Deadly Knife Attack by a Syrian Refugee in Germany Resets the Political Dynamic Ahead of Elections

Germany just got the jihadist wake up call that nobody wanted to hear — and the repercussions could be far reaching. On Friday a 26-year-old Syrian refugee, Issa al Hasan, killed three people and wounded eight in a knife attack at Solingen, in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia. For a leading daily, Die Welt, Germany “has a problem with young, violent men from Muslim societies” even though “once again the obvious is not mentioned.” This time the radical Islamic factor is being mentioned, and loudly. German exasperation with violent attacks linked to Islamic fundamentalist violence is echoing across political lines.Eight years have passed since ISIS last claimed responsibility for an attack in Germany. That was in 2016, when a Tunisian drove his truck into pedestrians at the Christmas market at Berlin’s Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. Since then, no violent episodes — there have been at least 10 — were officially claimed by ISIS. According to German press reports, Mr. al Hasan — a failed asylum seeker who was given a deportation order last year — pounced on the pedestrians after filming a video in which he swore allegiance to ISIS. He has confessed to his crimes.The attack adds fuel to speculation that Germany is the latest target of Islamic terror in Europe. Between 2013 and 2017, France and Belgium were in the line of fire, but recently that line appears to have shifted. The slayings at Solingen throw into sharp relief Germany’s Syrian refugee problem — caused in part by the dubious choices made by Chancellor Merkel when she was in power. In 2015, with civil war raging in Syria, Frau Merkel famously said “wir schaffen das” — “we can manage it.” She was referring to an anticipated influx of refugees. By conservative estimations, more than 972,000 Syrians have now obtained political asylum in Germany, just behind the Turks as the country’s largest non-native German group.The Turks, while mostly Muslim, are also largely secular — a cultural characteristic not as a prevalent in the Syrian community. Among the devout Muslims that poured in from Syria, with Berlin’s sanction, came some jihadists, too.Germans still remember the chaos of the New Year’s Eve events at Cologne in 2016. Then what the government identified as large groups of mainly Arab men sexually assaulted more than 1,200 women. This happened shortly after Frau Merkel had flung open Germany’s borders to accommodate Syrian refugees. Her neoliberal inclinations appeared to founder last year when another 300,000 foreigners reportedly asked for asylum, prompting Chancellor Scholz to respond that Germany was essentially full. After last week’s attack, Herr Scholz is promising to speed up deportations. That might be a case of too little, too late. Security in German cities, or lack thereof, is a pressing issue. Among the ranks of the hundreds of thousands of Syrians now entrenched in Germany, and not likely to be deported, there are plenty of young men who have seen their brothers or a parent fight in parts of Syria where the Islamic State had, and possibly still has, influence. Germany might offer free language lessons and other immigrant benefits, but these peoples’ paths to young adulthood risks radicalization. German authorities have recorded 13 arrests for links to ISIS since the beginning of the year — implicating those of Syrian as well as Afghan and Iraqi origin. The war in Gaza only exacerbates tensions — the failure, real or feigned, of many recent Syrian arrivals to comprehend why Germany supports Israel in the conflict risks inflaming sentiment against the German government.Attacks like the one at Solingen will no doubt bolster the anti-immigrant arguments of Germany’s far-right AfD party, but — more intriguingly — more moderates are coming around to such sentiments. On Sunday the leader of the conservative opposition Christian Democrats, Friedrich Merz, called for Germany’s current immigration policy to be reversed and urged Herr Scholz to work with him.“Visits to crime scenes, expressions of sympathy and threats of punishment (‘with the full force of the law’) are all right and necessary, but they are definitely no longer enough after this terrorist act,” Mr. Merz said.He added that “people can be deported to Syria and Afghanistan, but we will not accept any more refugees from these countries. Anyone who travels from Germany to their home country as a refugee will immediately lose all residence status in Germany. We will permanently check the German borders.”With state elections looming in eastern Germany, immigration policy and stricter border controls are becoming major campaign issues alongside the war in Ukraine. The AfD which is leading the polls in two of the three states up for election — closely followed by the conservative CDU.

Deadly Knife Attack by a Syrian Refugee in Germany Resets the Political Dynamic Ahead of Elections

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