Jerusalem Post: The leader of Germany’s Jewish community is calling on Chancellor Angela Merkel to impose limitations on the number of migrants being granted asylum in the country.
In an interview with the German newspaper Die Welt, Josef Schuster, the president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said that quotas are necessary in light of the fact that many of the million refugees expected to arrive in Germany this year “come from cultures where the hatred of Jews and intolerance is an integral part.”
“Many refugees are fleeing the terror of the Islamic State and want to live in peace and freedom, but at the same time they come from cultures in which hate towards Jews and intolerance are fixed components,” he said. “Don’t only think about the Jews, think about equal rights for women and the treatment of homosexuals.”
Merkel faced pressure from her own conservatives on Monday to change course on her open-door refugee policy after an affront by the leader of her Bavarian allies drove up tensions in her ruling coalition.
Roughly a million refugees and migrants fleeing war and deprivation in the Middle East, Africa and Asia are expected to arrive in Germany this year alone – the majority of those reaching Europe – and local authorities are struggling to cope.
Horst Seehofer, the leader of the Bavarian sister party to Merkel’s conservatives, embarrassed the chancellor by openly criticizing her on Friday for failing to put a formal cap on the number of refugees entering Germany.
Seehofer’s Christian Social Union (CSU) is the Bavarian sister party of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Together they form “The Union” but on refugee policy they have been anything but united.
Those tensions began spreading to the CDU on Monday, with senior officials warning that the government must change tack.
