Jihad and the West - Black Flag over Babylon - Chapter Eight Podcast Seven

Germany   Muslim–Non-Muslim Relations   “Of course there are Muslims in Germany. But Islam is not part of the German mainstream culture.”  Alexander Dobrindt, the general secretary of the Christian Social Union, 2011               History follows Germany, and many Germans are sensitive about their global image. Germany never had the colonial associations Britain or France had with the Middle East, although there were some connections in the twentieth century to Muslim states and people. The Ottomans were allied with Germany as a member of the Central Powers in World War I, and the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem was a guest and a minor, though enthusiastic, collaborator of Hitler in World War II. But Germany’s connection to the Muslim world began to develop in earnest during the post-war economic boom, when Turks were invited to live there as guest workers.               For reasons that will be debated for years, Chancellor Merkel invited over one million refugees to settle in Germany and put down roots. She called this influx “an opportunity for tomorrow” and urged her fellow Germans to be “self-confident and free, humanitarian and open to the world.” Amid the world’s greatest refugee wave since World War II, some Germans drew hope from history. In the wake of World War II, twelve million refugees in Germany had fled the Russian army’s onslaught. They were absorbed and helped build the German Economic Miracle of the 1950s and early 1960s. Many Germans were confident that their model could be replicated with their new Muslim neighbors.               But many Germans were unprepared for the current influx of people and are bewildered by Chancellor Merkel’s decision-making. Some offer an economic explanation, noting that Germany’s birth rate is well below replacement, which may lead to an insufficient domestic workforce. Others have suggested that the chancellor wants to purge any lingering traces of German war guilt. There are other, less conventional explanations. Some have turned to psychology, suggesting that, having no children of her own, the chancellor, as leader of a country, has adopted millions of children.   Kultur Kampf               Many Germans openly welcomed their new neighbors. Germans gave migrant children teddy bears and candy and offered parents assistance with housing and directions. Some German families took in refugee families and donated their own possessions to donation centers. In November 2015, an Ernst & Young study concluded that Germany would not be able to provide shelter for a projected 370,000 migrants fleeing Middle Eastern misery. The migrant population had soared to many times that figure less than one year later.               However, problems became increasingly apparent. Initially, the press ran stories about cultural idiosyncrasies and clever anecdotes. For example, German nudists were forced to dress when a refugee shelter was built next door. Public swimming pools in Germany struggled with certain Muslim swimming customs; some banned the burka-bikini, or “burkini,” as potentially unhygienic. However, serious problems soon emerged between the cultures. Germans could establish separate swimming times for the sexes, but there were thousands of reports of mass groping by those with “migrant backgrounds.” In Munich, public pools, for instance, published cartoons warning migrants not to grope women in bikinis. The sex-pest dust-ups flared in summer 2016. Sharia patrols yelled at women and children in a nudist swimming pool, calling them “sluts” and “infidels” and saying they should be “exterminated.”               Other anecdotes are ominous. In the summer of 2016, a Muslim set a German woman’s hair on fire at a train platform. Why? According to the Muslim, “She wasn’t wearing a hijab.” Earlier, a Jewish man wearing a kippah, a traditional Jewish head covering, was beaten and kicked by Middle Eastern–appearing men. The victim volunteered at a refugee center in Cologne, where they welcomed Middle Eastern immigrants.             If any single event drew public attention to the cultural clash, it was the New Year’s Eve 2016 celebration in Cologne, which led to more than 1,000 complaints of molestation. Women and girls reported thefts, molestation, and harassment by Middle Eastern–appearing men. Cologne’s mayor dismissed the assaults as cultural misunderstandings and poor policing.               One of the victims was 15-year-old Bibi Wilhailm, a German girl, whose cri de coeur was censored by Facebook on charges of hate speech. Bibi recounted being harassed by Muslim men. “You [Muslim men] have no right to attack us because we are wearing T-shirts . . . why should we, children, have to grow up in such fear?” She continued, “The politicians live alone in their villas, drink their cocktails, and do nothing . . . Please, do something.” In England, another girl, far more violated than Bibi, pleaded for her voice to be heard. Below are their words.   Profile Twenty-Nine: Two Anglo-Saxon Teenage Girls   Bibi’s Plea to Germany and Its Men  “You have killed Germany.” Bibi, 2016   This comes from a 15-year-old German girl.    “I am almost 16. I would like everyone to know what is going on, what I am authentically feeling at this moment . . . And I am so scared everywhere. . . . It is just very hard to live day-to-day life as a woman. I just want to say that I am not a racist. But one day, a terrible thing happened at the supermarket. I ran all the way home. I was so frightened for my life. There’s no other way to describe it.             But more importantly, I cannot understand why Germany is doing nothing!. . . Men of Germany, these people are killing your children, they are killing your women. We need your protection. We are so scared, we don’t want to be frightened to go to the grocery store alone after sunset. One day, my friend and I were walking down the street, and a group of Arabs were protesting and demonstrating. They shouted, ‘Allah! Allah! Allah is the one God! Kill those infidels! Allah Allah!’ What should I do? Should I wear a burka? Why should I have to convert to Islam. . . .               The life of Germany has changed because these people cannot integrate. We give them so much help. We support them financially and they do not have to work. But they only want more babies and more welfare and more money. Men of Germany, please, patrol the streets and protect us. Do this for your women and your children. If you do that, I believe that we will have a chance. Thank you, Angela Merkel, for killing Germany! I have no more respect for you, Merkel. . . . You have killed Germany!