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Austrian govt vows to find allies to combat illegal migration
after slating EU Commission’s approach
28 Jul, 2021 16:01
FILE PHOTO. Hungarian police officers check cars at the Nickelsdorf-Hegyeshalom border crossing on the
Austrian-Hungarian border. © AFP / ALEX HALADA
Austria’s interior minister has blasted the European Commission’s stance on migration and declared that Vienna will form alliances with other EU states that want to combat the illegal movement of people in their own way.
Speaking on Tuesday, Karl Nehammer pledged that Austria would take the matter into its own hands and work with other countries to combat illegal immigration, saying, “the European Commission isn’t reacting, hence we are reacting ourselves.”
The Austrian minister accused the Commission of sending “the wrong signals” to asylum seekers traveling to Europe for refuge, alleging that the bloc gives “smugglers thousands of euros.”
Nehammer’s condemnation of the EU’s executive body comes after Austria ramped up surveillance at the eastern state of Burgenland’s border with Hungary, with the Austrian Federal Army and police launching operations in the area on Monday. The Austrian Ministry of Defense also announced on Saturday that it will deploy up to 400 additional soldiers to its border with Slovenia and Hungary.
Austria opened discussions on border security with neighbors Hungary and the Czech Republic last month. The three states share a mutual stance on the repatriation of migrants and are in favor of stricter border control, which Nehammer said should be “on the top of the EU agenda.” Czech Interior Minister Jan Hamacek shared Austria’s concerns, stating: “We are countries that look at migration with the same eyes.”
Migration is a sensitive subject in Austria, which was heightened following the murder of a 13-year-old girl (3rd story on link) in late June. The Austrian authorities arrested three Afghan asylum seekers on suspicion of the murder, and the case fueled a national debate over the issue of deportating asylum seekers who commit crimes. The Austrian People’s Party argued that those “who seek refuge in our country, but trample on our values and express this in their actions have no place in our country.”
The capital, Vienna, was also rocked by a series of shootings on November 2, 2020, with a gunman murdering four people and injuring over 20 before being shot dead by the police. The authorities dubbed the Austrian-born perpetrator as an “Islamist terrorist.”
‘HANG HIM,’ GB News presenter demands as Manchester Arena
bomb plotter reportedly refuses deradicalisation programmes
28 Jul, 2021 14:04
© Twitter / @tomhfh
A GB News presenter’s controversial call to hang the imprisoned Manchester Arena bomb plotter has sparked debate on social media, with many telling the TV host to reconsider his “medieval opinion.”
On Wednesday, ITV News reported that Manchester Arena bomb plotter Hashem Abedi was refusing to cooperate with deradicalisation programmes at HMP Frankland, where he has been imprisoned for his part in the atrocity which killed 23 and injured over a thousand at an Ariana Grande concert.
The news about Abedi clearly touched a nerve with some, including GB News political correspondent and presenter Tom Hardwood, who was hammering away at his keyboard just moments after the story hit Twitter.
Citing part of the report which stated the bomb plotter was not cooperating with deradicalisation programmes, the GB News presenter wrote “hang him,” in a tweet which has garnered much attention.
Many people were quick to condemn the young presenter for his “bizarre and medieval opinion” with others claiming that “we’re better than that” in the UK.
“I think we've moved on from the death penalty,” another person wrote while writer and journalist Benjamin Cook asked Harwood, “Is that your answer to everything?”
Cook’s question prompted a response from Harwood, who said he was normally against the death penalty but noted: “In the case of people who we *know* committed mass murder - & are unrepentant about it - it's hard to argue against.”
The debate between Cook and Harwood continued, with the latter noting that British security forces regularly shoot terrorists when they’re posing a threat in the real world and suggesting such a fate for Abedi wouldn’t be morally different.
Others backed up the GB News anchor completely, suggesting that they would not normally support capital punishment, but in this case, it was okay.
Some even supposed Harwood wasn’t going far enough.
Even Tory peer Baroness Jacqueline Foster shared her two cents; stopping short of condoning Harwood’s call for hanging, Foster said “He should never be released!” adding that “We have become far too soft on ‘terrorism’ threats / actions in this country .. time to wake up !!”
The death penalty was suspended in the UK in 1965 and abolished in 1969.
In August 2020, Abedi was given 24 life sentences with a minimum of 55 years before he can be considered for parole. His brother Salman died committing the terrorist attack on May 22, 2017. Hashem was arrested in Libya the day after the bombing that devastated Manchester.
Deradicalisation should be a requirement before any violent Muslim terrorist can be released from jail.
Turkish coastguard detains over 200 Afghan migrants
heading for Europe amid rising violence in Afghanistan
28 Jul, 2021 13:39
Turkey’s coastguard service has said it detained a boat in the Aegean Sea heading for Europe which was carrying more than 200 Afghan migrants. The vessel was believed to be en route to Italy.
A boat carrying 231 migrants, most of whom are from Afghanistan, was detained by the coastguard, Reuters and Turkish media reported on Wednesday.
Two Turkish nationals, who were allegedly in charge of the vessel, were also detained. The migrants have been taken to a deportation center in the west of Turkey, according to state-affiliated news channel TRT World.
Footage from the broadcaster reportedly filmed in the small coastal town of Babakale showed the migrants being transported to port and sitting on the ground by the harbor.
An official from Turkey’s coastguard told Reuters that the group were believed to be heading to Italy. More than 200 of the 231 were from Afghanistan, the coastguard said, adding that others hailed from Syria, Iran, Eritrea and Pakistan. Turkish channel Halk TV claimed the migrants paid as much as $7,000 to traffickers for passage to Italy.
The number of people making a bid to reach Europe has reportedly risen significantly in recent weeks, amid increasing violence and conflict in Afghanistan. Turkish authorities detained around 1,500 migrants last week.
Last Friday, 37 people were rescued from a migrant boat which sank off the south coast of Turkey. Eight people were unaccounted for.
Israeli 14-year-old terror attack survivor tells European Union
to stop funding Palestinian terror
Mar 29, 2017 |
News, Spotlight, CUFI
“I am Ayala, almost 14 years old. I live in El Matan in Samaria. I like to read, write stories and draw. I want to describe the feeling of having a terrorist attack directed at you.”
These were the words of Ayala Shapira, who gave an emotional speech Tuesday at the European Parliament urging the EU to stop the Palestinian Authority from funding terrorism. Shapira was critically wounded in a terrorist attack in December 2014, when terrorists hurled a firebomb into a car she was riding with her father as they made their way home in Samaria.
The event at the European Parliament building was hosted by the Samaria Regional Council and a newly formed “pro-settler caucus” of 15 MEPs, called Friends of Judea and Samaria.
With her face fully bandaged as a result of the third-degree burns she suffered in the attack, Shapira told conference attendees,
“One of the terrorists that threw the Molotov cocktail at our car was a 16-year-old boy, only a few years older than me. He did it, among other reasons, to help his family financially. He knew that if he went to prison, the Palestinian Authority would take care of them. I want you to remember that sometimes when you think you are donating money to a peaceful, you are actually contributing to murder, pain and war,” she said.
Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan, who was also in attendance, remarked that “for a long time, they [Europe] have been talking about us, but they have not been talking with us. We came here to change this situation and to promote the human rights of the Israeli residents of Judea and Samaria.”
Speaking at the event, Petr Mach, an ardent supporter of Israel, said, “We decided to establish a new group in the European Parliament, since we want to inform the public and members of parliament of the use of European taxpayer money to support terror. We want to act together to put an end to the funding that supports terrorism.”
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