Government & Politics

German interior minister presents his migration master plan German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has presented his long-awaited asylum 'master plan.' But he did not include the last-minute compromises made with coalition partners last week, which averted a government crisis.

(Deutsche Welle) Interior Minister Horst Seehofer finally got to present his migration “master plan” to the press on Tuesday, a month after it was blocked at the last minute by Chancellor Angela Merkel, precipitating a crisis in the German government that almost […]

Books

Germany’s Thilo Sarrazin in court over controversial book on Islam His controversial views have stirred much debate in Germany. Now Thilo Sarrazin has written a new book about Islam — and is battling his erstwhile publisher in court over it.

(Deutsche Welle) His highly controversial books sell in the millions. It all began with “Deutschland schafft sich ab” (“Germany is doing away with itself”). Thilo Sarrazin’s 2010 book stimulated a fiery debate over German immigration policy and migrants from Islamic countries. While […]

Government & Politics

Frontex chief: Increase in migrants reaching EU via Spain Fabrice Leggeri said his agency registered 6,000 irregular border crossings from Africa in the region last month.

(Politico)  Migrants are increasingly taking the Western route across the Mediterranean to reach Europe via Spain, the head of the EU’s border monitoring agency warned. “If you ask me about my greatest concern, I say it’s Spain,” Frontex chief Fabrice Leggeri told German newspaper […]

Academics & Education

Denmark confronts Islamism and integration For much of this decade, Jewish residents in the country have endured anti-Semitic attacks and abuse wildly out of proportion to their numbers. Most of that hostility comes from the Muslim community.

(JNS) Imam Mundhir Abdallah is a good example of the dilemmas that have confronted politicians in Denmark in their response to Islamist extremism among the country’s 300,000 Muslims, the large majority of whom are first- or second-generation immigrants. In May 2017, the […]

Academics & Education

Anti-Semitism in German schools to be tackled with anti-bullying commissioners German Family Minister Franziska Giffey wants to send bullying prevention experts to schools to curb a rise in anti-Jewish attacks. Berlin schools, in particular, have seen anti-Semitic bullying in recent months.

(Deutsche Welle) Family Minister Franziska Giffey plans to fund 170 bullying prevention experts, who are to be sent to selected German schools, she told Thursday’s edition of German daily Rheinische Post. Asked if anti-Semitism is a growing problem in schools now that Germany […]