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Pro-Hamas Activists Call for ‘Jihad’ in Rally Outside Israeli Embassy in Berlin
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.”
The post Pro-Hamas Activists Call for ‘Jihad’ in Rally Outside Israeli Embassy in Berlin first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.