Academics & Education

Immigrant children must only speak German at schools, conservative lawmaker says Mario Czaja faces criticism over his controversial statements, immigrant organizations say speaking mother tongue is a fundamental human right

(Anadolu) A conservative lawmaker sparked criticism by suggesting that immigrant children must only speak German in schoolrooms, corridors and in the playground. Mario Czaja, secretary general of the Christian Democratic Union, claimed that many immigrants are poorly integrated into society due to […]

Academics & Education

CAIR says Hamline University teacher is not Islamophobic The statement comes after CAIR's Minnesota chapter said the classroom viewing of a painting of the Prophet Muhammad was bigoted and disrespectful.

(Religion News) The Council on American-Islamic Relations issued a statement Friday (Jan. 13), saying an art history instructor at Hamline University did not act with bigoted intent when she showed a 14th-century painting of the Prophet Muhammad in a class last semester. […]

Clerics & Preachers

Imam Iquioussen sent back to Morocco

(Brussels Times) Hassan Iquioussen, the Moroccan imam accused by French authorities of spreading hate, was sent back to Morocco on Friday, Belgium’s state secretary for asylum and migration, Nicole de Moor, reported. Iquioussen had fled to Belgium in summer after France decided […]

Government & Politics

Ilhan Omar to be booted from House Foreign Affairs Committee, Kevin McCarthy says House Speaker Kevin McCarthy repeats promise to remove congresswoman with history of antisemitic comments from influential committee.

(JNS) House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Tuesday repeated his promise to block vocal critic of Israel Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) from the House Foreign Affairs Committee. In an interview with Punchbowl News, McCarthy said that he would also prevent Reps. Adam […]

Academics & Education

New House Homeland Security Committee chair has history of anti-Muslim comments During a 2016 tea party meeting, Mark Green told an audience that he didn’t want public school students in Tennessee to learn about the Islamic faith.

(HuffPost) Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.) is set to lead the House Committee on Homeland Security, which Muslim civil rights groups say is alarming because he has a history of making Islamophobic remarks. Green — a physician, Iraq War veteran and former GOP […]

News: North America

‘ISIS Beatle’ Alexanda Kotey disappears from US prison system records Less than a year after being handed a life sentence, 'ISIS Beatle' Alexanda Kotey has disappeared from federal prison records

(Fox) The notorious terrorist and member of the ISIS cell dubbed “The Beatles,” who was serving a life sentence for the kidnap, torture and murder of western journalists and aid workers in Syria, has disappeared from the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), […]

Academics & Education

‘Only one solution: Intifada’: Pro-Palestinian activists protest Kamala Harris at University of Michigan

(Algemeiner) Pro-Palestinian student protestors at University of Michigan accused Vice President Kamala Harris of “genocide” for supporting Israel on Thursday. “Kamala, Kamala, you can’t hide, you’re committing genocide,” the students, members of the pro-Palestinian campus group Students Allied for Freedom and Equality […]

Interfaith

911 recordings reveal terror during tense hostage situation at Colleyville synagogue WFAA obtained 911 recordings and bodycam footage from Colleyville PD, days before the one-year mark since the hostage situation at Congregation Beth Israel.

(WFAA) The 911 calls poured in on the morning of Jan. 15, 2022. A British citizen who traveled to the U.S. and across the country entered Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville while a Sabbath service was being livestreamed. Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, the […]

Law Enforcement

Is Islamist terror a threat to Germany? The arrest of two terror suspects once again raises questions about the scope of the terrorist threat to Germany. It also brings back memories of the 2016 Christmas market attack.

(Deutsche Welle) The most recent arrest of two terror suspects in Germany has raised the specter of Islamist terror in Germany — despite intensified efforts to prevent such an attack in recent years. Two men had intended to kill “an unspecified number of people” […]

Academics & Education

CAIR MN backs student who says she was hurt by instructor showing image of Muhammad At a press conference held by the Minneapolis chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the student said she was shocked and pained by an art history instructor.

(Religion News) Hamline University senior Aram Wedatalla held back tears as she described how hurt she felt when her art history instructor informed the class she would briefly show a painting of the Prophet Muhammad last semester. Speaking at a news conference held […]

Legal

German court opens trial of suspected ‘Islamic State’ member A 37-year-old German woman is accused of crimes against humanity for her time with the so-called 'Islamic State.' Nadine K. is accused of 'enslaving' a Yazidi woman in Syria and Iraq.

(Deutsche Welle) A court in the western German city of Koblenz on Wednesday began the proceedings against a German national accused of assisting the so-called “Islamic State” (IS) terrorist group in Syria and Iraq. What do we know so far about the […]

Government & Politics

Germany: No toxins found in anti-terror garage searches German police have searched two garages in connection with a suspected planned bioweapon attack. A top official has meanwhile criticized Germany's reticence in using the internet for intelligence gathering.

(Deutsche Welle) Police searches of two garages used by a terrorist suspect in the western German town of Castrop-Rauxel on Monday failed to uncover any hazardous substances, according to authorities. “We have found nothing in the end that can be used as […]

Legal

Suspect in bike path killing faces first death penalty trial under Biden Though President Biden campaigned against capital punishment, Attorney General Merrick Garland is charting his own course in pursuing the death penalty in the trial of Sayfullo Saipov.

(NY Times) On Halloween 2017, Sayfullo Saipov plowed a rented pickup truck down Manhattan’s crowded West Side bicycle path, smashing into pedestrians and cyclists, killing eight people and injuring more than a dozen, the authorities said. Soon after Mr. Saipov was charged, […]