RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16873/austria-court-headscarf-ban

The case highlights the constitutional restraints that European governments face in regulating political Islam and promoting integration.

“A regulation that only affects a certain group of female students and that remains selective in order to ensure religious and ideological neutrality as well as gender equality misses its regulatory goal and is irrelevant. §43a SchUG therefore violates the principle of equality in connection with the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.” — Austria’s Constitutional Court, December 11, 2020.

“The prohibition of the wearing of Islamic headscarves in elementary schools was never intended to be a restriction of religious freedom, but rather as a protective mechanism against sexualization and Islamic oppression of underage children…. Unfortunately, this judgment is a step backwards in terms of civilization.” — Leader of the Freedom Party in Upper Austria, Manfred Haimbuchner.

The Austrian Constitutional Court has ruled that Austria’s ban on the wearing of headscarves in public schools violates the freedom of religion and the freedom of expression and therefore is unconstitutional.

The case highlights the constitutional restraints that European governments face in regulating political Islam and promoting integration.

The headscarf ban, introduced in June 2019 by a governing coalition comprised of the center-right People’s Party (ÖVP) and the populist Freedom Party (FPÖ), was an extension of a groundbreaking October 2017 “Integration Law” that sought to improve the integration of Muslims into Austrian society.

The 2017 law banned face coverings — including burkas, niqabs or masks — in public spaces. The 2019 law extended that ban to preclude children under the age of ten from wearing headscarves in primary schools.

The 2019 law, which did not explicitly refer to Muslims or Islam, banned “any clothing that is ideological or religious and that involves covering the head.” The law defined head coverings as “any type of clothing that covers the entire head hair or large parts of it.” The text explained that the law was necessary to promote “the social integration of children according to local customs and traditions, the preservation of the basic constitutional values ​​and educational goals of the Federal Constitution, as well as the equality of men and women.”

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16867/iran-diplomats-terrorists-europe

The EU would to itself a big favor to realize that Assadi was likely not acting alone. High-level Iranian leaders and diplomats most probably instructed him to carry out the terrorist operation.

It was because of his diplomatic position that Assadi was reportedly able to bring the explosives from Tehran to Vienna without being caught. In other word, Iranian diplomats are key enablers of Khamenei’s fundamentalist agenda abroad.

Unless or until Iran’s mullahs stop their terror activities, the EU would do itself and the Free World another big favor by cutting off its diplomatic ties with a regime that is murdering European citizens and carrying out terror plots on European soil.

While the European Union appears excited that Joe Biden will be the next US President and then they can immediately rejoin the nuclear deal and lift sanctions against the mullahs, Tehran continues its terrorism on the European soil.

As the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, is urging the US to rejoin the JCPOA, one of Iran’s active diplomats in Belgium is currently on trial, accused of orchestrating a terrorist operation in Europe in 2018. French officials foiled a planned bomb attack in Paris against a large “Free Iran” convention attended by tens of thousands of people, including many high-level speakers such as former US House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and Canada’s former Prime Minister Stephen Harper and former Foreign Minister John Baird.

If the terrorist plot were successful, it would have possibly been one of the largest terrorist acts sponsored by the Iranian regime. Where is the EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, on this issue? Completely silent.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16868/hungary-europe-borders

“Hungary will only be a Hungarian country as long as its borders remain intact. Therefore, not only our thousand-year-old statehood but also the future of our children obliges us to protect our borders.” — Judit Varga, Hungarian Justice Minister, December 17, 2020.

“While the Action Plan would give immigrants more rights and entitlements, it does not seem to take into consideration the security risks associated with mass migration.” — Zoltán Kovács, spokesman for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, December 17, 2020.

“If you are thinking that all of this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. The Action Plan looks similar to George Soros’ plan to have Europe admit ‘at least a million asylum-seekers annually for the foreseeable future.’…. Those migrants that Europe should be admitting, according to the Soros plan, their distribution should be permanent and mandatory. He also made it clear that his plan aims to protect immigrants and that national borders are an obstacle to this.” — Zoltán Kovács, December 17, 2020.

“The Union, according to the plan, would give more support to immigrants than to its own citizens by supporting businesses established and run by the former. Moreover, the plan, by supporting the employment of migrants, would put unemployed EU citizens in an even more difficult position.” — Zoltán Kovács, December 17, 2020.

“But the Commission’s Action Plan goes even further, seeking to bring in some 34 million migrants to become EU citizens (nearly 8 percent of the current EU population). That is, 34 million migrants would be granted citizenship and the right to vote…. Who says this is what Europe wants or needs? When have the citizens of Europe voted for this?” — Zoltán Kovács, December 17, 2020.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/12/shuttering-europe-katie-hopkins/

At the risk of sounding like a small child being scolded by its mother for fighting, it was Germany who started it – and I am not talking about WWI. Or even WWII, though I will always hold a deep-seated grudge against the country for both of those events.

I am talking about the complete shuttering of Europe for Christmas.

One day Merkel was on German TV screens wringing her hands and imploring her people to be more cautious. (I wondered what was going on; Merkel does not do emotion.)

The next day she reverted to type and threw Germany into a hard lockdown, closing shops, schools and everything in between. (I felt some relief; at least this was the woman I knew.)

Merkel is the ginger German equivalent of Mark Zuckerberg. And by that I mean very odd.

I swear that woman could impound Santa’s sleigh and still be back in the European Parliament by 7am in a pant suit, calmly discussing Fiscal Stimulus while little children wake to empty stockings.

The vast population of Muslims she imported into Germany call her Mutti Merkel (Mother Merkel) and I am sure they are as excited as Polar elves to watch this angry woman all but cancel Christmas in a country famous for its festive season. Erdogan must be rewarding her well.

Most of the major Christmas markets in Germany have been canceled, as have New Year fireworks displays.

https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2020/12/islam-and-the-french-soul/

In search of narratives that have defined the West of the twenty-first century, a renewed emphasis on the nation-state and Islamic terrorism are the two that immediately come to mind. The latter found starkest expression in the Twin Tower attacks of 2001, the former in the decision of the British people to leave the European Union and of the American people to elect Donald Trump in 2016.

France has been touched by a resurgence of nationalism. The question in French presidential politics today is not which two candidates will make the second and final round, but who will compete against Marine Le Pen and thus be handed the keys to the Elysée. But Islamic terrorism has touched France more acutely than any other Western nation, to the extent that Le Pen’s inevitable loss can no longer be counted upon.

Since the beginning of the last decade, France has witnessed an unending train of terrorist attacks, each seeming to trump the last in depravity and devastation. These include the murder of three paratroopers, a rabbi and three young schoolchildren in 2012, the Charlie Hebdo and kosher supermarket sieges in January 2015, the November attacks of the same year which resulted in the death of 131, the lorry attack on the Nice promenade which killed eighty-six and the Strasbourg Christmas market attack in 2018.

In the last month alone, a twenty-five-year-old Pakistani refugee stabbed four people—seriously injuring two others—outside the former offices of Charlie Hebdo after the magazine reprinted the Mohammed cartoon which led to the first attack on the publication in 2015. Last week, an eighteen-year-old Chechen, also a refugee, beheaded a history teacher, Samuel Paty, who had shown his students the same cartoon in a class on freedom of expression.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16859/iran-topple-arab-leaders

Hamas’s call on Moroccans to revolt against their leaders contradicts its own declared policy that it does not intervene in the internal affairs of the Arab countries. “Hamas does not meddle in the internal affairs of Arab and Muslim countries,” said senior Hamas official Salah Bardaweel. If true, why is Hamas denouncing Morocco’s decision to establish relations with Israel?

Showing Hamas’s hypocrisy out in the sunlight, Hamas maintains continuous communication with Egypt, the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel. Just last week, Egyptian intelligence officials again visited the Gaza Strip….

Hamas would not dare to fire one rocket or bullet toward Egypt. Evidently, Hamas leaders know that the moment they attack Egypt, they and the entire Gaza Strip would pay a heavy price, most likely by having a huge military offensive launched against the Islamist movement.

These Arabs say that they hope to see the new US administration endorse a tough policy toward Iran and not send a message of weakness to the mullahs. Any attempt to appease Iran or ease the sanctions on it will only embolden the mullahs and increase their appetite to instigate coups to overthrow various Arab countries.

Iran’s Islamist proxies in the Arab world have resurfaced to condemn last week’s normalization agreement between Israel and Morocco just as they did with similar accords reached in the past few months with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan.

As usual, the Islamists and their patrons in Tehran, who seek the elimination of Israel, are using texts from the Koran and sayings attributed to the prophet Mohammed to justify their opposition to the normalization of relations between Arabs and Israel.

After the Israel-Morocco deal, however, the Islamists have stepped up their campaign of incitement against Arabs who want to make peace with Israel.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/12/trudeaus-china-syndrome-lloyd-billingsley/

December 10 marked two years since China’s Communist regime seized Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor.  “These two Canadians are an absolute priority for our government,” Canadian foreign minister Francois-Philippe Champagne told reporters, “and we will continue to work tirelessly to secure their immediate release and to stand up for them as a government and as Canadians.” According to another story that broke last week, the government’s true priority is to ignore the captives and stand up for China.

Secret government documents obtained by Rebel News reveal that the Trudeau government invited the People’s Liberation Army to conduct a “winter survival training exercise” at the Canadian Armed Forces base at Petawawa, Ontario. Defense chief Jonathan Vance canceled the training when China kidnapped Kovrig and Spavor. That came days after Canada detained Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, sought in the United States for fraud.

The government documents name Meng Wenzhou, but not Kovrig and Spavor, who show up only as “consular cases,” with no reference to their status as hostages. The biggest revelation was the cooperation between the Trudeau government and the People’s Liberation Army of Communist China.

“That cold-weather warfare you are referring to is just one of 18 different joint projects the Canadian armed forces had with the People’s Liberation Army in 2019 alone, Rebel News founder Ezra Levant told Tucker Carlson of Fox News. “Canada is training one- and two-star Chinese generals in our war colleges, training lieutenants and majors, commanders. We’re sending Canadians over to China, we’re bringing Chinese — I think they are not just soldiers, I think they’re spies, as well, and I don’t know a single person in this country knew about it.”

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16864/europe-coronavirus-second-wave

On December 11, Germany recorded 29,875 new coronavirus cases, a one-day record, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases.

Economists are warning that the second coronavirus lockdown has increased the risk of another recession in Europe’s largest economy.

“After the coronavirus crisis, Germany will look different: Now many companies, such as car factories, suppliers, steelworks and mechanical engineering companies will be closed forever. Even if the country is unlocked again, companies that are gone cannot start up again. Consumers and entrepreneurs are unsettled. This is poison for the economy and jobs.” — Tichys Einblick, German blog, December 1, 2020

In Sweden, which has stood out for its “no lockdown” approach to the coronavirus pandemic, Prime Minister Stefan Löfven imposed the toughest restrictions yet after a spike in the number of infected people filling intensive care units. He said that the “unprecedented” response was needed if Sweden is to “curb transmission.”

The German government has reimposed strict lockdown measures in an effort to reverse a spike in Covid-19 infections. Beginning on December 16, all non-essential shops and businesses, as well as all schools and daycare centers, will be closed until at least January 10.

The new restrictions, which were agreed upon after talks between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the leaders of Germany’s 16 federal states, come after less intrusive lockdown measures that began on November 2 failed to significantly bring down the number of infections.

On December 11, Germany recorded 29,875 new coronavirus cases, a one-day record, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases. Germany’s intensive care unit capacity — the most important measure of a health system’s ability to deal with the pandemic — is at a critical level, with only 5% to 10% of intensive care beds available in some parts of the country, according to the Association of Critical Care and Emergency Medicine (DIVI).