Simon Wiesenthal Center mulls travel advisory over Stuttgart's 'no-go zones'

The Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, named after the legendary Nazi hunter, is considering a travel advisory warning for Jews who wish to visit the German city of Stuttgart because intense pro-Hamas activity has created "no-go zones" for the tiny Jewish community.

i24NEWS learned from Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, on Tuesday that "Stuttgart will be actively looked at for a travel advisory to see if it will have any impact. The Wiesenthal Center will speak with ministry and police officials in January in Berlin about Stuttgart."

Cooper noted that the Wiesenthal Center is running a training on countering antisemitism in social media for Germany’s justice ministry in January. The Wiesenthal Center slapped a travel advisory warning on Amsterdam following the violent November attacks against Israeli soccer fans on the eve of Kristallnacht.

The Jewish community in Württemberg, the region where Stuttgart is located, published a dramatic warning on its website on Friday: "Dear ladies and gentlemen, dear community members! As usual, above you will find an overview of the anti-Israel demos in Stuttgart this weekend. We recommend avoiding these areas at the times listed."

The statement linked to a list of "no-go" areas for Jews in Stuttgart.

Cooper said, "When you have de facto no-go zones, instead of taking necessary steps to reverse that and protect the Jewish community so Jews do not have to cower in corners as they had to do previously in history, it is a terrible thing. I don’t see this as a left-right issue but as a fundamental failure of democracy."

The German-Jewish journalist and best-selling author Henryk M. Broder first drew attention to the outbreak of public Jew-hatred in Stuttgart in his January 4 article, titled "Stuttgart: No-go areas for Jews," published on his popular The Axis of Good website. 

Broder, who is a columnist for the large daily Die Welt paper, mocked anti-Israel bureaucrat Michael Blume, tasked with fighting Jew-hatred in the southwestern German state Baden-Württemberg, where the city is located. "In itself, that would be a case for the antisemitism commissioner of Baden-Württemberg, a man with many virtues, especially that of praising himself. If he took his job seriously, he could wrap himself in an Israeli flag and take part in the rallies. … And hold up a sign that reads: 'Release the hostages!'"

The regional press in Stuttgart reported, in late December, that in the first three quarters of 2024, the police registered 374 antisemitic crimes, according to the state’s interior ministry. By comparison, prior to Hamas’ slaughter of over 1,200 people, on October 7, 2023, in the same period there were 184 antisemitic crimes.

Susanne Kaufmann, a spokeswoman for Stuttgart’s mayor Nopper, told i24 that according to a clarification from the Jewish community "and based on the assessment of our police, which the state capital Stuttgart follows, there is no reason for Mayor Nopper to comment on any supposed no-go areas."

Barbara Traub, the controversial head of the Jewish community in Württemberg, told Kaufmann that "the Jewish community does not warn its Stuttgart members about so-called 'No-Go Areas,' but rather informs them about anti-Israel demonstrations in the State capital Stuttgart (without evaluating its content in detail). The right to demonstrate is a right of all Germans enshrined in Article 8 of the Basic Law. In Stuttgart, the state capital of Baden-Württemberg, rallies take place disproportionately often."

She added that "The Jewish community's information offering gives Jewish people in Stuttgart the opportunity to find out about upcoming anti-Israel demonstrations and, if necessary, to avoid them. At the same time, we expressly thank the security authorities at the state and local level for their excellent work to protect Jewish people and Jewish institutions in our country, as well as for the trusting cooperation with the Jewish communities."

Traub has faced criticism over the years for failing to urge Nopper to delete an alleged pro-Hamas posting on the city’s website. Traub declined to respond to an i24NEWS query.

Nopper has been under fire for allowing Palestine Committee Stuttgart to post information about its organization on the city’s website. Palestine Committee Stuttgart has previously raised funds for the pro-Hamas organization Samidoun, which was outlawed by the German government. 

i24NEWS press queries to Baden-Württemberg’s interior minister, Thomas Strobl, and the governor of the state, Winfried Kretschmann, were not immediately returned. 

In March,2024, Robin Simcox, the counter-extremism commissioner for Britain’s then-Tory government, said London has become a "no-go zone for Jews" during weekend pro-Palestinian (and pro-Hamas) marches. Blume declined to answer a i24NEWS press query.