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Jews and Muslims united against hate

SHAFAQNA – Muslims joined Germans of all faiths in a march against anti-Semitism this week, with a few Muslim women photographed donning kippahs over their hijabs in solidarity with their Jewish neighbors.

The demonstrations took place across the country, with the largest event happening in Berlin, after an anti-Semitic attacker targeted two Jewish men wearing kippahs.

Following the attack, Josef Schuster, head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, cautioned Jewish men against wearing the traditional skull cap, CNN reported.

Germans, including Muslim citizens and residents, joined together after Schuster’s comments to stand against the hate, wearing kippahs as a sign of solidarity. According to The Independent, more than 2,000 people – Muslims, Christians, atheists and Jews – attended a march in Berlin.

Many on social media were impressed by the incredible solidarity

“The problem is not with Muslims”

Kippahs and hijabs DO mix

Statistics from the Interior Ministry reveal that nearly 1,500 anti-Semitic attacks were carried out in Germany in 2016. The vast majority of those attacks – 1,381 to be precise – were carried out by members of the European nation’s far right.

Just last weekend, a large gathering of Neo-Nazis was held in eastern Germany to celebrate the birthday of Adolf Hitler. Attendants wore shirts with slogans such as: “Keepers of the Race”, “White is my favorite colour” and “Adolf was the best”, according to TRT World.

Europe and the United States have seen such groups and their bigoted views  grow in prominence over the last few years. Right-wing political parties have even made worrying gains in Germany, France, Poland and Hungary in recent elections.

With the election of President Donald Trump, the Alt-Right – a vague term used to define a collection of Neo-Nazi White Supremacists – has grown in prominenceacross the U.S. as well.

Although Neo-Nazis are historically seen as opposed to Jews, they also routinely target Muslims with hateful rhetoric and violence.

Just as Muslims stood with German Jews this week against anti-Semitism, American Jews showed their solidarity with Muslims in the wake of Trump’s travel ban on citizens of several predominantly Muslim nations.

The Jewish group J Street said that the order evoked “horrible memories among American Jews of the shameful period leading up to World War II,” in a press release last year.

Jewish Voice for Peace, a group opposing Israeli occupation and apartheid, vowed to fight against Trump’s order.

“We pledge to resist in every way that we can. We’ll put our hearts, souls, and bodies on the line to stop hateful and racist attacks,” the organization said in a statement.

Many rabbis, synagogues and individual American Jews have joined protests throughout the country, standing in solidarity with the Muslim community. A photo of Muslim and Jewish fathers holding their respective children on their shoulders at a demonstration against the travel ban became one of the most iconic images of opposition to Trump’s executive order.

Muslim Americans also have shown their support for Jewish Americans on a number of occasions.

After a historic Jewish cemetery in Missouri was vandalized, with 170 headstones destroyed, Muslims came together to raise more than $20,000 dollars in less than two hours via a crowdfunding site, to help with restoration costs. In total, the campaign garnered more than $160,000.

Keith Ellison, the first Muslim ever elected to the U.S. Congress, also sent a letter to the Justice Department at the time, requesting an investigation into the desecration of the Jewish cemetery as a hate crime.

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