Philipp Peyman Engel, 41, is a journalist and has been editor-in-chief of the “Jüdische Allgemeine” since September 2023. He was named Editor-in-Chief of the Year 2023 by “Medium Magazin” – also because of his newspaper’s coverage of the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7 and its aftermath.

WELT: Mr. Engel, since you took over the “Jüdische Allgemeine,” the paper has become an integral part of the choir of important voices. Previously, the paper’s arguments were rather reserved, but it has now also switched to absolute clarity and unambiguousness in its digital form. Is this impression misleading?

Philipp Peyman Engel: I hope that impression is not misleading. Our job as journalists has always been to be clear and precise, to write what is, without dramatizing or even becoming hysterical. This job has become even more important since October 7 than it already was – especially since quite a few of our journalist colleagues are complete failures when it comes to reporting on the subject of anti-Semitism, Israel and the Middle East.

WELT: What exactly do you mean?

Engel: An example: Why does the vast majority of our profession speak of “pro-Palestinian” protests when Israel and Jew haters storm the campus at the FU Berlin, call for the annihilation of Israel, demand a new wave of terror against Jews, mark and threaten other people with Hamas triangles, commit trespassing and property damage?

Are demonstrations by the neo-Nazi party The Third Way “pro-German”? And would our journalist colleagues support “pro-Palestinian” protests of this kind if they were not demonstrators from the left-wing extremist and Muslim community, but rather right-wing extremists who demand the annihilation of Israel and call for violence against Jews? Never. And rightly so.

WELT: Now an article in the “Jüdische Allgemeine” newspaper, which addresses the shocking survey among Palestinians after October 7, is outraged the same circles.

Engel: That’s right, yes. We are inundated with messages from the Muslim and left-wing extremist milieu. The accusations are that we are allegedly giving the green light to shoot the Palestinians in Gaza, calling for an alleged genocide, rhetorically preparing the settlement of Gaza, that we are racists and that we represent the viewpoint of a superior Jewish race, and so on. We have not written any of that. Nothing is further from our minds.

WELT: Who are these people and what do they want?

Angels: Insult us. Defame us. Deliberately misunderstand us. Pour out their hatred upon us.

WELT: Are they anti-Semites?

Engel: In most cases, yes. Mind you, it’s not about the reactions being a contradiction to the text or criticism of the Israeli government – and this point is extremely important to me. It’s about mass statements that convey hatred and hatred of Jews. We should talk about the results of the study, namely that over 70 percent of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank support October 7th. That’s the scandal. Not that we’re reporting on it.

WELT: How has your world changed since October 7?

Engel: Normally, becoming editor-in-chief of a newspaper is already a big enough task. To become editor-in-chief of the only Jewish weekly newspaper in Germany as of October 7 is an especially big challenge.

But I, along with all the editors, will take on this challenge with all the strength at our disposal, even if the hostility has exploded since October 7th – and it was already not small before then. Threats like “I know where you live and I’ll chop off your hands. There’s blood on your hands. Child murderers” do something to you. But we won’t duck away and will continue to do our job. Our voices are needed more than ever.

WELT: Why exactly?

Peyman Engel: Because of the most objective and accurate view of Israel possible. Because of the insights into the Jewish community in Germany and around the world that many do not have. In addition, many of our journalist colleagues do not even realize that Judaism in Germany is becoming invisible. Almost no one dares to go out on the street wearing a kippah or other symbols anymore because the probability of being attacked verbally or physically is too high. The number of recorded anti-Semitic cases is increasing exponentially.

Yes, right-wing extremism is a big problem. But when it comes to everyday hatred of Jews, one must say without generalizing: It is Islamists, secular Muslims and left-wing extremists who pose a massive threat to us and make our lives hell.

WELT: Do you also notice that many members of the Jewish community are thinking about leaving Germany or are in the process of doing so?

Engel: I hear these thoughts more and more often, at least among younger families. Berlin in particular has tipped over. The situation is no different in several cities in the Ruhr region. And those who are thinking about moving away are doing so with bleeding hearts. Because Germany is their home. They are Jewish Germans.

WELT: How could this happen?

Engel: We as a society – that means all of us – and many political decision-makers and journalists have looked the other way for far too long. Hatred of Jews “from the right” is immediately condemned. And rightly so. But hatred of Jews among Muslim Germans? Don’t talk about it, it’s unpleasant, you could be accused of being “right-wing” – that’s the motto. We are the ones who suffer. It must be possible to address obvious problems. And we have a massive problem in naming Muslim and left-wing Jew-haters.

WELT: The Left has a Sunday-speaking anti-Semitism. In fact, however, the entire political antechamber of red and green parties is full of sympathizers of radical Palestinianism, see Fridays for Future or Amnesty International. Is this “never again” an illusion?

Engel: The “Never again!” from the left is of course all too often hypocritical and deceitful. When Federal President Steinmeier says “Never again!” on Sunday and on weekdays, in the name of all Germans, congratulates the greatest Jew-haters and Islamists in Iran on the 40th anniversary of their revolution, describes Turkey’s President Erdogan as a “valued friend” even though he is a pure anti-Semite, describes Hamas as a partner and resistance organization, and relativizes the massacres of October 7, that says it all.

The list could be continued with many examples – including many politicians like Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth (from the Greens, ed.). It is encouraging that the CDU/CSU and FDP are stable. Very stable. They are the voices of reason on these issues.

WELT: What’s next for you?

Engel: I’ll carry on. We as a newspaper will carry on. With full strength and commitment.