Germany

Children & Teens

Germany: Teens allegedly planned Christmas market attack Two teenagers arrested this week allegedly planned to set off an explosion at a Christmas market in Leverkusen. Prosecutors said they then planned to join an offshoot of the so-called 'Islamic State' group.

November 30, 2023   

(Deutsche Welle) Two German teenagers are accused of plotting a terror attack on a Christmas market in the western German city of Leverkusen, German prosecutors said on Thursday. The suspects, a 15-year-old boy in North Rhine-Westphalia and a 16-year-old boy in the […]

Government & Politics

German intelligence warns of heightened terror risk Germany's domestic intelligence agency says the danger of a terror attack in the country is 'higher than it has been for a long time.' It cited the October 7 Hamas attacks and the subsequent Israel-Hamas war as factors.

November 29, 2023   

(Deutsche Welle) Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the [Constitution] (BfV) on Wednesday said the danger of an Islamist terror attack on German soil had significantly increased. The agency said the raised risk of attacks against the Jewish community or “the […]

Interfaith

German police raid suspected Hamas and Samidoun properties Berlin had banned activities related to Hamas — a designated terrorist group — and the international pro-Palestinian network Samidoun at the beginning of November.

November 23, 2023   

(Deutsche Welle) The German Interior Ministry on Thursday said police had conducted raids on properties in four federal states connected to suspected Hamas and Samidoun members. Germany, along with the US, the EU and others, has designated Hamas a terrorist organization. Samidoun […]

Government & Politics

Germany: Faeser seeks Hamas condemnation at Islam conference Germany's interior minister has said she will seek clear positions on Hamas from faith groups at the government's annual Islam conference. Nancy Faeser said they should assume 'their responsibility in society.'

November 21, 2023   

(Deutsche Welle) The ongoing conflict in Gaza in the aftermath of Hamas’ October 7 terror attacks against Israel looked sure to overshadow the German government’s annual Islam conference in Berlin on Tuesday. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said ahead of the event on […]

Clerics & Preachers

German mosque suspends imam for joking about Hamas attack in online post Mohamed Ibrahim's remark was blamed for contributing to collapse of interfaith peace event in Munich

November 10, 2023   

(National-UAE) An imam who responded to Hamas’s attack on Israel by joking that “everyone has their own way of celebrating October” has been suspended in Germany. The Islamic Centre Munich distanced itself from the post by Mohamed Ibrahim, saying it had felt […]

Demonstrations

Germany bans Hamas activities, dissolves Samidoun group Germany's Interior Ministry has announced a ban on pro-Palestinian group Samidoun and completely outlawed activities linked to the Islamist militant group Hamas. But what does the tightening of the law mean?

November 2, 2023   

(Deutsche Welle) Germany has announced a ban on Samidoun, a group that says it advocates for Palestinian prisoners, and imposed further prohibitions to stamp out support for the Islamist militant group Hamas, which Berlin already lists as a terrorist organization. Chancellor Olaf […]

Demonstrations

German antisemitism: Robert Habeck jabs Muslim groups, threatens deportations ‘The extent of the Islamist demonstrations in Berlin and other cities in Germany is unacceptable and requires a tough political response,’ says vice chancellor.

November 2, 2023   

(Politico) Germany’s Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck criticized Muslim groups while expressing concern over rising antisemitism in Germany and calling for tough consequences for people committing antisemitic acts. “Antisemitism is not to be tolerated in any form,” Habeck said Wednesday evening in a speech […]

Legal

Germany: Trial of Islamist in Duisburg knife attacks begins The trial of a man accused of murder and attempted murder in the German city of Duisburg has begun. The accused individual shocked the court by repeatedly making Islamist gestures and refusing to stand for the judge.

October 23, 2023   

(Deutsche Welle) The trial of a 27-year-old Syrian man accused of murder and attempted murder began at the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia on Monday. Federal prosecutors, who took over the case on August […]

Crime

Berlin: 174 arrested at unauthorized pro-Palestinian events Clashes broke [out] between police and protesters at an unauthorized demonstration in the Berlin district of Neukölln. At least 65 police officers were injured.

October 19, 2023   

(Deutsche Welle) At least 174 people were arrested and 65 police officers were injured at unauthorized pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Berlin on Wednesday night, according to a police spokesperson. Authorities had banned such protests, which have been called in response to the conflict […]

Government & Politics

Germany will ban all Hamas-linked activities, Scholz says Germany vows zero tolerance for antisemitism, after terror celebrations by a minority spark outrage.

October 12, 2023   

(Politico) German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that anyone who glorifies the crimes of Palestinian militant group Hamas, uses its symbols, condones murder, calls for criminal acts or burns Israeli flags could be prosecuted in Germany. Speaking in the Bundestag, the German parliament, […]

Government & Politics

Henry Kissinger on Hamas attacks fallout: Germany let in too many foreigners As a minority in Berlin cheer Hamas’ attacks on Israel, former top US diplomat says mass immigration was a ‘grave mistake.’

October 11, 2023   

(Politico) Hamas’ attack against Israel being celebrated on the streets of Berlin indicates that Germany has let too many foreigners into the country, according to former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. “It was a grave mistake to let in so many […]

Academics & Education

Germany’s first cohort of locally trained imams graduates Germany set up its own training school for imams due to the large number of foreign-trained Islamic religious leaders. The issue now is the lack of jobs for the graduates.

September 30, 2023   

(Deutsche Welle) Twenty-four Muslims from across Germany formally passed their imam training at the country’s new Islamkolleg Deutschland in the northwestern city of Osnabrück on Saturday. The graduates, who included men and women, received their first certificate of completion after attending a two-year part-time course. […]

Crime

Islam belongs to German[y]: president 'Islam, the Muslim religion, Muslim life, Muslim culture have taken root in our country,' Frank-Walte[r] Steinmeier says

September 17, 2023   

(Anadolu) German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Saturday that Islam belongs to Germany amid growing racism and Islamophobia fueled by propaganda of far-right groups and parties that have exploited the refugee crisis and attempted to stoke fear of immigrants. “Islam, the Muslim religion, […]

Children & Teens

German Islamist sentenced to 14 years for killing of girl Former IS member Jennifer W. has had her sentence extended by four years following an appeal by prosecutors. The 32-year-old was found responsible for the death of a Yazidi girl who had been enslaved.

August 29, 2023 and   

(Deutsche Welle) The Munich state court on Tuesday imposed a new, extended 14-year prison sentence on former “Islamic State” member Jennifer W. for her role in allowing a young Yazidi girl, named only as Rania, to die of thirst in Iraq in […]

Demonstrations

Quran burnings ‘disrespectful, inappropriate,’ says Germany Freedom of expression does not cover ‘hate speech or actions of hatred,’ says German government spokeswoman

August 16, 2023   

(Anadolu) Attacks against the Muslim holy book “seek to create division,” a deputy spokeswoman for Germany’s government said on Wednesday, expressing Berlin’s condemnation of such “disrespectful and inappropriate” acts. “We find such acts disrespectful and inappropriate. They seek to create division,” Christiane […]

Crime

AfD Bavaria chief beaten up in organised migrant attack While the Bavarian candidate is under medical observation, the German establishment ponders a ban on the rapidly growing populist party.

August 14, 2023   

(European Conservative) The chairman of the AfD in the Bavarian district of Augsburg and candidate for state legislature is nursing severe wounds after being set upon in what he describes as a politically motivated attack by migrants. Andreas Jurca was returning home […]