Anti-Israel protesters march in Germany, March 26, 2025. Photo: Sebastian Willnow/dpa via Reuters Connect

Pro-Hamas activists chanted antisemitic slogans, called for “jihad,” and celebrated “armed struggle” against Israel at a demonstration outside the Israeli embassy in Berlin earlier this week.

The calls for violence came amid new revelations that the German capital has failed to spend millions of euros specifically allocated for combating antisemitism, which has reached record levels across Germany following the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel.

Approximately 220 Hamas sympathizers reportedly rallied in the Schmargendorf neighborhood, a southwestern area of Berlin, under the slogan “Freedom for Palestine! End the genocide in Gaza!”

According to German media, the protesters chanted, “The people want to declare jihad!” and “Anyone who wants to reclaim the country must carry a weapon,” among other statements calling for violence. A reporter for the German tabloid newspaper Bild shared video from the scene on social media.

„Hört auf, verbotene Parolen zu skandieren – sonst beende ich die Demo!“ Mit diesen Worten versucht die Veranstalterin der Pro-Palästina-Kundgebung vor der israelische Botschaft in Berlin ihre Leute zu stoppen. Doch die Berliner Polizei? Schaut weiter zu.#b0704 pic.twitter.com/NkSU7Xl7Dx

— Iman Sefati (@ISefati) April 7, 2025

According to local police, a 31-year-old man was arrested during the rally for using a prohibited slogan and is under investigation for displaying symbols of unconstitutional and terrorist organizations.

In front of the Israeli embassy in Berlin, one of the speakers leading the protest was reportedly Ahmad Tamim from Generation Islam, who allegedly said, “Our task is to liberate Palestine once again.”

German authorities have identified Generation Islam as part of the international Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir – an antisemitic organization that actively promotes and encourages terrorism and praised Hamas’s Oct. 7 atrocities in southern Israel. The group has been banned in Germany since 2003, as well as in several other countries, for advocating for the destruction of the State of Israel through militant jihad.

Offener Aufruf zum heiligen Krieg – mitten in Berlin?

„Das Volk will den Dschihad!“ – Islamisten-Parolen vor Israels Botschaft!

Was sich gestern vor der israelischen Botschaft abspielte, ist kaum zu fassen – und brandgefährlich:
Bei einer Pro-Palästina-Demo brüllten… pic.twitter.com/oDqC29J9Zt

— Iman Sefati (@ISefati) April 8, 2025

The rally came after the German newspaper Der Tagesspiegel revealed last week that the Berlin Senate has done nothing with 3.5 million of the 11 million euros that the federal government allocated to the German capital to fight antisemitism in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack.

The funds were reportedly not spent, despite a historic surge in antisemitic incidents, due to organizational and administrative issues — specifically the absence of any department dedicated to the fight against anti-Jewish hatred through which the money could flow.

Meanwhile, the 8.5 million euros that were actually spent are being called into question for alleged misappropriation, with critics charging the money went to organizations not equipped for or effective at combating antisemitism.

Germany has experienced a sharp spike in antisemitism since the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7, amid the ensuing war in Gaza. In just the first six months of 2024, for example, the number of antisemitic incidents in Berlin surpassed the total for the entire previous year, setting a new record for the highest annual count, according to Germany’s Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism (RIAS).

The figures compiled by RIAS were the highest count for a single year since the federally funded body began monitoring antisemitic incidents in 2015, showing the German capital averaged nearly eight anti-Jewish outrages a day from January to June last year.

According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), police registered 5,154 antisemitic incidents in Germany in 2023, a 95 percent increase compared to the previous year.

Last week, German authorities issued deportation orders for three EU citizens and one US citizen living in Berlin over their participation in anti-Israel protests, stating that they “pose a threat to public order.”