I have been extremely worried for some time. Could it be that the definition of the State of Israel as the state of the Jews has something to do with this kind of anti-Semitism that is now flaring up everywhere? Since the definition of ‘Judaism’ is obviously not exclusively a religious attribution, I must fear that at its core it is a völkisch-racist definition. Could it be that this identitarian doctrine not only shapes their own self-understanding, but also determines the general perception of what ‘Judaism’ is based on? And doesn't the claim of the State of Israel to be the state of all ‘Jews’ - not only morally but also legally - mean that Jewish people are increasingly perceived as potential citizens of that state? Are Jewish religious institutions outside Israel not protected by Israeli security officers as if they were extraterritorial? In view of this, is it not obvious that Jewish life is regarded as something that is necessarily connected with the State of Israel? (The German Bundestag recently passed a resolution to this effect by a large majority).

Given that Israel, in response to the atrocities of 7 October, is waging a military campaign of revenge, initially in the occupied territories of Gaza and the West Bank and now also in Lebanon, and is using hunger and deprivation as a weapon in these areas, deliberately violating applicable legal norms, it is not surprising that Jewish people are being held jointly responsible for them. After all, the concept of collective guilt is deeply rooted in people's minds.

People are only responsible for actions that they themselves have committed, enabled or facilitated. They should never be held responsible for the actions of others that they have neither approved nor justified. The violent excesses provoked by Israeli hooligans in Amsterdam are truly terrible. But they are, I fear, the answer to the collective punishment of the Palestinian and Arab people and ultimately the result of a nationalist ideology that, although established with the end of Nazism, has not been superseded. It clings like a leech to all varieties of nationalism.