Number of attacks on Jews exaggerated: disinformation, Digga

A video is currently circulating on Tiktok and Instagram: A young person looks into the camera and asks: “Guess how many Jews were attacked in Lower Saxony last year because of their culture or faith?” The video is part of the social media campaign “Shalom Digga”, which aims to educate young people in Lower Saxony about Jewish life and hatred of Jews.

These include videos in which passers-by are confronted with anti-Semitic images or in which it is explained why Jews supposedly do not eat pizza with salami or why Israel is only waging war in Gaza and not carrying out a Holocaust. It was produced by the Lower Saxony state commissioner against anti-Semitism in collaboration with a Berlin advertising agency for around 130,000 euros. T-shirts, mugs and bags with the campaign logo are also available in a linked online shop.

In the video, the question about the number of anti-Semitic attacks is followed by a street survey: passers-by tap various numbers until the “real” number is finally written on the ground in chalk - 672 crimes that Jews in Lower Saxony reported last year because they were threatened or attacked with anti-Semitic threats. And in a federal state where fewer than 8,000 Jews live, the person comments: "Shocked? Same!"

The number mentioned in the video goes back to the annual report of the Anti-Semitism Research and Information Center (Rias) Lower Saxony. The state-funded reporting centers now record incidents in twelve federal states - above and below the criminal liability threshold - that they classify as anti-Semitic. This includes, for example, desecration of memorials or a Hitler salute in front of a synagogue, but also flyers that describe Israel as an apartheid state. Even a crossed-out Israel flag with the words “Love Jews, hate Zionism” was included as an incident in Lower Saxony’s annual report.

In terms of content, Rias Niedersachsen's classification is based on the anti-Semitism definition of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), which is supported by the Netanyahu government, and on the 3D test on Israel-related anti-Semitism designed by former Likud politician Natan Scharansky.

Of the total of 672 cases that Rias Niedersachsen registered last year, only 17 involved attacks and attempted attacks - including an unspecified case of extreme violence.

When asked, Rias Niedersachsen explained that a total of 7 Jewish or Israeli people were affected by the documented attacks. In this category, the report describes in detail only small scuffles in which Israel flags were snatched from counter-demonstrators at pro-Palestinian rallies.

If you add the other cases of “hurtful behavior” to the attempted and carried out attacks, Rias comes to 64 Jewish and Israeli individuals affected by them in 2025. These include nine of the 22 total registered cases of threats, both online and offline.

Violent attacks on Jewish people or institutions do indeed occur again and again, although less frequently than the Shalom Digga campaign portrays. Just last weekend in Berlin, a woman was approached by two men about her Star of David and then attacked and injured with a glass bottle.

There have also been serious incidents in Lower Saxony in recent years: In April 2024, a mentally ill 28-year-old threw a Molotov cocktail against the door of the Oldenburg synagogue, causing minor property damage.

Confronted with the fact that the number of attacks against Jewish people mentioned in the video was overestimated by about a hundred times - and that such a massive overestimation was likely to undermine the already fragile sense of security of Jewish people - a spokesman for the state representative pointed to a correction note under the video, according to which not all reported incidents were actually criminally relevant.

He further explained: “Especially when it comes to incidents in public spaces and on the Internet, it is not possible to understand how many Jewish people are affected by the incidents reported to Rias,” and these could “also affect Jewish people as a collective.”

The video with the wrong numbers is still online.