It is not just German Chancellor Angela Merkel who is sickened that the Berlin lorry massacre appears to have been carried out by an asylum seeker. Muslims who have been given protection and shelter in Germany, thanks to Merkel’s humane and generous admission of over a million refugees this year, are also in deep despair.
The blind ignorance behind this attack is stunning. If the Pakistani suspect arrived in Germany a year ago when he was already a fanatical follower of Daesh (the self-proclaimed IS), and determined upon destruction then this was bad enough. However, the fact that he seems not to have shown up on the anti-terror radar but nevertheless was in trouble with the police over petty crimes, suggests that he did not arrive with murder in his heart. By committing even trifling offenses he would have drawn attention to himself. Therefore, it seems more likely that at some point inside Germany he was “radicalized” by some secret recruiter.
Either way, this attack was carried out as a result of fanaticism that was not only opposed to the generous Germans but was also opposed to all decent Muslims, not least those who, thanks to Merkel, have found a safe haven in Germany.
It is quite clear that the key beneficiaries of this latest mass murder are the far-right political extremists who want to seize power in Germany. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is led by xenophobes who are exploiting fear of foreigners and ignorance of the Muslim world to generate a solid racist platform. But because ordinary, decent Germans are appalled at the crimes carried out by a handful of wicked Muslims, some of them are turning in all innocence to the AfD.
Merkel is absolutely right to say she feels sickened that the Berlin atrocity was carried out by a migrant. But she knows as well as anyone that these lone wolves, many duped by the siren calls of terrorist recruiters, in no way represent the overwhelming majority of migrants who bless Germany for the wise and warm welcome it has extended to them. But those who organized this latest crime know that Merkel’s political allies are wobbling. The leader of the party in coalition with her Christian Democrat Union has called for immigration and security policies to be rethought and changed. The AfD is baying that all Muslim migrants should be deported and there have been suggestions that concentration camps should be established to hold migrants before they can be thrown out of Germany.
Such statements are completely and utterly sickening. But something has to be done to lance this toxic growth of Islamophobia. One important contribution has to come from the migrants themselves. They are mostly Syrian, Pakistani and Afghani. Each community must organize its own security to monitor and root out secret terrorists in its midst. Moreover, they need to speak out loudly with a common voice, condemning the treacherous and ungrateful few among their number who could so betray and reward the immense kindness shown them by the German government and its people. There have been individual protests but these are not enough. These migrant groups really have to pull themselves together rapidly to find their united voice. Without the coordinated rejection of these heinous crimes, white bigots will be able to claim that the Muslim community’s silence in fact demonstrates its secret support for terror.
