A Jewish Chronicle article revealing how a German antisemitism czar made controversial comments himself was cited by a Hamburg court as it ruled that the official can be termed antisemitic.

Michael Blume, Baden-Württemberg’s state commissioner for combating antisemitism, has been dogged by allegations of Jew-hate since 2019. Last September, the JC published an article headlined: “German antisemitism czar is accused of ‘Jew-hatred’.”

The story covered Blume’s attacks on British Major-General Orde Wingate, a Zionist icon as founder of the Special Night Squads in mandate Palestine from 1936-39, which are seen as a prototype for the Israel Defense Forces a decade later. Blume termed Wingate a “war criminal” and “British murderer”. Wingate is widely considered a national hero in Israel.

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The JC article cited in court

Last October, a prominent German media lawyer, Joachim Steinhöfel, wrote on Twitter: “Dr Blume makes headlines”. Steinhöfel included a picture of the JC article about Blume in his tweet.

Steinhöfel also wrote: “Baden-Württemberg allows itself an antisemitic commissioner for antisemitism”. Twitter deleted Steinhöfel’s tweet but he filed a legal action to restore it.

The Hamburg regional court ruled in Steinhöfel’s favour, declaring that there was sufficient evidence for opining that Blume is an antisemite.

“I filed this lawsuit, defending my right to qualify Blume as such,” Steinhöfel told the JC.

“The case was amongst others substantiated with a report published in the Jewish Chronicle that compiled repeated antisemitic transgressions of Blume.”

According to the court, Steinhöfel’s tweet “is not abusive criticism, but a sharp — still permissible — expression of opinion”. Holding Blume accountable should “apply all the more when assessing the behaviour of an antisemitism commissioner of a German state” because the “issue is of considerable public interest”, the court wrote.

The court decision listed three examples of why Blume could be classified as antisemitic: his comments about Wingate, his comparison of the German Jewish activist Malca Goldstein-Wolf with the Nazi mass murderer Adolf Eichmann, and his labelling of some German Jews as “right-wing extremists” in a radio interview.

Multiple JC approaches to Blume and to the spokesman for the state of Baden-Württemberg, Matthias Gauger, went unanswered.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) told the JC: “While we all welcome antisemitism czars across Germany, Blume continues to contribute to the problem instead of combatting antisemitism.

The German court’s findings are based on facts, yet he continues to hold that position.”

The SWC listed Blume’s alleged anti-Jewish activities as the seventh worst outbreak of antisemitism in 2021.

Rabbi Cooper added: “As the SWC 2022 top antisemitism list confirms, Germany, like other democracies, is failing to curb antisemitism.”

Goldstein-Wolf, who in 2017 convinced German TV channel WDR not to air former Pink Floyd musician Roger Waters’s concerts because of his BDS activity, told the JC: “The facts about Blume’s incompetence are on the table.

The fact that an antisemitism commissioner can be called an antisemite by a court is a shameful indictment for Germany, but especially for the government of Baden-Württemberg.

“It is time for Jews in Germany to be courageous, not only against right-wing extremists, but also against those who make hatred of Jews socially acceptable in mainstream society, including many public officials.”