Thilo Sarrazin's rhetoric may be divisive and (perceived as) racist but he has made some important points about the lack of integration of many Muslim immigrants, German media commentators say. Many in Germany agree with him and believe it's high time the government started tackling the issue, they add.

If you're not familiar with what's happening here,  GoV has a bit of background on Sarazzin:

Thilo Sarrazin is a member of the board of the Bundesbank in Germany. For several years his outspoken opinions about immigrants have caused controversy - he has declared that Turks and Arabs are making Germany "dumber" because they have lower IQs and are more fecund than native Germans.

The hot water he found himself in as a result of all this has neared the boiling point in the last couple of weeks with the publication of his new book, Deutschland schafft sich ab - Wie wir unser Land aufs Spiel setzen ("Abolishing Germany - How we're putting our country in jeopardy"). An interview with a cultural magazine prior to the book's release brought the scalding water down on his head from both ends of the political spectrum.

Sarazzin is not a "populist". The leftist media tarts will  have to resort to "racist, Nazi, Islamophobe" smears, but they will be running out of venom eventually......

Mr. Sarrazin is a member of the SPD (Social Democrats), and his party immediately disavowed him:

The Social Democrats' leader Sigmar Gabriel has signalled that Bundesbank board member Thilo Sarrazin should leave the centre-left party following his latest inflammatory and anti-immigrant statements.

Crossing the Red Line /

Gates of Vienna/Read further...

Renegade Central Banker 'Tells Devastating Story' of Integration

Der Spiegel

On immigration in Germany:

"I don't want the country of my grandchildren and great-grandchildren to be largely Muslim, or that Turkish or Arabic will be spoken in large areas, that women will wear headscarves and the daily rhythm is set by the call of the muezzin. If I want to experience that, I can just take a vacation in the Orient."

On birthrates in Germany:

"The Turks are taking over Germany exactly as the Kosovars took over Kosovo: via a higher birth rate. I wouldn't mind if it were Jews from Eastern Europe with a 15 percent higher IQ than the German population."

On immigrants:

"A large number of Arabs and Turks in (Berlin) ... have no productive function other than in the fruit and vegetable trade."

"I don't have to respect anybody who lives off welfare but rejects the state, doesn't do enough for his children's education and constantly produces little girls in headscarves."

"The lower the class, the higher the birth rates."

On the alleged danger to Germany of a decline in education caused by immigration from Turkey, the Middle East and Africa:

"We are, on average, becoming dumber in a natural way."

"No one needs an Opel. The car enthusiasts among you will surely confirm that."  (On German government efforts to save the carmaker from bankruptcy)

The leftist media  spins like Iranian centrifuges:

• SMH: Furore as German banker attacks Jews, Muslims (that is false, he doesn't "attack Jews")
• Haaretz:   German government leaders condemn central bank executive Thilo Sarrazin for saying that all Jews share a particular gene. (Jews share a particular gene, saying that is not anti-Semitic)

So what did he say?

This is what he said:

"All Jews share a particular gene, Basques share a certain gene that sets them apart," Mr Sarrazin told Welt am Sonntag newspaper.

"Forty per cent of all births occur in the underclasses. Our educated population is becoming stupider from generation to generation. What's more, they cultivate an aggressive and atavistic mentality. It's a scandal that Turkish boys won't listen to female teachers because that is what their culture tells them", he said.

"I'd rather have East European Jews with an IQ that is 15pc higher than the German population," he said.

From Today's Haaretz:

• 'Jewish gene' theories make waves in Germany, go unnoticed in Israel (German politician Thilo Sarrazin and the Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai both believe in 'Jewish genes,' but only Sarrazin is castigated for his belief.)

Doesn't stop these two fruitcakes to seek their 20 seconds in the limelight:

Stephan Kramer and Michel Friedman, leaders in Germany's Jewish community, also criticized Sarrazin, 65, a member of the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) and former finance minister in the city-state of Berlin.

"Someone who tries to define Jews by a genetic make-up is consumed by a racist mania," Kramer said.

"Enough already!" Friedman wrote in Bild am Sonntag newspaper. "No more tolerance for this intolerance. It's okay to provoke thought but enough of this baiting and defamation. We don't need any hate preachers, especially in the Bundesbank."