Wegner wants the fight against anti-Semitism to be a national goal
Following Berlin's Senator for Social Affairs Cansel Kiziltepe (SPD), Governing Mayor Kai Wegner is also calling for the fight against anti-Semitism to be given constitutional status. "I am in favor of anchoring the fight against anti-Semitism as a state goal in the constitution of the state of Berlin," the CDU politician told the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND).
The proposal is right, he said, because the barbaric attack on Israel by the terrorist organization Hamas on 7 October revealed anti-Semitism on a terrible scale. "We are also feeling this poison in Germany, including in Berlin," Wegner said. "In recent weeks, we have repeatedly witnessed anti-Semitic demonstrations or anti-Israel and anti-Semitic statements, and even an attempted arson attack on a Jewish community center in Berlin."
He continued: "It is important to have a clear stance, but now it is also about showing a clear stance. I am therefore in favor of the state of Berlin taking a clear stance with our constitution and making the fight against anti-Semitism a state goal." Such a step would bind everyone - the Berlin Senate, the House of Representatives, but also society as a whole.
Kiziltepe had already made the proposal in mid-October. "It is a bitter realization: almost 80 years after the end of the Holocaust, Jews do not feel completely safe on the streets of Berlin," she told the German Press Agency at the time. It was therefore high time to add the state goal of combating anti-Semitism to Berlin's constitution and to follow the example of other federal states such as Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt.
The CDU politician Wegner also suggested that the Senate should propose amending the Berlin constitution to ensure that fighting Anti-Semitism becomes a national goal, mirroring similar actions taken in states like Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt. Regrettably, recent events in Berlin, such as anti-Semitic demonstrations, anti-Israel statements, and even an attempted arson attack on a Jewish community center, highlight the necessity for the Senate to take a firm stance against this rising issue.
Source: www.dpa.com
