German policy-makers are debating the introduction of a so-called ‘mosque tax’, to be paid by German Muslims and collected by the German state in order to fund the provision of Islamic religious services. The ostensible model for such a levy is the ‘church tax’ (Kirchensteuer) already in existence: depending on their Land of residence, members…
Several weeks after his controversial photo shoot with Turkish President Erdoğan, Germany international football player Mesut Özil has broken his silence. In the aftermath of an early exit from the World Cup, it had above all been Özil who had been blamed for the team’s poor performance. The racially charged recriminations against Özil mostly focused…
Following President Trump’s announcement to move the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and thereby officially recognise the city as the Israeli capital has sparked strong reactions across the world. Western European leaders, including Germany’s Angela Merkel, have generally taken a critical stance. They point to the 1993 Israeli-Palestinian accords, which had left the final…
The Manchester Islamic Centre (more commonly known as the Didsbury Mosque) denounces the terrorist attack by Salman Abedi, who used to attend the mosque. Reportedly, Abedi once responded negatively to an anti-extremism sermon at the mosque, after which his possibly Islamist views were brought to the attention of the home office. The mosque has a…
A young, American-born man of Latino and Arab heritage decided to throw his hat in the political ring after working as a community activist and in the Obama administration. Ammar Campa-Najjar, 28, announced his candidacy Thursday in the hopes of unseating a long-term Republican representative in California’s District 50 in 2018. Campa-Najjar, whose mother is…
