(Anadolu) A prominent German Jewish leader on Friday expressed alarm over growing intolerance and violence against religious minorities, immigrants and asylum seekers in the country. “It’s a scandal that more and more mosques are vandalized by hate slogans or attacked on a […]
(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 […]
(Deutsche Welle) More than one out of three Germans believes foreigners only come to the country to exploit the welfare state, a study on authoritarian attitudes in Germany says. Almost one out of two people in eastern Germany believes this to be […]
(Deutsche Welle) Who wants to deport refugees from Germany to Syria? The rape of a young woman in the southwestern city of Freiburg has reignited the debate over deporting criminal asylum-seekers. At least seven Syrian men and one German man are suspected […]
(Deutsche Welle) Germany’s Central Council of Jews on Sunday called for combating anti-Semitism among new Muslim immigrants through education. Vice President Abraham Lehrer told the Protestant Press Service that he expects anti-Semitism among immigrants to become more of a problem as they become […]
(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 […]
(Deutsche Welle) “Let’s see who is going to win in the end, shall we?” social worker Saloua Mohammed says. “They won’t get my youths that easily.” “They” are radical Salafists: ultraconservative Muslims who interpret the Quran literally, live their faith the way […]
(Deutsche Welle) One of the advantages of a constitutional state that ensures the rule of law is that it also applies those rights to people who deeply reject it. Even those who want to abolish the democratic system and fight by force […]
(Deutsche Welle) In mid-April, the European Union’s supreme court in matters of EU law ruled that unaccompanied minors could bring in their families, even if they had come of age during the asylum process. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that […]
(Deutsche Welle) There was nothing remarkable about the friendly, polite man with the long, dark beard, sporting a grey hoodie and blue jeans. Nothing, at first sight that is, to distinguish him from the young parents pushing prams and students milling around […]
(Deutsche Welle) “Speak after me,” the red-bearded German convert and Salafist preacher Pierre Vogel says as he publicly summons the young woman. Cheered on by an enthusiastic crowd in the pedestrian zone of the western city of Offenbach, she does exactly that, […]
(Deutsche Welle) Thousands of people turned out on Sunday in the eastern German city of Dresden in defiance of a fourth-anniversary rally by the anti-immigrant PEGIDA movement. The far-right group’s march through the city took place at the same time and attracted […]
(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 […]
(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 […]
(Anadolu) Ground was broken on Saturday for a new mosque in Bergheim, Germany, spearheaded by an organization founded by local Turkish migrants. The Bergheim Mosque and Culture Center will be constructed by the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB). Ceyhun Erciyes, Turkey’s […]
(Deutsche Welle) Germany’s Interior Ministry announced on Friday that it will extend migration controls at borders with Austria and Denmark, which were reintroduced in several parts of the normally passport-free Schengen area after the European migrant crisis of 2015. The extension is […]
(Deutsche Welle) The number of refugees under the age of 14 who are missing in Germany has increased in recent months, despite a drop in the total number of refugee arrivals, according to the German Child Welfare Association. The number increased from […]
(Reuters) Omar Alnifawi was 16 when he fled Syria’s civil war with his family. After four years working menial jobs in Lebanon to help pay for their journey on to Europe, he had given up on ever going back to school. Six […]
(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 […]
(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 […]
(Deutsche Welle) Exactly how many mosque buildings, and how many mosque associations, are there in Germany? No one in the country knows for sure. Ever since the opening of a Turkish state-financed mosque in Cologne, Islamic houses of prayer have been a […]
(AFP) Italy’s far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini threatened Sunday to shut the country’s airports after media reported that Germany planned to send charter flights of rejected asylum-seekers to Italy. “If someone in Berlin or Brussels thinks of dropping dozens of migrants via […]
(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 […]
(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 […]
(Deutsche Welle) “If not now, then when?” thought Dana and Julia. The two young women have travelled from their hometown of Olpe to the Central Mosque in Cologne, not despite but precisely because of the negative headlines surrounding its opening by the […]
(Deutsche Welle) Politicians in Germany expressed concern Monday about the use of Turkish ultra-nationalist symbols during Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent state visit. Erdogan supporters welcomed him with the Grey Wolves (Bozkurt) hand sign when he arrived in Cologne to open Germany’s largest mosque […]
(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 […]
(AFP) Thousands of demonstrators hit the streets of Cologne Saturday as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan opened one of Europe’s largest mosques at the end of his visit to Germany, with police out in force to manage rival rallies. The inauguration capped […]
(Deutsche Welle) The Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB) is the largest umbrella organization of mosques in Germany. DITIB manages about 900 mosques in the country, including the central mosque in Cologne, and has about 800,000 members throughout Germany. Its ties to […]
(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 […]
(Handelsblatt) German security services were recently in touch with one of Berlin’s best-known Muslim clerics. He should take their warnings seriously, they again told Abdul Adhim Kamouss. Death threats were being made against him by members of the Islamic State extremist group […]
(Deutsche Welle) Germany’s domestic intelligence agency is deciding whether to put the country’s largest Islamic umbrella group under official surveillance, the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper and public broadcasters NDR and WDR reported on Thursday. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) has […]
(AFP) Germany wants a stronger EU border agency to handle migration to Europe, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Thursday while judging “unsatisfactory” the squalid living conditions for thousands of migrants in Greece. Maas said he was favourable “to proposals on strengthening Frontex” […]
(Jerusalem Post) The US online payment service PayPal has closed the account of the Germany-based NGO International Alliance — an organization that sympathizes with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist organization and supports boycotting Israel. The Jerusalem Post launched […]
(Deutsche Welle) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will officially open a new central mosque in the western German city of Cologne, the Turkish-Islamic organization DITIB confirmed on Tuesday evening. Erdogan will open the mosque at a ceremony at the end of his […]
(Reuters) Chancellor Angela Merkel hopes a new immigration law will make it easier for foreign workers to find jobs in Germany, but her push to fill a record number of vacancies risks angering voters who still resent her open-door refugee policy. With […]
(Reuters) Germany and Algeria want to find ways to speed up the repatriation of Algerians living illegally in Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday during a visit to Algeria. Since around a million asylum seekers reached Germany in 2015, Merkel’s government […]
(Reuters) German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer on Saturday said he remained optimistic about completing a deal on migrants with Italy despite pushback from Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini. Salvini on Friday denied having reached a deal to take back migrants who […]
(Gatestone) In Communist East Germany, truth-telling involved risks. The penalty for it was often loss of one’s professional career and social status, if not more. Today, challenging the state-approved narrative in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Germany can sometimes have similar consequences. Germany’s intelligence […]
(Politico) Berlin has struck a bilateral deal with Italy on migration that it will sign in the coming days, Germany’s Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said Thursday. The agreement follows two similar deals Germany struck with Spain and Greece earlier this summer, as […]
(Reuters) Tugay Sarac was just 15 when he first talked about traveling from Germany to Syria to fight for Islamic State. But unlike his friends at the time, Sarac had turned to radical Islam as a way of avoiding coming to terms […]
(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, […]
(Reuters) Germany’s conservative interior minister said on Thursday he would have joined protests over the fatal stabbing of a German man, allegedly by two migrants, in comments likely to deepen divisions in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition. Far-right groups clashed with police and […]
(Reuters) German Chancellor Angela Merkel rebuffed comments from a conservative ally on Wednesday who had played down violence at far-right protests last week and said images of the event showed innocent people being persecuted. Germany has been shaken by the most violent […]
(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 […]
(Politico) Germany will tighten control over foreign influence of its Muslim community, State Secretary for the Interior Ministry Markus Kerber said Monday, after a week of violent far-right clashes in eastern Germany. “We have watched foreign forces dictate to German Muslims how to […]
(Politico) Can Germany survive Islam? That question is once again at the center of the country’s public discourse amid the violent protests that followed last week’s brutal killing of a German man, allegedly at the hands of two Muslim refugees, and the […]
(AFP) Emmanuel Macron will host German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the Mediterranean port city of Marseille on Friday, a French official said, seeking support as he takes on nationalist EU leaders over immigration and institutional reforms. The meeting will focus on “European […]
(AFP) Thousands of opponents and supporters of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s immigration policy marched Saturday through the eastern city of Chemnitz after a wave of racist violence that followed a knife killing. The rallies, which drew 8,000 people according to police, ended […]
(Deutsche Welle) The German government will no longer be funding projects run with the country’s largest Islamic umbrella group, the Interior Ministry in Berlin said on Thursday. Since the start of the year, the federal government has not approved any funding for […]
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