Full Throttle into the Christmas Fair

The dark soul of Taleb A., responsible for the deaths of five people – including a child – sought to transform the celebration of birth into one of death.

Shock and silence reign after the brutal terrorist attack in Magdeburg, Germany (Photo: AFP)

The name Dr. Ballouz may sound familiar to Hungarian television viewers, since the German hospital drama was picked up by a local, Hungarian channel. Its lead character – a chief physician with an immigrant background – works at a remote clinic in eastern Germany; he's an exceptional man both as a professional and a human being. The original series, broadcast by German public media and boasting millions of viewers, was intended to promote a propagandistic narrative since 2021: that those arriving from outside Europe are fully capable of performing at the highest level in the EU’s leading nation, both professionally and in terms of human quality, on par with native Germans.

And now, Enter Taleb A., a Saudi-born man who has lived in Germany since the early Merkel era. In Magdeburg, he not only drove into the crowds at a Christmas market but also plowed into the lifestyle, holiday traditions, and sense of security cherished by Germans and Europeans alike.

And he did so at full throttle. Taleb A. is also a doctor, sworn to save lives, rather than destroy them. Yet, according to reports, descended into a whirlwind of confusion and dangerous thoughts. Being a psychiatrist, he might even analyze this himself, altlhough the internet is not short on armchair analysts either. However, we, as rational Europeans, are not interested in endless hand-wringing, in dwelling on the tragic downfall of the "poor immigrant" or the turning points of his life that led him here. Plain and simple: we want safety. And if perfect safety isn’t possible, we want the highest degree that's attainable. 

So far, five lives—including that of a young child—weigh heavily on the dark soul of Taleb A., who sought to transform the celebration of birth into one of death. Tragically, many of the more than two hundred injured remain in critical condition. Yet it’s not only the victims’ state that is dire; Germany itself finds itself in crisis—not just economically, though that too. Europe’s leading power has lulled itself into the illusion of being a welcoming society. The chief architect of this delusion, Angela Merkel – the face of 'Willkommenskultur' – is now making the rounds worldwide, promoting her self-justifying memoirs. Her former ash-gray deputy, now successor, Olaf Scholz, formally fell in the Bundestag just four days before the Magdeburg attack. His government is in its death throes, but alongside Scholz, they were still compelled to appear in the mourning city of Saxony-Anhalt

They would have been chased away by local residents, had they not been surrounded by a heavy police presence. The nationwide elections will likely accomplish that in February, with Germany's campaign seasonalready underway. 

 The 19 years of the Merkel-Scholz era have brought mass migration to their nation – and to Europe. Terror attacks have multiplied, from the deadly rampage of Anis Amri, the Tunisian Islamist who plowed through a Berlin Christmas market, to this latest assault by Taleb A. Meanwhile, Germans have grown increasingly frustrated, fueling the rise of the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. In a remarkable coincidence, the developed world’s two most destructive governments – Joe Biden’s in the United States and Scholz’s in Germany – appear to be failing simultaneously. 

Here's a striking revelation: no one has ever plowed a vehicle through a German Christmas market whose great-great-grandfather—or his predecessors—were pulling sugar beets from Saxon soil under one of the Frederick Augusts. And yet, the current German government program firmly establishes Germany as a diverse, immigrant society.

We, for our part, reject becoming such a society – if only because we refuse to accept the security risks it entails. This is true even if, as PM Viktor Orban put it this Saturday, “Brussels wants to turn Hungary into Magdeburg.”

Or even if this push happens to comes from the Tisza Party, aligned with the Brussels mainstream. After the knife attack in Solingen this past summer - perpetrated by a Syrian national - our German guest columnist, Gunter Weissgerber, advised his compatriots to celebrate in the Hungarian city of Eger ,instead of Solingen! Hungary, after all, remains safe. Even before Christmas, let’s knock on wood.