Month: October 2024

German left-wing populists have revealed data which shows 48 per cent of all recipients of state out-of-work cash payments are not German citizens, with some migrant groups majority unemployed.

Over two and a half million foreign residents in Germany are drawing the Bürgergeld — ‘citizen’s allowance’ — the German state benefit that pays out cash to those who don’t or can’t work, or who work so little their income needs topping up to survival levels. This group represents 48 per cent of all recipients in Germany, with 2.7 million foreigners claiming compared to 2.9 million German citizens.

The number of Germans receiving out-of-work payouts has been falling or stable for years, having been as high as 3.3 million as recently as 2021. By contrast, the number of migrants taking the money continues to rise steadily, having been two million three years ago.

Germany’s Die Welt reports the data shows some refugee groups show a strong propensity towards being unemployed. Nearly half (47 per cent) of Afghans get Bürgergeld, while 55 per cent of Syrians take the benefit, even if this is down from a high of a staggering 85 per cent of Syrians during the Europe Migrant Crisis years.

This release of data was achieved by the upstart Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW, Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance) eponymous party founded by Sahra Wagenknecht earlier this year. The party has distinguished itself by being one of few European left-wing populist parties, opposed to mass migration but against economically liberal policies favoured by many right-wing populists.

While the borders are so often blurred here — Marine Le Pen’s French faction is typically referred to as hard-right in the establishment media, yet it pursues a pretty doggedly left-wing economic policy — the BSW argues that a strong welfare state can only work long-term if it isn’t open to the whole world. As reported, BSW has already performed well in recent elections for a months-old party.

Responding to the Bürgergeld figures, Wagenknecht said: “The fact that almost half of the citizens’ allowance recipients do not have a German passport is evidence of the failure of German migration and integration policy and contributes to the fact that the citizens’ allowance has become increasingly unpopular.”

Buttressing her left-populist position, Wagenknecht asserted that a “strong welfare state only works if not everyone can immigrate to it.”

While these figures acquired by the left-wing populists drastically illustrate the impact of first-generation immigration on the welfare bill, it doesn’t explain whether there is a phenomenon of long-term intergenerational unemployment among migrant communities. Given Germany, as is normal for European states, adopts the conceit that second-generation migrants are in fact German, the published statistics obscure the possibility of such enquiry.

Some groups in Germany have attempted to work around this facet of official statistics, however. For instance, the right-wing AfD populist party managed to roughly proxy the impact of second-generation immigration on sex crime statistics by securing the release of the forenames of all gang rape suspects in one state, finding a majority have what would generously be termed non-traditional names.

“A clear trend is evident”, they said, with their own analysis and that separately of the same data by a mainstream German newspaper suggesting over three-quarters of gang rape suspects that year had “migrant heritage” forenames.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2024/10/05/half-of-welfare-recipients-in-germany-are-foreigners-populists-reveal

The ‘Schwimmoper’ swimming pool in Wuppertal (photo) has a serious problem: aggressive young migrants are turning the pool into a nuisance. Because they insult and harass not only the staff, but also other guests, the swimming pool has to close for an hour at lunchtime at weekends, reports the newspaper Bild. ‘These groups of young foreign men stand in the non-swimmers’ pool or sit in the stands, then suddenly a pack forms and there is mob behaviour and insults,’ explains Alexandra Szlagowski (51), head of the Wuppertal Sports and Pool Authority, in an interview with Bild. ‘The situation has been getting worse and worse since last autumn.’ Sexual assaults have even allegedly occurred in the changing rooms.

The ‘Schwimmoper’, a modern sports pool in the centre of the city, is particularly attractive to young people under the age of 17 – they only pay 1.50 euros admission here. However, this also attracts those who the pool operators would rather keep away.

In July alone, security forces were deployed twelve times. Although bans have been imposed on the rioters, this does not deter the young people. ‘They simply don’t comply and they come anyway,’ says Szlagowski. ‘And I don’t have the staff to check IDs at the swimming pool entrance. What’s more, there would also have to be photos of the young people banned from the premises. It’s not that simple.’

‘Because many of them can’t swim, they get bored over time. Then they become provocative, groups gather and there’s trouble. The staff and other guests are insulted and harassed. This interruption is supposed to help. We can’t just stand by and let it carry on.’

One possible reason for the onslaught of rioters at the ‘Schwimmoper’ could be the closure of the outdoor pool in Wuppertal. In recent years, there have been repeated mass brawls in outdoor swimming pools across Germany, often involving young people of migrant origin. For this reason, video surveillance was even introduced at the Grugabad in Essen.

It remains to be seen whether the measure of closing the pools at lunchtime in Wuppertal will be successful.

Schwimmbad muss Mittags wegen Migrantengewalt schließen | Exxpress

NCF Director Peter Whittle, Senior Fellow Rafe Heydel-Mankoo and Amy Gallagher of Stand Up To Woke discuss Tory leadership candidate Robert Jenrick’s comments on English identity.

A jihadist with close links to the perpetrators of the 2015 Charlie Hebdo massacre was sentenced by a French court to life imprisonment on Thursday.

Peter Cherif, a 42-year-old Parisian-born militant was found guilty of “belonging to a criminal terrorist association” following his involvement with Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) spanning from 2011 to 2018.

The court’s decision was made following a trial that began in mid-September.

During his time with AQAP, Cherif is suspected of training Cherif Kouachi, one of the two brothers who carried out the deadly attack on Jan. 7, 2015, at the Paris offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in which 12 people were killed.

The terrorist attack was later claimed by AQAP, citing the magazine’s portrayal of the Prophet Muhammad as justification.

The presiding judge sentenced Cherif to life imprisonment, emphasizing the gravity of his actions. He must serve a minimum of 22 years before being eligible for parole.

Prosecutors described Cherif as the “architect” behind a series of radical Islamist attacks that plagued France in the late 2010s. In a statement on Wednesday before the sentencing hearing, prosecutors called Cherif the “cornerstone of planning” for the Charlie Hebdo attack.

The court also heard that Cherif was implicated in a separate incident involving the kidnapping of three French aid workers in Yemen in 2011, where he allegedly served as a guard and interpreter.

Throughout the trial, Cherif denied any involvement in the planning or execution of the Charlie Hebdo attack, stating he was unaware it would take place.

He refused to answer most questions throughout the trial, and on Thursday his defense attorney, Nail El Ouchikli, claimed his client felt as though he had “taken part in a rigged match,” in remarks cited by AFP and France24.

The attack on Charlie Hebdo shocked the world, igniting widespread condemnation and leading to the global slogan “Je suis Charlie” as a show of solidarity against terrorism.

https://rmx.news/article/french-jihadist-peter-cherif-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-for-ties-to-charlie-hebdo-terror-attack/

As part of the German Islam Conference (DIK), Islamic scholars have been trained as imams at the so-called ‘Islam College’ in Osnabrück since 2021. The German Federal Ministry of the Interior is funding this with taxpayers’ money. The total funding costs: 5 million euros, with the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science also providing an additional 500,000 euros in funding. Politicians from the CDU, SPD, FDP and the Greens also have a seat on the board of trustees of the Islamkolleg. It was not until 2023 that Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) renegotiated the imam training programme on German soil. The result: Germany’s largest Islamic association, the politically Islamic and anti-Semitic DITIB, is to train its imams in Germany and no longer send them from Turkey. Instead, the Islamist DITIB is to run the imam training on the basis of a training programme in Dahlem (North Rhine-Westphalia) and in cooperation with the Islam College.

Explosive: an imam who is already known to the domestic intelligence service as an Islamist has now completed his training at the state-sponsored Islamic college in Osnabrück. This was made public by a media report in the Bild newspaper.
In plain language: Nancy Faeser trained an Islamist whom her own security authorities had under surveillance. Specifically, it is the Islamic scholar Ebadullah Maulawy Abdullah. The devout Muslim has been the imam of the Tawheed Mosque in Hamburg for eight years. For years, the Hamburg mosque scene has repeatedly attracted attention for its links to Salafism and Islamism. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has also observed Islamists attending this organisation – including supporters of the Islamist Hizb ut-Tahrir movement, which is banned in Germany.
Abdullah is already known to the German security authorities as an Islamist. At the presentation of the training certificate from the Islam College Osnabrück, Ebadullah Maulawy thanked Abdullah Germany via a Facebook post for ‘bringing this programme into being’.

Strikingly, his Facebook channel contains hate posts against Israel. For example, he writes about the Jewish state: ‘Damn the oppressors and their bloodthirsty supporters.’

Skandal-Bericht! Faeser bildet Islamisten als Imam aus, den ihre Behörden im Visier haben | Exxpress

Across Europe, authorities are bracing for a wave of protests and violence as the first anniversary of the October 7th Hamas terror attacks on Israel approaches. Ministers and security forces in several countries have warned of heightened unrest in major cities as Islamists and their left-wing allies celebrate the attack and protest Israel’s response.

Demonstrations are planned across various European cities through next week, with the largest gatherings expected from October 5th to 7th. Demonstrators will converge in cities such as London, Berlin, Paris, and Rome, with events peaking on October 7th itself. 

In Berlin, a march is scheduled from the Brandenburg Gate to Bebelplatz on October 6th. Die Welt reports that security forces have warned of potential overload due to the scale of protests. The German Police Union (GdP) has issued a stark warning, saying, “We are looking at the coming days with great concern,” said Benjamin Jendro, spokesman for the GdP in Berlin. He pointed to increasing antisemitic and violent incidents in recent days, linked to the pro-Palestinian movement. 

The unrest will likely further strain Berlin’s police, who will also be dealing with a visit from U.S. President Joe Biden from October 10th. Jochen Kopelke, Federal Chairman of the GdP, has called for robust and decisive action to be taken against those inciting violence.

Beyond Germany, European security services are on high alert amid concerns that the ongoing conflict in the Middle East could inspire terrorist attacks within the European Union. Matteo Piantedosi, Italy’s Minister of the Interior, said that, ahead of the October 7th anniversary, Europe is on “high alert” for potential terror attacks. “This is not a normal situation,” Piantedosi added. “We are already in a condition of maximum prevention.”

He said agencies are coordinating to put together real-time information, “even more so as we approach Monday.”

France is also on alert. On Thursday, interior minister Bruno Retailleau sent a telegram to the country’s regional prefects expressing concern about “tensions” and saying that the terrorist threat was high. 

Anti-Israel protests since October 7th have frequently turned violent. In May, police in Athens were forced to intervene after pro-Palestinian demonstrators tried to storm both the Egyptian embassy and a hotel housing Israeli tourists. A video showed a loud group, some holding Palestinian flags attempting to breach the hotel. Police were forced to use gas grenades to get them to disperse. The Anti-Defamation League decried the act as “an appalling hate crime.”

https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news/europe-braces-for-riots-and-terror-attacks-as-october-7th-anniversary-approaches/

Tonight’s women’s volleyball match between San Jose State University and Colorado State University will be monitored by droves of armed police after one of the San Jose players received a chilling death threat. The threat is believed to be a direct response to Brooke Slusser’s support for single-sex sports.

On September 24, OutKick reported that Slusser had signed onto a lawsuit against the NCAA for allowing males to compete in women’s collegiate sports. The suit, which is being backed by the Independent Council On Women’s Sports (ICONS), charges that the NCAA knowingly violated the federal statute which guarantees equal opportunity for men and women in college education and in sports.

The lawsuit has been joined by a list of notable female athletes, including 12-time All-American swimmer and OutKick host Riley Gaines, Olympian Reka Gyorgy, and two-time NCAA champion Kylee Alons.

Slusser, the starting setter and co-captain of the San Jose team, was the latest to join the suit, citing fairness and safety. The news was significant as Slusser is a teammate of Blaire Fleming, a trans-identified male previously exposed by Reduxx for attempting to conceal his biological sex from his teammates.

🚨EXCLUSIVE🚨

Reduxx has learned that a biological male has been playing on the women's NCAA Division I volleyball team at @SJSU.

Blaire Fleming has been dominating on the court and has reportedly left female players struggling with arm pain.https://t.co/Xv0sVwwrBW

— REDUXX (@ReduxxMag) April 17, 2024

Prior to transferring to San Jose, Fleming was participating in women’s volleyball in South Carolina for Coastal Carolina University. He appears to have fled to California just before the Save Women’s Sports Bill became law in the state, which would have prohibited him from continuing to play on female teams.

Since the Reduxx exclusive, Fleming’s participation in women’s volleyball has been closely monitored and hotly contested. Over the past month, four college teams have forfeited matches against San Jose in apparent protest of Fleming’s presence. Three of these teams are from the Mountain West Conference, and their forfeitures may result in significant penalties.

In joining the lawsuit against the NCAA, Slusser revealed there was significant turmoil within the San Jose team itself regarding Fleming’s inclusion. In a recent interview with OutKick, Slusser said: “It’s crazy to say, but it was an easy decision for me to join because it’s something I truly believe in.”

She added that she had received a tremendous amount of support after joining the suit, and that the reception had been largely positive amongst her colleagues.

“… 99% of it is just love and encouragement,” she said. “So, for me, it shows that I made the right decision to join. This is something that so many people do care about. It’s just that so many people are scared to talk about it.”

But while Slusser is being praised by many for her bravery, her outspoken support of single-sex sports has now also made her a target.

On October 2, a suspected threat against Slusser’s life was received by one of her teammates via Instagram. After being made aware of the threat, Slusser contacted police in Fort Collins, where she is presently staying ahead of tonight’s game against Colorado State University – one which is intended serve as the school’s “annual inclusive excellence game.”

Colorado State volleyball is scheduled to play San Jose State, and transgender player Blaire Fleming, tomorrow night.

The match will serve as CSU's "annual inclusive excellence game," according to the school's website. pic.twitter.com/4zwngLJyxf

— Dan Zaksheske (@RealDanZak) October 2, 2024

Both San Jose University and Colorado State University were later informed about the threat against Slusser, and cooperated with Fort Collins Police to ensure the safety of the athletes.

Speaking to Reduxx, Slusser says there will be police escorting the athletes to and from their vehicles, locker rooms, and the gym. There will also be metal detectors installed at the entrance points, and armed officers will be present at the game in order to ensure the safety of everyone in attendance.

“After being shown the threat, it was a very uneasy feeling. Just because everything else that I’ve gotten so far – if it’s not in support of me – is just… hate mail, basically. Just people behind their screens saying hateful things that don’t mean anything to me,” Slusser said. “But reading that, it sent chills through me at first, just because that’s someone threatening to physically harm me.”

Though Slusser admits the attention she has received since joining the NCAA lawsuit can be overwhelming, she says she is steadfast in decision and undeterred by the threat.

“It’s not something I am stressing about or anxious about because it’s the right thing to do,” Slusser told Reduxx. “To my core I believe this is the right thing to do, and I think a lot of people agree with that. So it’s just dealing with the ebb and flow of how this situation is going to play out.”

Speaking to Reduxx on the threat received by Slusser, ICONS representative Marshi Smith slammed the NCAA for failing to protect female athletes.

“The NCAA must immediately eliminate male athletes from women’s teams and competitions. Collegiate female athletes are being placed in stressful, contentious, and increasingly threatening situations because both the Mountain West Conference and the NCAA have failed in their duty to protect female athletes from dangers both on and now off the court,” Smith said.

“We strongly condemn the threats against Brooke Slusser and call on the NCAA to take immediate, decisive action to end this madness. The safety and wellbeing of NCAA athletes cannot be compromised for even one more day.”

https://reduxx.info/exclusive-female-college-athlete-threatened-after-speaking-out-against-trans-identified-males-participating-in-womens-sport/

An Algerian refugee sex offender has been allowed to stay in France after claiming to be “transgender,” despite being sentenced to four years in prison in 2019.

In the midst of the debate on lax immigration policy following the rape and murder of 19-year-old Philippine by a Moroccan illegal immigrant, the recent decision by the Council of State concerning the Algerian refugee sex offender has caused controversy.

On Monday, September 30th, the Council of State (Conseil d’État), one of France’s highest administrative bodies, validated the renewed refugee status of the Algerian national.

The Council of State’s decision was motivated by the fact that the 31-year-old man is currently undergoing ‘transition’ to womanhood; he fears persecution if he returns to his country of origin, his lawyer told Le Figaro. The threat would be serious enough to justify granting him protection through refugee status.

This man’s case has been occupying the French authorities for some time now. Present on French soil for 14 years, he was sentenced in 2019 to four years’ imprisonment for sexual assault on a minor under the age of 15. 

In November 2020, although he had already applied for refugee status, the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons objected on the grounds that refugee status can be refused or withdrawn from a person who has been convicted of a serious crime or offence, and whose presence constitutes a threat to French society. 

In April 2023, the man lodged an appeal with the National Asylum Court (Cour nationale du droit d’asile, or CNDA) which overturned the Office’s decision to refuse him refugee status. The CNDA justified its decision on the grounds of the applicant’s ‘good behaviour’, as he had “voluntarily” taken steps to integrate into the labour market and seek treatment, which had enabled him to obtain a reduced sentence. 

The Council of State has now upheld this decision, on the grounds that “criminal offences alone cannot legally justify a decision refusing or terminating refugee status.”

The issue of his sexual orientation and apparent transgender identity were obviously at the heart of the final decision. The applicant’s statements were deemed to be particularly “spontaneous and substantiated,” making it possible “to establish his sexual orientation and trans identity,” according to the CNDA. A medical certificate was provided to support the idea that there was no serious risk of re-offending.

The Defender of Rights, an independent administrative authority founded in 2008, has mentioned the fact that for several years, applications for asylum on grounds of sexual orientation have been steadily increasing. On the other hand, applications for reasons of religious persecution are receiving much less attention from the authorities. Similar cases of people lying about their identity or sexual orientation in order to secure refugee status have been observed in Europe.

https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news/sex-offender-given-refugee-status-in-france-after-claiming-to-be-transgender/

The Düsseldorf Public Prosecutor’s Office arrested a 15-year-old Turkish-German teenager for allegedly planning Islamist-style attacks against European Jewry, Spiegel reported on Thursday. 

The police reportedly classified the teenager as a “threat.”

The teenager had been in contact with Islamist terrorists online, according to Information obtained by the German news site. The Islamist had reportedly begun grooming the teenager to commit an attack following the stabbing spree committed by an ISIS-affiliated Syrian asylum-seeker in Solingen in August. 

The Solingen attack saw three people stabbed to death and a further eight were wounded. The terrorist group said in a statement on its Telegram account, “He carried out the attack in revenge for Muslims in Palestine and everywhere.”

Germany’s Special Task Force (SEK) stormed the boy’s home at 9:20 a.m. on Tuesday, where they reportedly found data evidencing the teenager’s plans. 

After looking at the suspect’s phone, police reportedly found he shared pro-ISIS videos on TikTok and was encouraged online to commit attacks on Jewish cultural communities and festivals. The attack was allegedly planned to be carried out during an upcoming school trip to Holland.

During the operation, police arrested and released the suspect multiple times. He was initially placed in protective custody after the Solingen attack, according to Bild, but was released the same afternoon he was arrested.  He was later detained again on September 9, at a fitness studio. Police reportedly were forced to overpower the suspect.

In addition to the Solingden attack, Germany has seen an uptick in violent Islamist activity over the last few months. 

In September, a Syrian national was arrested for planning a machete attack on German soldiers. 

Earlier this week, a machete-armed man with a Palestinian flag wounded 31 people in a series of arson and ramming attacks in the German city of Essen. 

https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-823120

The city of Amsterdam is refusing to name a bridge in honour of one of the most famous Dutch resistance heroes who fought the Nazis in World War II because the responsible commission prefers selecting names from women and people of non-Dutch descent.

A special advisory board from the city rejected to name a bridge in honour of Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema, because it would not fit within the diversity policy.

Roelfzema was a student when the Nazis invaded and became involved in the Dutch underground. He escaped to England and flew with the elite RAF Pathfinder Force whose job it was to guide the Bomber stream of the RAF night bombers. He completed 72 operational sorties, including 25 missions over Berlin.

Apart from the fact that the key World War II resistance fighter was neither a woman nor a member of a minority group, Amsterdam’s Advisory Council on Naming of Public Spaces (ANOR), also cast doubt over Roelfzema merits towards the city of Amsterdam itself, despite him having been in hiding there during the war.

No new name has yet been chosen for the bridge in question, ANOR confirmed to the newspaper.

A spokeswoman of Amsterdam added that they try to avoid naming streets and bridges to World War II resistance fighters, citing oversaturation.

“There are over 650 streets, bridges and squares names in Amsterdam named after people within the category of ‘freedom struggle & emancipation’. Almost half relate to World War II,” the spokeswoman said.

Gijs Tuinman, State Secretary of Defence and, just like Roelfzema recipient of the Military Order of William—the oldest and highest honour of the Kingdom of the Netherlands— reacted negatively to the decision by Amsterdam.

“The open and diverse character of our capital would not have existed without the sacrifices of heroes like Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema,” he wrote on X.

“Resistance heroes remind us that freedom is not free, but requires sacrifices every day. Big and small, from all of us.”

Het open en diverse karakter van onze hoofdstad had niet bestaan zonder de offers van helden als Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema. Verzetshelden herinneren ons aan het feit dat vrijheid niet gratis is, maar elke dag offers vraagt. Groot en klein, van ons allemaal. https://t.co/ukBOXfzia6

— Gijs Tuinman (@DefensieStas) October 2, 2024

Marco Kroon, another recipient of the Military Order of William, said “Amsterdam should be deeply ashamed for rejecting the naming after Hazelhoff Roelfzema because he is a white man.”

“He didn’t become famous because he was white, but because of his courageous actions for the Netherlands in fighting against the German oppressor,” Kroon said.

“Thanks to him, we now have freedom and can talk about black and white people.”

Since 2021, the city of Amsterdam has made consistent efforts to have ‘diverse’ street names.

Sixty-one per cent of new names went to people who did not have Dutch nationality. Fifty-three per cent went to women.

People like American jazz singer Nina Simone and Surinamese pianist Majoie Hajary got a street in their honour, just like the American modernist painter Georgia O’Keeffe.

Louis Botha Street, originally named after a South African politician associated with apartheid, was renamed Albert Luthuli Street in honour of an anti-apartheid activist.

Critics say the new policy names streets after individuals who lack a connection with the city and the people of the city.

Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema was a student when the Nazis invaded and became involved in the Dutch underground which led to him becoming a political prisoner for a short period. He lived in hiding in Amsterdam from April 1941 to June 1941

He escaped to England and contributed to intelligence-gathering operations, helping Allied airmen escape Nazi-occupied Europe, and carrying out dangerous missions against the Germans.

Later he joined the RAF, and despite poor eye vision, he was awarded the gold cufflinks on graduating his training course given to the best pilot cadet in the training group. Roelfzema flew with the elite Pathfinder Force whose job it was to guide the Bomber stream of the RAF night bombers.

His aircraft was unarmed and relied on its speed and luck.

In the Pathfinder Force crews initially were required to complete 60 sorties but later this was reduced to 45. Roelfzema completed 72 operational sorties, including 25 missions over Berlin, the most heavily defended city in the Reich. For his efforts, he received numerous medals and national honours.

Roelfzema’s memoir, Soldaat van Oranje (Soldier of Orange), which detailed his wartime experiences, further cemented his heroic status. The book was later adapted into a highly successful Dutch film directed by Paul Verhoeven.

Dutch resistance hero denied bridge naming honour due to lack of ‘diversity’ (brusselssignal.eu)