Germany inaugurates suicide bomber hotline

I said in the previous entry that existence is mental. As we are reminded in this entry, existence is also parodic. Which doesn’t necessarily mean that the hot line discussed in the attached news story is not a rational idea. Think of the almost never mentioned planned suicide bombing in the New York City subways in 1996 by Muslims living in Brooklyn, which was prevented from occurring only because one of the gang got cold feet a few days before the bombing was scheduled and went to the police.

James P. writes:

Outreach, therapy, and telephone hotlines can solve even the most intractable problems—in liberal fantasyland!

From the AP today:

Germany debuts ‘suicide bomber hotline’
“HATIF” phone service to prevent violence in name of Islam.

The German government set up a ‘suicide bomber hotline’ Monday to aid Muslims who want to quit extremism.

The service should not be confused with a standard ‘suicide hotline,’ which provides help to individuals who are considering hurting themselves.

The hotline is called “HATIF,” which means “telephone” in Arabic.

A statement from the German Federal Constitution Protection Office said “the primary goal of HATIF is to prevent violence in the name of Islam.”

A spokeswoman for the German domestic intelligence agency, who was talking on condition of anonymity in line with agency policy, declined to say how much money had been allocated or how many employees were working for the program.

However, she said the agency would guarantee confidentiality to users, and also help with safety measures if people seeking to quit are threatened by radicals.

“Our program is an offer for those who want to leave extremism behind,” she said. “Once we find out what their needs are, we will develop the program accordingly.”

The intelligence service estimates there are more than 36,000 Islamist extremists in Germany, but only a fraction of those are considered potentially violent. The Muslim population in Germany is estimated to be between 3.8 million and 4.3 million—meaning Muslims make up between 4.6 and 5.2 percent of the population.

The program, which is called HATIF, also is aimed at family members or friends of people who have come under influence of extremists.

They can contact members of the intelligence service online or call a specific number. The service is offered in German, Turkish and Arabic.

Germany has not seen a large-scale terror attack, but in recent years, there have been attempts to commit attacks on public transportation and U.S. military bases.

Countries like Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Singapore have also implemented deradicalization programs in recent years, but they mainly work with convicted terrorists in prisons, while Germany tries to reach out to extremists before they commit a crime, said Peter Neumann, an expert from the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence in London. He said there are no similar programs in other European countries so far.

“We know that in almost all of these groups, there are people who want to leave, but it is not easy to get out of such an environment,” he said. “Therefore it is great that Germany makes this offer—even though this definitely won’t lead to the end of radical Islam in Germany.”

[end of AP article]

James P. writes:

” … the primary goal of HATIF is to prevent violence in the name of Islam.”

Can you do this without preventing Islam itself? Experience suggests no.

LA replies:

It would have to be granted that some incidents of jihad violence might be prevented. But if the German police and government think that domestic Islamic violence as such can be prevented by this program, then I agree with you that they are living in liberal fantasyland. The only sure way to prevent all Islamic violence in the West is to remove all believing Muslims from the West—as I have been stating in increasingly specific terms since May 2004, and in general terms since September 11, 2001.

- end of initial entry -

July 20

Ferg writes:

I do have to say though that I am stunned! A European country taking the threat of Islamic terrorism seriously? Am I reading this right? Maybe we are not in Kansas any more. Liberal fantasy land to some extent for sure, but a step in the direction of admitting there is in fact a danger. Now if we could just get those Dutch police to train and practice with their weapons I would think real progress was being made.

LA replies:

Well, even the ultra politically correct countries of western Europe are concerned about Islamic terrorism and have active police programs aimed at investigating and stopping it, so I’m not sure that this suicide bomber hotline represents anything essentially new.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at July 19, 2010 11:55 PM | Send