Germany commits to ensuring security for Jews with skullcaps

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman is stressing that Germany’s responsibility to ensure security for all Jews wearing skullcaps anywhere in the country without having to fear an anti-Semitic attack.

Steffen Seibert’s comments come after the government’s anti-Semitism commissioner, Felix Klein, was quoted Saturday as saying he “cannot recommend to Jews that they wear the skullcap at all times everywhere in Germany.” That was criticized strongly by Israel’s president, among others.

Seibert says “it’s the job of the state to ensure that anybody can move around securely with a skullcap in any place of our country.”

Illustrative – file picture from June 10, 2014 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, shows a man wearing a Jewish kippa skullcap with the flags of Germany and Israel (Frank Rumpenhorst / dpa / AFP)

Government statistics released earlier this month showed that the number of anti-Semitic and anti-foreigner incidents rose in Germany last year, despite an overall drop in politically motivated crimes.

— AP