(AP) Hundreds of refugees and migrants in Turkey have begun heading for the country’s land and sea borders with Greece, buoyed by Turkish officials’ statements indicating they will not be hindered from crossing the frontier to head into Europe. The move comes […]
(AFP) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday warned Europe it could face new threats from terrorist organisations if Libya’s UN-recognised government in Tripoli were to fall. In the article, published on the Politico news website on the eve of a Libya […]
(Jerusalem Post) Ali Ertan Toprak, the chairman of the Kurdish community in Germany, on Tuesday lodged a formal criminal complaint against the Iranian regime-controlled Islamic Center of Hamburg, the owner of the Imam Ali Mosque, for its support of terrorism. According to […]
(Deutsche Welle) The threat from potential Islamist terrorists in Germany has decreased from last year, according to data from the German Interior Ministry. A total of 679 Islamic extremists in Germany were considered to pose a terrorist risk at the beginning of November 2019, compared […]
(AP) Germany’s parliament passed a resolution Thursday calling for a national ban on the activities of Hezbollah and for the Lebanese militant group to be put on the European Union’s terrorist list. Mathias Middelberg, the spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives in […]
(Deutsche Welle) A lawyer, activist, author and now imam, Seyran Ates has long lent a critical voice to debates about migration, women’s rights and religious freedom in Germany and beyond. Ates co-founded the “liberal” Ibn Ruschd-Goethe Mosque on the third floor of St. John’s Church near […]
(Daily Sabah) Muslim communities in Germany criticized the government’s new project to train imams, accusing it of being a political initiative and a concerning development for the community, while noting that the new project violates the German constitution. Germany is launching an […]
(Deutsche Welle) The father of a family of seven, expelled by Turkey on Thursday, was taken into custody on arrival in Germany, said Martin Pallgen, a spokesman for the Berlin state Interior Ministry. A warrant for his arrest is understood not to be […]
(Deutsche Welle) A family of seven German Islamists arrived in Berlin on Thursday after the Turkish Interior Ministry announced earlier this week that it would start deportations of captured “Islamic State” supporters. There are no German arrest warrants for the family of German-Iraqi Kanan B., meaning […]
(Deutsche Welle) The repatriation of “Islamic State” (IS) deportees is bound to spark domestic and international debate: Public opinion in Germany is moving against the repatriation of suspected terrorists, and countries around the world continue to shy away from bringing suspected fighters and […]
(JTA) Electoral gains by Germany’s strongest far-right party has Jews and Muslims here worried. Winning 23.4 percent of the vote in Sunday’s parliamentary election, the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany, or AfD party — propelled by male voters and those under the age […]
(Deutsche Welle) Germany players Ilkay Gündogan and Emre Can have found themselves mixed up in the contentious debate over a military salute celebration performed by Turkish international footballers, after the pair both liked an Instagram post showing the celebrations. The two German-born […]
(Bloomberg) President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to send millions of Syrian refugees settled in Turkey to Europe, as he bridled at criticism of his military offensive against Kurdish fighters. “If you try to define our operation as an invasion, then our job […]
(Deutsche Welle) German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has warned of a larger influx of refugees than that seen in Europe in 2015. He made the statement during an official visit to Greece. Traveling with incoming European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, […]
(AFP) French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday said France “cannot host everyone,” intensifying his tough rhetoric on immigration. Macron had last week signalled a tougher line on immigration in the second half of his mandate, arguing the government must stop voters drifting […]
(AFP) With an eye on re-election, France’s Emmanuel Macron has signalled a tougher line on immigration, arguing that the government must end its “lax” approach to prevent voters from drifting to the far right. Setting out his priorities for the second half […]
(AFP) Germany’s far-right AfD party surged in elections in two ex-communist eastern states Sunday, reflecting anger over Chancellor Angela Merkel’s migrant policy and a wealth gap 30 years after the Berlin Wall fell. The Alternative for Germany became the second-strongest party in […]
(Jerusalem Post) Germany is investigating possible terrorism activities within a pro-Hezbollah center in the country, following an expose last week by the Jerusalem Post. However, a member’s declaration that “we are proud of terrorism” was not classified as targeting the federal republic. […]
(Jerusalem Post) The Hezbollah mosque in the German city of Münster posted a shocking video in December on its Facebook page, announcing it was proud of terrorism and its allegiance to the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The Washington-based […]
(AFP) Germany is bracing for what could be the first outright election victories for the far-right AfD party on Sunday, when voters in two states in the ex-communist east go to the polls. Even strong vote results, coming 30 years after the […]
(Jerusalem Post) German Green Party politician Volker Beck filed a formal police complaint, seeking to remove the jihadist terror organization Hamas from the micro-blogging site Twitter. “The accounts of the Hamas must disappear from Twitter! Twitter supports a terrorist organization by providing […]
(Washington Times) The Trump administration’s push for allies to take custody of foreign-born Islamic State fighters held in makeshift prisons in Syria is yielding only limited results, fueling mounting anger in Washington in the effort to secure long-term defeat of the terror […]
(AFP) Around 35,000 people marched against hate and racism in the eastern German [city of] Dresden on Saturday, organisers said, a week before state elections when far-right party AfD is projected to make huge gains. Under the banner “indivisible,” a broad coalition […]
(Deutsche Welle) German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer announced a tough response to Syrian refugees who leave Germany for holidays in their home country. “If somebody, a Syrian refugee, regularly takes holidays in Syria, he cannot honestly claim to be persecuted in Syria,” Seehofer told […]
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(Anadolu) Germany’s Muslim community has called on the government to create a new government post to counter growing Islamophobia in the country. Aiman Mazyek, president of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany, proposed on Wednesday appointment of an Islamophobia commissioner. “We […]
(Deutsche Welle) As the neighboring Netherlands begins policing the wearing of burqas, Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) are calling for a burqa ban of Germany’s own. Julia Klöckner, who leads the provincial Rhineland-Palatinate branch of the party and is the No. 2 […]
(AFP) In a classroom workshop, students watch a video of a man and woman meeting in a nightclub. The two drink, laugh, dance and kiss. The tone in the room and on the screen quickly changes when the man takes the woman […]
(Deutsche Welle) Plans to no longer serve children pork or gelatin-containing products like gummy bears at two daycare centers in the eastern German city of Leipzig prompted a wave of criticism online and made headlines across the country on Tuesday. The mass-circulation […]
(Fox) Some 30 mosques and cultural centers in Germany have ties to the U.S.-classified terrorist organization Hezbollah, according to a Hamburg intelligence agency report. The U.S. government and a bipartisan group of American lawmakers have urged Berlin to outlaw the Lebanese terrorist […]
(AFP) An Iraqi man was sentenced to life in jail by a German court on Wednesday for the rape and murder of a teenage girl that fuelled far-right protests against a mass influx of mostly Muslim migrants. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) […]
(Jerusalem Post) The intelligence agency for Germany’s most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia revealed on Thursday that the number of Hezbollah members rose in 2018. According to the intelligence document reviewed by the Jerusalem Post, the number of Hezbollah members climbed from […]
(Sydney Morning Herald) Prime Minister Scott Morrison has gained an agreement from world leaders to put new pressure on Facebook and other social media giants to halt the spread of violent terrorism online in the wake of the Christchurch attacks in March. […]
(AFP) The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party lost its bid to capture its first mayor’s office in the country in a bellwether election on Sunday ahead of three key regional polls. In a run-off ballot in Goerlitz, Octavian Ursu, 51, a […]
(AFP) Its cobblestone lanes and Baroque architecture are so quaint that Hollywood directors often come calling, but the German town of Goerlitz may soon have a new claim to notoriety. A run-off election in the small city of around 55,000 people on […]
(JTA) The annual al-Quds Day march in Berlin is often cited as a prime example of the rise of so-called new anti-Semitism in Europe: hatred of Jews in connection with Israel, often by people from Muslim societies. Despite attempts by organizers in recent years […]
(Jerusalem Post) A new German intelligence report asserts the number of Hezbollah members and supporters has climbed from 950 in 2017 to 1,050 in 2018 amid rising Jew-hatred in the federal republic. The Jerusalem Post reviewed the hair-raising new numbers from the […]
(AFP) The German government has called on people to wear the Jewish kippa ahead of an anti-Israel protest as a demonstration of solidarity and as Jews face a spike in anti-Semitism, withdrawing an earlier warning against wearing the traditional skullcap. At the […]
(Deutsche Welle) Two senior German politicians have called for a more progressive form of Islam in order to align the religion with the European way of life. Health Minister Jens Spahn and Schleswig-Holstein State Premier Daniel Günther published the appeal Thursday in […]
(Reuters) Germany spent a record 23 billion euros ($25.65 billion) last year on helping to integrate more than one million refugees and fighting the root causes of migration abroad, a government document seen by Reuters showed on Monday. That marks an increase […]
(Deutsche Welle) Chancellor Angela Merkel joined dozens of young people of immigrant background in Berlin on Tuesday to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Germany’s Basic Law, or constitution. The event was hosted by Deutschlandstiftung Integration (DSI), a foundation that in 2012 founded […]
(Reuters) Austrian far-right leader Heinz-Christian Strache has asked voters to support his Freedom Party (FPO) in European Parliament elections and help counter migration flows that he called an unwanted “population exchange.” The comment by Strache, vice-chancellor in conservative Sebastian Kurz’s government, follows […]
(AFP) A European elections campaign poster by Germany’s AfD featuring a 19th-century painting called “The Slave Market” has raised hackles, with a US art museum demanding that the far-right party withdraw the advert. The Berlin chapter of Germany’s anti-immigration party has featured […]
(AFP) “Refugees are bringing crime into our town,” an election leaflet declares — an example of how Germany’s far right feeds its narrative of a country threatened by more than a million new arrivals. Alternative for Germany (AfD) hopes the strategy that […]
(BuzzFeed) Conservative party members are posting anti-Muslim comments on Facebook urging one another to prevent Sajid Javid from becoming prime minister, in the latest escalation of the Tory Islamophobia crisis. On Monday, BuzzFeed News presented Conservative HQ with a list of another […]
(Deutsche Welle) Forty-three-year-old imam Murat Gül is president of the Islamic Federation of Berlin and teaches Islam at the local Rosa Parks primary school. “Ever since I was a young boy, I had a love for the Koran,” said Gül, who was […]
(Deutsche Welle) Germans with dual nationality who join foreign terrorist militias will lose their citizenship in the future, the cabinet decided on Wednesday. “Someone who goes abroad and actually participates in combat operations for a terrorist militia shows that they have turned […]
(Deutsche Welle) Finance Minister Olaf Scholz has faced massive criticism from Germany’s local authorities after his federal budget plans show he wants to slash their means for integrating refugees and asylum-seekers. But at a press conference on Wednesday after a meeting of […]
(Breitbart) Just three men were convicted of carrying out sex attacks during the notorious events on New Year’s Eve 2015 in Cologne, despite more than 600 women filing complaints of sexual assault, local media reports. By January 2016, a couple of weeks […]
(AFP) An Iraqi man confessed in a German court Tuesday to the murder of a teenage girl, but denied raping her in a case that inflamed anti-immigrant tensions last year. “My vision went black and then it happened,” Ali Bashar, 22, testified […]
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