A German intellectual named Fabian Wolff, who has often criticized the Jewish community in Germany and Israel through media outlets associated with the left, was found to have faked his Jewish identity.
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After his former partner revealed that he is not Jewish, Wolff published a lengthy article in the magazine Die Zeit this week, in which he exposed the truth about his religious identity and quickly placed the blame on his mother.
The perplexed German left rushed to blame Jewish institutions for revealing the truth in their statements. However, those very organizations chose to remain silent on the matter to avoid embarrassing him.
He is known as one of the most vocal critics of the left's opposition to the definition of antisemitism, which can also manifest through criticism or anti-Israel policies, and he supports absolving Muslim antisemitism of blame and that’s in addition to being an enthusiastic supporter of boycott movements against Israel, such as BDS.
Therefore, in times when being Jewish in Europe is becoming less safe, but being a European Jew who criticizes Israel and the Jewish people is considered a stable stock, he chose to falsely present himself as Jewish.
Germany, like other countries, loves its Jews, such as Wolff. Jewish individuals who point accusing fingers at Israel for the current situation in the Middle East, including acts of violence and ethnic cleansing, receive support. Those who criticize pro-Israeli Jews and accuse them of interfering in Germany's foreign policy.
Wolff's Jewish identity was his ticket to the liberal left. For years, he published articles in the Jewish newspaper Jüdische Allgemeine Zeitung. Now, after his confession, an article was published under the title “Jew in Disguise," mocking Wolff's repeated use of Yiddish motifs in his writings.
Additionally, it raised the claim that although there was no certainty about Wolff's Jewishness, the newspaper decided not to expose the truth about him. This decision was partly due to a similar case that occurred around the same time when a journalist in another media outlet exposed the religious identity of Maria Sophie Hingst, who presented herself as Jewish and a descendant of Holocaust survivors but was revealed to be lying. Shortly after the publication, she committed suicide.
Other newspapers noted that Wolff the charlatan helped the left diminish the discussion around the prevalence of antisemitism in Germany, acting like a "Trojan horse." Many Germans did this before him, especially in the aftermath of World War II, but most did it to escape their parents' past and move from the camp of the perpetrators to that of the victims.
Wolff, who is also a teacher by trade, strongly attacked other Jews, claiming that they were blindly pro-Israel, extreme right-wingers or racists. He used his fabricated Jewish identity to bash fellow Jews. In his confession, he also proved that he is not a Christian either and he never sought forgiveness from anyone he harmed.