(JTA) — About 200 protesters of Israel’s actions in Gaza marched to a synagogue in Germany, where some chanted “shitty Jews.”
Police pushed the demonstrators, who were waving Palestinian flags, away from the synagogue in Gelsenkirchen, in western Germany, on Wednesday, the German news agency dpa reported.
On Wednesday night, a synagogue window was shattered in Mannheim, near Frankfurt, according to a report by the SWR news site.
About 80 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Sunday by Israeli airstrikes retaliating for rockets fired by Hamas and other militant groups into Israel. Seven Israelis have been killed in the exchange of fire.
On Tuesday in London, thousands protested Israel’s actions in the largest demonstration in Europe to date since the Israeli-Palestinian hostilities erupted anew. Violence broke out — as well as antisemitic chants about the “f***ing Jews” – when counterprotesters unfurled an Israeli flag. Pro-Palestinian protesters tried to lunge at the counterdemonstrators, kicking one in the head while police were extracting him and other supporters of Israel.
The man who was kicked, Jonathan Hoffman, a former vice-chair of the Zionist Federation of Britain, wrote on Facebook following the incident that a demonstration in support of Israel on Saturday had been canceled.
“We have decided that for the time being it is too dangerous both for us and the police to be on the streets,” he wrote.
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