Israel’s ambassador to Germany Ron Prosor says there is a desperate need for people in the country to “wake up” to skyrocketing antisemitism.

Since October 7, anti-Jewish hate crimes in Germany have surged, with many Jews now afraid to express their identity in public.

“The fact that Jews are afraid to go out on the streets with a yarmulke or speak on their cell phones in Hebrew, that just can’t be right. We have to wake up,” Prosor, formerly Israel’s ambassador to the UK and the United Nations, told the DPA news agency.

He added that many Jewish parents are now reluctant to send their children to school without adequate protection.

“These are conditions that are not normal. The fear is really there,” he said.

“Increasing antisemitism is not a purely German problem. But in Germany, it is even more important than elsewhere to change that.

“When Molotov cocktails are thrown to set synagogues on fire, you can’t just respond with words. You have to do something practical.”

Prosor called for immediate action in schools to address the growing problem. “We have a real problem with young people. The younger they are, the more alienated they are towards Israel.”

According to the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), since the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists, there have been more than 1,100 recorded incidents of antisemitic crimes related to the Middle East conflict. These incidents primarily relate to property damage and incitement to hatred.

BKA President Holger Münch told the Neue Zürcher Zeitung newspaper: “The dimension of these offences is new.

“Many people have come to our country from regions where Israel is considered an enemy and where the idea prevails that Jews must be fought against.

“It is therefore important that immigrants also familiarise themselves with German history as well as German attitudes and values. We need to be even clearer about what we expect from all people living here in German.”

The official figures, Münch said, encompassed a range of crimes, from those motivated by left-wing and right-wing extremism to those influenced by “religious ideology” and “foreign ideology”.