Felix Klein (German antisemitism commmisioner)

File:2022 Felix Klein (diplomat).png

Felix Klein (b. 1968, Darmstadt{{Cite web |date=2025-01-13 |title=Dr. Felix Klein |url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/person/dr-felix-klein |access-date=2025-04-19 |website=Wilson Center |language=en}}) is a German government official who has served as the commissioner for combating antisemitism since 2018.

Klein earnt a Master of Public International from the London School of Economics and a doctorate from the University of St Gallen.

In early 2020, Klein called for the cancellation of a keynote address by Cameroonian historian and Achille Mbembe scheduled to be delivered on 14 August that summer at the Ruhrtriennale. He claimed Mbembe had "relativised the Holocaust and denied Israel's right to exist" {{Cite magazine |last=Kuras |first=Peter |date=20 February 2021 |title=Germany's Holocaust Remembrance Is Turning Upside Down |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/02/20/germanys-holocaust-remembrance-is-turning-upside-down/ |magazine=Foreign Policy}}{{Cite news |last=Eddy |first=Melissa |date=11 December 2020 |title=German Cultural Leaders Warn Against Ban on Israel Sanctions Movement |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/11/arts/germany-bds-open-letter.html |work=New York Times}} based on comments Mbembe made in two books where he drew parallels between the separatist policies deployed in the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and South Africa under Apartheid.{{Cite news |last=Zonszein |first=Mairav |date=10 May 2020 |title=Jewish, Israeli scholars back African intellectual smeared for Israel criticism |url=https://www.972mag.com/achille-mbembe-germany-israel-antisemitism/ |publisher=+972 magazine}} The invitation was withdrawn, and the festival itself was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mbembe was supported by groups of Israeli and Jewish academics, including some prominent German Holocaust scholars, who stated that they felt Klein had “assumed a leading role in the ‘weaponization’ of antisemitism against critics of the Israeli government”.

In 2024, the Conference of European Rabbis awarded Federal Commissioner Klein the Moshe Rosen Prize for his work.{{Cite web |last=Aronson |first=Josh |date=2024-06-27 |title=Felix Klein, Germany's anti-antisemitism strategist, receives Moshe Rosen Prize for his work |url=https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-807969 |access-date=2024-08-24 |website=The Jerusalem Post |language=en}}

In March 2025, he expressed support for Trump Gaza plan, calling it fundamentally positive, and adding, "I don't think it's wrong to think radically and in a completely new way."{{cite news |title=Trumps Pläne für Gazastreifen - Bundesregierung distanziert sich von Aussagen des Antisemitismusbeauftragten |url=https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/bundesregierung-distanziert-sich-von-aussagen-des-antisemitismusbeauftragten-100.html |access-date=21 April 2025 |work=Die Nachrichten |date=5 March 2025 |language=de}}{{cite news |last1=Ewert |first1=Burkhard |date=4 March 2025 |title=Antisemitismusbeauftragter Klein zu Gaza und Linksextremismus |url=https://www.noz.de/deutschland-welt/politik/artikel/antisemitismusbeauftragter-klein-zu-gaza-und-linksextremismus-48415794 |access-date=18 April 2025 |work=Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung |language=de}} In response the Federal Ministry of the Interior stated that these were Klein's personal views not the official position of the German government.{{cite news |date=5 March 2025 |title=Germany disagrees with anti-Semitism officer over Trump Gaza plan |url=https://www.yahoo.com/news/germany-disagrees-anti-semitism-officer-170326095.html |access-date=18 April 2025 |work=Yahoo News |agency=Deutsche Presse-Agentur}} Holocaust researcher Omer Bartov stated that "If Klein is backing forcible displacement, he loses all moral authority" and "he should have been fired long ago."{{cite news |title=Omer Bartov on Gaza: "It's a Misnomer to Call It a War" |url=https://jacobin.com/2025/04/bartov-israel-gaza-holocaust-genocide |access-date=18 April 2025 |work=Jacobin}} Israeli anti-occupation activist Yehuda Shaul said that Klein's support for the plan was "a disgrace for all victims of antisemitism".{{cite news |title=Felix Klein ist nur die Spitze des Eisbergs |url=https://jacobin.de/artikel/israel-palaestina-gaza-antisemitismus-trump-bundesregierung-staatsraeson-voelkermord |access-date=21 April 2025 |work=JACOBIN Magazin |date=10 March 2025 |language=de}}{{cite web |url=https://x.com/YehudaShaul/status/1896934316942479697 |access-date=21 April 2025}}