German 'antisemitism commissioner' arson is a smear case study

An arson attack against the ‘antisemitism commissioner’ of the German state of Brandenburg has turned out to be a case study in the Israel lobby’s antisemitism smear tactics. And, of course, the way in which those tactics are aided by the state-corporate media.

It’s a lesson that the UK badly needs to learn.

Andreas Büttner was targeted by a night-time arson attack — his door was damaged and an outbuilding on his property set on fire. Israel’s ambassador immediately leaped to publicly decry the attack as antisemitic and claim it was evidence that the Palestine solidarity movement is a terrorist one. And of course, he demanded that the German state “smash these terrorist organisations”:

My thoughts are with Andreas Büttner and his family. Knowing him as I do, he will only stand even more resolutely against antisemitism after this attack.

For the radical part of the “Palestine solidarity” movement is not only antisemitic, but terrorist. Attacks on those who think differently and attempted murder: That is what the Hamas triangle stands for—in Gaza as in Brandenburg. And the hatred of Israel goes hand in hand with hatred of our democracy.

The rule of law must smash these terrorist organizations—and that before they strike again.

Meine Gedanken sind bei Andreas Büttner und seiner Familie. Wie ich ihn kenne, wird er nach diesem Angriff nur noch entschlossener gegen Antisemitismus aufstehen.

Denn der radikale Teil der „Palästina-Solidarität“ ist nicht nur antisemitisch, sondern terroristisch. Anschläge auf… pic.twitter.com/MtgSfD7qn4

— Ambassador Ron Prosor (@Ron_Prosor) January 4, 2026

Right. Equally quickly, much the German media jumped to amplify the claims. Bild demanded to know, “Where is the tough action against left-wing extremists?”, labelling the arsonists as “left-wing fascists” and claiming a “Hamas marker” had been left on Büttner’s door.

Except it appears to have had nothing to do with the left, or with antisemitism.

An ‘uncle’ to them

Instead, the two men accused of and charged with the attack were two young men that Büttner knows personally. Not just knows, but owns a business with. Not just owns a business with, but went to the opera with.

He even describes himself as “a kind of uncle” to them.

The Tagesspiegel decided to investigate the ambassador’s claims and quickly unearthed these facts. The outlet was forced to conclude that:

Many questions remain unanswered. But contrary to previous assumptions, one thing it is probably not about is antisemitism.

Even the Jewish press’s Jüdische Allgemeine has had to concede this week that the attack had nothing to do with Palestine, admitting that Büttner is “shocked” to find the attack was — allegedly still — by people he knew.

Despite the findings and the fact that the accused are not part of the pro-Palestine movement, as can be seen from the embedded X post above, the Israeli ambassador has not retracted his smear or his demand for a crackdown, or deleted his post.

Bild has not deleted its January article.

UK could learn from this German smear case study

However, despite the continued smears and the German government’s naked collusion in Israel’s genocide and smears, Germany is doing better than the UK. That’s not saying much, but at least some German media have admitted that the attack was a personal one and nothing to do with antisemitism or the anti-genocide movement.

In the UK, the Golders Green knife attacker has been charged with three counts of attempted murder this week — not terrorism. Three counts because one of the people he stabbed was not Jewish or in a Jewish area. Yet the Met police are still justifying brutality against the immobilised, psychologically ill attacker and smearing Green party leader Zack Polanski for daring to condemn it.

The Starmer regime is smearing the anti-genocide movement as hateful and dangerous, even though it had nothing to do with the entirely peaceful pro-Palestine marches Starmer wants to stamp out. Starmer’s government has used the attack to raise the terror alert level even though it was not terrorism, and intends further attacks on UK protest and free speech rights. Met commissioner Mark Rowley says he wants special, armed police force only for Jewish areas.

And UK media headlines continue to treat the incident as an antisemitic terror attack and ignore the non-Jewish victim, even though it was neither.

If we tolerate this, our children will be next. Israel is a terror state. Perhaps seeing it play out in a different country will allow a few more people to understand how they are being manipulated and misled by the Israel lobby.

Featured image via the Canary