The growing use of digital platforms to observe social distancing directives during the coronavirus pandemic has not escaped the attention of various radical groups, which are using it to target the objects of their hatred.
This week, which saw Israel and Jewish communities worldwide mark Holocaust Remembrance Day Memorial Day, neo-Nazis crashed two separate events hosted on the Zoom video conference app.
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In one incident, Neo-Nazis activists hacked online Torah lessons given by Rabbi Avichai Apel, the Chief Rabbi of Frankfurt, as well as lessons given by Rabbi Mordechai Bala, the Chief Rabbi of Leipzig, Rabbi Raphael Evers, the Rabbi of Dusseldorf, and Torah lessons conducted by the Morasha organization.
The neo-Nazis called out "Heil Hitler" and other derogatory cries while sending out photos of Nazi symbols, atrocities and swastikas, Israel National News reported.
According to the report, the rabbis immediately shut down the live broadcast, instating a private registration mechanism for future lessons, to avoid another incident.
German police in all relevant cities have been alerted to the hacks.
INN quoted Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, president of the Conference of European Rabbis as saying, "The virus of anti-Semitism has not yet been eliminated in Europe. Unfortunately, despite the repeated assurances of EU officials and European heads of states about anti-Semitism on online networks and more, and they have the legal tools to enforce this on EU member states, Germany is one of the few countries where legislation allows for significant punishment."
In a second incident, Neo-Nazis crashed a Holocaust Memorial Day event hosted by the Israeli Embassy in Germany, also on Zoom.
The embassy hosted survivor Zvi Herschel, who told his story to the public through Zoom, when suddenly Nazi activists came on the screen, waved photos of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler and shouted anti-Semitic slogans.
Israeli Ambassador to Germany Jeremy Issacharoff tweeted told Israel Hayom that "in the three years I have been here as an ambassador, I see that the majority of Germans respect the memory of the Holocaust. This incident is unfortunate but also extremely unusual and it, of course, deserves every condemnation."
The German government condemned the incident.
German government spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters Wednesday that the incident was "a disgrace, a despicable act."
Seibert said the government expressed its deep regret to the embassy and to Herschel, who lost most of his family in the Holocaust. Herschel, who was born in 1942 in the German-occupied Netherlands, survived after being taken in by a Dutch Protestant family.
"The vast majority of Germans and the German government are firmly resolved to stand up to any form of anti-Semitism in our country," Seibert added.
