital earlier this month, in Berlin, Germany, April 25, 2018.(photo credit: FABRIZIO BENSCH / REUTERS)
The police in the West German city of Bonn allegedly mistakenly beat an Israeli philosophy professor after a German of Palestinian origin attacked him because he was wearing kippah.According to a Thursday report in the Rheinische Post, the 20-year-old German Palestinian attacked the 50-year-old Israeli academic and yelled insults at him in German and English, including: “No Jew in Germany!”The German-Palestinian knocked the man’s kippah from his head a number of times, was arrested and sent to a psychiatric clinic.Regarding the police attack on the Israeli academic, Ursula Brohl-Sowa, the head of the Bonn police, called it “a horrible and regrettable misunderstanding.”The 50-year-old Israeli academic, who – like the German-Palestinian – remained unnamed in media reports, called for help and the police jumped and punched him in his face. It is unclear why the police confused the victim with the suspect.The Israeli academic departed the city of Bonn, the former capital of the Federal Republic of Germany.Antisemitic acts of violence and anti-Jewish rhetoric are increasing in Germany, according to government reports.In a separate development in Bonn, the anti-Israel organization BDS Group Bonn is seeking to stop a lecture from the Israeli academic Amichai Magen, who is slated to deliver a talk on “Managing terrorist threats: The growing democracy advantage” on July 12, at 6:00 p.m. at the University of Bonn.BDS is an abbreviation for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions campaign targeting the Jewish state.Two new German intelligence reports concluded that boycotts of Israel are antisemitic and resemble Hitler’s “Don't buy from Jews!" campaign.
According to the announcement for Magen’s lecture: “The Center for International Security and Governance will host a lecture by Amichai Magen, head of the Diplomacy and Conflict Studies Program at the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy in Herziliya, Israel, to discuss what he calls a ‘triple democracy advantage’ when it comes to terrorism.”The lecture notice adds: “Contrary to popular opinion, Magen argues, data from nearly two decades suggests that liberal democracies are increasingly the safest regime type as they suffer fewer attacks than do other regime types, with a slower increase in numbers, and fewer fatalities. So how can this contrast between public perceptions and the changing empirical reality be explained? And what role does preserving and deepening democratic substance play in enhancing safety and mitigating the risks of terrorism? These and other questions will be explored at the upcoming event.”
