German lawmakers are debating a number of strong anti-terrorism methods that could drastically boost governmental power and reduce personal freedoms. The debate occurs in the wake of last week’s thwarted terrorist attacks against American targets in Germany.

It demonstrates how quickly German opinion can shift on such a volatile topic.

It was only July that Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble rocked the boat by suggesting that Germany change the law to allow “preventive custody” for potential terrorists, deploying the German army domestically, searching suspects’ computers without their knowledge and assassinating terrorists (Spiegel Online, July 9).

Although Schäuble was heavily criticized by fellow lawmakers in July, September’s foiled plot has half of Germany thinking that maybe what the boat needs is a little rocking.

A recent survey found that 48 percent of Germans would give up personal rights in order to allow clandestine online surveillance operations by government security. The other half of Germany, 47 percent, said they opposed trading personal freedoms for national security.

The German government is also split over the issue.

“The recent success in preventing terror shows how well-positioned we are with current laws and the potential they offer,” Labor Minister Franz Müntefering said, adding that changing laws to combat terrorism must proceed with particular caution. Other members of parliament echoed the sentiment, according to McClatchy Newspapers.

Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries, however, felt the large amount of explosive materials seized in last week’s sting indicated otherwise.

“The fact that the chemicals in the case of the three arrested suspects could be freely bought without registering the purchaser is, I think, not particularly fortunate,” she said.

Guenther Beckstein, the Bavarian interior minister, feels the terrorist threat is more than enough to warrant new legislation allowing the government to spy on German converts to Islam. “Germans converting to Islam should be watched because they tend to show particular fanaticism in order to prove worthy of their new religion,” he said on Thursday.

“As shocked as they were by the arrests,” McClatchy’s Matthew Schofield wrote, “the idea of spying on other Germans unnerves many in civil-rights-minded Germany, where government surveillance recalls memories of Adolf Hitler.”

As the Trumpet reported in July,

Schäuble’s striking suggestions for beefing up the fight against radical Islam didn’t sit well with many Germans a few months ago. But that could change.As Germany, and even Europe as a whole, comes to grips with the fact that it is staring into the barrel of radical Islam, expect to see a strong shift toward tougher, more extreme measures for fighting this enemy.A few months ago, Schäuble’s suggestions might have seemed too radical. Soon they will be deemed too mild.

As more and more powerful Berlin politicians, and the German public, react to the threat of Islamic terrorism, watch for the government to amass increased powers and to exacerbate tensions between Germans and Muslims. The Trumpet has forecasted and recorded Germany’s rise to power, and now forecasts its future clash with Islam. To learn more about what an empowered Berlin will wreak on the world, read “The Coming War Between Catholicism and Islam” and Germany and the Holy Roman Empire.