Mass Holocaust-Denial ‘Infecting’ Eastern Europe – Study

Britain too - What's driving it?

The "House of Fates" Holocaust museum in Budapest, Hungary © Reuters/Bernadett Szabo

A new study suggests that Holocaust denial is at its worst in Eastern Europe, where “revisionist” governments driven by feelings of “victimhood” try to erase their nation’s culpability in the massacre of Jews.

The study, published on January 25 – just days before Holocaust Remembrance Day (yesterday) – indicates rampant levels of historical revisionism regarding the mass-extermination of Jews under Nazi rule in eastern parts of the European Union. The Holocaust Remembrance Project was conducted by researchers from Yale and Grinnell Colleges and endorsed by the European Union of Progressive Judaism (EUPJ), an umbrella organization which links more than 170 progressive Jewish communities in 17 countries.

“Revisionism” here refers to people minimizing their own government’s complicity, downplaying the number of victims, or claiming that the events of the Holocaust never occurred at all. Based on their findings, the study assigned countries a green, yellow, or red rating, indicating “progress, caution or problems,” in their relation to Holocaust history. Poland, Hungary, Croatia, and Lithuania all received a “red” rating, indicating that these countries have a serious incapability of “living up to their tragic histories.”

Alfons López Tena #FBPE ✔

@alfonslopeztena

 The governments of Hungary, Poland, Croatia, Lithuania are rehabilitating World War II collaborators and war criminals while minimising their own guilt in the attempted extermination of Jews https://politi.co/2Weyl0N 

Poland is particularly taken to task in the study. The authors describe the country as run by a “right-wing nationalist government” engaged in “competitive victimization, emphasizing the experience of Polish victims over that of Jewish victims.” Aside from rising levels of anti-Semitism and continued reductions in Holocaust education, the country came under fire for a law it passed in January of last year which made it illegal to implicate the Polish state in Nazi crimes.

Gabriel Armas-Cardona

@GArmasCardona

 Nationalism so blinding that they protest #HolocaustMemorialDay at #Auschwitz because they prioritize denying the evidence of Polish involvement over #Holocaust recognition. #genocide #Poland https://www.reuters.com/article/us-holocaust-memorial-poland/far-right-protest-during-auschwitz-camp-liberation-commemoration-idUSKCN1PL0N9 …

On the other hand, Romania and the Czech Republic were both given a green rating, and were held up as exemplars. The Romanian government was praised for requiring mandatory Holocaust training for its military general staff and establishing an independent Holocaust-study commission.

While this part of the report focused on countries in Eastern Europe, the rest of the continent didn’t fare much better in recent related studies. One study published around the same time indicated that despite widely available evidence, 1 in 20 Britons don’t believe the Holocaust took place at all.

1 in 20, or about 5% is roughly the number of Muslims living in Britain. Curious coincidence, I guess.

Holocaust denial in Britain a combination of

‘anti-semitism and ignorance’ – Nazi hunter

© Reuters / Ronen Zvulun

A recent poll revealed that 1 in 20 Britons don’t believe the Holocaust took place. Historian and ‘Nazi hunter’ Efraim Zuroff claims that the results show a combination of “anti-Semitism and abysmal ignorance.”

Sunday is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, or Holocaust Memorial Day in the UK, marking 74 years to the day since the Soviet Red Army liberated the Auschwitz extermination camp. Despite extensive documentary evidence, and testimony from survivors and perpetrators, Holocaust denial is on the rise in Britain.

One in 20 Britons believe the Holocaust never happened, according to a poll published on Sunday. Eight percent believe that the official death count of six million is exaggerated and one in five believe less than two million Jews were murdered. 45 percent simply don’t know how many died.

“It’s quite shocking and surprising,” Efraim Zuroff of the Israeli office of the Simon Wiesenthal Center told RT. The results, Zuroff said, combine “anti-semitism with abysmal ignorance.”

“Holocaust denial is simply a new form of anti-Semitism,” Zuroff added. Aside from the latest British survey, a recent study conducted by the EU’s Agency for Fundamental Rights, found that 89 percent of Europe’s Jews feel that anti-Semitism has increased since 2012. The study found that social media allowed anti-Jewish conspiracy theories to spread, and the recent influx of millions of Muslim migrants has revived an ancient religious conflict in the streets of modern Europe.

I wonder if there isn't more to it than that. I wonder if there is a spiritual aspect to this, that as Britain, and the rest of the western world turns more and more away from Christianity, that antisemitism increases as a consequence of getting farther from God and Truth. It seems to be the most left-leaning people are the most likely to be anti-Christian and also, the most likely to be antisemitic. IMHO.

Certainly, as the 2nd paragraph above makes clear, increasing Muslim refugees into Europe results in increased antisemitism. This will increase with time as Muslims propagate much more quickly than Europeans, and 2nd generation immigrants tend to be more devout than their parents. The more devout a Muslim, the more likely they are to be antisemitic.

Zuroff recommends continued efforts to teach schoolchildren about the Holocaust, but claimed that the relatively small number of trials and convictions for those involved could have contributed to the multiple genocides that have occurred since. These include the 1994 Rwandan genocide, which is also commemorated on Sunday.

“I think that people who contemplate joining genocidal movements...the first question they ask themselves is ‘will I be caught?’” he explained. “Will I be held accountable?”

Zuroff himself has helped bring dozens of these Nazi war criminals to trial, including notorious Croatian camp commandant Dinko Šakić, and Hungarian war criminal Dr. Sándor Képíró, said to have been responsible for the murder of around 2,000 civilians in Novi Sad, Serbia, in 1942.

Judge Orders to Restore DACA, Says Trump Admin Failed to Provide Reasons for Ending It

This is an easy out for a lose-lose situation for Trump.

He should take it and run!

Mind you, there might be a dangerous precedent here.

Activists and DACA recipients protest against the Trump administration's policies on immigrants and immigration, during a demonstration in Manhattan, New York, U.S., March 1, 2018. © Amr Alfiky / Reuters

A US federal judge has sided with the plaintiffs in a case filed against the Trump administration's move to rescind Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which had sparked a wave of protests in September.

DC District Judge John Bates on Friday upheld his earlier ruling from April 24, that found the White House's decision to scrap the policy, which has shielded about 800,000 migrants from deportation since it was adopted in 2012, was "arbitrary and capricious."

"The Court therefore reaffirms its conclusion that DACA's rescission was unlawful and must be set aside," he wrote in a 25-page opinion on Friday.

I don't know if this has happened before or not, but if it is a precedent, then it's a troubling one, even though I agree with the decision.

The court argued that the memorandum issued by Homeland Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen in June, that was supposed to offer a legally sound explanation for the government's action, failed "to elaborate meaningfully on the agency's primary rationale for its decision: the judgment that the policy was unlawful and unconstitutional."

Bates contended that although the memo provides several new reasons for the court to review its decision, the majority of them "simply repackage legal arguments previously made." The only one "bona fide (albeit logically dubious) reason" offered by Nielsen was not enough to sway the court's opinion, Bates wrote, since it was "articulated nowhere in DHS's prior explanation for its decision" and hence cannot come into play now.

Calling the renewed justification provided by the department "a hodgepodge of illogical or post hoc policy assertions" that "simply will not do," the court at the same time stressed its ruling does not mean that the DHS is not entitled to rescind the program in principal, but that it "must give a rational explanation" if it wants to do so.

Bates, who in April gave the government a 90-day window so that DHS could come up with what the court will perceive as an adequate rationale to shut down DACA, on Friday provided the Trump administration with only 20 days to decide if it will appeal the ruling and seek a temporary stay in execution.

The decision is an important landmark in the litigation over DACA's validity, that saw the Trump administration being challenged by multiple lawsuits across the country. Should the ruling come into force, The White House will have to restart the DACA program in full.

In his April ruling Bates wrote that if the DHS fails to issue a memo that would prove that the program was unlawful and unconstitutional, as insisted by the government, "the Rescission Memo will be vacated in its entirety, and the original DACA program will be restored in full."

Since US President Donald Trump rescinded the Obama-era program on September 5, the White House has been embroiled in numerous legal battles. While the administration has won some, with Trump praising Judge Roger W. Titus of Maryland, who ruled in March that the President was within his authority to rescind the executive order issued by his predecessor, it has suffered more losses so far.

A California court in January ordered to partially restart the program, while a New York judge in February issued an injunction ordering the government to maintain DACA, although that will not require DHS to accept new applications. Several government appeals are still pending in US courts.

Bates' ruling was applauded by The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), a plaintiff in the case, which called it a "huge victory."

"This represents a powerful victory against attempts to dehumanize immigrants who are law-abiding and productive residents of the United States and who were long ago brought to this country as children through no fault of their own," NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson said.

Holocaust Must Be Central to Migrant Integration Courses – German Justice Minister

Islamization - slowing in Germany as Antisemitism rises

After a wave of anti-Israeli protests, German authorities feel arriving refugees and migrants must be firmly reminded of the country's responsibility to the Jewish state accrued during the Nazi Holocaust.

Anti-Israel and anti-US rallies and the sight of Israeli flags burned on German streets have triggered the German politicians' concerns. All people who live in Germany must understand its historical responsibility to Israel, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Friday at an event marking the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the Jewish state.

“This responsibility does not end for the people who were born [after the Holocaust] and has no exceptions for the immigrants,” he said, adding that it is “not a subject to discussion for anyone living in Germany or willing to live there.” Justice Minister Heiko Maas took the idea further, suggesting that the issue of Holocaust should be a central part of the German integration courses for refugees and migrants.

“I believe it is absolutely necessary to make Holocaust and its significance for our society a central topic in our integration courses,” the minister said in a piece written for Der Spiegel weekly. “Lessons learnt from the Holocaust must become the key message of those [courses],” he added. At the same time, the minister pointed out that the German authorities would not tolerate any form of anti-Semitism, including that brought to Germany by refugees and migrants from the Middle East.

“Racism has no place in Germany, so everyone who wants to stay in Germany for the long term needs to be clear that we fight the Neo-Nazis’ anti-Semitism and we won’t tolerate any imported anti-Semitism from immigrants either,” Maas said. “Those who call for ‘death to Jews’ should not [be allowed to] take to the streets but should be taken to court instead,” he added.

Pro-Palestinian protests have gripped Germany in the wake of the US President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel without regard for Palestinian's claim to the holy city.

Jens Spahn, a senior member of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union Party warned that the growing anti-Semitism is in fact a result of a massive inflow of refugees and migrants from the Middle East to Germany.

Which is what I have been saying for a couple years now, and not just Germany but all of Europe.

Many refugees and migrants come from countries where anti-Semitism is “an omnipresent part of the everyday life,” the politician told Der Spiegel. He went on to say that these people are likely to have deep-rooted anti-Semitic sentiments and it would take time to make them change their minds.

Like several generations, if it is at all possible.

At the same time, he demanded that the German Muslim associations take a clearer stand on the issue and help the authorities to curb anti-Semitic sentiments. “In case of anti-Islamic hatred, you have every right to expect that we will take measures against it,” he said, addressing the German Muslim leaders and adding that “it also means however, that we should all make a stand against anti-Semitism.”

Earlier, the outbreaks of anti-Semitism at Berlin’s rallies were also condemned by the Jewish community and the German politicians across the political spectrum.

Austria Passes Law Forbidding Full-Face Islamic Veils in Public

Immigrants will also be required to learn ethics, the German language, and to perform voluntary labour while on state support

© P. Deliss / Global Look Press

Austria’s parliament has approved a package of measures that outlaws distributing the Koran and wearing traditional Islamic full-face veils in public. Starting in October, a €150 fine ($166) will be levied on women wearing burkas and niqabs.

The legislative package that was passed on Tuesday night also requires asylum seekers to take a one-year integration course, during which they must learn Austrian ethics and the German language, German newspaper Bild reported. 

Under the new measures, migrants must also perform unpaid public work or face losing benefits or other consequences. The requirement is meant to better prepare refugees for the Austrian labor market, according to Bild.

The measure received the go-ahead from both ruling parties, the Social Democratic Party (the SPÖ) and center-right Austrian People’s Party (the ÖVP), Austria’s news outlet oe24.at reported. 

Opposition parties have criticized the move, however, saying it is doubtful that banning full-face veils will contribute to integration.

Attacks on migrant facilities doubled in Austria in 2016 compared to the previous year. The acts committed by the perpetrators ranged from hurling Molotov cocktails at buildings to slashing gas pipes, officials said last month.

Austria has received more than 130,000 asylum claims from applicants from the Middle East and North Africa since the summer of 2015. The country of some 8.7 million people has taken in more refugees per capita than any other country in Europe, apart from Sweden. 

Under an EU refugee resettlement and relocation program agreed on in 2015, Austria has to accept 460 asylum-seekers from Italy and about 1,400 refugees from Greece. However, Austria took in around 90,000 refugees in 2015 (more than one percent of its population), and was granted a temporary exemption. 

As part of a campaign to speed up the repatriation of around 50,000 asylum seekers, Vienna promised in March to double the amount of money paid to migrants who voluntarily return home. Austrian Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka said the plan primarily targets “those who are not likely to be granted the right to long-term residence.” 

Traditional Islamic head and face coverings have long been controversial in Europe, where they are often seen as incompatible with secular values. France became the first European country to impose a ban on full-face coverings in 2011. Belgium followed suit shortly thereafter.

Late last month, German MPs approved a partial ban on full-face veils, saying it’s the country’s duty to present itself “in an ideologically and religiously neutral manner.” The ban applies to public servants, including elected officials, military personnel, and staff working in the judiciary.

“[The ban] obliges officials and soldiers not to hide their faces while performing their duties or during direct fulfillment of their tasks,” a statement on the Bundestag’s website said. 

The legislation does contain some exceptions, however. For example, military personnel and public servants may wear full-face veils to protect themselves from infections. Police officers can also cover their faces in order to conceal their identity. 

Sweden - Going to Hell in a Hand-basket

This might explain why Sweden is in so much trouble with its government making hair-brained decisions that the public mostly supports

Why Swedes are leaving the Swedish Church in record numbers

File photo of a Swedish priest. Photo: Christine Olsson/TT

The Local

More than 90,000 people chose to quit the Swedish Church last year – almost twice as many as the year before.

The Swedish Church saw a significant drop in its membership numbers last year, with a total of 1.5 percent of its members choosing to leave the Evangelic-Lutheran organization.

The main reason why people decide leave is because they do not believe in God, according to a survey carried out by pollsters Norstat on behalf of the Swedish Church.

Forty percent said they had left for that reason. Other reasons included that being a member "did not feel meaningful" (18 percent) or that it was "too expensive" (17 percent).

As The Local reported in August, last year's mass exodus followed a series of high-profile revelations claiming officials made expensive trips abroad funded by church coffers. A spokesperson said increased media coverage of the Swedish Church as a result may have contributed to the drop in members.

"The survey confirms what we previously thought which is that the decision to withdraw is for most people a long process. They have a weak relationship (with the church), or have not reflected on their membership, and when the church is then in the public spotlight you are reminded of your membership and review it," said Pernilla Jonsson, head of analysis at the Swedish Church's department for research.

That people can go to church and not believe in God is a condemnation of the leadership of the church. In a church where God truly exists, it is difficult to attend church and not encounter Him at some level. Such a serious failure to encounter him causes one to suspect that the church is dead; that God is not there; that He has removed His candlestick (See Revelation 2:1-5).

One possible issue here might be that many Swedish churches have abandoned preaching Jesus Christ. Christianity without Jesus Christ is not Christianity! I once took a neighbour, who was raised in the Lutheran Church, to a Christmas concert. She was horrified at the frequent mention of Jesus - at a Christmas concert!!! She had been raised to believe in God - but "Who is this Jesus?"

Jesus has to be preached from the pulpit and a vital and obvious relationship with Him has to be modeled by church leadership. His character has to be revealed in those who walk with Him. Taking expensive trips on church coffers is not how you do that. 

No wonder people found the experience to be meaningless. They weren't being taught the Gospel, which is the purpose of the church to begin with. Also, tithing is voluntary and a privilege, not a requirement in any real church. 

Sweden is the least religious country in the western world, trailing only China, Hong Kong and Japan in percentage of irreligious people. While Christianity is dying in Sweden, Islam is blossoming with the great number of Muslim immigrants and their considerably higher birth-rate than native Swedes. That's all part of the Islamization of Sweden which too many Swedes see as a good thing. It isn't! It's insane!

I pray Sweden will turn to Jesus Christ, realize what He did on the Cross nearly 2000 years ago, and find that they can have a very real and active relationship with Him. Without Him, Sweden has no hope and will continue to slide down the slippery slope they have been on for some years now. May God have mercy.

Around 8,000 people chose to join the Swedish Church in 2016.

The survey, which did not ask people when they left, was carried out between November 24th and December 9th. It asked 5,384 Swedes if they were members of the Swedish Church, and the 40 percent who said they were not were then asked to state the reason why they had left.

The Swedish Church says it has 6.1 million members in a country just above 10 million people. 

Before 1996, children whose parents were members were automatically enrolled at birth. But according to Statistics Sweden, just five percent of Swedes are regular church goers. One in three couples that get married in Sweden choose a civil ceremony. 

What Really Happened on Corsica, I Think

Burkini Versus Bikini Round Two:

Showdown in Corsica

A huge fight broke out between Muslim immigrants and native Corsicans

after women wearing burkinis were photographed by a tourist.

BY LESLIE SHAW


Scene from the fight on Corsica (Photo: Video screenshot)

On Sunday August 14, 2016, Bernard Cazeneuve, French Interior Minister, issued the following statement after a violent clash between locals and Muslim immigrants on the island of Corsica:

"A violent confrontation, the circumstances and motives of which will be determined by a police investigation, erupted on Saturday evening in Sisco, Upper Corsica, between local residents and a group of around ten out-of-towners. The four people injured, including a pregnant woman, were evacuated to the hospital in Bastia. Their injuries are not life-threatening. Three vehicles were set on fire causing major disruption of traffic and a brush fire was rapidly brought under control." 

According to eyewitness accounts reported in the French media, on the evening of Saturday, August 13, a group of young Corsicans waged a battle with a group of Muslims at a beach next to Sisco. The fight broke out after women wearing burkinis were photographed by a tourist, provoking the Muslims to retaliate with insults and cries of " Allah Akbar."

They then began throwing stones at the tourists and a group of Corsican teenagers further along the beach. The Muslim men, aged around 40, then began to hit the teenagers, one of whom was wounded by a blow from a machete.

Several older Muslim men then arrived armed with axes and blades and attacked the Corsicans, aged from 15 to 18, on the beach. Following this, the parents of the Corsicans intervened and two of them were wounded with harpoons. People from a neighbouring village arrived, claiming their car tires had been slashed by Muslim women. In retaliation, the Corsicans overturned a car belonging to a Muslim and torched two others.

One of the Muslims shouted, "Just come and see us at Lupino" [a housing project in Bastia, capital of Upper Corsica]. Around 100 residents of Sisco gathered at the scene, but order was restored by an equal number of police officers, gendarmes and firefighters.

On Sunday morning, a group of around 500 demonstrators gathered at the Bastia town hall, where a delegation met with local government officials. When they emerged from the meeting, the crowd chanted, "To arms, we are going to Lupino because this is our homeland."

The demonstrators then headed for a housing project in the Lupino neighbourhood. One of the demonstrators declared, "The attackers live here. We will show their brothers, friends and everyone
they know that we will not tolerate these kinds of acts in our land."


Scenes from the fight (Photo: Courtesy)

The crowd was barred from entering by gendarmes. They continued on to the hospital in Bastia, where stones were thrown at police vehicles. Ange-Pierre Vivoni, the mayor of Sisco, appealed for calm.

On Monday, August 15, after a meeting of the Sisco municipal council, he issued a decree banning  burkinis. He also cancelled the festivities planned for August 15, a public holiday in France.

Relations between Corsicans and Muslims have been on a knife-edge since Christmas 2015, when firefighters were lured into an ambush in a Muslim neighbourhood of Bastia. When they arrived to put out a fire, they were attacked with rocks and petrol bombs.

The following day hundreds of Corsicans went to the neighborhood looking for the culprits and ransacked the local mosque. In April 2016 a prayer room was set on fire in Mezzavia.


A sign of things to come across France?

These incidents show that forced multiculturalism has failed in Corsica and could be a prelude of things to come on the French mainland. The mayor of Sisco described the incident at the origin of the violence as "trivial” but it is not. To French and other European hard-line secularists, the burkini is a deliberate and aggressive symbol of the refusal of Salafist Muslims to adapt to the French way of life.

It is inevitable that such hostility to the culture of a host population will provoke inter-community tensions and violence.

Leslie Shaw is an Associate Professor at the Paris campus of ESCP Europe Business School and President of FIRM (Forum on Islamic Radicalism and Management).

Salafists and Wahabbis will never assimilate into western cultures and must, by their core beliefs, alter western societies to fit their warped and twisted religion.

Muslims Want Cross Removed From Swiss Flag

An immigrant group based in Bern has called for the emblematic white cross to be removed from the Swiss national flag because as a Christian symbol it "no longer corresponds to today's multicultural Switzerland."



Ivica Petrusic, the vice president of Second@s Plus, a lobbying group that represents mostly Muslim second-generation foreigners in Switzerland (who colloquially are known as secondos) says the group will launch a nationwide campaign in October to ask Swiss citizens to consider adopting a flag that is less offensive to Muslim immigrants.

In a September 18 interview with the Swiss newspaper Aargauer Zeitung, Petrusic said the cross has a Christian background and while the Christian roots of Switzerland should be respected, "it is necessary to separate church and state" because "Switzerland today has a great religious and cultural diversity. One has to ask if the State wants to continue building up a symbol in which many people no longer believe."

Would they object to a crescent moon and star?

In the interview, Petrusic said Switzerland needs new symbols with which everyone, including non-Christians, can identify. As an alternative to the current Swiss flag, Petrusic proposed the former flag of the Helvetic Republic which was officially introduced in 1799 and consisted of green, red and yellow colors. "Those colors are similar to the current flags of Bolivia and Ghana and would represent a more progressive and open-minded Switzerland," Petrusic said.

  or 

The proposal to change the Swiss flag has been met with outrage across the political spectrum and is sure to fuel anti-immigrant sentiments in Switzerland.

Sylvia Flückiger a councillor with the conservative Swiss People's Party (SVP) said the demands are: "Totally unacceptable. With our Swiss flag there is nothing to change. The next thing you know, they will demand even more, that we change our constitution."

Marianne Binder, spokeswoman for the center-right Christian Democrats (CVP) said: "This is just what was missing, that we need to change our flag. The Swiss flag is part of Swiss identity, precisely because it is inviting for all to want to be involved...even the immigrants."

Stefan Brupbacher, general secretary of the libertarian Free Democrats (FDP) said: "This is utter nonsense. The Swiss cross is an extremely successful and valuable global brand. It is a symbol of success and quality. We will tightly hold on to it, out of love for Switzerland."

The issue of Muslim immigration to Switzerland has been a hotly debated topic in recent years and the flag controversy is sure to add fuel to the fire.

The Muslim population in Switzerland has more than quintupled since 1980, and now numbers about 400,000, or roughly 5% of the population. Most Muslims living in Switzerland are of Turkish or Balkan origin, with a smaller minority from the Arab world. Many of them are second- and third-generation immigrants who are now firmly establishing themselves in Switzerland.

The new Muslim demographic reality is raising tensions across large parts of Swiss society, especially as Muslims become more assertive in their demands for greater recognition of their Islamic faith.

The ensuing controversies are fueling a debate over the role of Islam in Swiss society and how to reconcile Western values with a growing immigrant population determined to avoid assimilation.

Swiss courts have been jam-packed with Islam-related cases in recent years. In one case, Muslim parents won a lawsuit demanding that they be allowed to dress their children in full-body bathing suits, dubbed "burkinis," during co-ed swimming lessons. In another case, a group of Swiss supermarkets created a stir by banning Muslim employees from wearing headscarves.

Contentious Issues

In August 2009, the Swiss basketball association told a Muslim player she could not wear a headscarf during league games. In August 2010, five Muslim families in Basel were fined 350 Swiss Francs ($420) each for refusing to send their daughters to mixed-sex swimming lessons.

In September 2010, the secretary of the Muslim Community of Basel was acquitted of publicly inciting crime and violence. The charges were pressed after the 33-year-old made comments in a Swiss television documentary saying that Islamic Sharia law should be introduced in Switzerland and that unruly wives should be beaten. The judge said the defendant was protected by freedom of expression.

In November 2010, Swiss voters approved tough new regulations on the deportation of non-Swiss immigrants convicted of serious crimes. The measure calls for the automatic expulsion of non-Swiss offenders convicted of crimes ranging from murder to breaking and entry and social security fraud.

Also in November, Swiss Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga said the approval or extension of residency permits should be closely linked to the efforts immigrants make to integrate themselves. "Compulsory schooling must be respected. Children should attend all courses and exceptions made on religious or other grounds, for example in swimming classes, should no longer be possible," Sommaruga said.

In December 2010, the Federal Commission on Women's Issues called for Islamic burqas and niqabs to be banned in government offices and in public schools. The government-appointed committee said the move would prevent gender discrimination.

In January 2011, a 66-year-old Turkish woman living in Bern was sentenced to three years and six months in prison for encouraging the father and brothers of her daughter-in-law to carry out an "honor" crime against her for her "risqué lifestyle."

In May 2011, voters in canton Ticino, in Switzerland's Italian-speaking region, collected enough signatures to be able to launch a referendum that would ban burqas, niqabs and other Islamic head dresses. If the referendum goes ahead, it will be the first time in Switzerland that citizens have been asked to express an opinion on burqas.

Also in May, Swiss Defence Minister Ueli Maurer said increasing numbers of Swiss Muslims are training in Islamic militant camps in countries like Somalia and Yemen. In an interview with the SonntagsZeitung newspaper, Maurer also said that under current Swiss laws it is difficult to prevent Islamists from raising funds.

Meanwhile, an administrative court in Bern is expected to rule on the fate of a minaret in the town of Langenthal. Minarets are the tower-like structures on mosques from which Muslims are often called to prayer.

Muslims in Langenthal, a town with a population of about 15,000, had been given permission to build a minaret five months before a constitutional ban on minarets took effect in November 2009, but opponents of the project say the earlier approval is now null and void. The case is still working its way through the Swiss legal system.

In November 2009 Switzerland held a referendum in which citizens approved an initiative to ban the construction of minarets. The initiative was approved 57.5% to 42.5% by some 2.67 million voters. Only four of Switzerland's 26 cantons or states opposed the initiative, thereby granting the double approval that now makes the minaret ban part of the Swiss constitution.

In July 2011, the European Court of Human Rights rejected two cases brought by Muslims against Switzerland's constitutional ban on building minarets.

A seven-judge panel at the Strasbourg-based court said that it would not consider the cases as the plaintiffs failed to show how the ban harmed their human rights and they therefore "cannot claim to be 'victims' of a violation" of the European Convention on Human Rights, which the court enforces.

The minaret ban represented a turning point in the debate about Islam in Switzerland.

The initiative was sponsored by the conservative Swiss People's Party (SVP), which says the minarets symbolize the growing self-confidence and intolerance of Switzerland's Muslim community.

The SVP has described the minaret is a "symbol of a religious-political claim to power and dominance which threatens -- in the name of alleged freedom of religion -- the constitutional rights of others."

The SVP has backed its claim by citing a remark by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has implied that the construction of mosques and minarets is part of a strategy to Islamisize Europe. The pro-Islamist Erdogan has bragged: "The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers." Erdogan has also told Muslim immigrants in Europe that "assimilation is a crime against humanity."

Assimilation is a crime against humanity

Erdogan

In recent years the number of mosques in Switzerland has mushroomed; there now are over 200 mosques and up to 1,000 prayer rooms dotted across the country. Critics fear the mosques are facilitating the establishment of a parallel Muslim society -- one that is especially welcoming to Islamic fundamentalists.

Soeren Kern is Senior Fellow for Transatlantic Relations at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group. 

Crazies in the News - From Tragic to Hilarious

Low IQ teen who used student loan to fund journey to Islamic State jailed for 5 yrs

© Yaser Al-Khodor / Reuters

A teenager who used his student loan money to travel to the Middle East in a bid join Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) earlier this year has been sentenced to five years behind bars.

Yahya Rashid, 19, of north London, used forged papers to gain acceptance to Middlesex University. The teen, who has an IQ of between 65 and 70, then used the grant and loan money accorded to him to transport himself and four friends to the Turkey-Syria border in February. 

Rashid’s friends continued on to Syria, while he changed his mind and returned first to Istanbul and eventually to the UK after numerous appeals from his family, the court heard. He was detained at Luton Airport in March while attempting to reenter Britain.

Rashid was obviously manipulated by one or more of his friends in order to raise the money to get to Syria. One can't help feeling sorry for him, but on the other hand, he showed no remorse for fraudulently gaining entrance to university or using student loan money to further terrorism.

Man in Joker mask threatens to kill ‘1 Arab a week’ in Canada, gets arrested

© The Real Strategy / YouTube

A man wearing a mask of Batman's arch enemy the Joker was arrested in Montreal, Canada, after threatening to kill one Muslim every week in an online video. Canada has seen an escalation of anti-Muslim sentiment in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks.

Const. André Leclerc said the man, who was arrested in the borough of Montreal North on Tuesday night, is in custody and meeting with investigators, CBC News reported.

It is not yet clear what charges may be brought against him.

The video was posted Tuesday on YouTube, but has since been taken down. In it a man speaking in a Quebecois-sounding accent said that starting next week he would kill an Arab or a Muslim each week all across the province.


He was brandishing what appeared to be a handgun and said he had like-minded people on board who would help him to carry out the threat, reported the National Post.

British woman behind 400k petition to ‘close UK borders’… lives in Spain

The British woman who started a popular petition to stop all immigration and close UK borders is currently residing in Spain, she revealed during an interview with RT.

After the interview with RT UK on Tuesday, in which a caption showed her location as Jaen, Spain, Reeves confirmed she divides her time between the UK and Spain in a series of tweets with HuffPoUK.

Twitter users were quick to point out the irony of Reeve’s petition, when she herself spends half of her time in Spain as an immigrant.

Her petition to ‘stop all immigration and close UK borders’ until Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) is defeated has amassed more than 400,000 signatures.

‘Enslaved’: S. Carolina employer sued over treatment of mentally-handicapped black man

Conway, South Carolina. © Wikipedia

South Carolina restaurant owners are being sued for practically enslaving a mentally-handicapped black employee for years, with regular beatings, almost no pay and sub-human living conditions. The lawsuit follows charges that are still pending.

Last year brought to light the harrowing ordeal of the restaurant worker, beaten, abused and underpaid for years by the two white owners. The victim’s attorneys have just filed a new federal lawsuit.

The defendants are two brothers in Horry County, South Carolina.

They are accused of holding the mentally-handicapped worker in conditions of “slavery,” with a particularly hideous period lasting from 2010 to 2014. In all that time the victim would not have been able to put up much resistance.

Christopher Smith had been working at J&J Cafeteria in Conway from a young age.

The lawsuit filed by Smith’s attorneys with the US District Court lists 14 charges against brothers Ernest J. and Bobby Paul Edwards, including false imprisonment, exploitative labor practices and discrimination, according to the Post and Courier.

It wasn’t until last October that social workers got an anonymous tip and rescued Smith from the pair. Although the victim had worked at the café for 23 years, it was when Bobby Edwards became manager in 2010 that things got much worse. Everything from casual racist slurs to battery, bodily harm with belt buckles, frying pans and hot tongs. Smith was also allegedly working 18 hours a day, six days a week, and a further 11 hours on Sunday. Authorities estimated his total wages in a year to be a miserable $2,842.

He was living in a ramshackle, cockroach-infested apartment owned by the restaurant, in conditions described by his attorneys as “subhuman.”

In November 2014, Bobby Edwards was arrested, but charges of second-degree assault and battery are still pending.

When social services investigated the complaints and coordinated with Conway police, they found scars on Smith’s back. Asked later why he never reported the clearly slave-like treatment, Smith said he had been afraid for his safety and life.

It is no secret that South Carolina is dealing with a reputation of one of the most racist states in the US. There is no shortage of anti-black sentiment, which includes both routine abuse, as well as trouble with the police force.

Late October saw a white officer under investigation for an extremely physical incident at a high school. A black female student had allegedly refused to leave the classroom when instructed to do so, which resulted in the officer grabbing the girl by the neck, flipping her desk with her behind it, tossing her to the floor backwards, then forwards before handcuffing her. The officer has since been suspended without pay.

Wet your whistle: Hardy Yorkshire drinkers defy rising floodwaters to enjoy pint

Two barmy Brits refused to let the stormy weather battering the north of England stop them from enjoying a civilized pint of beer at their usual haunt… even if it meant sitting waist deep in rising floodwaters.

The beer garden, which sits a few meters from the scenic River Aire in the South Yorkshire city of Leeds, was inundated when heavy rain hit the area on Sunday.

The rain fell so fast there wasn’t even time to protect the garden from the rapidly rising river. When the banks burst, the garden was completely submerged.

Rather than sit in the warm and dry of the Kirkstall Bridge Inn, however, the defiant manager and pub owner decided to brave the muddy waters together and enjoy their drinks outside.

Manager John Kelly told the BBC of his failed efforts to stop the rising waters.

“I stood and shouted at the water but it didn’t seem to do much,” he said.

Unable to turn the tide and accepting their fate, Kelly and pub owner Steve Holt embraced their new water feature. They poured themselves a pint and settled down at a table completely submerged by the water.

“It was remarkably cold. The first 15 minutes were a little bit uncomfortable but once we settled down it was surprisingly therapeutic, to sit not just by the river but in the river,” Kelly said.

Mongolian trade unionist burns himself alive in a shocking act of protest 

© SCAUSETER / YouTube

Shocking footage shows a trade union leader setting himself alight to protest the looming sale of Mongolian coal mines to Chinese companies. The act of defiance took place at a press conference called to describe the hardships faced by the country’s miners.

In the footage posted by the Daily Mail, the union leader is seen taking a seat and at the press conference surrounded by fellow union members. He then makes a short public statement: “The government no longer supports our company, families of the workers are forced to starve, this is why I will burn myself for the people of Mongolia and our children.”

A split second later, the speaker appears to burst into flame. In the terrifying moment that follows, screams can be heard as his companions rip off their jackets and immediately start beating the engulfing flames from the man, who has fallen, agonizing, to the floor. The blaze was finally suppressed with a fire extinguisher.

Unfortunately the article doesn't tell us whether he survived the self-immolation.

15yo boy charged over airline bomb hoaxes, cyber-attacks

© Benoit Tessier / Reuters

A teenage boy has been charged with offences relating to cyber-attacks and bomb hoaxes on airlines in the UK and US, it has emerged.

The 15-year-old suspect from Plymouth, UK has been charged with three offences under Section 3 of the Computer Misuse Act.

The attacks are believed to have been carried out on websites in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America.

The youth was charged following an investigation by officers from the regional cybercrime unit.
Devon and Cornwall Police said the alleged offender was charged with two offences under the Criminal Law Act.

“This relates to bomb hoaxes placed with airlines in North America via social media,” a spokesperson for the force said in a statement. The offences were allegedly committed within the past 12 months, they added.

The youngster has been released on police bail. He will appear before Plymouth Youth Court on December 18.

Germany: 80% of Turkish Muslims Claim Welfare Payments

by Daniel Greenfield
Muslim Statistics

Turks came to Germany as ‘guest workers’. They were supposed to provide some “necessary cheap labor” and then leave. But it didn’t work out that way.

And the topic has obvious implications for our own Gang of 8′s guest worker plan, which is going to lead to non-workers bankrupting the social welfare system even further.

Beautiful Dresdan, Germany where anti-Islanization protest group Pegida
was born and died at the age of 3 months

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.

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.

Why not, you hardly need an education to lie and collect welfare.

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.

Anyone know where I can get German lessons?

“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.

That part is easy enough. Just like in the United States, you cash in by having a lot of kids. Bring over a whole bunch of family members, churn out some kids from polygamous marriages (the next frontier in marriage equality) and soon you’re bringing in 10 grand a month)

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.

I'm serious, should I learn low German or high German?

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).

Maybe I should learn Turkey, Turkish - whatever the Turks speak.

This is much worse than Cyprus. And this will eventually break Germany’s back. Imagine millions of people living this way and reproducing at a much higher rate than the native population and the spending becomes completely unsustainable.

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.

And don’t kid yourself. This happens here too south of the border.

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.”

“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.”


Welcome to the Welfare Caliphate built by the Welfare Jihad.

Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is a New York writer focusing on radical Islam. He is completing a book on the international challenges America faces in the 21st century.