Vijeta Uniyal | Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion - Part 92
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Author: Vijeta Uniyal

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Vijeta Uniyal

Vijeta Uniyal is an Indian journalist based in Germany. He is Senior Distinguished Fellow at the Gatestone Institute.

It is getting lonely for Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel on the European stage as another EU member country elects an anti-establishment government. Less than a week after the stunning electoral performance by  Austria’s right-wing Freedom Party, the Czech Republic has elected the anti-EU candidate Andrej Babis and his party in yesterday’s general election. Often described by the media as ‘Czech Donald Trump,’ 63-year-old Babis, the country’s second-richest man, won 30 percent of the vote, securing him the Prime-ministership in the next coalition government. Despite an ongoing criminal investigation over his business dealings and the lingering allegations of his collaborating with the Czechoslovak communist-era secret police, many Czech voters preferred voting for Babis than other pro-EU career politicians.

France's parliament on Wednesday passed a new anti-terrorism law that gives law enforcement sweeping powers to search homes, carry out surveillance, and set up borders checks. The new law replaces the state of national emergency that came into effect after the 2015 Paris attacks, which killed 130 people. The state of emergency was extended six times and due to expire next month. Despite the unprecedented powers given to the police and the security forces, France has been hit by a series of attacks leaving 241 people dead since the imposition of the emergency.

Last week, Austria's National Union of Students (ÖH), the country’s leading student body, passed a sternly worded resolution condemning the anti-Israel boycott campaign -- or the "Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions” Movement -- trying to get a foothold in the country. The student body raised concerns about the "growing presence of the antisemitic BDS campaign" on Austrian college campuses and vowed to combat the antisemitic agitators trying to infiltrate student politics.

Just two weeks after the right-wing AfD Party’s surge in the German election, Austria’s Freedom Party (FPÖ) is set to join the country’s next coalition government. The Freedom Party, Europe’s oldest surviving right-wing party, which ran on an anti-Islamization and anti-mass migration platform received 26 percent of the votes, party’s strongest performance in twenty years.

Not just former US President Obama, Chancellor Merkel of Germany, too, regards the nuclear deal with Iran as her greatest diplomatic accomplishment. The prominent German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung summed up the central role played by the Merkel government, writing, "Among all the parties working to bring about a negotiated deal, Germans enjoyed [Iranian regime's] special trust." Corporate Germany loved the deal too. The Bavaria Chamber of Commerce, the leading trade body in the country, told its clients ahead of the deal that the "German media landscape across the board agrees that lucrative deals worth billions are waiting to be made in Iran. As soon as the sanction are lifted, the run on the markets begins."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel promoted the architect of her open borders policy to her new chief foreign policy adviser. Merkel’s hand-picked Jan Hecker, widely regarded as the man enforcing Germany’s ill-advised refugee policy, has no foreign policy experience. Mainstream media that nitpicked President Trump on every single appointment, is apparently giving a pass to their favorite world leader on this one.

The North African country of Tunisia is turning into a "springboard" for illegal immigrants trying to get to Europe, according to the German newspaper Die Welt. The Muslim-majority country, destabilized in the wake of the "Arab Spring", was becoming a serious security threat to Europe since the Tunisian government was encouraging its Islamized or otherwise troublesome young men to emigrate to Europe.

In a strongly worded resolution passed by the Green Party in the southern German state of Bavaria, the state unit of the party has rejected the anti-Israel boycott campaign, or the BDS Movement as antisemitic. The resolution titled "No to Antisemitism, no to BDS" (embedded and translated below) declared the Bavarian Green Party's intention to actively challenge the BDS activism in the state.

With 10 days until the Austria's election, the right-wing Freedom Party (FPÖ) is surging in polls. According to the pollsters, the party could win up to 25 per cent of the vote in October 15 parliamentary election. Such a strong showing at the ballot box could propel the party to the position of kingmaker as a junior coalition party in the next conservative government.

A series of strikes and protests have disrupted the economic life in Catalonia, Spain's wealthiest and most industrialized region. The protests come after Spanish police cracked down on Sunday's independence referendum held in Catalonia region, which Madrid declared as illegal. Catalan authorities say around 900 people were injured after police raided polling stations, carrying away ballot boxes, beating up voters and shooting rubber bullets. The EU and the European media, usually vocal about any perceived human rights violation in the farthest corner of the world, was uncharacteristically quiet over Spain's crack down of the Catalonia vote in its own backyard. "It is telling that these shocking images didn't even make the lead item on the BBC news and voters were described as protesters," wrote the Daily Mail columnist Katie Hopkins.

An initiative sponsored by the Embassy of Israel in India seeks to connect Jerusalem's startup ecosystem with India's technology scene. Contrary to the popular perception, Jerusalem is fast catching up with Tel Aviv as a leading technology center in the world. In 2015, TIME magazine named Jerusalem as one of the world’s fastest growing hi-tech hubs. The annual startup competition "Start JLM", supported by Indian government and local private sector players, is being held in the country for the first time. This year's winner, Bangalore-based Mimyk startup will be taking part in an technology boost camp in Jerusalem. Four other finalists will be getting access to startup incubators.

At the White House press briefing yesterday, a German reporter wanted to know why President Trump hasn’t called Chancellor Merkel to congratulate her on election victory. “We’re just working on the logistics,” Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders responded. The White House may have been trying to gloss over the issue of frosty ties between the two world leaders, but as far as Chancellor Merkel is concerned: this isn’t much of a victory and there isn’t much to congratulate about. Merkel’s Pyrrhic victory comes at a great cost to her Christian conservative party (CDU), which registered its worst performance in nearly 70 years -- getting just above 33 percent of the vote. Merkel’s desire to extend her 12-year-old reign also pulverized her junior coalition partner, the Social Democratic Party (SPD), in many of its traditional working-class bastions. At 20 percent, the SPD, Europe’s oldest socialist party, also clocked its worst performance since 1949.

Despite her party's worst showing since 1949, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has managed to secure her re-election bid. Merkel's main rival, the Social Democratic challenger Martin Schulz conceded defeat earlier this evening. Merkel was quick to stake her claim to the Chancellorship, saying, "We are the strongest party, we have the mandate to build the next government — and there cannot be a coalition government built against us." Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), along with her Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU), secured over 33 percent of the vote.

At a time when smear campaigns against Israel often go unchallenged on college campuses and anti-Israel activists hijack protest movements across the U.S. to attack of the Jewish State, a newly published book tells the story of Israel's 69-year silent journey to impact the world and serve those in most need. "United Nation: The Humanitarian Spirit of Israel" written by the Israeli entrepreneur David Kramer, is a collection of 40 stories, each illustrating the benevolent and altruistic side of Israel that the mainstream media and the 24-hour news cycle don't care to show.

Germany's right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD)  is set to become the third largest party in this month's parliamentary election, the latest polls suggest. The anti-mass immigration party is polling around 12 percent in most polls. Chancellor Angela Merkel, still ahead of the competition, is widely tipped to form the next government. But her current junior coalition partner, the Social Democratic Party (SPD), is tanking in polls with less than a week to go before the election.

In a drastic move that would further exacerbate the European Union’s east-west divide, the European Commission, the EU executive arm, has given a month’s notice to the Polish government to roll back its national judicial reform. Poland risks forfeiting its voting rights within the EU if it does not back down in the current dispute with Brussels. The EU officials oppose the legal reform undertaken by Warsaw, arguing that it weakens the judiciary and gives more power to the country’s elected government. Polish government dismissed these allegations and insists that is acting within the purview of the national constitution.

India wants to strengthen ties with Israeli start ups, a visiting delegation of Indian IT companies to the Jewish State stressed. The delegation was organised by Nasscom, Indian association representing software companies, and the global consulting firm Accenture. "The Nasscom Product Council and IT consulting major Accenture plan to collaborate with Israel Innovation Authority to help startups from both countries in joint product development, knowledge transfer and in the creation of hardware ecosystem," Indian business daily Economic Times reported.

Following an EU court decision ordering some eastern European countries to accept the migrant quotas, Hungary and Poland have vowed to fight on against the large-scale resettlement plan being pushed by the EU. The top EU court, the European Court of Justice (ECJ), ruled yesterday that all member states must take in a share of refugees who cross over into Europe. The EU court's ruling "jeopardizes the security and future of all of Europe," said Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban.