Bild reported that since October 7, 2023, “Bernstein has been insulted, spat on, and threatened because she has a Jewish name.”
By Rachel Avraham
Bild recently published an interview with Pia Bernstein, a Jewish female student majoring in political science and biomedicine at Goethe University in Germany, whose grandmother is a Holocaust survivor. The Jerusalem Post reported that Bernstein has faced death threats and rape threats from anti-Semites on her campus. Bild reported that since October 7, 2023, “Bernstein has been insulted, spat on, and threatened because she has a Jewish name.”
According to the report in Bild, a photo of Bernstein was marked with a red Hamas triangle, which Hamas uses to mark their victims and haters in Germany use to spread fear: “Pro-Palestine activists posted her photo with disgusting comments on the Internet.” The Jerusalem post noted that Bernstein was a victim of constant defamation by anti-Semities on social media. According to the report, in one of the many hateful messages shared by Bernstein, an anonymously sent message read “Inshallah, you will be shot…You should die…Your whole f***ing Israel…”
Bild reported that she suffered from slander, faced numerous threats such as “I’ll behead you” and rape threats, and after a discussion on anti-Semitism, was even pushed up against the wall, which resulted in a shoulder injury. “When I leave the lecture hall, I am always stalked. I am also filmed. Everything to intimidate me,” she told the Jerusalem Post.
Pia Bernstein told Bild: “I have filed more than 60 reports of threats, stalking and insults. The State Security Service is investigating.” The result: only a fine of 300 euros! Lawyer Jürgen Illing comments: “It is a threatening situation that shapes her daily life.” According to the Jerusalem Post, the Jewish student believes, based on her own investigations, that those behind the social media hate campaign are the same behind the pro-Palestinian demonstrations being carried out on campus – and many had become known to the police.
In a recent report published by RIAS, it was noted that anti-Semitism has been on the ascent in Germany since the October 7 massacre: “The number of antisemitic incidents recorded by the Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism (RIAS) in 2023 was almost 83% higher than in 2022. This huge increase mostly reflects the large number of incidents that took place after the October 7 massacres in Israel: More than half of all antisemitic incidents in 2023 took place after that date. In this context, the antisemitism often expressed itself in an especially violent way.”
RIAS added: “For many Jews, October 7, 2023 initiated a new era, dividing their lives into a before and an after stage. On that day, terrorists from Hamas and other Islamist terrorist organizations attacked Israel from the Gaza Strip. In several massacres of the civilian population, they killed more than 1,139 people, injured more than 5,000, some severely, and abducted more than 240 people into Gaza. Simultaneously, Palestinian terror organizations shot thousands of rockets at Israel from the Gaza Strip. The dimensions of the antisemitic, genocidal and especially sexual violence involved in these attacks are far from being completely understood.”
Meanwhile, as the war in Israel raged on, “antisemitism has become visible in all areas of German society in a way that has not been seen since the Nazi era. The negative experiences that Jews living in Germany have had for many years have intensified enormously, becoming an omnipresent, daily burden. This has directly changed both the private and the organized life of Jews in Germany: Many have withdrawn from public life and enter certain spaces with fear or constant concern of being confronted by one-sided or even hostile positions. Terror threats and anti-Israel demonstrations in city centers have altered both the objective security situation and the personal feeling of security of many Jews. Hamas propaganda has been spread frequently in private chat groups or on social media – sometimes without being classified as such by public-service media.”
According to RIAS’s observations, “Israel-related antisemitic stereotypes showed up in all kinds of incidents – from gatherings to cases of extreme violence and in connection with all political backgrounds. 1,260 incidents were classified exclusively as Israel-related antisemitism. One such case took place in October in Frankfurt am Main, where “Free Palestine from Zionists!” was written on the door of a toilet in a university building. In addition, a Star of David and the inscription “Save Israel” were scratched out, making them illegible.”
RIAS added that antisemitic incidents at educational institutions also increased dramatically after October 7: “These included cases that took place at universities, schools and daycare facilities, as well as at museums and similar establishments. RIAS recorded 301 of the 471 such incidents that took place in 2023 after October 7. For example, in mid-October in Cologne, numerous students made antisemitic remarks in the classroom and on the playground. Among other things, it was said that “the Jews” had provoked the war, that they were “murderers” and bore the responsibility for what was happening “in Palestine”. It was also said that Jews were behind most wars because they earned money from them, that they were to blame for the Shoah and in general cause many problems. In December in Saxony, a student initially insulted a teacher as a “dirty Jew” and “Frau Hitler”. He then threatened her and injured her by slamming a door.”
According to RIAS, “In October in Rhineland-Palatinate, several schoolchildren spoke to a classmate in an antisemitic manner. One of them said threateningly: “Your family in Israel will die, Israel will be destroyed”. Among the reported incidents at educational institutions were 113 cases at universities. Anti-Israel propaganda was often spread, including in November in Oldenburg (Lower Saxony). When a man who was distributing antisemitic flyers on university grounds was asked to stop, he yelled “Zionists are murderers!” The flyer spread the conspiracy myth that Zionists, whom he described as “the devil’s children”, had been responsible for National Socialism. In Weimar in mid-October, a note was discovered on campus that spread false information about the alleged Israeli rocket attack on the Al-Ahli Hospital in the Gaza Strip on October 17. The note also trivialized the Shoah, by calling the rocket attack a “Holocaust”. The note read: “Holocaust. 1000 killed in Israeli strike on hospital in Gaza. 17 October 2023 #Free_Palestine”.”
