Erdogan takes a big dump on Germany

by sheikyermami
Once again the insolent, megalomanic caliph of Turkey manages to annoy everyone
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Deciphering German foreign policy toward Israel and Iran

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL
BERLIN – In the span of 48 hours last week, the German Foreign Ministry supported a Lebanese sponsored UN Security Council resolution which condemned Israeli settlement construction as “illegal,” and its top diplomat, Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran at a time when the US and many EU countries are seeking to isolate Iran’s leaders as pariahs.How to make sense of what many critics say is a flurry of German anti-Israel UN activity coupled with their claims of a callous posture from the country’s Foreign Ministry toward the Iranian regime’s violent repression of its country’s pro-democracy movement? Let’s first dissect the UN vote. The Jerusalem Post learned from Israeli diplomatic sources before the UN vote that Yoram Ben-Zeev, Israel’s Ambassador to Berlin, was under the fairly certain impression that the Germans would join the Americans and prevent another diplomatic assault on the Jewish state at the UN. While Germany is not a permanent member of the Security Council, the Federal Republic, like Lebanon, is a non-standing member of the Council. There are currently 15 Security Council members, of which 14 voted against Israel.Israeli diplomatic officials said they wish to remained unnamed because of the high sensitivity associated with the UN vote.When asked about the German vote on Monday, an Israeli diplomat in Berlin declined to comment on the strong assurance that Germany would fall in line with the US veto. The diplomat, however, played down Germany’s backtracking, and chalked it up to EU policy conformity against the construction of Israeli housing in the disputed territories.According to a Ha’aretz last week, Germany’s decision to join the UN diplomatic attack on Israel prompted Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to express his displeasure and disappointment with Germany’s vote during a Monday telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. An unnamed “senior German source” leaked the content of the conversation.
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jpost.com

Germany: Turkey demands support for EU membership

A day before he is due in Germany, Turkish President Tayyib Erdogan has harshly criticized Germany’s policy towards Turkish efforts to join the European Union, saying it should support full membership. “The expectation of the Turkish population is that Germany, as previously under earlier CDU governments, take a leading role within the EU regarding the entry negotiations with Turkey,” Erdogan told Saturday’s edition of the Rheinische Post.Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has most recently proposed a "privileged partnership" between Turkey and the European Union, something Erdogan rejects, and suggested was only a construct for domestic consumption. “I understand it as a formulation which is only considered for domestic use,” he said. The entry negotiations were being slowed down due to purely political considerations, he added. Erdogan is due to address thousands of people on Sunday in the Düsseldorf ISS Dome – the majority attending are expected to be Turks or people of Turkish heritage. Local police are preparing for protests.
the local

German Court Applies Sharia Law: Muslim Shelf Stockers Can Refuse to Handle Alcohol

by sheikyermami
A German court has ruled that Muslim supermarket workers don’t have to stock the alcohol shelves. The irony is, if you don’t hire a shelf stocker because he is Muslim, he can sue you for discrimination. Heads they win, tails you lose……
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‘Never Again for Anyone’: the Latest Anti-Semitic Campaign -- Fueled by propaganda, the campus push is pernicious, contagious, and wrong

by Clemens Heni
The campaign “Never Again for Anyone” this month went on tour across the United States — from D.C., New Jersey, and New York, to Detroit, Chicago, Atlanta, New Orleans, and Toronto. On February 19, it arrived in Los Angeles, where an habitually tolerant people had to face the following declaration, pulled from the “Never Again for Anyone” homepage:
In the face of the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestine, attacks and persecution of Muslim and Arab communities in the US and Canada, and ongoing attacks against the rights of other communities and immigrants, we assert a commitment to collective humanity against the application of “never again” to only a few.
Yes: it’s anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism framed as anti-racism. Since the late 1960s, it’s been a constant theme.
The sponsors of the “Never Again” tour are American Muslims for Palestine, the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, and the Middle East Children’s Alliance. Here’s a taste of what these organizations stand for.
On January 29, 2011, Rutgers University in New Jersey, a nationally renowned, state-sponsored institution, witnessed the following event. At the campaign stop of “Never Again,” Hajo Meyer and Hedy Epstein were invited to speak. A year ago, Meyer spoke in the UK during a tour of “Never Again.” An announcement for the January 26, 2010, gathering read:
Hajo Meyer — survived Auschwitz — Haidar Eid — is surviving Gaza; both are united in a commitment to Palestinian freedom.
We know who Meyer is. He is driven by hatred and resentment. With him, an extremely tiny group of Holocaust survivors are distorting history. Rather than representing the Jewish community, they are a constituency unto themselves. Meyer uses Auschwitz as a tool to fight today’s Jews. In doing so, he encourages Hamas, known for its commitment to destroy Israel, following the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hasan al-Banna, whom they quote in their charter. Is there anything more disgusting a person can do?
German bestseller and journalist at Die Welt Henryk M. Broder — himself a Jew — won a lawsuit against Hajo Meyer in 2007. According to a report in the Jewish Press on November 21, 2007, Broder is officially allowed to say that Meyer “is an expert in applied Judeophobia.”
After Auschwitz, comparing Israel to Nazi Germany and framing an event with the phrase “Never again” is, quite simply, anti-Semitism. According to the “Working Definition on Antisemitism of the European Union,” as well as the definitions relied upon by the U.S. government, “drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” is anti-Semitic.
So much for Hajo Meyer. The other speaker at Rutgers was Hedy Epstein, known for her support of the “Free Gaza” movement, which ignores or affirms the blatant anti-Semitism of Hamas.
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pajamasmedia

Afghanistan: Germans who refuse to partner with Afghans fear ’sensitivity training’

by sheikyermami
These troops are reacting to manifest realities, but they will probably be made the targets of “sensitivity training” by their politically correct, willfully ignorant superiors. “German Troops Admit Fears Over Partnering With Afghan Soldiers”
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Germanys submission under the Turkish Fuhrer Erdogan – and German politicians keep quiet

Billboard in Dusseldorfs City ”Our Prime Minister is in Dusseldorf”, Erdogan speaks to his people in Dusseldorf.
DUSSELDORF. On February 27, the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, will travel to a very short publicized surprise visit to Germany.
He will be speaking to probably 15.000 Turks / German Turks in the Dusseldorf ISS Dome.
Erdogan sees the in Germany living people of Turkish origin, as “his people”. Therefore he called out in a 2008 speech at the Cologne Sporthalle, that assimilation is “a crime against humanity”. And he encourages all ethnic Turks, to remain Turks.
The poster with the headline “Our Prime Minister is in Dusseldorf” says clearly, to whom the in Germany living Turks look up and who they see as their political leader.
The German government spends millions of euros a year for integration applications.
During a last year ceremony to hand over the Certificate of Citizenship, a Turkish woman said: “What I need is the passport, Germany I do not care.”
All this, is the reality of muslim integration into the European society in the twenty-first century.
Bernd Kleinschmitt, EIP-News reporter in Berlin, Germany
ejpost

Watchdog slams Germany’s vote for settlements resolution

BERLIN (JTA) -- A German pro-Israel watchdog is condemning Germany's vote for a failed U.N. Security Council resolution against Israel's settlement policy, calling it part of a worrying trend.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has made pro-Israel policy a cornerstone of her administration, "presented herself very well initially and now is the time to remind her of what she promised and try to make her turn back," Sacha Stawski, founder of the Honestly Concerned watchdog organization, told JTA. His group is circulating a petition criticizing Germany's stand on the resolution.
The Security Council resolution, which received the support of Germany and 13 other council members, called settlements illegal and condemned Israel for continuing to build in the West Bank. The United States, one of five permanent members of the Security Council, vetoed the resolution on Feb. 18.
Germany, which traditionally has been supportive of Israel, won a non-permanent seat on the council last fall. Merkel, whose administration openly criticized Israel's settlement policy last year, has otherwise been viewed as a strong ally.
The resolution, though it failed in the end, is part of an alarming trend, Stawski told JTA in a telephone interview from Frankfurt. His group's online petition criticized Merkel and Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle for giving in to "a Palestinian propaganda campaign, instead of urging the Palestinians to negotiate an amicable agreement with their partner in peace talks, Israel, regarding the borders of the future Palestinian state."
Stawski told JTA that "if Germany proclaims they are a friend of Israel, then it is their job at least to prevent such a vote, or say no. ... They did not even abstain."

Germany: “Islamic Mercy” costs $ 100.000.00 dollars

The criminal mullah regime wins again: a court in Tabriz said the Germans “deserved to have their punishment commuted and enjoy Islamic mercy.”
An Iranian court threw out the journalists’ 20-month prison sentence Saturday, commuting it to a fine of $50,000 each and clearing the way for their release, state media reported.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle in Tehran thanked his Iranian counterpart, Ali Akbar Salehi, for his “commitment to the relations between our countries.” Westerwelle’s office said in a statement the ministers also discussed their differing opinions on “questions of human rights and the development of democracy.”
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sheikyermami.com

Germans to Turks to Mullahs: The Back Door

by Michael Ledeen
In all the excitement, it was easy to miss the fact that there were two very high level visitors to Iran late last week and then over the weekend: Turkish President Gul and German Foreign Minister Westerwelle. The sequence was not accidental.
Gul went first, and stayed for four days. The Turks and Iranians are constructing a very complex network of deals and schemes, from coordinating action against Israel, to making the two currencies interchangeable, to making commerce virtually unregulated, to building and maintaining oil and gas pipelines, enabling Turkey to buy Iranian product at bargain prices, and granting exploration and development concessions to Gul’s people.
And there is more, above all Turkey’s role as an enabler for the Iranians’ malevolent programs, from obtaining military technology to funneling cash to terrorists, to getting top euro for Iran’s stash of Western hostages. FOOTNOTE: hostages in Iran are never released unless ransom is paid. When you see hostages coming out, the only questions are 1)how much was paid? and 2) who paid it and how??
Gul was a middleman between the Germans and the Iranians in the matter of the release of two German journalists, whom Westerwelle collected in Tehran and accompanied back home. We need not rely on inside sources to assert a Turkish role. Gul bragged about it in public just today. However, we do need good sources to know what the deal was.
There’s lots of dual-use technology (stuff that can be used for weapons systems or for “civilian” projects) that the Germans want to sell to Iran, but they can’t because of sanctions. So the deal was a classic sanctions-busting maneuver. Germans will sell the stuff to the Turks. The Turks will send it on to the Iranians. And the Iranians toss in two hostages.
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pajamasmedia.com

California mosque distributes literature accusing Zionists of complicity with Nazis in Holocaust

Blaming the victim, and joined by one of the victims to do it. Islamic Antisemitism Update: "Steinberg criticizes flier at Muslim center," by Stephen Magagnini for the Sacramento Bee:
Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg has condemned literature distributed at an event at a local Muslim group's center last week that suggests Jewish leaders in World War II Germany worked with Nazis to get permission to settle in Palestine.
A flier distributed by the International Jewish Anti- Zionist Network – an event co-sponsor – said: "As part of this collaboration, Zionists … even kept silent about impending plans to deport Jews into Nazi death camps.
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jihadwatch.org

Protest Rally: Shut down the European-Iranian Terror Bank!

Time/location: 27 February 2011, 3.00 pm, Depenau 2, Hamburg

Video about the EIH with English subtitles
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Free Speech And Hate Speech - The Difference between Mr. Sarrazin and Mr. Atwan

by Marina Gerner
The London School of Economics showed embarrassing double standards when it decided to cancel an integration debate which involved Thilo Sarrazin and Henryk Broder, on its premises, while failing to cancel a lecture by hate speaker Abdel Bari Atwan, who, among other things claimed that Jewish students bear personal responsibility for bombing Gaza, only a few months earlier.
A spokesperson of the LSE cited “safety and security reasons” as the explanation to why the LSE decided to withdraw its offer to host the debate on its premises. In the meanwhile, Sir Howard Davis, director of the LSE, was in Sicily and could not be contacted by phone.
Within half an hour the organizers of the LSE German Society managed to redirect the event to the nearby Hilton Waldorf, moving the sound system, three camera teams, twenty accredited journalists, hundreds of students who came to see the event, into a new venue.
The reasons for the protests against the debate as well as the reasons for its following cancellation seemed so abstruse to me, I had to draw myself a ‘mind map’ in an attempt to understand the course of events.
The most basic question one has to ask is: Who is Thilo Sarrazin and why was he invited to speak at the LSE? And who is Abdel Bari Atwan and why was he invited to speak at the LSE?
Atwan is editor-in-chief of London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper. The LSE Palestinian Society invited him to speak on the subject of “How much influence does the Zionist lobby exert in the US and UK?” in December, where Mr Atwan accused Jewish students of “bombing Gaza”, referred to the “Jewish lobby” and refused to condemn Hamas, saying: “Would you want me to condemn those who are resisting the occupation?” (As reported by the Jewish Chronicle.) He has previously been captured on video in 2007 on MEMRI TV saying: “If the Iranian missiles strike Israel - by Allah, I will go to Trafalgar Square and dance with delight if the Iranian missiles strike Israel.”
The integration debate which was scheduled to be held on Monday was hosted by the LSE Germany Society and involved Thilo Sarrazin, who has become the focus of attention for protesters against the debate. Sarrazin has been described as an “anti-Semitic banker” by the Independent as well as the facebook group of protesters. However it is important to note that he is neither an anti-Semite nor a banker.
Sarrazin used to be a politician, he was the head of finance of the State of Berlin and afterwards he served on the executive board of the German Bundesbank. Since the release of his book “Germany does itself in”, which caused a range of debates in Germany, he was asked to leave the Social Democratic Party of which he has been a member for decades and he also decided to step down from his position at the Bundesbank, where, as he told me, his weekly workload was usually done by Tuesday noon, which is why he had enough time to write a book. And this book is the only thing he is nowadays representative of in German Society.
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Afghan soldier opens fire on German troops, killing 3 and wounding 6 others…

by sheikyermami
The idea that you can buy an illiterate Afghan’s loyalty when you stick him in a uniform, give him weapons training, three meals a day and a salary is so naive it makes my head spin. This is another ‘hearts & minds” moment gone terribly wrong:
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Austria: Illegal to say Muhammad was a pedophile

I thought this story would get some attention from the mainstream media. I was wrong.The only 'mainstream' site I found that mentioned it was the Austrian Times. They headlined their article Lecturer fined for calling Koran 'evil', though apparently, that wasn't the case.Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff was put on trial for saying that "Islam is in a perpetual state of war with us", "Islam is vicious" and "Muslims hate us."But apparently that's OK. What really bothered the judge, and what she fined Sabaditsch-Wolff for, was calling Muhammad a pedophile.The Save Free Speech site summarized what the judge said:
The integration of muslims is surely a question of particular public interest – you are allowed to be critical – but not incitement of hatred(- judge states the allowed utterances)The language used in the seminars were not inciting hatred, but the utterances regarding muhammad and paedophilia were punishable.“Paedophilia” is factually incorrect, since paedophilia is a sexual preference which solely or mainly is directed towards children. Nevertheless, it does not apply to mohammad. He was still married to Aisha when she was 18. It is a “denigration of religious teachings” and are found guilty and sentenced to 120 days, which approaches the minimum of € 480.
In other words, generalizing about all Muslims, is fine. But saying that Muhammad was a pedophile for having sex with a 9 year old, a fact which has been used by countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia to legally justify pedophilia today, is wrong.Why is it wrong? Not because it's wrong to judge a man who lived 1400 years ago by today's standards, but because Muhammad continued to have sex with his very young wife after she turned 18.The truth is, that it doesn't matter whether Muhammad was a pedophile or not. What's most important is what Muslims believe today. And as long as 'official Islam' justifies marrying off little girls by saying that Muhammad did it, I really don't see why it's insulting to call that 'pedophilia'.
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Austria: Another arrest in Tunisian murder case

Police investigating the death of a Tunisian have arrested another man.Viennese officials said yesterday (Tues) that they have put Abdelmonam O. into custody. The man is suspected of having been involved in the killing of Mohamed T.The 69-year-old was rushed to a clinic after a passersby found him lying in a street in Vienna-Penzing on 28 January. The man died due to his severe head injuries a few days later.It is matter of investigations whether Abdelmonam O. was involved in the crime. The 25-year-old led officers to a place at the embankment of the Wien River. Police fished a hammer out of the water at the spot. The object is currently being examined by experts to find out whether it was the murder weapon.The Kurier newspaper reports today that Abdelmonam O. said in interrogations that he played no role in the crime but was just a witness. The daily Kronen Zeitung meanwhile claims that the man admitted having participated in the killing of Mohamed T., but claimed that Ahmed K. – who was arrested two weeks ago – masterminded the murder.Traces of blood found on the clothes of Ahmed K. were matched with the blood of the slain man. The 37-year-old man knew the victim, according to some members of the Tunisian community in Vienna. Mohamed T. headed a Vienna-based organisation affiliated with the party of toppled Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Fox News about EIH & STOP THE BOMB

U.S. Presses Germany to Take Action Against Bank Said to Be Backing Iran's Nuke Program
(...)EIH calls itself a German bank, but Matthias Kuntzel, a German political scientist and Iran expert, disputes this. Kuntzel told Fox News that, like all German banks, EIH is regulated by the nation's Central Bank, but that EIH is owned by the Islamic Republic of Iran through four state-owned banks. He said this information is in Hamburg court records. According to the EIH website, "EIH Bank provides reliable assistance for Iran-related import and export transactions."(...)Leading the fight against German trade with Iran is "Stop the Bomb," a Berlin-based advocacy group that is staunchly pro-Israel. The organization's founder is Ulrike Becker, who is working on her doctorate on anti-Semitism. Its spokesman, Michael Spaney, buys shares in companies that trade with Iran and speaks at stockholder meetings. Here's what he said at Siemens 2009 Annual Meeting: "How can a company that profited from slave labor in World War II have trade relations with a country that threatens the Jewish state - the survivors of the Holocaust?"
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ADL lauds German scholar for study on anti-Semitism -- The Hamburg researcher shows link between anti-Semitism of Nazis and today’s Iranian regime

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL
BERLIN – Dr. Matthias Küntzel, a Hamburg-based author and political scientist who is currently a research associate at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, was honored last week by the New York-based Anti-Defamation League for his work exposing the interplay between Nazi ideology and modern Iranian anti-Semitism.“In his writing on the anti- Semitism of the Iranian regime, which he terms the ‘stepchild of German National Socialism,’ Dr. Küntzel lays bare the genocidal intent of those who are striving for nuclear weapons,” Abraham H. Foxman, ADL national director, said while presenting the ADL Paul Ehrlich-Gunther K. Schwerin Human Rights Award to Küntzel at the ADL executive committee meeting in Palm Beach, Florida.“He makes clear that the link between the anti-Semitism of the Nazis and of the Iranian regime is not just an analogy,” Foxman said.“Matthias Küntzel has a long and distinguished record in speaking out against anti-Semitism and warning his readers in his native Germany and elsewhere about the dangers posed by this age-old virus that has no known cure. His work has been sorely underappreciated in this country. With this recognition, we hope to acknowledge his ongoing efforts and also let the American public know of the implications of this disturbing trend,” Foxman said.Küntzel, speaking at the ceremony in Florida, said, “Today’s events in Tunisia and Egypt mark a watershed in the development of the Middle East. And it is precisely at such a time – a time of new beginnings – that it becomes more important than ever to publicly raise the issues of the roots and potential consequences of anti-Semitism in the Middle East.”“Islamist movements – especially the Muslim Brotherhood – are a headline issue right now. I do of course strongly support the people’s fight in Tunisia and Egypt for freedom of opinion and freedom of assembly. But I am at the same time concerned about the tendency of Western governments and media to downplay the Muslim Brotherhood’s anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial. While anti-Semitism from the far Right occasions justified outrage in the USA and elsewhere, the very same anti-Semitism is again and again downplayed and minimized when expressed by Muslims,” he said.Küntzel continued, “Many are inclined to excuse these diatribes as a side effect of the Middle East conflict, and blame Israel for the anti-Semitism in the Arab world. Others – such as the London-based Prof. Gilbert Achcar [at the School of Oriental and African Studies] – even try to excuse the denial of the Holocaust.To quote Prof. Achcar: “‘Are all forms of Holocaust denial the same? Should such denial when it comes from oppressors, not be distinguished from denial in the mouths of the oppressed, as the racism of ruling whites is distinguished from that of subjugated blacks?’” Küntzel is an external research associate at the Vidal Sassoon Centre for The Study of Anti- Semitism at the Hebrew University.He teaches political science at a technical college in Hamburg and co-founded the German chapter of Scholars For Peace in the Middle East.He has focused his recent academic work, including Jihad and Jew-Hatred: Islamism, Nazism and the Roots of 9/11, on contemporary genocidal anti-Semitism in Iran, and Europe’s, particularly Germany’s, response to threats from the Islamic Republic to obliterate Israel.Küntzel argues that Iran is the first country since Nazi Germany to make lethal anti-Semitism — a second Holocaust targeting the Jewish state – a cornerstone of its foreign policy.Küntzel, an impassioned essayist and author of groundbreaking books on modern anti-Semitism , has over the years sharply criticized the Merkel administration and the Bundestag for failing to take a tough posture against genocidal Iranian anti- Semitism and Germany’s 4 billion euro annual trade relationship with the Islamic Republic.“Germany wants a special relationship with both Israel and Iran. And that’s impossible.Germany can’t have it both ways,” he told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.Writing in The New York Times Book Review on Jihad and Jew Hatred, Jeffrey Goldberg, a national correspondent for The Atlantic magazine and Israel expert, said, “The German scholar Matthias Küntzel... takes anti-Semitism, and in particular its most potent current strain, Muslim anti-Semitism, very seriously indeed. His bracing, even startling, book, Jihad and Jew-Hatred (translated by Colin Meade), reminds us that it is perilous to ignore idiotic ideas if these idiotic ideas are broadly, and fervently, believed.”According to Goldberg, “Küntzel makes a bold and consequential argument: The dissemination of European models of anti-Semitism among Muslims was not haphazard, but an actual project of the Nazi Party, meant to turn Muslims against Jews and Zionism... Küntzel is right to state that we are witnessing a terrible explosion of anti-Jewish hatred in the Middle East, and he is right to be shocked.”
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jpost.com

Germany: Justice Minister wants Islam to be given same opportunities as Christianity

In an article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the German Minister of Justice, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger (FDP), calls to give Islam the same opportunities as Christianity. Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger says that the Islam-debate is based mostly on cliches and stereotypes, rather than on knowledge. The Old Testament decrees the death sentence for murderers, but nobody uses that to support the death sentence today. There are Islamic scholars who base radical and anti-human-rights minority opinions on the Koran, but they do not represent the whole of Islamic law. Germany should support the modernization of Islamic law, instead of invoking the 'Judeo-Christian' tradition.
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Rally against "Iran-Seminar" of Austrian Chambers of Commerce -- No deals with the Iranian regime!

Tuesday, February 15th 2011, 8:00 am
In front of Hotel Ananas, Rechte Wienzeile 93, 1050 Vienna
STOP THE BOMB protest against WKO's promotion of trade with Iran
On Tuesday, 15 February, the STOP THE BOMB coalition is holding a rally with the slogan "No deals with the Iranian regime" at the Hotel Ananas, Rechte Wienzeile 93, at 8 a.m. The rally takes a stand against a seminar on Iran held by the Austrian Chamber of Commerce (WKO), which is a follow-up of a similar event in December 2010. At this first Vienna seminar, the WKO had openly advocated continuation of trade with Iran and its increase in volume. According to participants, the speakers - Gerta Mlejnek of the Chamber of Commerce, Helmut Krehlik of the Federal Ministry of Economy, and Michael Tockuss of the German-Iranian Chamber of Commerce - had given advice on how to continue doing good business with the Iranian regime in spite of all sanctions. Gerta Mlejnek is giving another lecture at the upcoming Iran seminar. At the last event, representatives of Austrian business, for example of LMF (Leobersdorfer Maschinenfabrik), thanked the Chamber of Commerce and the Ministry of Economy for their active support of trade with Iran.STOP THE BOMB spokeswoman, Simone Dinah Hartmann, demands new harsh measures against the Iranian regime and warns against softening or bypassing existing resolutions: "We assume that once again, participants of the seminar will be shown how they can handle their payment transactions - which have become increasingly difficult to process - for example with the help of Europäisch-Iranische Handelsbank in Hamburg, which is owned by the Iranian regime. EIH has developed into playing a central role for global trade with Iran, and needs to be closed down immediately." The Iran seminar is in the tradition of the overall policy adopted so far by the Chamber of Commerce, the STOP THE BOMB spokeswoman says: "For years, WKO president Christoph Leitl has been demanding and promoting closer business relations with the anti-Semitic regime in Tehran - a regime that continues to work on its nuclear weapons and missile program, that suppresses the Iranian freedom movement with brutal force, that executed 64 persons in January alone, that hosts conferences dedicated to Holocaust denial, and that funds the global jihadist terror with its foreign trade revenues."Hartmann also opposes a revocation of existing sanctions at the EU level: "The current deliberations on abolishing the travel restrictions imposed on the Iranian foreign minister, Salehi, give a disastrous signal to the regime. The EU member states should rather take the Netherlands as an example, which just have revoked their ambassador from Iran."

German auction house blasted over Jewish-owned art sale

Cologne.Three university beneficiaries of Jewish art dealer Max Stern’s estate on Wednesday blasted a German auction house for planning to sell a painting they say was looted during the Nazi era.
Concordia University and McGill University in Montreal, and Hebrew University of Jerusalem claim an old master work by Flem Alexander Adriaenssen (1587-1661) in the possession of Lempertz Auction House in Cologne, Germany.
The painting “Fish still life, shellfish, perch, pike, oyster and cat” (photo), is believed to be “the same painting lost to Stern at the hands of the Nazis through a forced sale in 1937 at the same auction house,” they said.
The three schools asked Lempertz in 2009 to pull the painting from sale to allow due diligence on its provenance and identification.
But according to the universities, Lempertz refused.
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Protest Rally: Shut down the European-Iranian Terror Bank!

Time/location: 27 February 2011, 3.00 pm, Depenau 2, Hamburg
On February 27, 2011 STOP THE BOMB calls for a second protest rally in front of the building of the European-Iranian Trade Bank (EIH). The rally will start at 3.00 pm at Depenau 2, Hamburg (Picture above,Map).
Afterwards, at 5.00 pm, there will be a panel discussion with Dr. Matthias Küntzel (publicist and political scientist), Mina Ahadi (exil-Iranian human rights activist and spokesperson of the Comittee against Stoning and Executions), Dr. Kazem Moussavi (Green Party of Iran) and others.The event will take place in the nearby rooms of the Mahnmal St. Nikolai (Willy-Brandt-Str. 60).
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Rally against Iranian regime at Vienna reception

STOP THE BOMB demonstrates at the Iranian ambassador’s residence, invite to a lecture on the Iranian freedom movement.
With the slogan “Down with the Islamic Republic”, the STOP THE BOMB coalition is going to hold a rally on Friday, 11 February, at Lainzer Straße/Gloriettegasse in Hietzing at 6 p.m. The protestors speak out against a reception at the Iranian ambassador’s residence, celebrating the anniversary of the “Islamic revolution.” The rally is supported, among others, by Liberales Forum, Grüne Andersrum, and the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI). The day before the reception, on Thursday, 10 February, STOP THE BOMB invite everyone interested to a lecture by Saeed Ghasseminejad, spokesman of the Liberal Students Organization of Iran. Ghasseminejad will speak on “the future of the Iranian freedom movement” at 7:30 p.m. in Raum D of the Vienna Museumsquartier.
Hiwa Bahrami (PDKI) summarizes the rally’s concern in one point: “We are not going to watch in silence while the Islamic Republic – that continues to suppress the freedom movement in Iran with brutal force – celebrates itself in Vienna. Whereas the regime has thoroughly lost its legitimacy in the eyes of a large part of the Iranian population, those accepting the invitation to such a reception – politicians, business representatives and diplomats – court the dictatorship of ayatollahs and revolutionary guards.” STOP THE BOMB spokeswoman, Simone Dinah Hartmann, would like to know who is going to represent the Austrian side at the reception: “We hope that journalists will ask questions as to who the politicians, diplomats and business representatives are who place themselves at the disposal of a regime that executed 65 persons in January alone.”
In its call to the rally, STOP THE BOMB demands an end to the useless dialogue with the rulers of Tehran, support of the democratic and secular opposition committed to the rule of law, as well as harsh and comprehensive sanctions that make it impossible for the Tehran regime to continue its nuclear arms program.
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Germany’s erratic course with Israel

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL
Making sense of why zigzagging by Merkel frustrates policy-makers in DC, Jerusalem.
BERLIN – The social and political unrest unfolding in Egypt overshadowed German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit last week to Israel. While in Israel as part of a joint German- Israeli cabinet session, she backpedaled from a new round of Iran sanctions.“We must see whether further sanctions are necessary,” said the chancellor. During speeches to the Knesset in 2008 and the US Congress in 2009, Merkel stressed that her administration would not accept a nuclear-armed Iran and that Israel’s security is “nonnegotiable.”In her comments in Israel, Merkel seemed to make her desire to implement new sanctions contingent on whether Russia and China would join a new round. Last year, however, she talked about sanctions independent of Russia and China as part of a “coalition of the willing.” Her zigzag Iran course has irritated the Americans and Israelis.US frustration with Merkel and her foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, seems to have reached a breaking point this week. Germany’s recalcitrant position about shutting down Iran’s main financial conduit in Europe – the Hamburg- based European-Iranian Trade Bank (EIH) – prompted a bipartisan group of US senators on February 1 to issue a strongly worded letter to Westerwelle.“We write to express our grave concern with the continued financial support of Iran’s nuclear proliferation activity by European-Iranian Trade Bank in Hamburg and urge the German government to take immediate action to end these practices,” 11 senators wrote.The bipartisan letter was signed by the following senators: Frank R. Lautenberg (DNew Jersey), Mike Johanns (RNebraska), Barbara Boxer (DCalifornia), Bob Casey (DPennsylvania), Scott Brown (RMassachusetts), Al Franken (DMinnesota), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York), Mark Kirk (R-Illinois), Jon Kyl (R-Arizona), Joe Lieberman (I-Connecticut), and Jerry Moran (R-Kansas).While the tone of the letter noted that Germany shares the concerns of the international community about Iran’s human rights violations, nuclear program, and support for terrorism, the senators ratcheted up the language by saying, “Yet, the continued operation of EIH allows the Iranian regime to skirt the sanctions and undercut their effectiveness.”Flourishing German-Iranian trade relations, particularly Merkel’s refusal to close the EIH, remain a vexing problem for the Israeli government.According to a Thursday Reuters news item, “The State Bank of India (SBI) will organize the payments, which will be in euros, with German bank EIH, the source said on condition of anonymity.”
The article noted that “SBI has got [assurance] from the highest levels of the government to deal with EIH. There is a backlog of around $2 billion in payments.”The Israeli Embassy in Berlin has closely followed the recent transaction and repeatedly urged the German government to act against EIH.The EIH also plays a key role for processing commercial transactions for many German businesses active in Iran. Critics charge that Merkel and the Economics Ministry are relegating Israel’s security to a secondary status in order to not alienate their mid and small-level business constituency, a key voting block for Merkel’s coalition partner, the Free Democratic Party.The processing of the India gas payments by EIH is precisely what troubles Israeli and American politicians and security officials. The revenues from the EIH transactions can be used by Iran to advance its nuclear weapons program and finance terror entities like Hamas and Hizbullah.The topic of settlement construction and the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks also played a role during Merkel’s two-day visit to Israel.While the headlines of German newspapers were filled with saturation coverage of Egyptian protesters seeking to dislodge the Mubarak government, the conservative daily Die Welt published a lead commentary from editorial writer Torsten Krauel on its front page Tuesday sharply criticizing Merkel for her skewed and erratic policies toward Israel.Krauel’s article – “Merkel’s Middle East Policies Encourage Extremists” – classified Merkel’s fixation on pushing Israel to unilaterally end settlement construction around Jerusalem at a time of massive upheaval in the Arab world as misguided.He wrote that Merkel’s tone during her visit to Israel implies that “these settlements are the only remaining obstacle on the track to a quick Middle East peace. For this reason, the Chancellor makes a big mistake.”Krauel, who was the Die Welt correspondent in Washington and is a now a top editor for German politics at the paper, views Merkel’s current foreign policy posture toward Israel as flawed, largely because her policy will result in no security concessions from the Arab side for the Jewish state. He cites Israel’s withdrawals from Lebanon and Gaza as telling examples of Israeli cooperation, which were met with radical Islamic absorption of those areas and rocket attacks on Israel’s southern and northern borders.His commentary represents, with few exceptions, a kind of journalistic anomaly within the mainstream German media and think tank landscape. The Mideast departure point among most German journalists and think tanks like the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, which serves as the main foreign policy adviser to the German government, has been the advocating of a peace agreement with the Palestinians as the sine quo nun of regional stability.The Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia and ordinary workingclass Egyptian efforts to democratize their political system have swiftly debunked Germany’s model of prioritizing an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal over resolving the problems of the Iranian threat, authoritarian Arab governments, Hamas control of Gaza, and the rise of Hizbullah as the kingmaker in Lebanese politics.All of this helps to explain Krauel’s deconstruction of Merkel’s flawed insistence that Israel embrace straight away the current opportunity to nail an agreement with the Palestinians and end construction of Israeli apartments in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.Merkel’s policies toward Israeli security and Mideast stability depends on how much her administration views Israel’s national security being integral to Germany’s national security.In stark contrast to America’s understanding of Israeli security, German rhetoric and Merkel’s erratic actions lack the same level of policy application and have led to expressions of rising frustration from US and Israeli officials, politicians and diplomats.
jpost.com

Germany: Support grows for hosting Mubarak

More German politicians are supporting allowing Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to come to Germany for medical treatment in the hopes it might calm the turmoil his country. But a human rights activist is preparing to press charges against him. “The federal government should give a signal to Mubarak that he can come to Germany if he wants to,” Elmar Brok, a conservative member of the European Parliament, told the Frankfurter Rundschau daily. “If that is a way to help bring about a peaceful transition in Egypt, we should do it.”Over the past few days, there has been intense media speculation Mubarak might leave Egypt and come to Germany for a prolonged medical check-up. The New York Times reported that US government officials and Egyptian military officials have held secret talks regarding the matter. Der Spiegel said that plans for a possible hospital stay in Germany appear to be more concrete than previously believed and that a luxury clinic near the resort town of Baden-Baden is being considered.It would not be the first time Germany has put out the welcome mat for an embattled strongman. In 2003, the overthrown president of Georgia, Edward Shevardnadze, was given the option of coming to Germany after being forced to resign in the wake of the so-called Rose Revolution there. He did not accept the invitation. Over the weekend, several other politicians said an extended medical leave in Germany might be a good way to provide the 82-year-old Egyptian leader with a dignified way to leave the country. Andreas Schockenhoff, the deputy head of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative parliamentary group, and Elke Hoff, security spokesperson of the Free Democrats, said over the weekend they were open to the idea.
the local

New German anti-Muslim party calls Islam 'totalitarian'

BERLIN. The leader of a newly created anti-Islamic party in Germany said he wants to stop the immigration of Muslims and described Islam as a "totalitarian system" bent on supplanting western liberal values.
In an interview with The National, Rene Stadtkewitz, 46, said Muslims were not integrating into German society as well as other immigrants and that authorities should become stricter, by banning headscarves in school, stopping public funding for teaching young children the Quran and curbing the influence of Islamic organisations.
"Islam is far more than a religion. It's an entire model of society that is incredibly binding for many people," he said. "It's basically a political system with its own legal system that seeks to regulate all aspects of life. We criticise the socio-political component of Islam, which I see as an ideological one similar to other totalitarian systems, and which I think is dangerous."
He called Islam "the opposite of a free society" and said the faith posed a threat because it sought to instil different values in Germany, and because it encouraged immigrants to segregate themselves.
Mr Stadtkewitz, a former member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), set up his party, Freedom, last October. He had been expelled from the CDU's parliamentary group in the Berlin city assembly for inviting Geert Wilders, the controversial Dutch Islam critic and head of the Party for Freedom, to Berlin for a conference.
Germany has had no populist, anti-Islamic party until now. Opinion polls suggest a party such as Freedom could get some 20 per cent of the vote in a general election. A recent survey commissioned by Berliner Zeitung, a local newspaper, showed as many as one in four Berliners could imagine voting for it.
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Official clarifies Auschwitz remarks

BRUSSELS. Turkish EU Affairs Minister Egemen Bagis, could have used more thoughtful words at a Holocaust commemoration event in Auschwitz, officials said.
The European Commission, the executive body of the EU, said Bagis could have “better chosen” his words and Bagis later clarified his comments, EUobserver reported.
“The EU, founded in order to eliminate the threats of that period to peace, is today under the risk of being overtaken by a racist mentality that cannot internalize its own values and emulates the fascist methods of 1930s,” Bagis told a group of people inside the former German concentration camp in Auschwitz Tuesday.
“Minister Bagis explained to the commissioner that his words were intended to express his concern at the rising role of some extremist groups in the EU and … that this could contribute to a potential lessening of tolerance towards minorities,” said Natasha Butler, a spokeswoman for EU enlargement commissioner Stefan Fule.
Butler said the EU was “grateful for this clarification” but that “the original words could have been better chosen.”
Bagis also called for an apology for the recent deaths of Turkish citizens on a relief ship taking supplies to Palestinians in the Gaza strip.
“This unfair and persistent attitude of the Israeli government is not consistent with the historical perspective,” Bagis said. “May God not let any nation or country suffer such pain.”
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U.S. Senators Demand that Germany close Iran EIH Bank

Picture: The Hamburg-based European-Iranian Trade Bank (EIH)
By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL
U.S. frustration with German chancellor Angela Merkel and her foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, seems to have reached a breaking point this week. Germany’s recalcitrant position about shutting down Iran’s main financial conduit in Europe – the Hamburg-based European-Iranian Trade Bank (EIH) – prompted a bipartisan group of U.S. senators on February 1 to issue a strongly worded letter to German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle.
“We write to express our grave concern with the continued financial support of Iran’s nuclear proliferation activity by Europäisch-Iranische Handelsbank (EIH) in Hamburg and urge the German government to take immediate action to end these practices,” eleven senators wrote.
While the tone of the letter noted that Germany shares the concerns of the international community about Iran’s human rights violations, nuclear program, and support for terrorism, the senators ratcheted up the language by saying, “Yet, the continued operation of EIH allows the Iranian regime to skirt the sanctions and undercut their effectiveness.”
In short, the senators are charging the German government with being an accomplice to busting Iranian sanctions, and in connection with not stopping Iran’s drive to obtain nuclear weapons. The German Foreign Ministry says that they are reviewing the letter and will issue a reply. More...
weeklystandard.com

Germany: Burqa Verboten! German Stadt bans Islamic burka for public workers

by sheikyermami / Picture: BILD.de
Heads they win, tails we lose: the burqa momma is now on the dole and will no longer contribute to German Society. Her hubby is working on his zebiba and is simply too busy in the mosque to bother with gainful employment…..
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Protest rally against the Iranian regime at reception in Vienna

Friday, February 11th 2011, 6 pm
In front of the residence of the Iranian ambassador to Vienna, Lainzer Strasse 28, 1130 Vienna (Tram 60)

Vienna: The Future of the Iranian Freedom Movement

Lecture with Saeed Ghasseminejad (spokesperson of the Liberal Students Organization of Iran)
Chair: Simone Dinah Hartmann (STOP THE BOMB)
Thursday, February 10th 2011, 7:30 pm
Museumsquartier, Raum D
(Quartier 21, Electric Avenue)
The lecture will be held in English.
On the eve of the anniversary of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, which established a terror regime that has been in power for three decades, the lecture will focus on the perspectives of the Iranian freedom movement. While the regime is going to stage celebrations in Iran and also in its European embassies that day, we want to discuss the possibility of the regime’s overthrow. At the same time, certain phenomena observed within the protest movement, which evolved after the fraud presidential elections in June 2009, will be subject of a critical review. To what extent are there reverberations stemming from the alliance of Islamists and authoritarian Marxists-Leninists in 1979 in today’s “reformist” Islamist wing of the protest movement against Ahmadinejad and Khamenei? What is the role of anti-Semitism and of the statements against Israel in this movement? Which concepts do exist for a future Iran liberated from the Ayathollahs’ and Pasdarans’ regime? Saeed Ghasseminejad is a spokesperson of the Liberal Students and Graduates Organization of Iran (LSGOI). He is now living in Paris and director of the Centre Iranien d’Etudes du Liberalisme.
This event is organized by STOP THE BOMB

Wiesenthal Centre:- "Condemn Turkish Hate-Film 'Valley of the Wolves - Palestine' as Imminent Threat to Inter-Community Relations"

Wiesenthal Center Los Angeles. In appeals to German Chancellor, Angela Merkel and Austrian Chancellor, Werner Faymann, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, urged their condemnation of Turkish antisemitic film, "Valley of the Wolves - Palestine", as "an imminent threat to Muslim-Jewish relations" in their respective countries. He, similarly, called on the two leaders to invoke German- Turkish and Austrian-Turkish associations to discourage their communities from frequenting hate-propaganda, analogous to such Nazi-period film bigotry as "Jew Suess"Samuels noted that the FSK (Voluntary Self-Regulation of the Movie Industry) on 27 January - International Holocaust Commemoration Day - had authorized the movie's distribution throughout Germany. On the same date, the film went on general release across Austria.The Centre pointed to the German agency's admission, in its report, to the film's "propaganda tendentiousness", as had been the case in its 2006 predecessor, 'Valley of the Wolves- Iraq'. The latter displayed packages of Turkish soldiers' body-parts labelled "Destination Tel Aviv", with an American Jewish doctor training US troops to shootIraqi civilians and Turkish military, in a way to keep all vital organs intact. The current feature - the most expensive in Turkey'scinematographic history and reportedly endorsed by Turkish authorities - denies the Jewish state's legitimacy and right to self-defense".Samuels continued, "the latest production will not only exacerbate already damaged Turkish-Israeli relations, it can incite to violence between the 3 million Turks and some 105,000 Jews in Germany, as between the 500,000 Muslims and 15,000 Jews of Austria".The Centre recalled that, "it annually monitors hate at the Frankfurt Book Fair. In 2008, the Fair's Honoured Guest was Turkey. Ironically, that year the greatest number of antisemitic volumes were displayed on Turkish Ministry of Culture stands. In 2009 and 2010 those stands were clean, a fact, explained by the President of Turkey's Publishers Association, 'as due to German intervention in Ankara at the behest of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre'".The letter stressed that "Turkish youth, raised in Germany and Austria must learn of the 1941 brutality of the Turkish military in holding the SS Struma and its passengers - Jewish fugitives from Nazi-allied Romania. Their denial of food and medicines and their forcing thedefenceless human cargo into the Black Sea, where they were sunk. The sole survivor, a teenager, testified to his subsequent incarceration and beatings in Istanbul.The lesson would set a counterpoint to the perverse account of the Marvi Marmara, highlighted in 'The Valley of the Wolves - Palestine'".Samuels' appeals also proposed that "German-Turkish and Austrian-Turkish youth should learn of Jewish contributions to Turkey since the fifteenth century and the harmony with their Muslim neighbours" - proudly, he added, "celebrated by my late grandfather, on leaving his Istanbul home to settle in England".The Centre expressed its hope "to work through the Chancellors to enhance Jewish-Muslim relations, through an educational programme in Germany, Austria and throughout Europe"."The damage wrought by such hate-films as "Valley of the Wolves - Palestine, must be contained by condemnation, outreach and, above all, pedagogical enlightenment", concluded Samuels.
die jüdische

Germany: Hesse bans burkas for state workers

The state of Hesse has banned the wearing of the burka – the Muslim dress that covers a woman’s face – by state employees during work hours, officials announced late Tuesday.
The decision was made by Interior Minister Boris Rhein in response to a worker at a local administrative office, or Bürgeramt, in Frankfurt who wanted to report for work wearing a burka.The woman is just finishing a period of parental leave but has been given some extra time to reconsider her position.“We have allowed her a couple more days to think about the situation,” said Frankfurt city head of personnel Markus Frank. “We want to relieve the pressure somewhat.”The 39-year-old woman had the option of returning to work without her burka. Before she went on parenting leave, she wore a headscarf only.But shortly before her scheduled return to work, she announced she wanted to wear a full burka on religious grounds. Daily Bild reported that there might be financial issues involved, as there had been discussion of a €40,000 settlement, though the woman’s lawyer had later talked of €18,000.However Frank insisted the woman was not due for any kind of financial settlement. Nor is she being paid at the moment, because she is a part-time worker.“We will not pay a cent of taxpayers’ money for this,” Frank said.The city was following the clear rule that workers in the public service must make their faces visible. Frank said he hoped that the woman would think the matter over and return to work without the burka.“We’re giving her another chance. Either she takes it or she doesn’t,” he said. “That is a clear limit that we are sticking to.”Interior Minister Rhein said the state government was on safe legal ground because public service workers were obliged to be politically and religiously neutral. Veiled women conveyed the image that was not consistent with liberal and cosmopolitan values.“What’s more, the burka can be understood as a sign of an attitude contrary to the values of the western world,” said Rhein.
theLocal

Church ban for Coptic Bishop in Germany

OSNABRUCK – The bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Germany Anba Damian (photo), would hold a lecture of the history and persecution of his church in Egypt in the evangelical community in St. Thomas Bohmte near the city of Osnabruck.
But the parish council refused to hold the event in their rooms, because they was feared that, this would disturb “the freedom of religion” in the region. In other words, the truth was banned for fear of Islam! The bishop finally spoke in a restaurant. The Coptic Orthodox Church in Germany, consists of approximately 6,000 members.
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