Berlin truck terrorist pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi in video

The story comes from The Long War Journal.

Berlin truck terrorist pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi in video

The Islamic State’s Amaq News Agency has released a video of Anis Amri, the Tunisian man suspected of driving a large lorry into a crowded Christmas market in Berlin on Dec. 19. Twelve people were killed and dozens more injured in the attack. Amri was reportedly killed in a shootout with police in Milan, Italy earlier today.

Prior to his demise, Amri recorded a video in which he swore bayah (oath of allegiance) to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, describing Baghdadi as the “Emir ul-Mu’minin” (“Emir of the Faithful”), a title usually reserved for an Islamic Caliph.

Amri went on to denounce the “crusader” bombings in the territories controlled by the Islamic State. He also called on Muslims to exact retribution by attacking inside the West.

Amri’s video was sent to Amaq, which posted the clip on its official website and social media after he was shot dead. Amaq also released a statement noting Amri’s death.

Amaq’s release of the video is consistent with the pattern followed after other Islamic State-claimed operations in 2016.

The terrorists responsible for small-scale attacks in Würzburg, Germany (July 18), Ansbach, Germany (July 24), Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, France (July 26), and Balashikha (east of Moscow), Russia (Aug. 17) all recorded videos of themselves pledging allegiance to Baghdadi before their hour of terror.

Their videos were sent to Amaq, which made minor additions (such as a title screen) and then released them online shortly thereafter. Screen shots from each of these videos can be seen below.

In other cases, terrorists have professed their fealty to Baghdadi and his so-called caliphate online or in phone calls, but their stated allegiance was not first released by Amaq.

For example, Omar Mateen, who massacred 49 people at an Orlando nightclub in June, repeatedly swore his allegiance to Baghdadi during conversations with authorities on the night of his attack. The couple responsible for the Dec. 2015 San Bernardino killings also referenced their bayah to Baghdadi on social media.

The Islamic State has claimed that its “soldier(s)” have been responsible for other attacks inside the US as well. Unlike in Europe, however, Amaq has not released videos from any of the attackers inside America.

There are multiple ways a jihadist can be affiliated with the Islamic State, or another terrorist organization. In some cases, such as the attack on Paris in Nov. 2015, the terrorists are dispatched by a group. In other instances, they receive some direction, either online or in person. European officials have described a series of plots in their countries as being “remote-controlled” by Islamic State handlers online. The aforementioned attacks in Ansbach and Würzburg, as well as others, fall into this category.

In still other scenarios, it appears the attacker was merely inspired by the jihadists’ propaganda. It often takes time for authorities to determine where a terrorist falls in this spectrum of connections, ranging from dispatched, to “remote-controlled,” to inspired.

Amaq’s release of the terrorists’ videos demonstrates that they are anything but “lone” actors. The videos suggest that the jihadists responsible for each of these attacks had at least one tie to the Islamic State, even if it was only a digital one. Other biographical details for at least some of the jihadists who have struck inside Europe demonstrate additional connections as well. For instance, the man who detonated his backpack bomb in Ansbach, Germany earlier this year had fought for the Islamic State in Syria.

Amri had his own ties to the Islamic State’s network and was on the US government’s no-fly list.

Citing “American officials,” The New York Times first reported that Amri had already “appeared on the radar of United States agencies.” Amri “had done online research on how to make explosive devices and had communicated with the Islamic State at least once, via Telegram Messenger,” the Times reported.

CNN reported that Amri “was known to German security services as someone in contact with radical Islamist groups, and had been assessed as posing a risk.”

Authorities tied Amri to Abu Walaa, an extremist preacher who was arrested in November. Abu Walaa, a native Iraqi, is a well-known, yet somewhat mysterious, preacher who indoctrinated Muslims in the ways of jihad. Some of his recruits are thought to have traveled abroad to wage jihad, including on behalf of the Islamic State. CNN’s Paul Cruickshank found that “as many as 20 Germans who have joined” the Islamic State had ties to Abu Walaa’s network.

However, Amri did not migrate to the lands of the so-called caliphate. Instead, he decided to lash out inside the West. The Islamic State has repeatedly told its followers that such plots are better than fighting in Iraq, Syria or elsewhere, as they do more damage to the jihadists’ enemies.

At least nine dead as truck plows into crowd at Berlin Christmas market

Nothing says Merry Christmas like an Islamic invader (refugee) driving a truck through a crowd in Berlin and killing 9 people.

"But Holger, they don't know it's a Muslim or a refugee" - right.  Yeah, right.  I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Right?

The story comes from DAWN.

At least nine dead as truck plows into crowd at Berlin Christmas market

A lorry ploughed into a busy Christmas market in Berlin on Monday, killing at least nine people and wounding 50 more in what police said was a possible terror attack.

Ambulances and police rushed to the area after the driver drove up the pavement of the market in a central square popular with tourists, in scenes reminiscent of the deadly truck attack in the French city of Nice in July.

“There are at least 50 injured... some seriously. Some are dead,” a police spokeswoman told AFP. Police subsequently said nine had been killed and that one person has been detained over the incident -- which comes less than a week before Christmas.

"We are investigating whether it was a terror attack but do not yet know what was behind it,” a police spokesman said.

Germany has been shaken this year by several assaults claimed by the Islamic State group and carried out by asylum-seekers.

An axe rampage on a train in the southern state of Bavaria in July injured five people, and a suicide bombing wounded 15 people in the same state six days later.

In another case, a 16-year-old German-Moroccan girl in February stabbed a police officer in the neck with a kitchen knife, wounding him badly, allegedly on IS orders.
Attacks rock France

The arrival of 890,000 refugees last year has polarised Germany and misgivings run particularly deep in the ex-communist east, even more so since IS-linked attacks in July carried out by Syrian asylum-seekers.

The attack in Berlin also comes five months after Tunisian extremist Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel ploughed a 19-tonne truck into a crowd on the Nice seafront, killing 86 people.

The bloodshed -- as people were watching a fireworks display on the Bastille Day public holiday on July 14 -- further traumatised a France already reeling from a series of jihadist attacks.

Six people have been charged so far over alleged links to the 31-year-old killer but investigators have yet to prove that any of them knew what he was planning.

IS moved quickly after the attack to claim Bouhlel as one of its followers.

Investigators said he suffered from depression and appeared to have become radicalised very quickly.

The massacre on the palm-fringed Promenade des Anglais was the latest in a series of jihadist attacks that have rocked France over the past two years.

The violence began with the January 2015 attacks on a satirical newspaper and a Jewish supermarket in Paris and continued 10 months later with coordinated strikes on the capital's Bataclan concert hall, national stadium and cafe terraces.

The attacks have hardened attitudes on security and immigration, fuelling the rise of the far-right ahead of next year's presidential election Another 11 people were arrested lat week in France suspected of helping to arm Bouhlel.

GERMAN TEACHERS CHANNEL THIRD REICH IN CALL FOR ELIMINATION OF JEWISH STATE

The story comes from The Tundra Tabloids.

GERMAN TEACHERS CHANNEL THIRD REICH IN CALL FOR ELIMINATION OF JEWISH STATE

The bastards…….

They can be counted on to fill the front rows on Holocaust Memorial days, all the while the seek to destroy the only safe haven for Jews on this planet.

German teachers’ union urges total boycott of Israel

BERLIN – The teachers union in the city of Oldenburg published an article in its September paper calling for a complete boycott of the Jewish state, sparking criticism from Israel’s embassy, German teachers and pro-Israel activists, as well as the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

It appears to be the first call to boycott Israel or Jews from a German organized labor group since the Holocaust. Critics accuse the union of stoking modern Jew-hatred.

The anti-Israel activist and teacher Christoph Glanz outlined the goals of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement in his two-page article in the magazine of the Education and Science Workers’ Union (GEW).

“The GEW is an important institution in Germany. That is why we are surprised and disappointed, that the Oldenburg chapter chose to re-publish the pamphlet of a BDS activist in its magazine,” the embassy told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.

The embassy continued: “The BDS movement is a worldwide campaign that calls for a boycott of Israel on all levels and de facto seeks the elimination of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.

“We rely on the moral values and intellectual capabilities of readers of the magazine to correctly classify the pamphlet, but we still expect the magazine to show better editorial standards.”

BERLIN – The teachers union in the city of Oldenburg published an article in its September paper calling for a complete boycott of the Jewish state, sparking criticism from Israel’s embassy, German teachers and pro-Israel activists, as well as the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

It appears to be the first call to boycott Israel or Jews from a German organized labor group since the Holocaust. Critics accuse the union of stoking modern Jew-hatred.

The anti-Israel activist and teacher Christoph Glanz outlined the goals of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement in his two-page article in the magazine of the Education and Science Workers’ Union (GEW).

“The GEW is an important institution in Germany. That is why we are surprised and disappointed, that the Oldenburg chapter chose to re-publish the pamphlet of a BDS activist in its magazine,” the embassy told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.

The embassy continued: “The BDS movement is a worldwide campaign that calls for a boycott of Israel on all levels and de facto seeks the elimination of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.

“We rely on the moral values and intellectual capabilities of readers of the magazine to correctly classify the pamphlet, but we still expect the magazine to show better editorial standards.”

Germany's Merkel Will Continue To Sacrifice Her People To Muslim Executions

Simply hard to believe.

And people question why Britain would leave the European Union?

The story comes from DAWN.

Defiant Merkel defends refugee stance despite attacks

BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday rebuffed calls to reverse her welcoming stance toward refugees in the wake of a series of brutal attacks in the country.

Merkel, who interrupted a summer holiday to face the media in Berlin, said the four assaults within a week were "shocking, oppressive and depressing" but not a sign that authorities had lost control.

The German leader said the assailants "wanted to undermine our sense of community, our openness and our willingness to help people in need".

"We firmly reject this," she said at a wide-ranging news conference.

Merkel repeated her rallying cry from last year when she opened the borders to people fleeing war and persecution, many from Syria, which brought nearly 1.1 million migrants and refugees to the country in 2015.

"I am still convinced today that 'we can do it' -- it is our historic duty and this is a historic challenge in times of globalisation," she said.

"We have already achieved very, very much in the last 11 months."

Merkel was speaking after a axe rampage, a shooting spree, a knife attack and a suicide bombing stunned Germany, leaving 13 dead, including three assailants, and dozens wounded.

Three of the four attackers were asylum seekers, and two of the assaults were claimed by the Islamic State group.

Merkel said that she would not allow jihadists, following a series of deadly attacks in France, Belgium, Turkey and the US state of Florida as well as Germany, to keep her government from being guided by reason and compassion.

"Despite the great unease these events inspire, fear can't be the guide for political decisions," she said.

"It is my deep conviction that we cannot let our way of life be destroyed."
'Urgent action'

While the German political class has largely called for calm, opposition parties and rebels from Merkel's own conservative bloc have accused her of exposing the country to unacceptable risks without stricter controls on people let in.

"Islamist terrorism has unfortunately arrived in Bavaria," the state's interior minister Joachim Herrmann told reporters Thursday, renewing calls by his Christian Social Union party for an upper limit on the number of new asylum seekers.

"We are awaiting urgent action from the federal government and Europe -- now is the time to act."

The deadliest attack came on Friday when a German-Iranian teenager who was born and raised in Munich opened fire at a downtown shopping mall, killing nine people before turning the gun on himself.

He had been under psychiatric treatment and investigators say he was obsessed with mass shootings, including Norwegian rightwing fanatic Anders Behring Breivik's 2011 massacre.

They have ruled out an Islamist motive, saying the assailant had far-right "sympathies".

On July 18, an asylum seeker from Afghanistan or Pakistan slashed train passengers and a passer-by with an axe and a knife in Wuerzburg before being shot by police.

And on Sunday, a failed Syrian asylum seeker blew himself up outside a music festival in Ansbach, wounding 15 people at a nearby cafe after being turned away from the packed open-air venue. IS claimed both attacks.

Already steeped in grief and shock, Germans were further rattled by news that a Syrian refugee had killed a 45-year-old Polish woman with a large kebab knife at a snack bar in the southwestern city of Reutlingen Sunday in what authorities called a personal dispute.

"Taboos of civilisation are being broken," Merkel said. "These acts happened in places where any of us could have been."
Looming elections

The German attacks came with two state elections looming in September, in Berlin and in Merkel's fiefdom of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, an economically depressed state on the Baltic coast.

The rightwing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party hopes to make a particularly strong showing there with a campaign against "Islamisation", which would deal Merkel a stinging blow one year ahead of a general election.

Merkel's popularity had suffered earlier this year, following a rash of sexual assaults in the western city of Cologne on New Year's Eve blamed mainly on Arab and North African men.

But her poll ratings had recently recovered as the refugee influx has slowed dramatically due to the closure of the Balkan migrant route and an EU deal with Turkey to stem the flow.

Analysts are awaiting new data to see what impact the recent attacks have had on her support.

Who Would Have Thought Ramadan Would Cause Violence In Germany?

I'm convinced that, in order to be a Muslim, you simply have to be angry 24/7 and that it takes nothing to set off your fuse.  Hell, refugees in Germany can't even agree on the edicts of their so-called religion.

The story comes from DAWN.

'Ramazan row' behind fire at German refugee shelter


BERLIN: A quarrel over meal times during the Muslim holy month of Ramazan likely sparked an arson attack that destroyed a German refugee shelter, said a report Thursday quoting prosecutors.

The huge blaze in the western city of Duesseldorf on Tuesday completely levelled a hall that housed 282 male asylum seekers mostly from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and North African countries, with 28 people suffering from smoke inhalation.

Police have detained eight men allegedly involved in the dispute, including two men suspected of arson, both Moroccans aged 26, one of whom allegedly poured a flammable liquid onto a mattress and set it alight.

Witnesses reported that there had been recurring tensions between followers of different religions in the Red Cross-run facility.

“During this time of Ramadan, there was one group that wanted to strictly observe the fast, and another that insisted on the usual timetables and usual servings,” said Ralf Herrenbrueck, spokesman for the prosecutors service.

“This had led on several occasions to disputes and altercations with officials of the German Red Cross,” he said in an interview with public broadcaster WDR.

“It got to the point where threats were made over what would happen if things didn't change, and that one threat was obviously implemented.”

Since the start of the year, police had been called 89 times to the 6,000-square-metre hall, which was formerly part of the city's congress centre, reports said.

More than 800 Islamists leave Germany to join IS in Syria and Iraq

Germany, the new launching pad for jihad in Europe and beyond.

The story comes from DW via The Religion of Peace.

More than 800 Islamists leave Germany to join IS in Syria and Iraq

German daily "Die Welt" reported on Tuesday that more than 800 Islamists have left Germany to join jihadi groups such as the so-called "Islamic State" (IS) in Syria and Iraq.

Around a third of Islamists who had joined up with the jihadi militants abroad had also returned to Germany, meaning the number of "jihadi travelers" has slightly increased since the beginning of the year, said a spokeswoman for the Federal Criminal Office (BKA). In January, BKA President Holger Münch said the criminal bureau had in fact seen a slight decline in travel by Islamists to the war zones.

The report also said that German authorities now believe that more than 130 jihadis who have traveled to Syria or Iraq have as foreign fighters have died - some of them as suicide bombers.

After studying the backgrounds of 677 Islamists who traveled to Syria and Iraq up until last June, the BKA found that most of the militants were men between the ages of 22 and 25. More than 60 percent of jihadi travelers had German citizenship, and one sixth had converted to Islam.

Islamists on trial

Authorities in Germany and throughout Europe are currently working on how to contend with the problem of the hundreds of citizens who have left to fight alongside extremists in conflict regions and the danger they pose on their return.

German police have also carried out a number of raids on suspected Islamist homes in recent months, with several Islamist suspects standing trial on suspicion of fighting alongside jihadis.

In December, a court in Celle sentenced two men to a total of seven years and three months in jail for being members of a terrorist organization, while in January another man was arrested on suspicion of carrying out a "war crime against a humanitarian operation."

Free Speech In Germany Dies

Free speech has become the dodo bird, completely extinct in most of the world because of Islam.  Germany is the latest victim. 

How long until Holger Awakens, the website, is shut down?

The story comes from The Associated Press.

Germany bans far-right Internet platform, arrests 2

BERLIN (AP) -- The German government on Wednesday banned a far-right Internet platform that it accused of spreading "racist, xenophobic, anti-Semitic, homophobic and anti-Islamic content," and federal prosecutors said two people were arrested.

The ban on the Altermedia Deutschland platform is "a clear sign that the rule of law doesn't allow hate crime," Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said.

The prosecutors' office said that two Germans, identified only as Jutta V. and Ralph Thomas K. in line with German privacy rules, were arrested on suspicion of founding a criminal organization and incitement. Three other suspects weren't arrested.

Raids were conducted in homes in four German states and the northeastern Spanish town of Lloret de Mar.

The two arrested people were the administrators of the Altermedia website and therefore responsible for its content, which included banned Nazi slogans and the denial of the Holocaust as well as incitement of violence against foreigners, the prosecutors' office said.

The server was located in Russia to prevent German authorities gaining access, it added. German officials asked Russia to switch it off in the coming days.

German security officials say that the far right has become much more savvy in using of the Internet and social media to push its message to a broader audience.

The head of Germany's domestic intelligence, Hans-Georg Maassen, told reporters Tuesday that "there is the danger of a gray zone developing between far-right extremists, right-wing conservatives and citizen protesters with significant potential for violence."

German Women Become the Same Muslim Targets That Swedish Women Became

You'd think the Germans might have learned a bit from watching what has happened to the women of Sweden when large Muslim populations were allowed into the country.

I guess not.

The story comes from PamelaGeller.com via TheReligionofPeace.

Large Muslim mobs sexually harass scores of young women on New Years Eve in Germany

This is what Europeans can expect in the “new normal.” A number of my readers didn’t venture out. “It’s way too dangerous on the streets of Berlin on New Year’s Eve.”

For those who did, a large group of Muslims sexually harassed scores of young women in and around the main train station of Cologne. They even ripped off one girl’s stockings and underwear.

“They were with their hands really everywhere. This is something I’ve never experienced,” said one 22-year old victim. “When we called for help, they laughed.” Bags and valuables had “been robbed.” And one 17-year-old is quoted as saying: “I had fingers on every orifice”….. here

It sounds just like Tahrir Square in Egypt, when “freedom movement” revelers were sexually attacking any woman that dare venture out. Think Lara Logan.
The media insist the evildoers aren’t refugees, however there are people on social media who were there say otherwise. According to a post on a big local group on Facebook in Cologne, most of the perpetrators were speaking Arabic. That post got deleted pretty fast. Mark Zuckerberg is Merkel’s mop up boy now.

Translation of this KSYA article [here]:

Sexual harassment on New Year’s Eve –

Cologne police assumes that there have been 40 different offenders.

The extent of sexual assaults on women on New Year’s Eve at Cologne Central Station is gradually becoming more evident. Investigators assume that there have been over 40 different offenders. 30 victims have already filed charges.

Cologne. The police has an investigation team set up to investigate the sexual assaults on women on New Year’s Eve around the main train station. More than 30 victims have already filed a complaint with the police. According to information of the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger”, the investigators assume that there have been over 40 different perpetrators that know each other. However, to date, no one was reliably identified and there have been no arrests.

The perpetrators supposedly consist of young men known to the police, who are committing larcenies by trick and burglaries downtown and in the amusement districts like the Zülpicher Straße for many months. Victims and witnesses told the police they had a North African male appearance.

But in the night of Friday, they supposedly haven’t acted alone or in pairs as usual, but in a large group. In the areas Alter Wartesaal / main train station / Domplatte they are said to have offended women badly, taunted, surrounded and robbed them.

A 22-year-old women spoke to the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger” the day after, describing how the perpetrators physically and sexually harassed her and her friend.
The other victims had the same experience, she said. The robbers succeeded to hide in the crowd so that police wasn’t able to track them down.

The police denied rumors in internet forums, according to which the perpetrators were refugees. An investigator said: “The recent leads go significantly towards police-known serial offenders, refugees have nothing to do with them.”

German Muslims Call For the Destruction of Israel

Islamists in Berlin marched today chanting for the destruction of Israel as they marked al Quds Day (I think al Quds Day is a remembrance of how fond of goats Mohammed was).

Anyway, if you're a Jew in Israel...you've gotten to the point where there isn't a percentage of every nation's population that doesn't want you dead.

The story comes from The Jerusalem Post.

Islamists at Berlin al-Quds Day call for destruction of Jewish state


BERLIN – Radical Islamists turned a bustling shopping district in Berlin on Saturday into the center of a pro-Iranian- regime and Hezbollah demonstration commemorating al-Quds Day.

Police officials told The Jerusalem Post that roughly 900 Islamists marched along the Kurfürstendamm shopping strip, calling for the abolition of the Jewish state.

Supporters of Hezbollah and Iran blanketed the area with Hezbollah flags and chants declaring “Zionists are fascists.”

The founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, launched the al-Quds Day demonstration in 1979 as a protest against Israel’s right to exist.

Berlin has been the stage for these protests since 1996.

On Saturday, pro-Israel groups mounted a counter-demonstration at Joachimstaler Square and Kurfürstendamm.

Jochen Feilcke, head of the Berlin and Potsdam German-Israel friendship society, told the more than 100 attendees that “there should be no al-Quds demonstrations in the future in Berlin” and that “Holocaust-deniers and enemies of Israel” should be denied access to Berlin streets to protest.

The coalition of pro-Israel groups protested under the umbrella name “No al-Quds Day – Against anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism and Homophobia – Solidarity with the democracy movement in Iran.”

Feilcke complained that the police boxed Israel supporters into a gated area and permitted Islamists to march freely.

“I consider it intolerable that the Israel supporters are locked in a cage,” he said.

Although there were no Bundestag deputies at the rally to support Israel, a Social Democratic party city council representative was spotted in the crowd. Klaus Lederer, chairman of the German Left party in Berlin, also rallied in favor of Israel. A minority voice within the largely anti- Israel Left party, Lederer has rejected hate directed at the Jewish state and defended its right to self-defense.

Israel supporters at the rally told the Post it was shocking that no members of the Bundestag attended the protest.

Despite the EU’s decision in late July to outlaw Hezbollah’s military wing, yellow Hezbollah flags featuring the AK-47 rifle were waved at the march.

One young woman wore a small flag as an earring. Berlin authorities and government officials took no action against the show of military propaganda, prompting criticism from the American Jewish Committee.

Deidre Berger, head of the AJC’s Berlin office, said on Saturday that “today’s Hezbollah demonstration is a provocation and shows that the partial ban of Hezbollah is inadequate,” because its members and supporters can display their military symbols without security officers intervening.

According to German intelligence reports from 2012, there are 250 active Hezbollah members in Berlin and 950 across the Federal Republic.

The country is a major source of fund-raising for the group.

The group – the Hezbollah controlled Waisenkinderprojekt Libanon e.V, meaning “Orphans Project Lebanon – sends money to the families of suicide bombers. German authorities have refused to shut down Waisenkinderprojekt’s fund-raising operations.

A second pro-Israel demonstration organized by young anti-fascist Germans ran parallel to the coalition of Jewish and non-Jewish groups who turned out at Joachim Square.

The anti-fascist groups first protested at Adenauer Square to confront the start of the al-Quds marchers.

Invoking the slogan “Against anti-Semitism and Islamism: No al-Quds Day,” the anti-fascists urged supporters to turn out. According to the website of the anti-fascist groups, 250 activists appeared at Adenauer Square.

Observers said at least 50 antifascists showed up at the rally of the coalition groups.

German Courts Ruling According to Sharia Law

 German Muslims pray at a pro-Islam demonstration in Cologne where radical preacher Pierre Vogel spoke. (Photo: © Reuters)


The creep of Sharia marches on....across Europe, across America, across the West.

The question is - can it be stopped?  Or should the question should be...does anyone CARE if it is stopped?

The story comes from The Clarion Project.

German Courts Ruling According to Sharia Law


An encroachment of Islamic law into the German legal system sets a dangerous precedent in Europe.

An appeals court in northwestern Germany has decided a contentious divorce case based on Islamic Sharia law.

The ruling is the latest in a growing number of court cases in Germany in which judges refer or defer to Islamic law because either the plaintiffs or the defendants are Muslim.

Critics say the cases -- especially those in which German law has taken a back seat to Sharia law -- reflect a dangerous encroachment of Islamic law into the German legal system.

In the latest case, the Appeals Court [Oberlandesgericht] in Hamm, a city in German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, ruled on June 2 that whoever marries according to Islamic law in a Muslim country and later seeks a divorce in Germany must abide by the original terms set forth by Sharia law.

The case involved a 23-year-old Iranian woman who married a 31-year-old Iranian man in Iran according Sharia law in 2009. The couple later immigrated to the German city of Essen, gave birth to a daughter but then separated in 2011. A lower court in Essen granted the woman a divorce in November 2012 and the husband appealed the decision.

The appeals court in Hamm sided with the woman because, according to the German judge, the couple agreed to abide by the principles of Sharia law at the time they were married and thus the case should be decided according to Islamic law, regardless of whether the couple was now living in Germany.

The court ruled that the woman was legally entitled to talaq, an Islamic means of obtaining a divorce by reciting the phrase "I divorce you" three times. The court also said the husband had violated the original terms of the Islamic marriage agreement by failing to provide financial support for his wife for a period of six months.

The ruling has opened another round in a long-running debate about the role of Islam in German jurisprudence.

Supporters of the decision say it is fair and consistent with Article 14 of the Introductory Statute to the Civil Code [Einführungsgesetz zum Bürgerlichen Gesetzbuche, EGBGB], which states that the law governing a marriage generally should be the law of the country in which the marriage took place. But critics of the ruling say it should not be the role of German courts to enforce the arcane provisions of Sharia law.

In a similar but separate case, the appeals court in Hamm announced in April 2013 that it had overturned a previous decision by a lower court in Dortmund and ordered a 33-year-old Iranian man to pay his estranged 29-year-old wife (also an Iranian) the equivalent of 800 gold coins as part of a divorce settlement.

That case revolved around a couple who were married in Iran in 2001, immigrated to Dortmund and later obtained German citizenship. The couple separated in 2007.

As part of the marriage agreement, the husband had promised to pay his wife a dower of 800 Bahar Azadi gold coins payable upon demand. The court ordered the husband to pay €213,000 ($280,000), the current equivalent value of the coins, in compliance with a marriage contract he signed in accordance with Islamic law, despite the fact that both individuals are now German citizens.

In February 2011, Germany's Federal Labor Court [Bundesarbeitsgericht, BAG] in Erfurt ruled that a Muslim supermarket employee was legally entitled to refuse to handle bottles of alcohol on religious grounds.

The case in question involved a 47-year-old Turkish man who had been employed at a supermarket in the northern German city of Kiel since 1994. The problem had begun in 2003, when the man was assigned to work in the beverages department, but refused to stock the store's shelves with alcoholic drinks, based on the argument that Islam forbade him from any contact with alcohol. In response, the store manager reassigned the employee to stock milk bottles in the dairy department, but the man complained that he was not accustomed to working in a refrigerated environment, so he frequently called in sick. The man was eventually sent back to work in the beverages department, where the conflict over the alcohol bottles intensified. The employee was eventually fired in March 2008.

In a decision that generated considerable controversy in Germany, the court ruled that the supermarket was unjust in firing the employee and was obliged to offer him an alternative position that did not conflict with his religious beliefs. The court rejected the argument set forth by lawyers representing the supermarket that the man should have been able to do his job without a fuss because Sharia law forbids only the drinking of alcohol, not the touching of bottles. The court noted that the employee had become increasingly religious and that any direct or indirect contact with alcohol would have been offensive to him.

In another case, in March 2007, Christa Datz-Winter, a judge at the Family Court [Familiengericht] in Frankfurt,cited the Koran in a divorce case involving a 26-year-old German woman of Moroccan origin who had been repeatedly beaten by her Moroccan husband. Although police had ordered the man to stay away from his estranged wife, he continued to abuse her and at one point threatened to kill her.

While not denying the facts, Judge Datz-Winter nevertheless refused to grant the divorce, arguing that a woman who marries a Muslim man should know what she is getting herself into. In her ruling, the judge quoted Sura 4, Verse 34 of the Koran, which justifies "both the husband's right to use corporal punishment against a disobedient wife and the establishment of the husband's superiority over the wife."

The ruling generated so much outrage that the judge was removed from the case.

In Kassel, the Federal Social Court [Bundessozialgericht] approved the claim of a second wife for half of her dead Moroccan husband's pension payments, which the man's first wife wanted to keep all to herself. Although polygamy is illegal in Germany, the judge ruled that according to Sharia law, the two wives must share the pension.

In Koblenz, the Administrative Appeals Court [Oberverwaltungsgericht] granted the second wife of an Iraqi living in Germany the right to remain permanently in the country. The court ruled that after five years of a polygamous marriage in Germany, it would be unfair to expect her to return to Iraq.

In Düsseldorf, an Appeals Court [Oberlandesgericht] ordered a Turkish man to repay a €30,000 ($40,000) dowry to his former daughter-in-law, in accordance with Sharia law. In Cologne, a judge ruled that an Iranian man must repay his ex-wife's dowry of 600 gold coins, based on the Sharia law followed in Iran.

In Munich, a Local Court [Amtsgericht] decided that a German widow was entitled to only one-quarter of the estate left by her deceased husband, who was born in Iran. The other three-quarters of the inheritance should go to relatives in Tehran. The court ruled that because the man did not have German citizenship, Sharia law applies to the division of the inheritance.

A growing number of German legal experts are now sounding the alarm about the rise of a parallel Islamic justice system in Germany.

In an interview with the German newspaper Die Welt, Mathias Rohe, an expert in Sharia law at the University of Erlangen, discusses the rapid spread of Islamic law in German jurisprudence. He describes Sharia law as a "highly complex system of Islamic religious and legal norms" and warns, "We must be careful that we are not creating parallel [legal] structures."

According to Joachim Wagner, a German legal expert and former investigative journalist for ARD German public television, Sharia law in Germany is far more widespread than most people realize, and that this "parallel justice system" is undermining the rule of law in Germany.

In a 236-page book entitled "Judges Without Law: Islamic Parallel Justice Endangers Our Constitutional State," Wagner writes that, in addition to the use of Sharia law in German courts, Muslims are also establishing a shadow justice system, with Islamic Sharia courts now operating in all major German cities.

Wagner writes that Muslim jurists often seek to settle criminal cases out of court -- without the involvement of German prosecutors or lawyers -- before law enforcement can bring the cases to a German court.

Settlements reached by the Muslim mediators often mean perpetrators are able to avoid long prison sentences, while victims receive compensation in line with Sharia law. When cases are tried in German courts, victims are often pressured to make sure their testimony in court does not lead to a conviction, according to Wagner.

In an interview with the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel, Wagner describes the Islamic shadow justice system in Germany as "very foreign, and for a German lawyer, completely incomprehensible at first. It follows its own rules. The Islamic arbitrators aren't interested in evidence when they deliver a judgment, and unlike in German criminal law, the question of who is at fault doesn't play much of a role."

When Der Spiegel asked why it was wrong for two parties to try to resolve a dispute among themselves, Wagner replied: "The problem starts when the arbitrators force the justice system out of the picture, especially in the case of criminal offenses. At that point they undermine the state monopoly on violence. Islamic conflict resolution in particular, as I've experienced it, is often achieved through violence and threats. It's often a dictate of power on the part of the stronger family."

Wagner says political correctness is contributing to the rise of Sharia law in Germany. In an interview with the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, Wager states: "I've studied 16 recent crime cases here with Muslim citizens involved. In almost 90% of all cases where Muslim arbitrators were commissioned, the perpetrators were acquitted by German courts or the cases were dropped altogether by the prosecution for lack of evidence. It's an alarming finding, and it throws a bad light on our courts."

The Turkish Time Bomb In Germany

Imagine...Muslims in a European country that just aren't assimilating?  Shocking, I tell ya...shocking.

The story comes from Family Security Matters.

Turks in Germany are a Time Bomb


"The Turks in Germany are a time bomb, at least the majority of them". This is the statement with which Peter Cohen, an American visiting professor at Munich University, concludes his recent study in Germany.

Three million Turks live already in Germany already, while 2.5 million of them have German nationality, and the majority of them are conservative Muslims.

Are they integrated in the German society? Not really.

The majority of them speak broken German, especially the elderly.

"They don't want to integrate in the German society," says Hartmut, who doesn't want to be identified for fear of reprisals by violent Turks. "They even hate to be called ‘migrants'. They feel very Turkish. They happen to be in Germany as the elderly generation in the 1960s had been recruited to work in the car and coal industries. Now, culturally the majority of Turks, even the young, here in Germany feel very Turkish. " Adds Hartmut, who is a social scientist at a German university.

Professor Cohen subscribes to what Hartmut says about Turkish migration, "In the USA, for instance, migrants usually integrate in the American society, latest when the second generation is there. My survey indicate that the majority of Turks insist on keeping their Turkish identity and their cultural heritage. They feel at home in the Turkish culture."

Very few Turks in Germany have a regular job; about 20%. The other 80% live on the so-called Hartz IV (state social benefits). 70% of their children have no GCSE; they left school before they finished their basic education.

"They cannot find a job? That is not true. There are jobs out there. But they prefer to live on state benefits and lead an easy life. Why should they work? Further, the German social benefit system doesn't encourage them or force them to accept any job." Says Hartmut.

Hartmut also said, "Some of those who live on state benefits have very often a part-time job of which neither the Job Center nor the Finance Office are aware of.

According to the German state benefit system, every adult citizen who possesses the German nationality, unemployed and cannot find an appropriate job, is entitled to get monthly 482 € ($627). Additionally, parents get for each child under 18 years old, 200 € ($261), plus all their monthly expenditures in terms of rent, heating, power, health insurance, and public transport.

"Amazingly enough some Turks who live on the generous state benefits can afford to buy a house or an apartment and drive luxurious cars like Mercedes or BMW." Says Klaus, a landlord whose tenants are a case in point.

Kamal (46 years old) and his wife Shadia (42 years old) have ten children under 18 and live on Hartz IV (the German social benefit system). They have a monthly net income of about 3000 €. In addition, all their spending on rent, health care, transport, heating, etc. are paid by the state.

Kamal never worked or had a regular job, never finished school, and never learned a profession. Now he claims that he is "ill." Klaus, the landlord of Kamal says, "The man is fit." He even confessed to Klaus that he lies when he says he is ill. "He told me once, 'Why should I work if I can live well without/'" Klaus quotes Kamal.

Kamal is obliged to regularly report his joblessness to the Federal Employment Office (Bundes Agentur für Arbeit) in his town. He does so when he is invited for a job interview. But he always alleges that he is "sick:" He allegedly has "unbearable pains in his back and joints." Therefore, he cannot take any job. The only one who knows the truth about Kamal is his landlord Klaus.

Klaus and many other Germans are outraged about Kamal and his like. "It is us, taxpayers who have to finance odd buggers like Kamal. This makes me sick." Klaus frowns at me.

On the other hand, Kamal's neighbour, Dieter works for a mail company. For working 8 hours daily, he merely get 800 € ($1000) at the end of the month. From this salary he has got to pay his rent and the rest of his expenditure. Left for him is something around 400 € ($500).

Besides, for Turks living in Germany, having children is a lucrative business. Some Turks turn to corruption to make this work.

Generally speaking, German citizens can enter Turkey with simply showing their personal identity card. Hence German Turks, particularly women, travel to Turkey and come back with a "leased" baby. They get the baby temporarily from relatives and claim at the German border that it is their baby who was recently born in Turkey.

Khaled, a Turk, told me that you can get "a false birth certificate" in Turkey for $10.

Back in Germany, the "new" baby is registered at the town hall administration, and the "mother of the baby" starts getting 200 € ($261) monthly.

Living on the state benefit system has become a basic part of the culture of the Turkish community in Germany.

Nicole, a German school teacher told me once, when she asks her students what they want to become in the future, the majority of Turkish students say, "Hartz IV Empfänger" (state benefit receiver). When she asked one of her students, "Why is that?" The girl answered, "My parents live on Hartz IV and lead an easy life. They sleep longer in the morning, and always have got enough money."

In private, German policemen and women complain about the "Germans" of Turkish descent. Helmut in Berlin told me, "Most car accidents are caused by Turks or east Europeans. They are really careless motorists. They do not respect traffic rules." Then he turned to his colleague and added, "But who dare say that in public?"

Indeed, the German media and politicians always talk about "integration," but they never point their fingers at the Turkish community and demand abiding by the law like all citizens.

Hartmut asserts that "The German public, are better informed. They know that it is the Turks who do not respect rules, and don't want to integrate in the German society."

"I don't know what kind of experience the others have made, but my experience is very clear. I live in an area where the speed limit is 30 km per hour. But guess who drives fast in this area? It is mostly Turks." Jürgen said.

His friend Michael added, "But who dare say that? Then you're accused of being an old Nazi. This is bizarre! The NPD is a Nazi party, but they are not so violent as some Turks are. Some Turks are really violent, in particular those Salafists amongst them. During a demonstration a couple of months back, a Salafist stabbed two policemen with a sharp knife. "

Ulrich, a German citizen, agrees. "I drive almost every day. Who steals your right of way? It's often Turks. They are usually rude and reckless. My wife works as a teacher at a primary school. She says, most students who disturb classes are usually of Turkish descent, and their parents never attend school parents assemblies."

To add insult to injury, when Turks are killed or burn to death, they rush to point their fingers at the right-wing party, the NPD and ideologically similar organisations.

A couple of years back, 8 Turks, owners of restaurants, were killed. Promptly and without delivering any evidence, the Turkish community accused the NPD of carrying out these killings. Until now, however, and despite intensive investigation, the police have not been able to establish who killed the 8 Turks. Some even claim that those killings were maybe carried out by the Turkish mafia.

Most recently, a Turkish woman and her seven children died over the night by fire. Again, the Turkish Ambassador to Berlin and the Turkish media accused the NPD of deliberately sparking the fire.

Experts, however, indicated that the fire was most probably ignited by the woman's wood stove, which most probably was faulty.

"The German media and German politicians across the board do everything in their power to avoid naming things by their name. They fear that that might create two inconsolable fronts: the German on one hand and the Turkish on the other, taking into account the fact that you have more than three million Turks living in Germany, most of them are Muslims and many of them sympathise with Islamist terrorists." Cohen says.

Two weeks ago a Salafist cell was discovered. These Muslim extremists were planning to kill the head of Pro NRW (a right-wing organisation). Four men were arrested. As their apartments were searched, arms and grenades were discovered.

The media reported, "Four men were arrested, one of them is Albanian and the other three are German!"

The three men, the media referred to, were Turks. But the media and politicians avoided saying that.

Almost every day the German media quote German politicians who demand banning the NPD. The have drafted a petition that will be submitted to the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC). In the petition they appeal to the FCC to ban the NPD. Some politicians and legal experts, however, believe that the FCC won't approve the ban. They argue, it's unconstitutional.

"All this," Hartmut believes "is intended to distract from the real enemy of the German society, namely the Turks and not the NPD. It's Turks who are increasingly disrupting peace in this country, not the NPD."

Turkish ghettoes are building every where in Germany. The majority of Turks cluster in certain neighbourhoods. No Germans live there or dare to live there.

"Disintegration is the right word which applies to Turks in Germany and not ‘integration,'" believes Hartmut.

"The dream of having an Ottoman Empire is not dead among the Turks." Says Jalal, a Kurdish freelance journalist living in Germany. He added, "The Turkish establishment believes that the Turks in Germany constitute a valuable spearhead for the resurrection of the Ottoman Empire. What could not be accomplished by force in the 15th century might, many Turks believe, become a reality in the 21st century in Germany, the heart of Europe. Besides, don't forget that demographically, while the German population growth is almost null, it is even contracting, the Turks in Germany have an annual birth rate of more than 5%. Therefore, demographers assume that by 2050 the majority of people living in Germany will be of Turkish descent."

I commented, "That is why the Turks do not want to integrate in the German society." "That is true," Jalal responded. He added, "You cannot imagine how valuable the Turkish community is for the Turkish government. The Turkish community in Germany is the most valuable human asset in the Turkish reality."

I said, "This might be regarded rubbish by German politicians and the German media." Jalal responded, "That might now be rubbish, but not in 50 years. Besides, the Turks want to get rid of two nightmares: delivering independence to the Kurds and acknowledging their massacre they inflicted on the Armenians."

On every visit to Germany by the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the man urges his country men and women to stick to their Turkish identity in all respects, in terms of language and culture. Many people in Germany, according to Cohen's recent study, believe that that is a stern call on Turks in Germany not to integrate in the German society.

The Turkish community in Germany responds positively to this appeal. "De facto, the Turks in Germany, live geographically in Germany, but culturally they are living in Turkey. Some Turks are even convinced that their culture is superior compared to the German." Cohen comments.

In fact, the German political public is concerned about the lack of integration of Turks in the German society. The German political establishment and its media might say this is all rubbish. But in the long run, this rubbish is fuelling a time bomb which many people are anticipating, but not the German politicians and their media.

The Islamization of Germany in 2012

 Germans line up for free Qur'ans

From Radical Islam.org

The Islamization of Germany in 2012


Post-Christian Europe became noticeably more Islamized during 2012.

As the rapidly growing Muslim population makes its presence felt in towns and cities across the continent, Islam is transforming the European way of life in ways unimaginable only a few years ago.

Some of the more notable Islam-related controversies during 2012 occurred in Germany, where the Muslim population has jumped from around 50,000 in the early 1980s to more than 4.5 million today.

What follows is a brief chronological review of some of the main stories involving the rise of Islam in Germany during 2012.

In January, German authorities welcomed the start of the New Year by officially confirming that they are monitoring German-language Internet websites that are critical of Muslim immigration and the Islamization of Europe.

In a January 4, 2012 interview with the Berliner Zeitung and the Frankfurter Rundschau, Manfred Murck, the director of the Hamburg branch of the German domestic intelligence agency (the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV)), said his organization was studying whether German citizens who criticize Muslims and Islam on the Internet are fomenting hate and are thus criminally guilty of "breaching" the German constitution.

The BfV's move marked a significant setback for the exercise of free speech in Germany and came amid a months-long smear campaign led by a triple alliance of left-wing German multicultural elites, sundry Muslim groups and members of the mainstream media, who have been relentless in their efforts to discredit the so-called counter-jihad movement (also known as the "Islamophobes") in Germany.

In a country stifled by decades of political correctness, the counter-jihad activists and bloggers have been giving a voice to millions of frustrated Germans who see the harm being wrought by the cult of multiculturalism.

Opinion polls consistently show that growing numbers of ordinary German citizens are worried about the consequences of decades of multicultural policies that have encouraged mass immigration from Muslim countries. Germans are especially concerned about the refusal of millions of Muslim immigrants to integrate into German society, as well as the emergence of a parallel legal system in Germany based on Islamic Sharia law.

Also in January, Muslims in Duisburg, one of the most Islamized cities in Germany, clamored for the right to turn empty churches into mosques. All of the churches are located in the gritty Hamborn and Marxloh districts in northern Duisburg where Islam has already replaced Christianity as the dominant religion, and where several Catholic churches have been abandoned.

In Germany as a whole, more than 400 Roman Catholic churches and more than 100 Protestant churches have been closed since 2000, according to one estimate. Another 700 Roman Catholic churches are slated to be closed over the next several years.

By contrast, Germany is now home to more than 200 mosques (including more than 40 mega-mosques), 2,600 Muslim prayer halls and a countless number unofficial mosques. Another 128 mosques are currently under construction, according to the Zentralinstitut Islam-Archiv, a Muslim organization based in Germany.

Meanwhile, on January 16 one of the oldest universities in Germany inaugurated the country's first taxpayer-funded department of Islamic theology. The Center for Islamic Theology at the University of Tübingen is the first of four planned Islamic university centers in Germany.

The German government claims that by controlling the curriculum, the school, which is to train Muslim imams and Islamic religion teachers, will function as an antidote to "hate preachers." (Most imams currently in Germany are from Turkey and many of them do not speak German.)

But the idea has been fiercely criticized by those who worry the school will become a gateway for Islamists who will introduce a hardline brand of Islam into the German university system.

In February, the interior minister of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, Jochen Hartloff, said he favored the introduction of Islamic Sharia law in Germany. In an interview with the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, Hartloff, a Socialist, said that using the Islamic moral code "is certainly conceivable when it comes to questions pertaining to civil law." Hartloff said using Sharia law to resolve family law issues such as alimony, divorce or financial contracts "could have a pacifying effect" in Germany.

Hartloff's comments were seconded by Michael Frieser, an expert on integration issues for the Conservatives in the German parliament. He told the Süddeutsche Zeitung that he has nothing against Muslim immigrants seeking judgments according to their own legal systems. "That can ultimately serve the cause of integration," Frieser said.

In March, Muslim mobs in Berlin threatened to "burn down the neighborhood" after a German fatally stabbed an 18-year-old Muslim, in what police deemed was an act of self defence. The March 9 incident occurred in the heavily Islamized Berlin neighborhood of Neukölln, when the German, Sven N., tried to stop a fight between two groups of Turks over who should get a football that had been kicked over a fence. The Turks quickly turned their anger against the German. After a group of 20 Muslims armed with knives and daggers challenged Sven, he stabbed one of the attackers, Yusef Al-Abed, in the heart. More than 3,000 Muslims attended Yusuf's funeral, evoking scenes of the Gaza Strip (photos here).

In April, Islamic radicals launched an unprecedented nationwide campaign to distribute 25 million copies of the Koran, translated into the German language, with the goal of placing one Koran into every household in Germany, free of charge.

The mass proselytization campaign -- called Project "Read!" -- was organized by dozens of Islamic Salafist groups located in cities and towns throughout Germany.

Salafism is a branch of radical Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia that seeks to establish a Sunni Islamic Caliphate (Islamic Empire) across the Middle East, North Africa and Europe, and eventually the entire world. The Caliphate would be governed exclusively by Islamic Sharia law, which would apply both to Muslims and to non-Muslims. Salafists believe, among other anti-Western doctrines, that democracy, because it is a man-made form of government, must be destroyed.

Although Germany's domestic intelligence agency, the BfV, regards the Salafist groups as a threat to German security, Salafists have free reign in the country, and Salafist preachers are known regularly to preach hatred against the West in the mosques and prayer centers that are proliferating across Germany.

In May, more than 500 Salafists attacked German police with bottles, clubs, stones and other weapons in the city of Bonn, to protest cartoons they said were "offensive." Rather than cracking down on the Muslim extremists, however, German authorities sought to silence the peaceful critics of multicultural policies that allow the Salafists openly to preach violence and hate.

The clashes on May 5 erupted when around 30 supporters of a conservative political party, PRO NRW, which is opposed to the further spread of Islam in Germany, participated in a campaign rally ahead of regional elections in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW).

Some of those participating in the rally, which was held near the Saudi-run King Fahd Academy in the Mehlem district of Bonn, the former capital of West Germany, had been waving banners depicting the Islamic Prophet Mohammad (see photo here), to protest the Islamization of Germany.

The rally swiftly disintegrated into violence (photos here and here) when hundreds of angry Salafists, who are opposed to any depiction of their prophet, began attacking the police, whose job it was to keep the two groups apart.

In the final tally of the melee, 29 police officers were injured, two with serious stab wounds, and more than 100 Salafists were arrested, although most were later released. According to Bonn's police chief, Ursula Brohl-Sowa, "This was an explosion of violence such as we have not witnessed in a long time."

In June, German authorities launched a major crackdown on Salafists suspected of plotting against the state. In nation-wide raids on June 14, over 1,000 German police searched about 70 Salafist homes, apartments, mosques and meeting places in seven of Germany's 16 states, in search of evidence that would enable the German government to outlaw some of the dozens of Islamist groups operating in the country.

In a June 8 interview with the newspaper Die Welt, Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said: "Radical Salafism is like a hard drug. All of those who succumb to her become violent."

Also in June, German Defense Minister Thomas de Maizière announced his intention to "multiculturalize" the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) by recruiting more Muslims into its ranks.

Germany formally discontinued compulsory military service on July 1, 2011 as part of a comprehensive reform aimed at creating a smaller and more agile army of about 185,000 professional soldiers. But Germany's new all-volunteer army has been unable to meet its recruiting goals, and military manpower prospects look dim for the foreseeable future.

In a desperate search for soldiers, German military officials have now identified Germany's Muslim Turkish population (3.5 million and counting) as a new source for potential recruits.

In August, German Intelligence Chief Gerhard Schindler issued a warning saying that Europe is at great risk of terrorist attacks by Islamic extremists.

In a wide-ranging interview with the German newspaper Die Welt, Schindler said the German foreign intelligence agency, the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), is particularly concerned about the threat posed by homegrown terrorists, individuals who were either born or raised in Europe and who travel to war zones like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia or Yemen to obtain training in terrorist methods.

Schindler's warning came amid the backdrop of a high-security court trial of four suspected Al Qaeda members, which began in the German city of Düsseldorf on July 25. German public prosecutors say the defendants -- three homegrown Islamists born in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and one Moroccan national -- were planning to stage a "sensational terror attack" in Germany.

Also known as the "Düsseldorfer Cell," the defendants were also accused of plotting to assassinate the former commander of German Special Forces (KSK Kommando Spezialkräfte) as well as to attack the US Army base in the Bavarian town of Grafenwöhr.

Also in August, a new survey of Turkish-German mores and attitudes found that nearly half of all Turks living in Germany say they hope there will be more Muslims than Christians in Germany in the future.

The 103-page study, "German-Turkish Life and Values" (abridged version in German here), found that Islam is becoming an increasingly important component of the value structure of Turks in Germany, especially among the younger generation of Turkish-Germans, who hold religious views more radical than those held by their elders.

In September, a German court in Kassel refused to allow a Muslim student to skip co-ed swimming lessons based on her religious beliefs.

The closely watched case highlighted the growing number of conflicts between German school officials and Muslim parents who, for religious reasons, want to keep their children from participating in sports activities, biology classes and field trips.

The presiding judge, Hans Rothaug, declared: "The applicant should have attended swimming lessons. In this particular case, there are no grounds for exemptions."

In October, a court in Bonn sentenced an Islamist radical to six years in prison for stabbing two German police officers during the protest against "offensive" cartoons in Bonn.

Murat K, a 26-year-old German-born Salafist of Turkish heritage from the western state of Hessen, openly admitted that he had attacked and wounded the two police officers with a kitchen knife during the cartoon riots in May. He showed no remorse during his trial, saying only that he had been morally obligated to follow Islamic Sharia law.

Murat, whose last name has not been made known to the general public due to German privacy laws, claimed that the attacks on the police officers were justified because the German state had allowed offensive images of the Prophet Mohammed to be shown in public.

Murat responded to the verdict by declaring German courts to be illegitimate. He said: "I do not accept this court as legitimate. I am not sitting here voluntarily. Only Allah alone has the right to decide what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is evil, what is moral and what is immoral." Murat added: "I will answer only to Allah."

In an October 19 interview with the German newsmagazine FOCUS, the Secretary General of the ruling Christian Democratic Party (CDU), Hermann Gröhe, said the conviction of Murat makes it clear that Germany will not allow radical Muslims to "lead a religious war on German streets."

In November, Hamburg, the second-largest city in Germany, concluded a "historic treaty" with its Muslim communities that grants Muslims broad new rights and privileges but does little to encourage their integration into German society.

The November 13 agreement, signed by Hamburg's Socialist Mayor Olaf Scholz and the leaders of four Muslim umbrella groups, was praised by the proponents of multiculturalism for putting the northern port city's estimated 200,000 Muslims on an equal footing with Christian residents.

The most controversial part of the accord involves a commitment by the city government to promote the teaching of Islam in the Hamburg public school system. The agreement grants the leaders of Hamburg's Muslim communities a determinative say in what will be taught by allowing them to develop the teaching curriculum for Islamic studies.

On November 30, the northern German city of Bremen followed Hamburg's lead by concluding its own treaty [Staatsvertrag] with the local Muslim community. The Socialist mayor of Bremen, Jens Böhrnsen, said the treaty reflects "mutual recognition and respect of mutual values."

Critics, however, say the agreements, the first of their kind in Germany, will boost the growing influence of Islam in the country by encouraging the perpetuation of a Muslim parallel society.

Also in November, a new research survey found that Germans are overwhelmingly mistrustful of Islam and Muslim immigration.

The 28-page study, "Fear of the East in the West" (Die Furcht vor dem Morgenland im Abendland), was produced by the Allensbach Institute for Public Opinion Research, and was published by the center-right German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on November 21.

The research showed that more than half of the German population believes that Islam is prone to violence (64%); has a tendency toward revenge and retaliation (60%); is obsessed with proselytizing others (56%); and strives for political influence (56%).

More than 80% of Germans believe that Islam deprives women of their rights, and 70% say Islam is associated with religious fanaticism and radicalism. By contrast, only 13% of Germans associate Islam with love for neighbors, 12% with charity and 7% with openness and tolerance.

The study concluded that the image of Islam in Germany is "devastating." The findings -- which corroborate the conclusions of other recent studies -- underscore a growing divide between ordinary Germans, who are concerned about the consequences of mass immigration from Muslim countries, and Germany's political elites, who are determined to build a "multicultural" society at any cost.

In December, German authorities said Islamic extremists were behind a botched bomb attack at the main train station in Bonn. In the December 10 incident, a man allegedly linked to Al Qaeda left a bag containing a bomb on a platform at the train station. Authorities say the detonator was activated, but failed to cause an explosion.

Also in December, a militant Salafist group released several videos calling on its followers to take German hostages in an effort to secure the release of Murat K, the Islamist who is currently serving a six-year prison sentence for stabbing two policemen in Bonn in May.

The videos promise that "we will not rest until we have freed you from captivity." In one of the videos, a man speaking German with a foreign accent says: "Everyone who offends the Prophet will be slaughtered, whether near or far. And know this, brother, the Germans are easy enough to reach. We will take them prisoners, until you are free for your noble deed."