The leader of Germany's Jewish community said on Tuesday that he would advise Jews visiting big German cities not to wear kippot, following a street assault on two young men wearing the traditional Jewish skullcaps in Berlin last week.
The attack, in which a 19-year-old Syrian asylum-seeker is a suspect, added to growing concern about the growing anti-Semitism in Germany.
Josef Schuster, the head of Germany's Central Council of Jews, told broadcaster Radioeins Tuesday that wearing a kippah is right in principle, but that he was advising individuals "against showing themselves openly with a kippah in a big-city setting in Germany, and wear a baseball cap or something else to cover their head instead."
Schuster suggested three years ago that Jews should not wear skullcaps in areas with large Muslim populations. But he stressed that there is increasing anti-Semitic sentiment among non-migrants.
Since last week's incident, Berlin's Jewish community has launched a "Berlin wears the kippah" campaign to encourage locals to wear the skullcaps.
Gideon Joffe, the head of Berlin's Jewish community, said the incident has given rise to "a situation that we are no longer prepared to accept without resistance." He said the local community plans to assert the right to wear kippot.
