German Gov’t ‘Anti-Extremism’ Initiative Funds a Pro-Iranian Regime Group

Cybercast News Service ^ | December 20, 2017 | 7:41 PM EST | James Carstensen

[Olog-hai]

The German government is under fire for funding an allegedly Iranian-linked Islamic non-governmental organization (NGO) as part of a program designed to draw German-based Muslim communities away from extremism.

According to the Interior Ministry, the program aims to signal to local Muslims that they play an essential role in the prevention of extremism. But critics claim the Islamic Community of Shi’ite Communities in Germany (IGS), an umbrella organization, has links to pro-Iran and anti-Semitic extremism.

The Bild newspaper reported early this week that a first payment of €19,739 ($23,500) has already been processed for transfer to the IGS.

The head of the Frankfurt Global Islam Research Center, Prof. Susanne Schröter, criticized the government support for the IGS, telling the paper that “the decision reveals the fatal consequences of an uncritical attitude towards a Muslim association that is connected in many ways with the Iranian leadership in Tehran and disseminates their positions.”

Bild noted that the government itself has classified the IGS as an “extremist influenced” group, citing the 2016 annual report of the state of Hamburg’s Office for the Protection of the Constitution, a state-level domestic security agency.

The report itself states that the IGS is one of many groups that represent the pro-Iranian organization The Islamic Center of Hamburg (IZH). …

[Robert DeLong]

I always marvel at the stupid tactics “smart” people often employ. /sarcasm

[SunkenCiv]

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, Russia's Vladimir Putin and Turkey's Tayyip Erdogan meet in Sochi, Russia November 22, 2017. (photo credit: SPUTNIK/MIKHAIL METZEL/KREMLIN VIA REUTERS)