News and Analysis on Islam in Europe and North America
Khaled Kashkush is not the first Hizbullah spy to be recruited and trained in Germany. In 1997 the Lebanese Shi’ite movement recruited Stefan Smyrek, a German who converted to Islam, to carry out a suicide attack in Tel Aviv or Haifa. Smyrek, whose father was a British soldier stationed in Germany, was arrested at Ben-Gurion
The German Muslim Council (Islamrat) has criticized the surveillance of the Muslim organization Milli Gurus by the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Ali Kizilkaya, chairman of the council, accuses the Federal Office to construct a concept of the Muslim enemy in order to maintain jobs.
Islamic preachers and other spiritual leaders from abroad could soon have to take courses to help them integrate better into Swiss society. The government proposal comes at a time of growing public debate about the role of Muslims in a multicultural society such as Switzerland’s. The justice ministry is planning to submit the plan to