German Islam researcher sees worrying alliances in anti-Semitism

Goethe University Islamic scholar Susanne Schröter fears that anti-Semitism will continue to grow in Germany.

Three social groups are preparing the ground for this, said the Director of the Frankfurt Research Centre for Global Islam in Frankfurt: Muslim, left-wing and right-wing circles.

"There are worrying opportunities for alliances. I fear that lasting synergy effects are being created. That is quite explosive for our society."

All three groups are on the same side in their interpretation of the Middle East conflict, according to Schröter.

"There is a religiously based anti-Semitism in Islam," Schröter told dpa. This is very obvious in Islamist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, from which Hamas also emerged.

"Hatred of Jews and the goal of destroying Israel are their founding principles." But there is also widespread anti-Semitism in the Muslim communities in Germany, she said.

"I don't believe that the majority of Muslims condemn Hamas' attack on Israel," said Schröter.

Even in academic left-wing circles, there is "an explicitly pro-Palestinian focus and strong anti-Israeli voices," said Schröter. This is fuelled by a post-colonial theory according to which Israel is seen as a "white perpetrator state."

"This false but powerful construction can be directly linked to Islamist narratives," and this attitude is also compatible with right-wing narratives, said Schröter.

There had already been an alliance between the Muslim Brotherhood and the National Socialists (Nazis) in the 1930s, she said.

"They had a common goal: the extermination of the Jews." To this day, there are ideological "overlaps between Islamist and right-wing circles."