Following an anti-Semitic attack in the eastern German city of Halle earlier this week, German authorities have pointed fingers at the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) for sparking hatred against the Jewish community.

As the country searched for answers after a rampage by a suspected neo-Nazi, several critics accused the AfD of making aggressive bigotry mainstream. The charge was angrily rejected by the party. Suspect Stephan Balliet, 27, is accused of shooting two people dead on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, after he tried and failed to storm a synagogue filled with at least 50 worshipers. He admitted to the crime and confessed that it was motivated by anti-Semitism and right-wing extremism, federal prosecutors said on Friday.

On Thursday, without mentioning the AfD by name, Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, an outspoken critic of the party, condemned growing far-right terrorism they said had grown increasingly commonplace and dangerous. German Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht confirmed that the incident is being treated as a "far-right terror attack" by a lone individual. Far-right extremism was becoming one of the biggest threats to German security, she said.