The German people seem to have finally woken up on the threat from Islam. Last week a new survey showed that almost two-thirds of Germans agree with the statement that Islam “does not belong in Germany.”
The German political-media establishment used to control the national debate on immigration and Islam with public shamings. Anyone who dared to say that "Islam does not belong in Germany" would have been branded xenophobic and hateful.
It's harder to shame 60 percent of a nation of more than 80 million people. It certainly looks as if the establishment has lost control of the issue.
In another development, an establishment politician and ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for an "Islam law" aimed at cutting off growing Turkish influence in Germany. It’s reported that some 900 German mosques are under the control of the Turkish government's Directorate for Religious Affairs.
Andreas Scheuer of the Christian Social Union Party told Die Welt newspaper that Germany needs a law to restrict foreign financing of German mosques and to begin training its own imams in order to create a “moderate” Islam. Good luck with that.
Chancellor Merkel is paying the ultimate political price for her sunny optimism about the future of Islam and immigration in Germany. A new poll shows that two-thirds of Germans oppose a fourth term for Merkel after she welcomed hundreds of thousands of Muslim refugees into the country, unleashing a crime wave and terrorism alerts.
Because of the immigration crisis, next-door neighbor Austria is poised to have it's first right-wing government since World War II. Political change comes more slowly in today's Germany, but change is underway.