Thousands of people demonstrated in Berlin, Germany, and London, England, on October 22 to express their support for Israel.
Demonstrators gather at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin
Among the demonstrators gathered at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, some waving Israeli flags and others holding posters of some of the hostages kidnapped by Hamas.
German President Steinmeier addressed the demonstrators: "It is intolerable that the Jews are once again living in fear today. Every attack on Jews, Jewish institutions, is a disgrace to Germany. Every attack filled me with shame and anger. ”
Organizers claim 20,000 people attended the rally at the Brandenburg Gate, while police estimate 10,000.
German Chancellor Gerhard Scholz also said earlier at the opening of a new synagogue in the eastern city of Desso that he was "angry" that anti-Semitism had risen since the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Recently, several Jewish-inhabited buildings in Berlin have been spray-painted on their doors and walls with the "Star of David" of Judaism and Jewish culture, exactly the same way Germany practiced anti-Semitism before World War II. A synagogue in Berlin was lit with two petrol bombs.
After World War II, Brandt, the first Chancellor of West Germany, vowed on behalf of the Germans that the persecution of Jews would never happen again, and Germany would never repeat the mistakes of the past. Schultz also vowed that the lesson of "never repeating the mistakes of the past" must not be broken.