DER SPIEGEL: Over the weekend, pro-Palestinian demonstrators in the Berlin district of Neukölln celebrated the massacre of Israeli civilians perpetrated by the terror organization Hamas. On Saturday evening, there was rioting, with anti-Israeli youth attacking police. Has the situation in the district calmed down since then?

Balci: On the streets, yes. But a variety of groups are mobilizing in the background. The Palestinian demonstration that had been planned for Wednesday was thankfully prohibited.

DER SPIEGEL: The mayor of the Neukölln district, Martin Hikel of the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), has even demanded that the Palestinian organization Samidoun be banned. Over the weekend, members of the group once again put their hatred of Israel on display. How great is Samidoun’s influence on Berlin’s Arab community?

Balci: Around 100 people in Berlin belong to the nucleus of Samidoun. In my opinion, a ban is essential. The group is extremely active on social media and is thus able to reach primarily young people. But members of the group also go door-to-door, visit shisha bars and try to indoctrinate the youth. Samidoun receives support from the leftist scene, including antifa elements, but also from right-wing extremists. The group III. Weg (Third Way), which adheres to a neo-Nazi ideology, expressed outrage in April when Berlin police banned a Samidoun demonstration, writing in a statement that they too reject "Zionist imperialism."

DER SPIEGEL: How widespread is the hatred of Jews within the Arab community in Neukölln?

Balci: Samidoun attracts attention because the group’s followers put their hatred on display in the streets. But their attitudes are widespread in certain Muslim milieus. People don’t want trouble with the police, so they avoid publicizing their anti-Semitism. But all you have to do is talk to people and you start hearing the same slogans.

DER SPIEGEL: How much influence do terrorist organizations like the Palestinian group Hamas or Hezbollah in Lebanon have on young people in Neukölln?

Balci: Unfortunately, wide swaths of the Arab-speaking population in Neukölln harbor sympathies for the terrorists.

DER SPIEGEL: How do you know that? Has there been a survey?

Balci: I know it from numerous conversations. I wish such a survey existed. It might be enough to wake up the federal government. I have seen photos of youth who visited relatives in Lebanon over summer vacation and had themselves photographed in combat gear while holding Kalashnikovs. They boast about their proximity to Hezbollah. And their friends are in awe as a result.

DER SPIEGEL: What about the Muslims who reject terror and who actually have sympathy for Israel following the weekend attacks?

Balci: They also exist, of course, but hardly any of them say anything. The pressure that has built up within the Arab community is enormous. When Taha Sabri, the imam of the Dar-As-Salam Mosque in Neukölln participated in a commemorative event three years ago by polishing Stolpersteine (Eds note: brass plates embedded in the sidewalks of cities in Germany and elsewhere marking the former homes of Jews murdered in the Holocaust), he was reviled as a traitor. Those who hold views that are not shared by the extremists face extreme hostility. It can be dangerous. I also had to think long and hard about whether I wanted to expose myself in this situation by giving an interview. Who knows how the situation might develop? I would like to continue being able to walk down Sonnenallee or take the subway without police protection. Ultimately, though, I decided that I wasn’t prepared to let myself be intimidated. We cannot remain silent.

DER SPIEGEL: Members of the left-wing radical network Migrantifa released a video on social media a few months ago that was specifically directed at you. "People like you are rightly afraid," it said in the video, which also accused you of being a "successful racist." The message had nothing to do with Israel but was instead targeting your work as commissioner for integration. Do things like that happen to you a lot?

Balci: Now and then. One time, someone whispered into my ear during an event: "You should be dead."

DER SPIEGEL: What is the situation like for Jews in Neukölln these days?

Balci: I would not advise anybody to make their Jewish faith visible in Neukölln. Those who wear the kippa already faced the prospect of being spat on or insulted in quieter times. As a sign of solidarity, we have raised an Israeli flag in front of the Neukölln City Hall – and have done so under police protection just to be on the safe side. Isn’t it sick that such things have become normal in Germany?

DER SPIEGEL: Neukölln has been in the headlines repeatedly over the years because of anti-Semitic demonstrators taking to the streets. How did we get here?

Balci: What happens on a large scale in Neukölln, because we have a significant share of people with Arab roots, exists on a smaller scale in other cities. Political leaders have ignored the problem for decades. Many didn’t think anti-Israeli attitudes were that big of a problem and also weren’t worried about the strengthening of political Islam. Interior Minister Nancy Fraeser of the SPD even dissolved the expert working group addressing political Islam. That clearly shows that the issue is not a priority.

DER SPIEGEL: Have you tried to do preventative work in the district?

Balci: Yes, of course. But projects like that need financing. In Berlin, the focus has long been on fighting anti-Muslim racism.

DER SPIEGEL: What have the reactions been like from mosque congregations thus far?

Balci: They have either remained silent or issued broad condemnations of violence in the Middle East in general. Functionaries aren’t even prepared to call Hamas a terrorist organization. I really want to be pleasantly surprised just once. But I don’t think I will. Even in Turkey, people are taking to the streets to celebrate the attack on Israel.

DER SPIEGEL: The president of Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs, Ali Erbaş, has already made clear where he stands: The only path to peace in the region, he says, involves the "withdrawal of the intruders from Palestinian areas and complete freedom for the Palestinian people."

Balci: Erbaş sets the tone for the sermons held in DITIB mosques (Eds. note: mosques run by the Turkish Union for Religious Affairs, one of the largest Islamic organizations in Germany). He is the boss of the Turkish imams in Germany. But there, too, I can only say: There were plenty of people who issued warnings. The development cannot come as a surprise to anybody. Wolfgang Schäuble, who was German interior minister from the Christian Democrats at the time, nevertheless solidified DITIB and other organizations as cooperation partners by including them in the German Islam Conference. Liberal and secular representatives were slowly pushed out, one after the other.