On Sunday, two Middle Eastern refugees in the German city of Chemnitz fatally stabbed a native of the city. Demonstrations followed almost immediately, culminating in unruly protests. The next day some 6,000 members of various far-right parties, some of whom had traveled across the country for the occasion, gathered in Chemnitz; the police arrested ten for making Nazi salutes. While the German media and mainstream politicians make much of the growing popularity of the far right, notes Bill Wirtz, they are extremely reluctant even to discuss the problem of crime among refugees, not to mention other issues relating to their integration.

Germany’s Nazis are both real Nazis and Nazis afraid to admit that they are. The existence of the far-right [in Germany] is not a new phenomenon, and believing that the influx of refugees into Germany caused people to do Hitler salutes would be ill-informed. But there is a necessity for authorities to address issues like the Chemnitz stabbing in order not to embolden these movements.

The origin of this problem lies in the sexual assaults in Cologne on New Year’s Eve 2015, which saw at least 24 women raped and a total of 1,200 otherwise assaulted or harassed. Both German news media and local police were caught attempting to downplay the incident, and the mayor of the city even went so far as to blame the victims for not keeping “men at arm’s length.” In the end, social-media backlash made the story flame up, and it ended up strengthening far-right movements. . . . Similar events, and terrorist attacks, since have further strengthened the far right. . . .

The responsibility of the government in the current situation is a) to enforce the law, whether it be in a refugee community or in a middle-class suburb, and b) to provide people as soon as possible with the right to acquire a job. Germany should draw on its prior experience with immigrants and let these immigrants integrate into the labor market. The German criminologist Christian Pfeiffer confirms this: he links the reduction in overall crime by refugees between 2016 and 2017 to the considerable increase in those who found work.

The rise of neo-Nazis in Germany is a worrisome trend, but it cannot be fought with bans and people being imprisoned for saying outrageous things. If liberal democracy wants to survive, it needs to use the tools that it purports to defend: free speech, open dialogue, and the rule of law.

For some time, opponents of U.S support for Israel have been urging the White House to end the war in Gaza, or simply calling for a ceasefire. Douglas Feith and Lewis Libby consider what such a result would actually entail:

Ending the war immediately would allow Hamas to survive and retain military and governing power. Leaving it in the area containing the Sinai-Gaza smuggling routes would ensure that Hamas can rearm. This is why Hamas leaders now plead for a ceasefire. A ceasefire will provide some relief for Gazans today, but a prolonged ceasefire will preserve Hamas’s bloody oppression of Gaza and make future wars with Israel inevitable.

For most Gazans, even when there is no hot war, Hamas’s dictatorship is a nightmarish tyranny. Hamas rule features the torture and murder of regime opponents, official corruption, extremist indoctrination of children, and misery for the population in general. Hamas diverts foreign aid and other resources from proper uses; instead of improving life for the mass of the people, it uses the funds to fight against Palestinians and Israelis.

Moreover, a Hamas-affiliated website warned Gazans last month against cooperating with Israel in securing and delivering the truckloads of aid flowing into the Strip. It promised to deal with those who do with “an iron fist.” In other words, if Hamas remains in power, it will begin torturing, imprisoning, or murdering those it deems collaborators the moment the war ends. Thereafter, Hamas will begin planning its next attack on Israel:

Hamas’s goals are to overshadow the Palestinian Authority, win control of the West Bank, and establish Hamas leadership over the Palestinian revolution. Hamas’s ultimate aim is to spark a regional war to obliterate Israel and, as Hamas leaders steadfastly maintain, fulfill a Quranic vision of killing all Jews.

Hamas planned for corpses of Palestinian babies and mothers to serve as the mainspring of its October 7 war plan. Hamas calculated it could survive a war against a superior Israeli force and energize enemies of Israel around the world. The key to both aims was arranging for grievous Palestinian civilian losses. . . . That element of Hamas’s war plan is working impressively.