THE JERUSALEM POST: Islamic-based anti-Semitism present among German Muslims
BERLIN - The German government released on Monday the findings of a two year inquiry into modern anti-Semitism in the Federal Republic, showing that latent anti-Semitism affects one of every five Germans.
The 202 page study, entitled "Anti-Semitism in Germany," covered a wide spectrum of German anti-Semitism, including hatred of the Jewish state as a manifestations of anti-Semitism within the Left movement and Islamic-animated loathing of Israel and Jews, especially from Iran's regime and the Turkish media.
Dr. Wahied Wahdat-Hagh, a member of the ten member commission, told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday, that the "experts came to the conclusion that the ideology of the Iranian regime is anti-Semitic." According to the report, "The state anti-Semitism is, however, not only relevant on the propaganda level" in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The study notes that Iran's anti-Semitic ideology plays a role in Germany.
When asked what the report means by Iran's regime not limiting its anti-Semitism to its domestic agenda, Wahdat-Hagh said, Iran supports foreign anti-Semitic entities "militarily, financially and ideologically." He cited the Lebanese group Hezbollah, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
In Germany the strong presence of Iran's regime is located in Hamburg. "In view of the facts that the political head of Iran is also considered a spiritual figure for many extremist thinking Muslims," wrote the commission's authors. The study says that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader in Iran, is the sponsor of the Islamic Center in Hamburg (IZH).
According to one commission member, Dr. Juliane Wetzel, hyperbolic criticism of Israel as an expression of anti-Semitism exists between 40 and 50% of the population. However, Dr. Clemens Heni, a leading German scholar of contemporary German anti-Semitism, said Wetzel plays down the widespread form of anti-Israel anti-Semitism in the Federal Republic. » | Benjamin Weinthal, Jerusalem Post Correspondent | Tuesday, January 24, 2012
