A phone call changes Robby Rajber's life. In 2024, the former president of the Jewish sports club Makkabi Munich found out from the police that he was being placed under protection. Investigators fear an attack on him. He was accompanied by armed bodyguards for months. "I haven't done anything except that I'm Jewish," says Rajber in the BR interview.
The case is an example of a development that many Jews in Germany have been experiencing since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Life for Jews after October 7th
Terrorists from Hamas and other armed groups killed around 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 as hostages in the Gaza Strip three years ago today. Synagogues, schools and kindergartens in Germany were already under police protection. But since the terrorist attack, the threat situation has worsened further. Dangers come from, among others, Islamist and right-wing extremist actors as well as parts of the left-wing anti-imperialist spectrum. In addition, there are suspected attacks planned by Iran against Jewish and pro-Israeli institutions and people.
Anti-Semitic incidents have increased significantly, prominent Jews are receiving threats and security measures are being expanded. In 2025 alone, the Anti-Semitism Research and Information Center (RIAS) documented 8,725 anti-Semitic incidents nationwide.
From individual cases to patterns
The man from whom Rajber was protected is called Abdelkrim S. He is said to have spied on Jewish institutions and private individuals in Munich and Berlin. According to BR information, German security authorities suspect connections to a terrorist cell with ties to Iran. Rajber is speaking publicly about his case in detail for the first time - according to BR research, he is the first person from the Jewish community in Germany who was allegedly targeted by a network with connections to Iran.
Abdelkrim S. is located in France. He is being investigated there on suspicion of being involved in planning attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets in France and Germany, which are said to have been carried out on behalf of Iran. According to the AFP news agency and the French online media Mediapart, S. rejects the allegations. The presumption of innocence applies until a possible conviction.
Use of low-level agents
For Islamic scholar Guido Steinberg from the Science and Politics Foundation, this follows a familiar pattern. For years, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards have increasingly relied on criminals instead of their own agents when planning attacks. This reduces the risk for the clients. The recruitment of criminals, who often only act in return for payment, enables attacks to be planned at a greater distance from the actual clients; this approach has been professionalized for years.
Expert Steinberg: Iran is seeking retaliation
According to Steinberg, there is a strategic motive behind many current threats: Iran wants to retaliate for Israeli attacks on Iranians and the terrorist organization Hezbollah in Lebanon. Because high-ranking Israeli goals are difficult to achieve, Jewish institutions and well-known Jewish personalities around the world are increasingly being targeted instead.
There is also concrete evidence of this in Germany. After the bomb attack on the Israeli restaurant "Eclipse" in Munich, there were increasing indications of a connection with a Europe-wide series of attacks by pro-Iranian extremists. The focus is also on representatives of German-Israeli organizations: According to the Federal Prosecutor General, there were plans to attack the chairman of the German-Israeli Society, Volker Beck, and other targets in Berlin in 2025.
Threat manifests itself in different ways
How differently the threat to Jewish life now appears can also be observed apart from suspected Iranian-controlled attack planning. The President of the Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria, Charlotte Knobloch, has just received a death threat. The public prosecutor's office has started the investigation.
Jews are also openly threatened online. Anti-Semitic calls for violence can be found in forums and networks associated with the terrorist organization “Islamic State” (IS). A knife can be seen in a picture that was distributed on an IS website there after BR research. Next to it it says in English: "Kill the Jews".
Caution becomes commonplace
The threat from extremists has led to increased security measures for Jewish institutions becoming part of everyday life in many places. At the same time, many Jews in Germany and other parts of Europe have also become more personally cautious.
Gady Gronich, managing director of the European Rabbinical Conference (CER) based in Munich, now regularly checks his car before he gets in, although it is still comparatively safe in Bavaria compared to other places in Germany or Europe, says Gronich. For example, in the summer of 2025, photos and names of Jewish citizens were publicly displayed in Brussels. Law enforcement authorities in Europe also record physical attacks on Jews.
And Robby Rajber? He is no longer under personal protection, but since the massive threat he has been looking over his shoulder when he is out and about. But he doesn't want to hide. He continues to wear a yarmulke, shows his Jewish identity openly and goes to Oktoberfest wearing lederhosen that feature the Bavarian and Israeli flags. If he can no longer live freely as a Jew, a Munich resident and a Bavarian, then he will leave.
Gady Gronich also warns: "Anti-Semitism is not only a danger for Jews, but for all of us and our democracy." Perhaps, says the managing director of the European Rabbinical Conference, joint efforts could bring society a little closer together.
