“Germany. Everything is included “— this is the title of the election manifesto of the Greens, on which the base is to vote in a few weeks. However, party members fear negative associations with the word “Germany”.
In the middle of June, the Greens sealed the candidacy of co-chair Annalena Baerbock for chancellor at a digital party congress. The election program for the Bundestag election in September is also up for voting . The current draft program’s title apparently irked more than 300 party members, including candidates for the Bundestag. They have therefore submitted an amendment. They proposed that the word “Germany” be removed from the title of the 136-page draft program.
Timon Dzienus, national board member of the Green Youth, is one of the supporters. In the past, Dzienus has shown solidarity with the left-wing extremist organization Ende Gelände [in jargon: “End of Discussion”]. The Berlin branch of the climate protection association Ende Gelände was classified as “left-wing extremist” by domestic intelligence, because of “targeted discrediting of statehood” and violence against police officers.
Other supporters suggested replacing the word Germany with “Green”. The title of the election manifesto should instead be: “Green. Everything is in there. “
The applicants justified their request for a change in the word Germany, because it can “have a very negative association”. They also see parallels to the motto of former President Donald Trump — a possible connection to “Germany first”. “Germany is associated more with nationalist politics. And that is in complete contrast to our multinational orientation and our commitment to Europe,” it continued. In addition, the title is “meaningless” and shows parallels to the election manifesto the AfD has chosen, which is entitled “Germany. But normal”.
According to information from the dpa news agency, there is a total of more than 3500 amendments to the election manifesto. The party headquarters of the Greens also pointed this out to German tabloid Bild. “More than 3000 amendments have been received to the draft program,” the newspaper quoted from a statement by the party. These are currently being reviewed by the application commission and processed by the party congress.
With unusually sharp diction for diplomatic usage, Morocco criticises Germany’s attitude to the conflict over the Western Sahara.There is even talk of hostile actions by Germany against the higher interests of the Kingdom of Morocco. The following is the Moroccan government’s severe criticism:
The Federal Republic of Germany has multiplied its hostile acts and actions against the superior interests of the Kingdom of Morocco. Thus, Germany has shown a negative attitude on the issue of the Moroccan Sahara. Its antagonistic activism following the proclamation of the American president recognising Morocco’s sovereignty over its Sahara is a serious matter that remains unresolved to this day.
Similarly, the authorities of this country are acting complicitly towards a former convict for terrorist acts, in particular by disclosing to him sensitive information transmitted by the Moroccan security services to their German counterparts.
Added to this is the continued determination to fight Morocco’s regional role, especially on the Libya issue, by trying to keep the Kingdom away from certain regional meetings dedicated to this issue, such as the one in Berlin.
For all these reasons and because of these constant and unacceptable adversities, the Kingdom of Morocco has decided to recall His Majesty the King’s Ambassador to Berlin for consultations.
At the same time – and this seems to be the current or premeditated trigger of diplomatic disagreements – Morocco criticises or insinuates that a German-Moroccan from Duisburg has received sensitive information from German authorities about Moroccan security services. The person in question is presumably Mohamed Hajib, whom Rabat considers a “former convict of terrorist acts” and who criticises the King and the political situation in Morocco on social media.
The German-Moroccan had been convicted of involvement in the formation of a terrorist organisation in Afghanistan and had been imprisoned in Morocco for seven years. (Hajib had become a member of the Sunni Tablighi Jamaat (TJ), Ed.)
Morocco had then filed charges against him in Germany and unsuccessfully sought an international arrest warrant from Interpol. German judicial authorities saw no evidence of calls for violence or criminal offences. In addition, Morocco criticised not having been invited to the Berlin Libya Conference in January 2020 and accused Germany of wanting to push back the country’s influence.
It is a completely new dimension of violence, say the Munich police one day after the hail of bottles in the English Garden. As it has now turned out, sexual assault is said to have triggered the riots!
An Iraqi (16) allegedly groped a girl (14). Afterwards there was a fight and the police intervened. The mood continued to heat up: Bottles were thrown and there was loud bawling. In the end, dozens of officers had to withdraw from the scene in group formation.
This is shown by several videos that are currently spreading on the internet. They show young people throwing about 50 bottles at police officers between 8.30 and 8.50 p.m. and hundreds of people gathering around the police.
The officers had to use batons and pepper spray to calm the situation. The sad result: 19 police officers were slightly injured, but are still fit for duty.
Police spokesman Sven Müller told the newspaper BILD on Saturday evening: “Six people were arrested. We are investigating for bodily harm, resistance and assault against law enforcement officers and breach of the peace.”
Jürgen Ascherl (57), deputy state chairman of the German Police Union, to BILD: “I am appalled by the behaviour of our fellow citizens and especially by this aggression that the police are facing here. The police are only doing their job and the politicians are responsible for these regulations.”
In BILD, Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (64, Christian Social Union) also comments on the attacks on police officers in the English Garden: “I can very well understand that people are drawn to the outdoors in the beautiful weather and warm temperatures. However, I cannot understand the behaviour of people who do not abide by any regulations, as happened yesterday in the English Garden.”
Herrmann continued: “The riots in the English Garden and the propensity for violence against police officers leave me speechless. It is appalling and completely unacceptable that those who protect us are themselves injured. We must not and will not tolerate this. I lack any understanding that bystanders also allied themselves with the rioters.”
The Minister of the Interior announced in BILD: “The police will continue to take consistent action against these troublemakers and the violent criminals concerned will have to bear the consequences.”
A German citizen who recently converted to Islam has beheaded his Moroccan wife in a crime that bears the hallmark of the Islamic state group, ISIS.
The man in his fifties, living in the city of Hamburg attends a local mosque in the northern German city where there is an important Turkish community, local media report.
German security forces and interior intelligence services are investigating the crime and are wondering whether the man acted alone or received instructions for the gruesome assassination.
Neighbors and mosque members told security forces that the man’s behavior had changed before the killing as he developed a long bear and was donning Afghan men’s dress code.
Germany, several countries have been complaining, has become a safe haven for dozens of former ISIS militants who fought in Syria and Iraq.
Morocco has warned the European country against the presence on its soil of former ISIS terrorists.
In March, an investigative report by French television M6 raised the alarm over the presence of former fighters of the terror group who are living freely in Germany.
The M6 flagship program “Enquête Exclusive” showed how ISIS Jihadists managed to slip through the cracks by posing as asylum seekers, and how they ended up being greeted with open arms and offered a safe haven in Germany, because of the dangerous laxity of German authorities.
While ISIS was officially defeated in March 2019 when it lost its last sanctuaries in Syria and Iraq, executioners from the terrorist organization are still on the run.
The criminals branded lone wolves are believed a major threat and can be quickly mobilized by a dormant cell of the global terror group.
In Germany, a study entitled “Muslim Life in Germany” was conducted. Among other things, it examined the extent to which religious affiliation or regional origin affect integration into the host society.
Based on the results of this study, the Austrian Islamic scholar Mouhanad Khorchide is now calling for a broader headscarf discussion among Muslims in this country, reports the news agency APA. In the weekend edition of the daily “Rheinische Post”, the scholar, who teaches at the German University of Münster, wrote in a guest article:
“I would like to use the example of a result of the study ‘Muslim Life in Germany’ to show the urgent need for a more intense inner-Islamic discourse on the subject of the headscarf.”
He justifies his demand with the results of the study. According to the study, 88.6 per cent of those who wear a headscarf see it as a religious duty. 76.6 per cent of those who do not wear it, on the other hand, do not see it as a religious duty.
According to Khorchide, this result has not been discussed in the Muslim media so far. What is discussed, however, are the 34.5 per cent who do not wear a headscarf – for fear that this could lead to disadvantages for them at school, in education or at work.
For Khorchide, this raises the question of why. “Why, however, is only this last-mentioned result received, which wants to underline the disadvantage, but completely suppresses the other one, according to which there are two contrary positions within Muslims around the question of the religious status of the headscarf?”
For this reason, the Islamic scholar calls for an inner-Islamic theological discourse beyond socio-political debates in order to also clarify such important questions.
A police-guarded murder trial in Attunda District Court north of Stockholm was exposed to a violent attack on Thursday. Some twenty masked persons, armed with bomb-like pyrotechnics, attacked police.
At about 9 in the morning, a gang of more than twenty masked young men, linked to criminal gangs, X-Team and Bandidos, attacked the court building in Attunda with powerful bomb-like pyrotechnic pieces, so-called bangers. Samhällsnytt reported. These were also thrown at police who were brought in to guard the trial and at the reinforcements who arrived at the scene after the attack began.
These gangs prominently recruit members of non-Swedish ethnicity.
About ten of those involved were taken into custody by police. It is not clear if they were subsequently held in detention or released on the spot. Only after lunchtime did the police gain control of the situation.
The gang-related trial, where four men are accused of planning murder with automatic weapons at a children’s party, was earlier transferred from Södertörn District Court due to similar violent incidents with some eighty people involved. The police were able to put a stop to the murder plans at the last minute – in the gang’s arsenal, the police found, among other things, not only included automatic weapons but a hand grenade.
The Attunda District Court specifically has a security room. However, even in the new courtrooms, proceedings cannot be conducted in legal order. The main proceeding consists of several trial days, of which this was one.
An open letter by ex-Venstre politician Inger Støjberg is currently causing a stir in Denmark and beyond. In it, she addresses the “Syrian refugees” in Denmark and calls on them to return home. The current debate about the return of Syrian migrants is a ” hour of destiny” for Danish society. According to Støjberg, the Syrians have a human and moral responsibility to make the return journey to their home country. The daily Berlingske sums up their position as follows: “Now you may say thank you – and then you may pack your luggage and go home.”
Støjberg was Minister for Foreigners and Integration in the liberal-conservative government of Lars Løkke Rasmussen from 2015 to 2019, which advocated a strict policy regarding foreigners similar to the current Social Democratic government. In March 2017, Støjberg celebrated the 50th tightening of the law on foreigners during her term in office with cake and candles and posted the photo on Facebook.
In her open letter, Støjberg admits that she realised early on that the “departure” of Syrians from Denmark, now also promised by Social Democratic Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, would be accompanied by an “outcry”: “It was not difficult to foresee that headmasters, debaters, red politicians, local communities, classmates, interest groups and the [left-liberal] daily Politiken would campaign for example for young students to be able to stay in Denmark, even though the need for our protection has ceased.”
The letter begins with the words: “Dear Syrian refugees, now it’s time to go home again”. With particular emphasis, Støjberg points to an unwritten agreement that Denmark had made with the Syrian migrants at the time: “The agreement was that we would give you protection as long as the war continued but that you would, of course, travel home again on the day you were able to”.
Støjberg also criticises the refugees, who unfortunately have not always respected the agreement with Denmark: “When you came to Denmark, we told you clearly that we expected you to adapt to the Danish rules and to take care of yourselves while you were here. Too few of you have lived up to that.” The Syrians are now under a double obligation to return, she added: On the one hand, they would have to honour the agreement with their host country and leave “without objections and without questions, but in gratitude to the Danish people”. On the other hand, they had to “begin the reconstruction of their own country”. After all, Denmark had given them a good advantage for this new start through free education.
Even a degree should not hinder the return journey to the homeland. After all, even without a degree, you don’t forget everything you’ve learned. And of course life in Denmark – Støjberg understands this very well – is more comfortable than in Damascus, especially since the Danes are such a generous people. “But Denmark is not your fatherland.” The Danish asylum system, he says, is finely balanced and “very tough”, both in accepting an asylum application and in terminating a residence permit. 140,000 Syrians have already returned home, she added. While on the way, the new departures, the politician concludes, could send the Danes “a big thank you for the help you received when you needed it. The Danes really deserve it.
Almost naturally, Støjberg’s letter evoked anew the “intense debate” (Berlingske) that she herself described. According to the daily Jyllandsposten, Støjberg’s open letter quickly ” went viral” online and led to heated debates: “Inger Støjberg’s open letter was shared more than 1,700 times and commented on nearly 3,000 times in just a few hours.” However, comments from politicians and others were both approving and disapproving.
Støjberg wrote her letter in the midst of a turbulence in which she herself is currently involved. In a way, she is also putting her own political work up for debate. The “former Venstre icon” (according to the Schleswig-Holstein website shz.de) was until recently deputy chairperson of the right-wing liberal party.
A lot has happened since then. Shortly before New Year’s Eve, Støjberg was sharply criticised by the new Venstre leadership, among other things for a measure from 2016, when she ordered the separate accommodation of asylum-seeking couples if one of the spouses – usually the woman – was a minor. This affected the issue of sham and forced marriages, but Støjberg allegedly violated the European Convention on Human Rights by doing so.
In the meantime, Støjberg has left Venstre and is a non-party member. Her successor presented herself as an ideological opponent. In September, Støjberg is to appear before an extraordinarily sitting Reichsgericht court – there hasn’t been one for 25 years, and Støjberg would like the trial to be broadcast live on television. But a majority in parliament begrudges her this stage or fears to look bad on it themselves. To this day, the ex-minister is not shy of publicity and at least wants the judges’ votes to be published.
Meanwhile, Støjberg’s successor as Minister for Foreigners, Mattias Tesfaye, has stated that minors would also have to be taken to asylum centres outside the country if the legal rules require it. Exemptions for minors would endanger the lives of minors, Tesfaye says: “If we exempted all unaccompanied minors from the rules, I would fear that speculation would continue about sending minors to Denmark via the Mediterranean.” He is countering criticism from NGOs such as “Red Barnet”, Amnesty International and the Danish “Institute for Human Rights”.
“Are men superior to women?” It was a deliberately provocative question that Fatma Akay-Türker asked an official of the Islamic Religious Community in Austria (IGGÖ). “And he said yes as a matter of course.” Because that is exactly what a verse in the Koran says.
In fact, Sura 4:34 is interpreted in traditional Koranic exegesis as evidence of the superiority of men. But, says Akay-Türker, there are other verses in the Koran that emphasise the equality of men and women. But no one in the IGGÖ would take notice of them.
Events like this were the reason why she resigned from her position as women’s spokesperson of the IGGÖ last June. Because it was only a fake mandate, as she says today. And she also quit her job as a religion teacher. In order, as she says, to be able to speak freely. And she not only talks, she has now also summarised her experiences in a book. “Only before Allah do I bow down” is a reckoning with a system that she considers misogynistic – even if it pretends to be otherwise.
The Austrian government has agreed on the anti-terror pact designed as a reaction to the attack in the city centre of Vienna. No more major changes were made compared to the appraisal. This means that there will be a separate criminal offence for religiously motivated extremism and the possibility will be created to monitor relevantly convicted offenders by electronic ankle tag during their probation.
The latter was weakened insofar as the sentence must exceed 18 months. In addition, the judge must specify certain places where the conditionally released person is not allowed to stay, for example mosques where radicalisation has taken place. Here, the regulations are based on those for sex offenders, as Justice Minister Alma Zadic (Greens) explained Friday afternoon at the announcement of the measures.
As far as the new criminal law, which was criticised as unnecessary in the evaluation, has been clarified in the explanations. Here it is explicitly made clear that this regulation is not directed against a specific religion, as Zadic emphasised. The Minister of Justice justified the introduction of the law at all by saying that no loophole should be created. It is aimed at cases where the paragraph dealing with anti-state connections might not apply.
Integration Minister Susanne Raab ( Austrian People’s Party) also emphasised that the legislative package was not directed against Muslims. Rather, it is about combating religiously motivated extremism. Her part of the package contains, for example, the imam directory, which is also not without controversy.
The Minister of the Interior, Karl Nehammer ( Austrian People’s Party), for example, has introduced a tightening of the law on the use of symbols. According to this, the political sphere of Hezbollah will also be covered and further action will be taken against the Identitarians.
Allah's Willing Executioners 