Article content continued

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or

In France, pro-Palestinian youths have clashed repeatedly with police, and on Sunday set fire to cars, pillaged stores and attacked two synagogues in the Paris suburbs, while Italy has also seen pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

Jewish groups have expressed shock and disgust about the growing anti-Semitism in Germany and other European countries with strong Muslim communities.

“We have reached a new level of hatred and violence in all of Europe that cannot even be compared to the anti-Semitism seen during previous conflicts in Israel,” said Stephan Kramer, the director of the European office on anti-Semitism of the American Jewish Committee in Brussels. “It needs to be made very clear that violence is not an appropriate means of protesting.”

French President Francois Hollande met Monday with Jewish and Muslim leaders in the Elysee Palace, where he told them that fighting anti-Semitism will be a “national cause.”

In Berlin, police said Tuesday they had banned pro-Gaza protesters from chanting an anti-Semitic slogan at all protests in the city.

Police spokeswoman Cosima Pauluhn also said that they were investigating a sermon last week by imam Abu Bilal Ismail calling on worshippers at Berlin’s Al-Nur mosque to murder Jews. The American Jewish Committee has filed a complaint with Berlin prosecutors seeking charges.

The mosque did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

At a pro-Palestinian protest in front of the Israeli embassy in Berlin on Monday, 13 protesters were detained and police were pelted with stones. A few hours after the protest, a man set fire to his pants in front of the embassy, but the flames were quickly doused by police officers and he was taken to the hospital without suffering serious injuries. The man, whose identity was not revealed other than saying that he was stateless, is currently in psychiatric evaluation.