In her New Year’s speech, Chancellor Angela Merkel affirmed that her government will win the fight against terrorism with compassion and denied that her open-door mass migration policy, which directly brought terrorists to Germany, was wrong.
In the federal chancellor’s New Year address to Germany, Merkel asserted that the terror attacks committed by Islamist migrants in Würzburg, Ansbach, and recently at a Christmas market in Berlin were not attacks on Western civilisation but an attack on ‘refugees’ and Germany’s willkommenskultur (‘welcome culture’).
She stated terrorists “mock [the willingness of Germany to help] with their deeds [acts of terrorism], like they mock those who really need and deserve our protection.”
Adding that it is “particularly bitter and repulsive” when terrorist attacks are committed by migrants, Merkel pushed back against criticism of her unwavering commitment to mass migration, saying that Germany will fight the “hatred” of terrorism with “humanity” and “unity.”
“With the images of bombed-out Aleppo in Syria, it is important to remember once again how important and correct it was that our country has helped in the past year those who need our protection,” she said.
Acknowledging that Islamic terrorism is the biggest test for Germany, Merkel hinted at new security measures for the year ahead – but not at changes to her open-door mass migration policies.
Over one million unvetted migrants from the Middle East and Africa entered Germany alone at Merkel’s invitation, including potentially hundreds of Islamic State fighters and bringing with them the risk of the terror organisation weaponising migrants already in the country.
Asserting that “[the] state is doing everything to ensure its citizens’ security in freedom,” the chancellor said that in the midst of mourning for the dead and injured in these “difficult days,” Germans should seek “consolation” in each other.
Merkel closed her speech, which will be broadcast Saturday, by asserting that Germans need “openness” and “an open view of the world.” She stated she had “confidence” for 2017 – this New Year confidence an extension of her “Wir schaffen das” (“we can do this”) mantra.
Over the past two years, Germany has experienced its worst series of terror atrocities since the 1980s, with Islamist suicide bombings, shootings, axe attacks, and a truck rampage. The country has also experienced waves of mass sex attacks, social unrest, crime, and pressure on public services brought upon by the mass importation of peoples from the Islamic world.
Terror attacks in Würzburg, Ansbach, and Berlin in 2016, the year Merkel calls “a year of severe tests,” were committed by illegal migrants who, in Merkel’s New Year’s address for 2015, she referred to as Germany’s “chance of tomorrow.”