Angela Merkel Image by Getty Images

BERLIN (Reuters) – Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday that President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital did not justify the use of anti-Semitic slogans at rallies in Germany.

German police reported the burning of Israeli flags and use of anti-Semitic slogans at demonstrations against Trump’s move in Berlin and other cities.

Merkel said that her government, which has criticized Trump’s declaration, would fight xenophobia with full force.

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“We condemn all kinds of anti-Semitism and xenophobia, and no disagreements, not even over the status of Jerusalem, justify such actions,” Merkel told journalists after a meeting of the leadership of her Christian Democratic Union.

Anti-Semitism remains a sensitive issue in Germany, one of Israel’s closest allies, more than 70 years after the end of the Nazi-era Holocaust, in which 6 million Jews were killed.

On Sunday, about 2,500 people demonstrated in Berlin and one Israeli flag was burned, police said. They said they were investigating 11 people.

On Friday, hundreds of people gathered outside the U.S. Embassy in Berlin. Police said they had brought criminal charges against 12 people, including for burning Israeli flags.

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