Article: Israel And The Last Days
 

Germany's top security official said new statistics show a sharp rise in anti-Semitic offenses last year, as well as in crimes against foreigners. Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere told reporters Wednesday that anti-Semitic offenses rose 25.2 percent last year to 1,596 after declining in 2013. Crimes against foreigners were up 21.5 percent to 3,945. De Maiziere said the rise was partially due to new reporting methods that more closely track the motivation of perpetrators, but said nonetheless “this development is worrying and must be stopped.” He said there was no political solution alone, but the “whole of society is needed.” Europe has been on high alert in recent months amid a surge of anti-Semitic violence. France was left reeling in January after a series of jihadist attacks on satirical cartoonists and a kosher supermarket left 17 people dead. In February, a Jewish guard outside a Copenhagen synagogue was gunned down the morning after the jihadist who perpetrated the attack also fired at a cartoonist during a debate on free speech, missing his target but killing a filmmaker.