Palestinian refugee girl allowed to stay in Germany after crying footage goes viral

[geek tragedy]

Source: Haaretz (AFP)

A Palestinian refugee girl will be allowed to stay in Germany after all, local media reported Friday, after footage of Chancellor Angela Merkel reducing her to tears during a debate on immigration became viral on social media.

Germany's Integration Minister Aydan Ozoguz told Der Spiegel that while she isn't familiar with 14-year-old Reem Sahwil's personal situation, she was clearly eligible for a residency permit as she is a "well integrated youth."

"…she speaks fluent German and has visibly lived here for a long time," the minister told Der Spiegel, according to AFP.

Read more: http://www.haaretz.com/news/world/1.666634

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Happy ending.

[DFW]

1. It speaks volumes that Merkel's integration minister is named Aydan Özoğuz, and is a Social Democrat

For some reason, DU's software doesn't like Turkish punctuation. Her name is Aydan Özoğuz.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aydan_%C3%96zo%C4%9Fuz

[still_one]

4. Though none of us know for sure, I would not make the judgement that because the integration

minister happens to be Turkish, that is why the girl was admitted. I don't know if that is the implication you are making.

I think it had more to do with the heartbreaking circumstances of the girl, and that she had been there for 4 years, and was generating quite a lot of publicity.

[DFW]

5. That is not my implication

What I was pointing out is that integration and assimilation are valued very highly in Germany, and that the girl's obvious assimilation into German society was recognized and existing laws applied to allow her to stay by a minister who knew only too well when and why to apply them. As Chancellor, Merkel had no power to make that decision in any specific case. The minister under whose portfolio such cases fall could make happen what Merkel could not, although Merkel could certainly put in a word with a member of her own cabinet, and party lines obviously make no difference when there is a coalition involving both of them.

[still_one]

6. Got it. Thanks for the clarification. Sorry I got it wrong

[DFW]

7. No sweat

You asked, not yelled. A rarity on DU these days. Always a pleasure to converse with people like that

I live in Germany, am married to a German, speak German at home. All the armchair warriors here who want to refight World War Two get tedious. You're not one of them, thank goodness!

[still_one]

8. I absolutely agree with you

[MADem]

10. Turks have been in Germany awhile.

They catch shit, too, but they're more "well integrated," (to quote the minister) than some other immigrants/guest workers/refugees.

[DFW]

11. Well, it's more complicated than that

The Italians and the Yugoslavs had an easier time of it, as many of them were Catholic, and both came from countries that could be driven to in less than 24 hours from Germany. My wife remembers the first time a pizza place opened in her town, and the food was considered so exotic. Her family never even had a TV until about 1960. The Turks has a more difficult tie of it, but it has been a few generations now since the first ones came, and there are now well-established agencies to ease the way for new arrivals.

[MADem]

12. That's a fair point. The Italians/Yugoslavs also have an easier time fitting in, many of them

owing to appearance. The trick is getting the language down.

The "swarthy Italian" is not ubiquitous by any stretch (though many Americans wrongly believe otherwise). My Neapolitan neighbor was an ice blonde with light blue eyes; her husband and kids had light brown hair and greenish-hazel eyes. I knew a lot of Italians who wouldn't fit the Central Casting mold. The more north you go, the more German they look, too!

And a good friend of mine, of first generation Yugoslav-Italian ancestry, oddly enough, was the most freckled, green-eyed redhead I've ever known!

[DFW]

13. There is a popular crime series on German TV

It takes place in different cities every week, and the long-running homicide team in Munich is made up of a typical Bavarian and Croatian actor who plays a Croatian who became a homicide detective on the Munich police force. He's a blond guy who cold have passed for any other German. Instead, he plays a cop named "Ivo Batić."

[MADem]

14. In Italy there used to be a show about Italian Air Force flyers who had all sorts of

improbable adventures. They were all "Boy Group" handsome, and one was an Italian of Ethiopian descent--he was regarded by many of the young female fans as "the fairest one of all," melanin notwithstanding! I wish I could remember the name of the program, it was must-see tv in my neighborhood years ago...!

I think a lot of places are very "tolerant" (and I use that word advisedly) of differences so long as the differences aren't TOO great, and there aren't TOO many of these "different" people. The rise of the right in Europe isn't an accident--it's a response to a major uptick in immigration that has altered the homogeneous environment of many nations. Some people are welcoming, others go straight to the "They're takin' our JERBS" mode....People like LePen in France and Farage in UK.

[DFW]

16. You're right, they are tolerant

The tolerance was fine until it bent over backwards and went too far. In Belgium, it was not permitted to arrest violent offenders if they were of Arab origin because immigrants from other cultures needed "time to assimilate, and allowance for their different home culture." They rarely, if ever, were convicted for violent crimes against Belgians. This misplaced "tolerance" gave rise to far right movements like the Vlaamse Blok and others. Even the most tolerant Dutch and Swedes have seen fringe rightist movements turn into formidable political parties because they didn't treat immigrant criminals the same way they treated their own.

In Belgium, the people started saying crimes were committed by "the Swedes," because the government forbade the newspapers to report it if the perps were Arabs.

[MADem]

17. Not all that long ago, some of these "tolerance laws" were held out as examples as to

why other countries were better that us awful people in USA. I have to say it's interesting to see these same countries, some of them, that are dealing with a diverse immigrant population that is growing by leaps and bounds not handling it too well, anymore, after trying to tell us our business in that regard.

By no means do I think we have it down, but I've got to say, diversity is less of a freak-out here than it is in other countries. We've been at "working the issue" a bit longer than most.

The whole "the Swedes" thing is kind of funny in an odd way.

People should just not get into "bending over backwards." It doesn't work, it creates resentment. Just be fair--be fair from the get-go, treat everyone with dignity, provide everyone with the same opportunities, don't demonize, don't ghetto-ize. And these countries should learn, if you can't handle the influx, don't open the door just because you want cheap, exploitable labor (which is a huge problem in some cases).

A fair shake. An equal break. That's all anyone wants, generally speaking.

[Jack Rabbit]

3. Wonderful news

I am so glad the Ice Queen doesn't have anyone in the world to call her "mother."

[Sunlei]

9. good. I was very shocked to read Germany allows their hate groups to publish home address of

all immigrants on the internet in a map form so they can be targets of arsonists and attackers.

That was a very brave girl to speak up for her family.

Without her situation 'going viral on social media' another productive family of German society would have their lives destroyed by anti-immigrant laws/policies.

Very similar to American anti-immigrant policies and laws.

[dembotoz]

15. I should fucking hope so...but here the GOP candidates would hit her with a stick

[cvoogt]

18. rules are rules except in some cases ?

I find it curious that when it comes to Greece, Merkel's stance is that 'rules are rules' but when facing personal / political embarrassment, the rules can be stretched (for this girl). Glad it worked out for this girl.

[geek tragedy]

19. The rules indicate she should stay

She has become assimilated and learned German.

[cvoogt]

20. I understand that

And Merkel either knew that and ignored it to score political points, or didn't know and should have. Either way she was insensitive.