German Courts Approve Anti-Israel Protest Camp at Hamburg Site of Holocaust Deportations

Two German courts approved this week an anti-Israel protest camp at Moorweide, the historic Hamburg park from which approximately 6,000 Jews, Sinti, and Roma were deported during the Holocaust, despite objections from city authorities and the local Jewish community.

The Hamburg Administrative Court ruled on May 7 that Germany’s Basic Law protected the organizers’ right to choose that location. The Hamburg Higher Administrative Court upheld the decision the following day. Authorities had failed to prove a concrete likelihood of criminal conduct or threats to public safety.

Bridges of Resistance, the group behind the camp, accused Hamburg of complicity in what it called Israel’s “genocide,” citing arms exports through the port. On opening day, participants displayed a banner reading “Stop Nakba Now: End the Occupation and German Complicity.”

 

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Where 6,000 Jews Began the Journey to Their Deaths

Hamburg Antisemitism Commissioner Stefan Hensel attended a counter-protest organized by Jewish community members. He told those gathered that many Hamburg residents saw anti-Israel protests returning to that ground as “a political and moral declaration of bankruptcy.” Community representatives called the Bridges of Resistance camp a mockery of Holocaust victims.

Holding an anti-Israel protest at a Holocaust deportation site exemplifies what the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s Working Definition identifies as antisemitic. It inverts and weaponizes the memory of the Holocaust to demonize and delegitimize the Jewish state.

Regional Rabbi of Hamburg Rabbi Shlomo Bistritzky wrote on X that Hamburg’s Jews were “deeply concerned.”

Wichtiger und dringender Aufruf!
In der Hoffnung, dass die zuständigen Stellen in Hamburg diesen Aufruf ernst nehmen.
Wir – die Hamburger Juden – sind darüber zutiefst besorgt. https://t.co/y6bZWtmCcV

— Rabbiner Shlomo Bistritzky (@RabbinerB) May 7, 2026

The Israeli Embassy in Berlin said those who glorify Hamas terror and promote resistance by any means “do not defend human rights. This is not a peaceful movement. This is extremist hate.”

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