German Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser said that security authorities in the country are on high alert due to the tense situation in the Middle East.
“We are closely monitoring the consequences of possible further escalations for the security situation in Germany,” Faeser told the regional newspaper Rheinische Post on Thursday.
Faeser said the risk of further escalation in the Middle East was high and described the situation as “extremely dangerous”.
The German government and its international partners are doing everything they can to de-escalate the situation, Faeser said.
“Since the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023 and the subsequent war in Gaza, the number of anti-Semitic crimes has increased dramatically,” Faeser said.
“Our security authorities are doing everything they can to break the downward spiral that leads from violence in the Middle East to even more abhorrent anti-Semitism here,” she added.
Faeser also noted that the authorities are taking decisive action against the Islamist scene, referring to the ban on the Islamic Center Hamburg and its branches in the country at the end of July.
She also mentioned previous bans on the Palestinian militant group Hamas and the pro-Palestinian network Samidoun in Germany.
Faeser expressed her “sincere gratitude” to the states for their continued efforts to protect Jewish and Israeli institutions in Germany through the deployment of strong police units.
