German police detained more than a dozen men on Wednesday for anti-Semitic attacks in three cities that included throwing rocks at a synagogue and starting a fire at a memorial for a synagogue destroyed in 1938 in the Nazi-led Kristallnacht.
German politicians condemned the events, calling them anti-Semitic attacks, reported Reuters.
Police said three men in their early 20s were detained on Tuesday night and released after they admitted to throwing rocks at the windows of a synagogue in Bonn and burning an Israeli flag. The attackers said that the violence between Israelis and Palestinians this week motivated them to do so, according to the report.
In the city of Muenster, police detained 13 people who burned Israeli flags outside a synagogue, charging them with holding an illegal public gathering.
“We will tolerate no anti-Semitism,” said Armin Laschet, premier of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, where the incident occurred. She is the candidate from German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc in the upcoming September elections.
Josef Schuster, president of Germany’s Central Council of Jews, called for more protection of the country’s Jewish sites.
“Israel and Jews as a whole are subjected to hatred and incitement, particularly on social media. The protection of Jewish institutions must be increased,” he said, according to AFP.
