Israel's ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, warned this week that Jewish parents in Germany are once again afraid to send their children to school, Israel Today reports. He made the warning in a post on X around the 88th anniversary of the Night of Broken Glass, the anti-Jewish pogroms across Germany on November 9 and 10, 1938. "Jewish life is becoming a target again," Prosor wrote.
Prosor recalled that the violence of 1938 did not happen outside German society, Israel Today reports. It unfolded in the middle of everyday life, as neighbors watched Jewish businesses ransacked, synagogues set on fire and Jews attacked and murdered. Many stayed silent or looked away. "88 years later, Jewish parents in Germany must once again live in fear of sending their children to school," he wrote. "Jewish students are being harassed and attacked at universities. Jewish businesses are being boycotted."
The ambassador said memory of the Holocaust must not be limited to annual ceremonies and official speeches, according to Israel Today. "Remembrance and Sunday speeches alone are not enough," Prosor wrote. "We must raise our voices when others stay silent. Not just on November 9, but every single day."
Israel Today reports that the Night of Broken Glass marked a massive escalation of Nazi persecution of Jews. Across Germany, synagogues were destroyed or set ablaze, Jewish businesses were looted, and many people were assaulted and murdered. Tens of thousands of Jewish men were deported to concentration camps.
Prosor's warning comes as antisemitic incidents in Germany have increased since the Hamas massacre of October 7, 2023, Israel Today reports. Jewish institutions require heightened police protection, and many community members report insults, threats and hostility in daily life. Israel Today reports the ambassador's message was aimed not only at the Jewish community but at German society and its political leaders, and that the fear of Jewish parents for their children shows how much the community's sense of security has changed.
