On February the 26th, the “Expert Commission on Anti-Muslim Racism” set up by the State of Berlin began its work. The committee is to develop “recommendations for the further development of prevention work on anti-Muslim racism” by spring 2022, the responsible Senate Department for Justice, Consumer Protection and Anti-Discrimination of Senator Dirk Behrendt (Greens) announced at the time.

Two of the six members were sent by the Islam Forum of the Integration Commissioner: Lydia Nofal and Mohamad Hajjaj, the chairperson and managing director of the Islamic association Inssan.

Research published by the newspaper WELT shows that Inssan and the persons named have links to Islamist organisations, some of which have been or are being monitored by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Nevertheless, Inssan has been funded for years with large amounts of federal and state money. The Berlin-based association was founded in 2002. According to its own statements, its aim is “to promote the development of a German-language Islam”.

Nofal and Hajjaj are active in numerous committees and organisations. Both are members of the regional board of the Central Council of Muslims in Berlin, both are members of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) working group of Muslim Social Democrats. Nofal was also appointed by the Berlin Senate Chancellery to the advisory board of the Institute for Islamic Theology at the Humboldt University in Berlin.

However, there were and are also activities in other associations. In 2014, Hajjaj was quoted in an interview with the internet portal web.de as the head of the capital city office of the Palestinian Community in Germany (PGD). Regarding this association, the Berlin Interior Administration informed in autumn 2014 that it was considered an organisation of supporters of the Islamist terror organisation Hamas. Hamas is represented in Germany by the PGD, according to the Hamburg report on the protection of the constitution from 2016.

When asked, Hajjaj denied having been active with the Palestinian Community in Germany. “I am not and have not been associated with this association in any way,” he informed. The journalist of the text had misquoted his stance in a student group. WELT has an email from Hajjaj in which he authorised his statements from the interview to the journalist. It was written from an email address belonging to the PGD homepage.

The Turkish news agency Anadolu also quoted Hajjaj in January 2014 with a different spelling of his first name as belonging to the PGD, on the occasion of a demonstration against the siege of the Palestinian refugee camp Yarmouk in Syria. The article was not about him personally, Hajjaj said. “I actually know the Muhammad Hajjaj mentioned there. However, I am Mohamad Hajjaj.”

When WELT subsequently confronted him with a photo of exactly this demonstration from January 2014, which was posted by the PGD on Facebook and in which Hajjaj can be seen, he informed them that the rally had not been organised by the PGD and that he had taken part as a spokesperson for a student group. WELT is in possession of a PGD flyer calling for the rally on the day in question.

When asked if Hajjaj was still vice-chairman of the Teiba Cultural Centre, he did not answer. A recent search of the register of associations at the Charlottenburg district court shows that Hajjaj still holds this position. In a handout as well as in the report of the Berlin Office for the Protection of the Constitution from 2016, the Teiba Cultural Centre is mentioned under the items “Islamist mosque associations and aid organisations” and “Connections of Berlin associations to the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic Community in Germany”, respectively.

In September 2010, the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle interviewed an activist of the “German Initiative to Break the Gaza Blockade”, once referred to as Mohamed Hajjaj and once as Mohammed Hajja. When asked, Hajjaj stated that he had not participated in the initiative, but that it had been ” monitored via the media” by his student group. He did not answer the question whether he denied having given the interview to Deutsche Welle in 2010.

The Islamforum Berlin, which sent Hajjaj and Nofal to the “Expert Commission on Anti-Muslim Racism”, is responsible for the Integration Commissioner of the Berlin Senate. A spokeswoman said: “The decision to send experts to the expert commission on anti-Muslim racism was made by the Muslim representatives. She did not give any details on the content of the appointments. The justice administration, which is responsible for the entire commission, only referred to the integration commissioner.

“The importance of Inssan cannot be overlooked,” said Sigrid Herrmann-Marschall, an expert on Islamism. The association has built up a large network in recent years. “Lydia Nofal is the incorporated double strategy and acts as a mediator between the majority society and the Muslim Brotherhood’s network of campaigns,” Herrmann-Marschall continued.

Nofal did not respond to a request for an assessment of these allegations. It already distanced itself from the Muslim Brotherhood in 2007. “It is important to us that we remain independent of any ideology or movement,” Mohamad Hajjaj said about the accusations.

Inssan itself has also been under observation by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. From 2007 to 2009, the association was listed in the Berlin report as being close to the Muslim Brotherhood. In April 2018, Berlin’s interior administration announced that individual Inssan members had “personal connections” to the Islamic Culture and Education Centre Berlin (IKEZ) – according to Berlin’s 2017 report on the protection of the constitution, a “Berlin meeting place of Hamas supporters”. Both the IKEZ and Inssan and the Teiba Cultural Centre belong to the Islamforum Berlin, which was founded in 2005 on the initiative of the then Berlin Integration Commissioner.

The association Inssan, which belongs to the umbrella organisation Zentralrat der Muslime (Central Council of Muslims), has received large amounts of state funding since 2010. For example, the Inssan project “Network against Discrimination and Islamophobia” received funding from the Berlin state programme “Democracy. Diversity. Respect” received a total of 589,922 euros from 2010 to 2020. Since 2013, the annual payments have been increasing. For 2021, the planned sum is 116,599 euros, a spokesperson for the responsible justice administration announced.

The Inssan project “Mentors for Refugees” was funded by the Senate Commissioner for Integration between 2016 and 2019 with a total of 220,770 euros. Since 2020, the Commissioner has been funding the Inssan project “Active Strengthening of Muslim Activists”, so far with a total of 164,540 euros.

In July 2019, the judicial administration announced that Inssan had made it clear that the association was “committed to the values and norms of the Basic Law and the free democratic basic order”. Between 2017 and 2019, federal funding also flowed: the Inssan project “Not without my faith!”, which according to the federal government was about “empowering young Muslim women and men to deal with experiences of discrimination when accessing the labour market”, was funded by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs with a total of 284,104 euros. In total, Inssan has been funded by the government to the tune of 1,375,935 euros.

Inssan is also a co-founder of the Claim Alliance against Islamophobia and Muslimophobia. Claim was funded by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs with a total of 727,984 euros from 2017 to 2019. In addition, Claim was granted a total of 959,998 euros in 2020 and 2021 as part of the Competence Network Islamophobia and Muslimophobia, also by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs. Thanks to Nina Mühe, Claim is also represented in the Independent Circle of Experts on Muslimophobia, which was established in September 2020 by Federal Minister of the Interior Horst Seehofer ( Christian Social Union, CSU).

Carsten Frerk, head of the research group Weltanschauungen in Deutschland, has been observing Inssan for a long time. “It is impressive how successful the association is with its lobbying and how it can keep expanding state funding,” he told WELT. “The state should take the issue of discrimination seriously. To do so, however, it should not approach lobbying associations of political Islam.” Inssan should not continue to appear with a state seal of approval, he said.

The latest publication by Inssan was released last week. The association presented the “2020 case figures on anti-Muslim racism in Berlin”. With 228 incidents, a “dangerous development” was documented. The reports are submitted to the association in writing or online via a reporting form. When asked how the reports are checked, project manager Zeynep Çetin said that those affected have to provide an email address. “The reports are validated by us.”

When asked, the network presented six examples of reports. These clearly show discriminatory incidents, but four of the cases refer to the ethnic origin of those affected, only two explicitly to religious affiliation.

Katharina Eggers from the Islamism Competence Centre of Aktion 3. Welt Saar criticised that the documentation did not meet scientific standards and was tendentious. In a press conference, Inssan explained that the slight decrease in the number of cases last year was due to the fact that the Corona pandemic limited the number of empowerment workshops that could be held. Many of those affected were not sufficiently educated to recognise discrimination as such.

Eggers criticises: “Potentially affected people are being turned into immature children who first have to be taught by pedagogical means when they should feel discriminated against. Inssan also equates emancipatory criticism of Islam “with the agitation of right-wing Muslim haters”.

https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article229101711/Berlin-beruft-Islamisten-in-Kommission-gegen-antimuslimischen-Rassismus.html

In the midst of a debate on multiculturalism and models of integration in the country, and while marches are still taking place against Islamophobia, the niece of Marine Le Pen, Marion Maréchal has a clear opinion on the issue.

The director of Issep was invited Monday, March 22 by Frédéric Taddeï on RT France, to speak in particular about the passage “from politics to metapolitics”. Asked about the term “multicultural society”, Marion Maréchal was clear. For her, this qualifier is nothing other than a “polite term to say the end of Western society and French society.”

“The former deputy underscored that we were “witnessing the erasure of French culture” because “the coexistence of different cultures on the territory leads to friction and violence”.

This multiculturalism would lead to a form of “permanent war of minorities where we are more able to agree on the essential”  she explained and where the most organized will “succeed in making a difference in the democratic game”. She even goes further by qualifying this model as “dangerous” which could above all harm “national cohesion” and ultimately lead to “a form of apartheid”.

Marion Maréchal then denounced the concessions made to certain minorities, such as politicized Muslims who, according to her, seek “to obtain a certain number of concessions on the pretext of respecting their culture of origin or their religion”. She then cites the opening hours of the swimming pools or the times reserved for women. “By accepting this type of concession year after year, we end up drawing a form of apartheid society,” she said.

Marion Maréchal also protested against recent debates on the desire to wipe out the past and constantly want to question French heritage (debunking statues, renaming street names, etc.). “By dint of wanting in the name of emancipation, to destroy the nation, tradition, civilization and religion, we end up with race, sex, gender or skin colour. For me, this is an incredible civilizational regression.”

The president of the National Rally (RN), Marine Le Pen, has meanwhile deplored the double standard for French citizens as opposed to immigrants, after some demonstrations were allowed and not others.

Is there already a double standard today in France when it comes to demonstrating? This is the whole question raised by Le Pen on Tuesday March 23 in the morning on France Inter after a weekend marked by more than controversial events, starting with the carnival gathering more than 6 500 people in Marseille (Bouches-du -Rhône). “There is a form of impunity for this extreme left which is quite incomprehensible,” said Le Pen.

On Saturday March 20, a demonstration organized to pay tribute to a policewoman who had committed suicide had been “banned” while at the same time, “the demonstration organized by Madame Assa Traoré was allowed”.

Beyond these controversies that disturb the French, it is the entire government strategy that Marine Le Pen has questioned, in particular the latest measures taken to curb the epidemic. “We have to admit that no one has understood anything about this confinement which is one without being one.”

She said the “French no longer understand what is expected of them anymore” and added that there was a “risk that no more rule is respected and that’s very dangerous”.

It appears that at least in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur voters would agree with this notion that Islam represents a danger if its adherents are not willing to integrate.  According to a poll by Opinionway on behalf of La République en Marche (LREM), the RN would come in first place in the first round of the elections.

The regional daily La Provence unveiled a study published on March 23 highlighting two scenarios for the regional ballot in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. The vote will take place on June 13 and 20, 2021. In the first case, Thierry Mariani (RN) would obtain first place in the 1st round (29 percent) with a clear gap, ahead of LR Renaud Muselier (23 percent) and Sophie Cluzel’s LREM list, supported by the Modem (16 percent) followed by candidate for the the Ecologists (EELV), Olivier Dubuquoy (9 percent).

In the second case, if LR and LREM were to unite, they would obtain 30 percent, a score very close to the RN (31 percent). Even if Thierry Mariani has not yet formalized his candidacy, the study already showed that the RN will occupy a place of choice in PACA, regardless of the future alliances of competing parties.

It should be noted that this study commissioned by the presidential party was carried out a month ago. In the meantime, outgoing LR chairman has made it clear that he will not seal any deal with LREM. In addition, no second-round hypothesis was submitted to respondents.

https://freewestmedia.com/2021/03/25/marion-marechal-says-multicultural-society-is-a-polite-term-for-the-end-of-western-society/

Together with other cantons, Aargau wants to create a national Islam task force. This was announced by the government in its response to a motion by FDP councillor Adrian Schoop. However, the task force is not to be a security agency, but a group of experts to research political Islam.The fiercest critic of Islam in Aargau, Andreas Glarner of the Swiss People’s Party (SVP), is no longer a member of the Grand Council. However, the influence of political Islam in the canton continues to raise questions – some of which FDP councillor Adrian Schoop has raised in an interpellation.The critical motion of the young liberal states, among other things, that hate preachers are appearing in Aargau mosques and that the Association of Aargau Muslims has been infiltrated by militant radical groups. Schoop also asks whether the government knows that there are Koran schools in Aargau where hate and intolerance are taught.In addition, he considers it possible that mosques in Aargau are supported with money from Kuwait or Qatar in order to spread the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood here. Schoop points out that in twelve mosques in Aargau an imam preaches who is assigned from Turkey and implements political Islam. He criticises the fact that there is no register of imams in Aargau and that they do not have to pass an examination.Finally, Schoop asks whether the government is willing to set up a cantonal “Islam task force”. In such a task force, experts should deal with the documentation of all activities of political Islam in Aargau, the FDP councillor demands.

In its answer, the government basically states that the liberal democratic system and the secular legal order are not negotiable. Therefore, tendencies towards political Islam in Aargau should be critically observed. And the government wants to advocate for an Islam task force at the national level.

However, this should not be a security authority, but a group of experts to research political Islam. The task force could then support cultural, educational and security institutions with its results, says the government.The government council is more reassuring about the other points of criticism. There does not exist a Koranic school, but only a hostel for Muslim youths in Buchs. There is no register not only for imams, but also for clerics of other religions. The Association of Aargau Muslims is not infiltrated, it even runs a project against the radicalisation of young people.The government maintains that foreign imams need a permit to work in Aargau. More transparency in the financing of religious institutions must be established at the federal level.

https://www.aargauerzeitung.ch/aargau/kanton-aargau/muslime-hassprediger-dubiose-finanzstroeme-und-radikale-gruppen-aargau-setzt-sich-fuer-eine-islam-taskforce-auf-bundesebene-ein-ld.2118367

Olympics star and former Strictly winner Louis Smith has been accused of mocking Islam after appearing in a video with a mate drunkenly pretending to pray.

The footage shows him with fellow gymnast Luke Carson yelling “Allahu Akbar”, an Islamic phrase meaning “God is the greatest”.

The video, apparently shot in selfie mode by Smith during a friend’s hotel wedding bash, has been widely passed around online.

The Team GB star, 27 — who was awarded an MBE in 2013 — and Carson, 26, appear to have been drinking.Smith is shown giggling and holding a drink as Carson takes a hanging rug off the wall.

The medal holder then chortles “Six o’clock prayers” as the friend repeatedly says “Allahu Akbar”.

Carson then kneels on the rug, bowing in mock worship before the pair yell in indecipherable howls.

At that point an elderly female wedding guest enters the frame and sits down next to the friend.

She puts her hand on his shoulder and says: “Actually, you are taking the p***, actually.”

But Smith retorts: “No, no he’s not, he’s doing his six o’clock prayers.”

Slurring Carson yells out, “The prophet Mohammed”, before Smith says: “Sixty virgins”.

It continues as the woman says: “You are not funny.”

Smith insists: “Yes it is.”

Last night a security source said of the video, taken at the wedding of gymnast Dan Keatings at Kettering Park Hotel, Northants: “Mocking religion is pretty foolish anyway.

“In the case of Islam, it can also be quite a risky thing to do.”

Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the Ramadan Foundation, said of Smith: “I think he should apologise immediately.

“Our faith is not to be mocked, our faith is to be celebrated and I think people will be offended.”

Smith, who has won two Olympics silvers and a bronze, triumphed on Strictly in 2012.

The Team GB star has previously spoken about his own Christian beliefs.

He was contacted for a comment but did not respond.

Last night retired ex-international Carson said: “It was a three-minute video of us just fooling around.”

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1934586/olympic-ace-louis-smith-accused-of-mocking-islam-after-yelling-allahu-akbar-and-pretending-to-pray-in-boozy-video/

Angela Merkel may just have pushed through rapid deportation rules as well as a ban on refugees but she is not planning on closing Germany’s doors to migrants forever.

Just last week the under-fire German Chancellor placed a ban on the families of as many as three million people who arrived in Germany during the migrant crisis joining their relatives.

The ban, which also applies to women and children and elderly relatives from war torn countries, has been put in place for two years after the country revealed the crisis will cost £37bn this year.Now just days after the Bundestag voted to speed up deportation and mandatory finger printing, it’s emerged they have outlined the country needs 300,000 people a YEAR for the next 40 years to stop population decline.

A leaked report from Mrs Merkel’s government said Germany would need to take in 12m migrants over the next four decades to keep Germany’s population size stable.

But the staggering figures unearthed by the Rheinische Post are only set to infuriate far-right voters who are already reeling after almost 2.2 million migrants flooded into the country in 2015 alone.

According to local reports a new report drafted by the Government has admitted the issue of migrant integration is a thorny subject.

The report on refugee integration states: “According to the experiences this will not be easy and will last longer than initially often hoped.

“Successes will only be visible in the medium to long term.”

Locally, Mrs Merkel’s government is coming under pressure after it was deemed that 345,000 new homes have to be built each year to house those travelling to the country to live.

However the cost of living is rising in Germany with rents apparently becoming unsustainable.

During her award speech, Mrs Merkel said: “Europe is our best assurance to live in peace and security. 

“It should be possible for us to revive Europe. 

“For today’s generation, the generation would have to invest as much energy as it has invested in post-war generation to build Europe”.

But her acceptance of the award was not welcomed by everyone.

Hans-Ulrich Rülke, head of the Free Democratic Party (FDP), told newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine: “It is already a lot of ignorance to consider the course of Chancellor Merkel in 2015 as correct. 

“With the uncontrolled admission of hundreds of thousands of people from safe third countries, the Federal Government ignored European law and made it difficult to resolve the refugee crisis on a European scale.”

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/765919/Angela-Merkel-Germany-European-Migrant-Crisis-12-million?fbclid=IwAR2gSzVzlHBffLgg_OGBuhLmCXlPR_vJ878063MrmISti9cvCKXxWR_i9D8

Germany’s publically-funded ZDF station must officially apologize to the World Association of Home Army (AK) Soldiers for the false depiction of Polish soldiers in the “Our mothers, our fathers’ program, decreed the Kraków Court of Appeal

According to the ruling, the television series falsely depicted Polish Home Army (AK) as an anti-Semitic organization. The German companies committed the infringement “through identifying a Polish underground unit in the movie as an AK unit, which created the false suggestion that the Polish military organization was anti-Semitic in character”.

The court explained that the creators of the show had dressed up representatives of a Polish underground unit in white-red ‘AK’ bands. Through this, the creators specified that representatives of the AK were disdainful towards Jews and promoted anti-Semitism. The court emphasized that the showrunners’ actions permitted the reception of the AK as a formation which was anti-Semitic.

The ruling declared that such an identification of the AK was a transgression of freedom of expression.

The apology is to be published on the 1^st channel of Polish public television TVP1 and on the channels of German television station which broadcasted the show. They are also to be published on ZDF and UFA Fiction websites and maintained for three months.

The three-part TV series “Our mothers, our fathers” was first broadcasted by ZDF in March 2013. It was also aired on Polish public television channel TVP1. It sparked massive controversy in Germany and Poland concerning the depiction of Poles in the show, as well as the issue of German responsibility for crimes committed during World War II.

The lawsuit against the German creators was filed by the World Association of Home Army Soldiers along with 96-year-old Zbigniew Radłowski who was a member of the AK.

The Polish Home Army (AK) was the main resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during the Second World War. It was officially formed in 1942, politically backed by the Polish government in London and became the largest resistance movement in Europe during the war.

https://rmx.news/article/article/polish-court-creators-of-german-public-tv-station-must-apologize-to-poles

Another huge bonus of Covid regs. It makes sure imncumbants can stay in office as well as leftist challengers. We know the latter from mail in ballots, good for all except Amazon, and now we see how people running against the Mayor of London UK are getting threatened by police for breaking Covid regs even though they have “no evidence”.