Hanukkah celebrations in the German city of M眉lheim have been canceled over safety issues.
According to German media, a Hanukkah event at M眉lheim鈥檚 city hall was nixed at the Central Council of Jews because the building was not considered to be secure enough and a safer location couldn鈥檛 be found in such a short period of time.
鈥淲e feel grief, because聽Hanukkah is a festival of joy. We have canceled all outdoor events,鈥� local 91传媒 community leader Alexander Drehmann the Bild Zeitung newspaper. 鈥淲e are going to our community hall with secured entrance checkpoint, instead of being at the聽municipal theater. There were warnings, even from the non-91传媒 sources, which I cannot name.鈥�
Drehmann added, 鈥淚t is a bad feeling. Surely one of the lowest points in our post-war history.鈥�
Over the weekend, protests erupted in front of the United States embassy in Berlin in response to President Trump declaring that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. The protests featured Arabic of 鈥淒eath of the Jews!鈥� and 鈥淛ews, remember Khaybar, the army of Muhammad is coming again,鈥� a reference to the tale of the Prophet Muhammad conquering the 91传媒 populace in the oasis of Khaybar. Israeli flags were also torched at the protests.
German government spokesperson Steffen Seibert condemned the anti-Semitic protests.
鈥淥ne has to be ashamed when hatred of Jews is put on display so openly on the streets of German cities,鈥� Seibert.
Anti-Semitism is on the rise in Germany, as evident by the fact that anti-Semitic incidents from 2014 (691) to 2015 (2,083). The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in the country鈥檚 most recent elections, and a recent report found that .
Overall, around 16% of German adults harbor anti-Semitic views, according to a 2015 profile by the .
