Government & Politics – Page 27

Afghan accused of plotting terror attack worked as CIA guard, officials say It isn't yet known whether the man, who worked for the CIA in Afghanistan, radicalized before or after he arrived in the U.S. following the chaotic American withdrawal.

October 9, 2024 Dan De Luce, Ken Dilanian and Courtney Kube

(NBC) An Afghan man arrested on charges of planning a terrorist attack on Election Day worked as a security guard in Afghanistan for the CIA, two sources with knowledge of the matter told NBC News. Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, was arrested on Monday in […]

Dutch lawmakers call on gov’t to ban terror-linked Samidoun NGO 'Organizations like Samidoun, which spread antisemitism and glorify terror, do not belong in the Netherlands,' sponsors of the resolution said.

October 9, 2024 Akiva Van Koningsveld

(JNS) The Dutch House of Representatives approved a resolution on Tuesday calling on their government to designate the Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network as a terrorist organization and ban its activities in the country. The measure, submitted by opposition lawmakers from the […]

HS: Finns Party aiming to reduce quota refugees from Muslim-majority countries The government has not yet taken a final decision about Finland's plan to accept quota refugees next year.

October 9, 2024 Unlisted Author

(Yle) The Finns Party has proposed reducing the number of quota refugees accepted from Muslim-majority countries while increasing the intake from Christian-majority nations, according to newspaper Helsingin Sanomat. According to sources, Interior Minister Mari Rantanen (Finns) and acting interior minister Lulu Ranne […]

‘Resurgent’ ISIS and al Qaeda targeting Europe once again, Britain’s MI5 chief warns

October 8, 2024 Rob Picheta

(CNN) ISIS and al Qaeda present a “resurgent” threat to the United Kingdom, the head of the country’s domestic security service warned in a rare public intervention on Tuesday, as he outlined a changing landscape of terrorism that is increasingly relying on […]

Liberals ‘considering all options’ over pro-terror group Samidoun; Poilievre vows to ban it Poilievre's promise follows calls from national Jewish advocacy organizations

October 8, 2024 Stephanie Taylor

(National Post) The federal Liberal government says it is “considering all options” when it comes to listing the group Samidoun as a terrorist entity, which Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre vowed on Tuesday to do, should his party form the next government. Poilievre’s […]

Labour lost nearly a third of Muslim general election vote over Gaza Study shows extent to which Muslims' traditional backing for Labour has declined

October 8, 2024 Tariq Tahir

(National-UAE) Labour’s support among Britain’s Muslims fell by nearly a third at this year’s general election over its stance on the war in Gaza, figures show. Despite Labour’s landslide victory, securing a 174-seat majority, four independent pro-Palestinian candidates had shock wins in […]

Bologna imam expelled for voicing support for Hamas State security reasons cited as Pakistani cleric booted out

October 8, 2024 Unlisted Author

(ANSA) An imam of a Bologna mosque was expelled from Italy after voicing support for Hamas on Tuesday. Pakistani Zulfiqar Khan, imam of the mosque on via Jacopo di Paolo in Bologna, was taken to the police station to be expelled. Interior […]

Norway hikes terror threat level to ‘high’ over Mideast escalation

October 8, 2024 Unlisted Author

(AFP) Norway’s intelligence agency on Tuesday raised its terror threat level to “high,” fearing fallout from escalating tensions in the Middle East. The announcement, which brings the threat level to four on a scale of five, comes after attacks last week on […]

France deports Osama bin Laden’s son from Normandy village France's interior minister announced Omar bin Laden was deported over accusations of glorifying terrorism on social media, while bin Laden has claimed his innocence.

October 8, 2024 Estelle Nilsson-Julien

(Euronews) France’s interior minister announced Omar bin Laden had been deported from a Normandy village he was living in after he was accused of glorifying terrorism on social media. In a post shared on X early Tuesday morning, French Interior Minister Bruno […]

EU leaders push to speed up migrant deportations France and Germany have joined countries calling for a tougher approach to migration in Europe.

October 7, 2024 Nicholas Vinocur and Barbara Moens

(Politico) EU leaders are pushing for quicker ways to deport people amid a broader push to crack down on immigration, according to a draft report obtained by POLITICO. The leaders plan to press the bloc’s executive arm, the European Commission, to come […]

Muslim faith leaders endorse Harris The vice president is in need of allies in a community that remains frustrated with the administration's handling of the Israel-Hamas war.

October 6, 2024 Alex Seitz-Wald

(NBC) A group of imams endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in an open letter shared first with NBC News on Sunday, a critical boost as she steps up her efforts to win back disaffected Muslim voters amid the Israel-Hamas war. Harris, the […]

Yeşilgöz finds planned pro-Palestinian sit-ins at train stations anti-Semitic

October 6, 2024 Unlisted Author

(NL Times) According to VVD leader Dilan Yeşilgöz, the planned pro-Palestinian demonstrations at train stations next Monday are anti-Semitic. “It is what it is, let’s be honest,” she said about it on the TV program WNL op Zondag. According to her, the […]

Arab American leaders urge Harris to ‘show distance’ from Biden’s Israel policy during private Michigan meeting

October 4, 2024 Gregory Krieg, Priscilla Alvarez, Khalil Abdallah, Donald Judd and Kylie Atwood

(CNN) In a side room backstage at a Friday campaign rally in Flint, Michigan, Arab American advocates asked Vice President Kamala Harris to break from President Joe Biden’s Israel policy and push harder for an end to the war in Gaza. The […]

Iran ordered armed attacks on Israeli embassies in Sweden and Denmark

October 4, 2024 Mehran Abbasian

(Iran International) Tehran enlisted criminals to carry out armed attacks on Israeli embassies in Stockholm and Copenhagen coinciding roughly with its vast missile barrage against Israel this week, a Swedish police source and another informed source told Iran International. Shots were fired […]

German security chief warns over October 7 ‘trigger point’

October 4, 2024 Unlisted Author

(AFP) Germany’s domestic intelligence chief warned Friday that the anniversary of the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel could be a “trigger event” for unrest. Next Monday marks one year since the attack by the Palestinian Islamist militant group that sparked […]

Major Arab, Muslim, Palestinian American groups say they were excluded from Harris’ Middle East outreach

October 3, 2024 Patsy Widakuswara

(VOA) Major Muslim and Arab American organizations and pro-Palestinian activist groups say they were excluded from Vice President Kamala Harris’ office’s outreach to community leaders on the administration’s efforts to contain the widening conflict in the Middle East. The White House said […]

Tim Walz makes direct appeal to conflicted Muslim voters Democrats are stepping up their outreach to Muslim and Arab voters, who could be critical in battleground states like Michigan but are concerned about U.S. support for Israel.

October 3, 2024 Alex Seitz-Wald

(NBC) Vice presidential candidate Tim Walz addressed a Democratic Muslim voter group Thursday night as the Harris campaign works to engage a group of voters who threaten to defect in large numbers over the Biden administration’s handling of the deteriorating situation in […]

Arab Americans for Harris-Walz coalition launches to shore up support ahead of Election Day

October 3, 2024 Alex Gangitano

(Hill) A new coalition, Arab Americans for Harris-Walz, launched Thursday to work to unite a key demographic behind Vice President Harris before Election Day. The coalition announced it represents a “broad” group of Arab American voters, including some voters who were formerly […]

Extremist attack on Jewish community ‘realistic possibility,’ intelligence report says

October 3, 2024 Stewart Bell

(Global News) An extremist attack targeting Canada’s Jewish community is a “realistic possibility,” according to intelligence documents obtained by Global News that warn of “escalating antisemitic activity.” Released almost a year after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that triggered an Israeli military […]

Walz to speak at Muslim voter event amid party rift over Gaza An invite for the event suggests the Harris-Walz ticket is 'enabling atrocities in Gaza.'

October 3, 2024 Meredith Lee Hill and Holly Otterbein

(Politico) The Harris campaign is making a new push for Muslim voters, as it tries to hold off significant defections of left-leaning voters in swing states angry over the vice president’s position on Israel amid a growing military conflict in the Middle […]

Iran may be behind attacks on Israeli embassies, Sweden says

October 3, 2024 Laura Gozzi

(BBC) Sweden’s security service Sapo has said that Iran may have been involved in the explosions and gunfire that took place near the Israeli embassies in Stockholm and Copenhagen earlier this week. Fredrik Hallstrom of Sapo said that choice of targets and […]

Algerian migrant rapes French child, gets refugee status after claiming trans identity France's Council of State determined [Medhi] F. no longer posed a threat to society

October 3, 2024 Ashe Schow

(Daily Wire) An Algerian national in France who raped a child has been granted refugee status after claiming he would be persecuted in his home country due to his trans identity. The criminal, referred to in court documents as Medhi F., was […]

Blasts, shooting around Israeli embassies in Nordic capitals

October 2, 2024 Unlisted Author

(AFP) Police in Denmark and Sweden said on Wednesday they were probing explosions and gunfire around Israeli embassies in their capitals which took place amid spiralling Middle East tensions. In Denmark, police said three Swedish nationals had been arrested after two blasts, […]

Trump leads Harris among Arab American voters

October 2, 2024 Yash Roy

(Hill) The ongoing war in Gaza has turned historical Arab American support for Democratic candidates on its head, with 46 percent of likely voters polled by the Arab American Institute saying they would support former President Trump, while 42 percent said they […]

German interior minister dismayed by celebration of Iranian attacks

October 2, 2024 Unlisted Author

(DPA) German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser expressed her dismay on Wednesday over reports that some people in Germany had celebrated Iran’s missile attack on Israel. Faeser said the scenes made her sad and angry. Cheers had reportedly broken out at a pro-Palestinian […]

Spain deports Moroccan linked to 2017 Barcelona terror attack

October 2, 2024 Latifa Babas

(Yabiladi) The Spanish Interior Ministry confirmed the expulsion of Moroccan Said Ben Iazza, one of the three jihadists convicted in the August 17, 2017, Barcelona and Cambrils attacks, according to Spanish media. The expulsion took place in April. Initially, Ben Iazza was […]

Anti-Israel activist courted by Kamala Harris’s campaign praises slain Hezbollah leader as ‘hero’ Michigan activist Osama Siblani has met with White House officials

October 1, 2024 Chuck Ross

(Free Beacon) A Michigan activist courted by Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign to shore up support from Muslim voters in the battleground state hailed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah as a “hero” at a rally last week, days before the terrorist was assassinated […]

Wilders hints Dutch coalition will fall if emergency asylum measure is not implemented

October 1, 2024 Unlisted Author

(NL Times) Dutch far-right political party PVV is continuing to insist that the Cabinet must declare the asylum situation in the Netherlands to be a state of emergency, and use extreme powers to sidestep Parliament and force a much stricter approach to […]

Leading US imams and scholars urge Muslim voters to snub Kamala Harris over Gaza Dozens of Muslim scholars and faith leaders unite to send a powerful message to the Democrats

September 30, 2024 Umar A. Farooq

(Middle East Eye) A group of leading Muslim American scholars and imams have signed a letter calling on Muslim voters to spurn Democratic presidential candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris in the upcoming election over US support for Israel’s war on Gaza. […]

‘Salad bar extremism’ has come to Canada, intelligence report says

September 30, 2024 Stewart Bell

(Global News) A new kind of violence known as “salad bar extremism” has come to Canada, warns an internal government report obtained by Global News. The term refers to attacks fuelled by a mix of views rather than a coherent ideology, said […]

Austria’s rightward shift puts immigration in crosshairs

September 30, 2024 Louis van Boxel-Woolf

(Reuters) Picknicking with friends in the park after prayers at a Vienna mosque, Saima Arab, a 20-year-old pedicurist originally from Afghanistan, is thankful for her freedoms in Austria. “We could never do this in Afghanistan, never cook, go out, just sit in […]

Syrian man injures 31 people, German authorities ignore signs of Islamism The rampage in Essen was more reminiscent of a terror attack than a ‘domestic dispute.’

September 30, 2024 Zoltán Kottász

(European Conservative) A 41-year-old Syrian man set fire to two buildings, rammed his vehicle into a grocery store, and threatened passers-by with a machete in the western German city of Essen. While authorities and mainstream politicians are treating the case as an […]

Government considers new definition of Islamophobia over fears for UK equality laws Faith Minister Lord Khan concerned free speech may be impinged by current interpretation

September 29, 2024 Nicky Harley

(National-UAE) The UK’s Labour government could change its proposed definition of Islamophobia over concerns it is “not in line” with equality laws and may impinge on free speech. The party is under pressure to publish its definition of Islamophobia in an effort […]

France’s new government pledges hardline stance on migration as it cozies up to far right

September 29, 2024 Diane Jeantet and Sylvie Corbet

(AP) France’s new government is set to take a hardline approach to migration issues as key officials have pledged to significantly reduce the number of people entering and staying illegally in the country. After calling for snap legislative elections in June, President […]

Israeli offensive in Lebanon rekindles Democratic tension in Michigan

September 26, 2024 Joey Cappelletti

(AP) The rapidly escalating war in the Middle East has heightened anger at Democrats from within Michigan’s Arab American community, just over a month before a presidential election in which Vice President Kamala Harris is counting on support from within a key […]

Motive for Erasmus Bridge fatal stabbing still unclear, Rotterdam mayor says

September 26, 2024 Unlisted Author

(NL Times) It is not yet clear whether the fatal stabbing at the Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam last week was an act of terrorism, Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb said during his last city council meeting as mayor. Many questions still need to be […]

The EU is failing to dissuade African migrants despite spending billions, auditors say

September 25, 2024 Lorne Cook

(AP) The European Union is failing [to] develop ways to dissuade migrants from Africa leaving for Europe without authorization and could do more to limit abuses against people trying to make the journey, the EU’s financial watchdog warned on Wednesday. The findings […]

Top Muslim-voter organization endorses Harris as Middle East conflict escalates

September 25, 2024 Joey Cappelletti

(AP) Vice President Kamala Harris has secured the endorsement of one of the nation’s largest Muslim American voter mobilization groups, marking a significant boost to her campaign since many Muslim and Arab American organizations have opted to support third-party candidates or not […]

Murder of Paris student fuels anger at failed deportation

September 25, 2024 Hugh Schofield

(BBC) The murder of a 19-year-old female student in an exclusive neighbourhood of Paris is fuelling new calls from the French right for tougher action on immigration. The body of the young woman, named only as Philippine, was found on Saturday, half-buried […]

EU leaders must address alienation of Muslim voters, report warns Political parties urged to foster a more diverse membership and call out xenophobia

September 25, 2024 Sunniva Rose

(National-UAE) The recent European Parliament election and the fallout from the war in Gaza has exposed the under-representation of some groups on the continent, including non-whites and Muslims, a report has found. Public opinion of the EU is overwhelmingly positive but leaders […]

House committee asks IRS to revoke tax-exempt status of anti-Israel groups that backed college protests

September 24, 2024 Josh Christenson

(NY Post) A powerful House panel asked the IRS Tuesday to revoke the tax-exempt status of nine nonprofits that sowed “chaos and discord” during anti-Israel protests on college campuses, according to letters exclusively obtained by the Post. House Ways and Means Committee […]

France’s new interior minister vows immigration curbs in rightward shift

September 24, 2024 Gabriel Stargardter and Benoit Van Overstraeten

(Reuters) France is likely to see much tougher immigration and security measures to reflect a broad rightward shift in society, its new interior minister said in remarks hinting at the minority government’s dependence on the tacit support of the far right. Bruno […]

Sweden says Iran was behind thousands of text messages calling for revenge over Quran burnings

September 24, 2024 Jan M. Olsen

(AP) Swedish authorities accused Iran on Tuesday of being responsible for thousands of text messages sent to people in Sweden calling for revenge over the burnings of Islam’s holy book in 2023. Iran denied the accusation. According to officials in Stockholm, the […]

Investigation opened into suspect’s treatment before fatal Erasmus Bridge stabbing

September 24, 2024 Unlisted Author

(NL Times) The Inspectorate of Justice and Security (JenV) is going to investigate the actions of the judicial organizations regarding the man who is suspected of a fatal stabbing incident at the Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam. The investigation revolves around “how judicial […]

CAIR, which blamed Israel for being attacked on Oct. 7, calls for Lipstadt to be fired for beeper ‘joke’ The U.S. envoy on fighting Jew-hatred said at the Israeli-American Council summit that the attack on Hezbollah beepers proves that Israel isn't weak.

September 23, 2024 Unlisted Author

(JNS) The Council on American-Islamic Relations, which blamed the Jewish state for being attacked on Oct. 7 and which the White House removed from its national strategy on Jew-hatred, called on Sunday for the Biden administration to fire Deborah Lipstadt as U.S. […]

New York eatery spreads Netanyahu photo on floor for customers to step on Palestinian-American shawarma joint introduces 'floor of shame' of images of prominent world leaders, with owner asking patrons to step on them to receive service

September 23, 2024 Daniel Edelson

(Ynet) Popular Palestinian shawarma restaurant King of Falafel and Shawarma located in New York is asking diners to step on a picture of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as they enter. The eatery’s owner placed images of political leaders including Netanyahu and U.S. […]

UK government urged to overhaul Prevent and counter-extremism policies Letter from civil society groups also calls on Labour to suspend Michael Gove's proposed definition of extremism

September 23, 2024 Imran Mullah

(Middle East Eye) A coalition of leading civil society organisations has urged the UK Labour government to overhaul counter-extremism policies including the controversial Prevent programme, Middle East Eye can exclusively report. In a letter sent to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, the organisations also […]

Mayor of Muslim-majority Michigan city endorses Trump: ‘Right choice for this critical time’ Mayor Ghalib met with former President Trump in Flint earlier this week for a private 20-minute conversation

September 22, 2024 Bradford Betz

(Fox) The mayor of a Muslim-majority city in Michigan says he is endorsing Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election, calling the former commander-in-chief “the right choice for this critical time.” Amer Ghalib, mayor of the Detroit-area suburb Hamtramck, announced his endorsement […]

Tory leadership candidate Robert Jenrick claims terror suspects ‘waltz in on small boats’

September 22, 2024 Charlie Duffield

(LBC) Terror suspects “waltz in on small boats,” Tory leadership candidate Robert Jenrick has claimed. Dozens of terror suspects have crossed the Channel in small boats, according to the former immigration minister Robert Jenrick. The Tory leadership candidate said individuals associated with […]

Arab-American Democrat mayor in key Michigan county had ‘very productive’ meeting with Trump, weighs endorsement

September 21, 2024 Nick Gilbertson

(Breitbart) The Democrat mayor of a community with many Arab-Americans in Wayne County, Michigan, who helped lead the uncommitted movement in the Democrat primary, told Sirius XM’s Breitbart News Saturday that his meeting with former President Donald Trump last week “was very […]