Pakistani family blamed the far right for torching their house. A few candlelit vigils later, the truth has come out

A home belonging to a family of Pakistani migrants was set ablaze in the German town of Wächtersbach on Christmas Day 2023.

Phantasmal right-wingers were immediately blamed for the arson. The family members, meanwhile, were depicted as victims of so-called Islamophobia and xenophobia.

This narrative, agreeable to European leftists and the liberal media, recently went up in smoke.

A convenient spark

The fire began around 1 a.m. on Christmas morning and did roughly $379,000 in damage.

The fire brigade found anti-migrant slogans scrawled inside the smoldering ruins. Der Spiegel reported that the words "foreigners out" had been spray-painted on some of the inside walls. The graffiti had apparently been written before the fire broke out.

Andreas Weiher, the town's leftist mayor, said, "If the suspicion of a xenophobic crime is confirmed, it would of course be a catastrophe."

The Wächtersbach Foreigners Advisory Board reportedly stated, "We are deeply shocked that such an inhumane, possibly racially motivated arson attack was carried out on a family with children."

The state security agency swiftly launched an investigation into the possibility that right-wing extremism may have been responsible for the fire.

Vigils and demonstrations were held in the days that followed, both in solidarity with the family and in opposition to the supposed racists believed responsible.

Banners that read, "Right-wing terror threatens our society," were carried down German streets.

Leftist politicians eagerly embraced the narrative, giving impassioned speeches and firing off angry missives — suggesting the arson was politically motivated and possibly executed by neo-Nazis.

Sawsan Chebli, a German politician with the Social Democratic Party and staunch critic of Israel, was one of the leftists who attempted to exploit the incident, stating in German on Dec. 29, "It makes me sad, but it doesn't surprise me. People tell me every day that they have racist experiences, be it at work, in everyday life or at school."

Chebli suggested the arson was reflective of an anti-Muslim undercurrent in Germany, intimating right-wing politicians were responsible and that "what is happening at the moment is putting democracy at great risk."

Janine Wissler, a parliamentarian with the aptly named Left Party, stated, "It is not enough to condemn these acts, you have to fight the breeding ground that promotes right-wing violence: the strengthening of the right and the racist incitement against people with a migration background and refugees," reported the local broadcaster.

"The slogans that were discovered on the walls are despicable and inflammatory," said Martina Feldmayer, a parliamentarian with the eco-socialist Green party. "Anyone who commits such acts attack our entire society."

It turns out that the societal attack condemned by Feldmayer was not perpetrated by right-wing extremists but rather by those widely portrayed as victims.

Another hate hoax

The German newspaper Bild recently reported that the homeowner, 47, has been arrested along with his wife, 33, his 18-year-old son, his brother-in law, 34, and another Pakistani migrant, 55, who allegedly gave the family a false alibi.

According to the German paper Junge Freiheit, the family has been slapped with various charges including joint serious arson, feigning a crime, attempted insurance fraud in a particularly serious case, and serious fraud.

The father and brother-in-law, both Pakistani nationals, are accused of burning down the building using an accelerant. The son is said to have both reported the damage to the insurance company at his father's behest and attended an inspection of the aftermath with insurance agents. The mother is said to have been altogether complicit in the scheme.

The 55-year-old Pakistani national said to have given the family a false alibi has reportedly been charged with "attempted obstruction of justice."

The Hanau public prosecutor's office indicated that the arson served to net the family a six-figure insurance settlement. Additionally, the prosecutors office noted that ahead of the house burning, the owner's wife sold off various household items in an apparent effort to maximize their return on the scheme.

Investigators turned their attention to the homeowner after noticing he had fresh burns despite claiming he was not home when the fire started on Christmas morning. The family told authorities in their statements that they had been visiting with friends on the day of the incident.

The Alternative for Germany in Hesse, the local chapter of the country's increasingly popular right-wing party, said in a statement obtained by Rebel News, "For our political competitors, the house fire was obviously a welcome opportunity to inflict hatred and agitation on our party and our voters. Almost reflexively, the SPD, the Left and the Greens classified this crime as politically motivated."

"Waechtersbach's mayor (a member of SPD), who is said to have known the affected Pakistani family to be well integrated, took the same line," continued the AFD. "Anyone who attracts attention with criminal acts in their freely chosen host country at least raises doubts about successful integration. But we now trust that the German judiciary will make an appropriate assessment. And an apology from the protagonists of the vigil is now in order."

The South East Hesse Police indicated last week that the five suspects remained in custody due to the risk of concealment and escape.

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