Israel's president says he's shocked by a German official's comment that he wouldn't advise Jews to wear kippot in parts of the country.
In a statement, Sunday, President Reuven Rivlin said the statement "shocked me deeply."
"We will never submit, will never lower our gaze and will never react to anti-Semitism with defeatism, and expect and demand our allies act in the same way."
In an interview with the Funke newspaper group published Saturday, Germany's anti-Semitism czar said, "My opinion has unfortunately changed compared with what it used to be" on the matter.
"I cannot recommend to Jews that they wear the skullcap at all times everywhere in Germany."
He did not elaborate on the places and times where he thought doing so might be risky.
The remark, has drawn mixed reactions in Germany.
Josef Schuster, the head of Germany's Central Council of Jews, last year advised Jews "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."
Three years earlier, Schuster suggested that Jews should not wear kippot in areas with large Muslim populations but stressed anti-Semitic sentiment was on the rise among non-migrants.
Government statistics released earlier this month showed that the number of anti-Semitic and anti-foreigner incidents rose in Germany last year, despite an overall drop in politically motivated crimes.
