Free Republic

"Islam is a French religion and the French language is a language of Islam." -- Tariq Ramadan. In 1989, Dalil Boubakeur, rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris, justified the persecution of Salman Rushdie by Ayatollah Khomeini. Last year, Boubakeur called for the conversion of churches into mosques. In Britain, mainstream Muslim organizations are dispensing "Islamic justice" through more than 85 sharia courts attached to mosques. Civil war in France is what the Islamic State is looking for: unleashing a blind repression so that the Muslim population will show solidarity with the revolutionary minority. Yet, there is still worse possible...

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier believes Donald Trump becoming US president would be a “frightening” prospect for the world, his spokeswoman said Wednesday. Steinmeier “is not neutral” on whether the Republican candidate is fit to occupy the Oval Office, the spokeswoman, Sawsan Chebli, told reporters. “He is of the opinion that it is frightening, if you follow Trump’s remarks, what could become of this world if Trump actually became president,” she said. …

Interior ministers from Germany’s main conservative parties want stricter rules for Muslims living in Germany in the wake of recent Islamist-linked attacks. State interior ministers for the conservative Union parties (Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union) are calling for greater restrictions on Muslims living in Germany, including a burqa ban, as politicians mull tougher anti-terror policies. […] The proposal — which has already been criticized for reportedly suggesting a softening of doctor-patient confidentiality rules and ending dual citizenship — is set to be presented on August 18th. …

Suppression of data about migrant rapes is "Germany-wide phenomenon." ◾Germany's migrant rape crisis has now spread to cities and towns in all 16 of Germany's federal states. Germany now finds itself in a vicious circle: most of the perpetrators are never found, and the few who are frequently receive lenient sentences. Only one in 10 rapes in Germany is reported and just 8% of rape trials result in convictions, according to Minister of Justice Heiko Maas. ◾Up to 90% of the sex crimes committed in Germany in 2014 do not appear in the official statistics, according to André Schulz, the...

Over 6,000 migrants are suing the German government because they say that their asylum claims are taking too long to process. After receiving over one million new migrants looking to claim asylum in 2015, the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) has been unable to shift a significant backlog of cases to process. The agency has long been troubled with extended waiting periods to deal with asylum claims, with the average waiting time being around five to six months.

A hoped-for export bonanza has failed to materialize a year after a deal to lift international sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, a German industry association told AFP Monday. “Despite increased foreign trade, there is a certain disillusionment,” Volker Treier, chief economist at the German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DIHK), said. German exports to Iran had increased 11 percent in the first four months of 2016 to €890 million, and likely stood at over €1 billion in the first six months, Treier said. That leaves a lot of ground to make up if firms are to match DIHK...

Facebook on Monday dismissed complaints by German officials that it had not been helpful in fighting terrorism and urged authorities to better formulate their requests. Following a rash of attacks in southern Germany in late July, several state officials called for websites such as Facebook to be legally required to immediately hand over user data if information relevant to an attack is posted. They complained that the US-based social network had only supplied answers to about 37 percent of requests by German security authorities over the last three years, Welt am Sonntag newspaper said on Sunday. Facebook said in a...

Several associations of judges in Germany have proposed a headscarf ban for judges and trainee lawyers, claiming that this is a necessary measure if neutrality is to be upheld in court. At present, the German Constitution does not ban citizens from wearing religious symbols. Only in Berlin does a ban exist for employees of city authorities. But two judicial organizations — the Association of German Administrative Judges and the German Association of Judges — as well as the Ministers for Justice in the states of Baden-Württemberg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, are suggesting that judges and junior lawyers should be prevented from...

It is a fast and furious sport played under the sun and famed for its revealing attire - with a practical uniform of bikinis for women and board shorts for men . But these pictures show the contrasting cultures among some of the nations taking part in the Rio Olympics after the Egyptian women's beach volleyball team took to the sandy arena wearing long sleeves and leggings. The outfit, used by Nada Meawad and Doaa Elghobashy, who also covered her head with a hijab, was in stark contrast to their German rivals Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst who stuck to...

Transcripts of chats obtained by German authorities indicate that the two men involved in attacks in the German cities of Ansbach and Würzburg had repeated contact with suspected members of Islamic State via telephone numbers registered in Saudi Arabia, among other places, Spiegel has learned. Würzburg perpetrator Riaz Khan Ahmadzai, who is believed to have originated from Afghanistan and seriously injured several people on a regional train with an axe and knife on July 18, also left a goodbye message before engaging in the attack. “We’ll see each other in paradise,” he wrote. …

In a world filled with political bunglers, German Chancellor Angela Merkel deserves special mention for outstanding achievement in recklessness. Her refugee policy puts all of Europe at risk, though continental elites may be too zealous in their devotion to humanitarian ideals to recognize it. ~snip~ When such (Jihadist) ideologues are around, offering those unmarried, sexually frustrated, economically and culturally alienated young (refugee) men the prospect of lashing out in vengeance at the world around them in acts of spectacular violence that supposedly contribute to a noble cause — well, let's just say it's unlikely to end well. ~snip~ Having set...

Popular support for Chancellor Angela Merkel has plunged according to a poll conducted after attacks in Germany, with almost two-thirds of Germans unhappy with her refugee policy. The survey for public broadcaster ARD showed support for Merkel down 12 points from her July rating to 47 percent.

Public support for Angela Merkel has plummeted in the wake of a series of attacks in Germany, mainly due to the Chancellor’s refugee policy, according to a poll published on Thursday. Forty-seven percent of the 1,000 people who took part in the poll by the ARD TV station said they were satisfied with Merkel’s work, 12 points down from her July rating. It was Merkel’s second worst poll score since she was re-elected in 2013. In February 2016, 46 percent of respondents gave favorable opinions of the leader. …

Official figures show that more Turkish people are applying for asylum in Germany — most of whom are from the Kurdish minority. In just the first six months of this year, 1,719 Turkish people applied for asylum in Germany, which was close to the total number of Turks who applied in all of last year (1,767), according to figures by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) sent to The Local. What is not yet known is the number of people who have applied for asylum since the failed coup attempt in Turkey last month, and since President Recep...

express_logo Brave man who stood up to Munich shooter now facing prosecution for 'INSULTING killer' munich Getty Thomas Salbey screamed at Ali Sonboly after he killed nine children A MAN who famously stood up to the Munich shooter after he killed nine people is facing being charged by a prosecutor for insulting the killer. By ALIX CULBERTSON PUBLISHED: 02:43, Fri, Aug 5, 2016 UPDATED: 11:12, Fri, Aug 5, 2016 Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Google+Share with EmailShare via Whatsapp ADVERTISEMENT Thomas Salbey, 57, saw the shooting happening from his balcony in the Bavarian capital on July 22. In an...

The perpetrators of two attacks in Germany claimed by the ISIS terror group were given advice on the separate assaults by members of the jihadist organization, German media reports. Without citing its sources, German weekly Der Spiegel said the two men exchanged messages with individuals using different phone numbers, including some that were registered in Saudi Arabia. The Afghan teenager who in July went on an axe rampage on a train, wounding four tourists from Hong Kong and a German passer-by, had reportedly discussed how he would carry out the attack with his ISIS contacts. […] In a separate attack...

Germany’s foreign minister says Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is one of the world’s “hate preachers,” who he says play with people’s fears. Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Thursday that right-wing populists in various countries are united by one thing — “they make politics with fear.” …

When Ninorta Bahno, 26, fled Syria three-and-a-half years ago, she probably couldn't have imagined that she would become a German wine queen. On Wednesday, Bahno will be crowned regional wine queen in Trier, a picturesque western German city known for its Roman ruins - making her the first refugee in Germany to receive the honor. The Aramaic Christian says she is pleased with the title and hopes to use it to promote not only integration in Germany, but also Syrian wine. "All the refugees that I know are very happy about my new title," she said. "They give me information...

Czech officials are demanding increased surveillance of the 506 mile-long border, particularly focussed at 12 locations. Mr Chovanec added: "Apparently Germany isn't capable of dealing with the number of refugees, especially since there obviously seem to be jihadists among them."

Funding Iran directly funds terrorism because the Iranian regime is effectively a terror state. Back in the Senate, Obama fought against the classification of the Revolutionary Guard, a key Iranian political-military institution, as terrorists. He's remained consistent since then. 3. This is simply treason. Obama is aiding and abetting the murder of Americans. He's funding terrorism. He's funding Iran's wars in the region, which aside from Israel, include campaigns in Iraq and Syria that have dragged the United States in. The Obama administration secretly organized an airlift of $400 million worth of cash to Iran that coincided with the January...