"Germany’s top official responsible for efforts against anti-Semitism suggested this weekend that Jews should not wear their skullcaps everywhere in public, setting off a debate about balancing personal safety and the right to religious freedom in the country. The recommendation by Felix Klein, a federal official, came amid growing evidence that, three-quarters of a century after the Holocaust, anti-Semitism is on the rise.The remark suggested a sobering state of affairs in Germany, analysts said.“When a representative of the federal government officially tells the Jewish community that ‘you are not safe against anti-Jewish hate everywhere in Germany,’ then that is a pathetic display for the rule of law and political reality,” said Michel Friedman, a journalist and politician who has served as president of the European Jewish Congress."
At www.nytimes.com
