AfD (Germany) – Page 3 – Eye on Islamism

CDU hopeful Merz decried as ‘Trump light’ for questioning asylum rights Opposition lawmakers have lodged hefty criticism against Merkel's could-be successor for questioning the right to asylum. The populist AfD said Merz has become more right-wing than they are.

November 22, 2018 Elizabeth Schumacher and Ben Knight

(Deutsche Welle) Friedrich Merz, the millionaire lawyer and financial manager who is hoping to lead the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) after Chancellor Angela Merkel steps down as party leader in December, was in trouble on Thursday after suggesting Germany should reopen the debate on […]

Merkel’s would-be successor questions Germany’s sacrosanct asylum pledge

November 22, 2018 Thomas Escritt and Michael Nienaber

(Reuters) A conservative running to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel as head of their party has raised an outcry by questioning Germany’s constitutional guarantee of asylum that was enshrined to atone for World War Two Nazi crimes. Germany’s “Grundgesetz” (Basic Law) assures asylum […]

Germany: Turkish-Muslim appointed second-in-command of domestic intelligence

November 21, 2018 Soeren Kern

(Gatestone) Chancellor Angela Merkel has appointed a Turkish immigrant to fill the second-highest position in Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz, BfV). As the BfV’s new vice president, Sinan Selen, a 46-year-old […]

Germany examines the place of its Muslims The place of Islam and its representation has become a central issue in recent years in an increasingly multicultural German society

November 20, 2018 Delphine Nerbollier

(La Croix) Rarely has a project stirred up such controversy in the city of Erfurt, the capital of the German state of Thurngia. On Nov. 13, the small community of Ahmadis, a Muslim reformist movement often denounced by Islam’s majority Sunnis, laid […]

German Jews rail against far-right AfD party at Kristallnacht commemoration event

November 9, 2018 Unlisted Author

(JTA) When the head of Germany’s main Jewish organization said only one Bundestag party was not invited to Friday’s commemoration of the Kristallnacht pogroms, few had any doubt: He meant the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany, or AfD. And it was the only […]

German public schools are teaching Islam to students who are not sure if they belong

November 3, 2018 Luisa Beck

(Washington Post) It was the second week of Islam class, and the teacher, Mansur Seddiqzai, stood in front of a roomful of Muslim teens and pointed to the sentence on the chalkboard behind him: “Islam does not belong to Germany.” He scanned […]

German AfD members monitored by spy agency are now Bavarian lawmakers

October 18, 2018 Joseph Nasr

(Reuters) Some members of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in Bavaria who are under surveillance for alleged links to extremist groups won seats in its parliamentary election at the weekend, the state’s intelligence agency said. An agency spokesman said on […]

Jewish lobby in far-right German party denounced for anti-Muslim views

October 15, 2018 Tom Heneghan

(Religion News) A small group of German Jews has launched a lobby group within the far-right Alternative for Germany party, prompting a swift rejection from the country’s established Jewish organizations and accusations that the move was an anti-Muslim ploy. The founding of […]

German lawmakers slam AfD party for anti-Islamic motion MPs accuse far-right Alternative for Germany of racism, inciting hatred against Muslims

October 11, 2018 Ayhan Simsek

(Anadolu) Lawmakers from different parties heavily criticized the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on Thursday over its controversial motion demanding a ban on the Quran. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) accused the AfD of distorted generalizations about Islam and […]

Germany to give its states 6.85 billion euros for migrant costs in 2019: source

October 10, 2018 Thorsten Severin and Riham Alkousaa

(Reuters) Germany’s federal government agreed on Wednesday to distribute 6.85 billion euros ($7.87 billion) to its regions next year to help them cover the costs of housing and integrating migrants, a government source told Reuters. Germany is trying to integrate over a […]

Far-right AfD launches JAfD Jewish faction A small Jewish group has set itself up within Germany's far-right AfD party despite scorn from 17 Jewish organizations. Critics say the AfD remains anti-democratic and harbors hatred to the point of Holocaust denial.

October 7, 2018 Unlisted Author

(Deutsche Welle) The small group founded Sunday in Wiesbaden by 19 Jewish members of the AfD would call itself Jews in the AfD (JAfD), said Wolfgang Fuhl, chairman of a southern German branch of the far-right anti-migrant party. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) has […]

Merkel’s conservatives rule out working with Germany’s far-right AfD

October 7, 2018 Gernot Heller and Joseph Nasr

(Reuters) Senior German conservatives facing painful losses in two state elections this month have ruled out forming coalitions with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. “I am very clear about this: not with the AfD,” parliament speaker and former finance minister […]

Far-right surge in Bavaria vote could reshape Germany’s national politics

October 2, 2018 Madeline Chambers

(Reuters) The right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) is poised to humiliate Chancellor Angela Merkel’s allies in an Oct. 14 vote for Germany’s most influential regional government, an election that could have far-reaching implications for national politics. With blunt anti-Islamic rhetoric and attacks […]

AfD’s Jews say German far-right party isn’t anti-Semitic A small number of Jewish people are founding a group to support the far-right Alternative for Germany party. They say the reports of the AfD's anti-Semitism are overblown.

September 25, 2018 Ben Knight and Roman Goncharenko

(Deutsche Welle) Politicians and Jewish organizations have condemned a new Jewish group affiliated with the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD). The group, Juden in der AfD (“Jews in the AfD,” or JAfD), is preparing for a launch event on October 7 in the city of […]

Germany: Anti-immigration party surges in popularity

September 8, 2018 Soeren Kern

(Gatestone) The murder of a German citizen by two failed asylum seekers in Chemnitz, and the attempted cover-up by German police, has contributed to a surge in support for the anti-immigration party Alternative for Germany (AfD), which, according to a new poll, […]

After demos, far-right AfD overtakes German Social Democrats

September 4, 2018 Madeline Chambers and Andreas Rinke

(Reuters) Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has overtaken the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), a poll showed on Tuesday, days after some of the most violent protests by radical right-wingers the country has seen in decades. Some 6,000 supporters of the AfD […]

Facing far-right protest, Merkel pledges action over failed asylum seekers

August 16, 2018 Michael Nienaber

(Reuters) German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday her government would step up efforts to deport rejected asylum seekers faster, after hundreds of far-right protesters called on her to resign over her migration policy. The anti-Islam PEGIDA movement organized the protest against […]

Media and migrants: How journalists help fuel populist momentum Polls say that migrants aren't what Germans are most concerned about. So why do the media and politicians push the topic so much? Is the AfD profiting from their mistakes? DW's Jefferson Chase takes a self-critical look.

July 21, 2018 Jefferson Chase

(Deutsche Welle) It’s a result that has given journalistic and political Berlin pause for thought: Germans are more concerned about old-age poverty and affordable housing than about migrants. At least that’s the finding of a recent Emnid poll for the Bild am […]

Populist views in Europe: It’s not just the economy

July 19, 2018 Bruce Stokes

(Pew) Nationalist populism has become a major force in European politics. But while such populism has long been thought to have its roots in economic anxiety, a new analysis of Pew Research Center survey data suggests there are additional factors at play. […]

Random House axes Islam book by disputed German author

July 6, 2018 Unlisted Author

(AFP) Publishing giant Random House has declined to release a new book by controversial German politician-turned-author Thilo Sarrazin over fears it could whip up anti-Muslim hatred, Bild daily reported Friday. The dispute, which will be heard before a court in Munich on […]