German foreign minister condemns anti-Semitism at schools

BERLIN – Germany’s foreign minister has sharply condemned rising anti-Semitism at schools following a new case at an elementary school in Berlin.

Heiko Maas told daily Bild on Sunday that, “if a child is threatened in anti-Semitic ways, that’s shameful and unbearable. We have to counter any kind of anti-Semitism decisively.”

Daily paper Berliner Zeitung reported earlier this week that a Jewish girl was abused at a Berlin elementary school by Muslim immigrant children “because she doesn’t believe in Allah,” and that in the past she had also received death threats.

Anti-Semitic incidents at schools across Germany have risen in recent years and led to some Jewish students leaving public schools for private schools.

Maas, who is currently on a visit to Israel, is known as a strong advocate of minority rights.