# Source note — Alice Weidel fishing-licence / border quote (2026-09-13)

Original Facebook share: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1HJUwrPbFa/?mibextid=wwXIfr  
Canonical Facebook URL exposed by public metadata: https://www.facebook.com/david.cheyne/posts/breaking-the-leader-of-the-right-wing-party-in-germany-alice-weidel-says-a-count/10162544788881805/  
Visible/public Facebook metadata claim: “BREAKING: The leader of the Right-wing party in Germany, Alice Weidel, says: ‘A country that punishes for fishing without a license, but not for crossing its borders illegally, is a country governed by idiots.’”  
Captured assets: public Facebook metadata JSON and preview image. Video download/transcript was unavailable without Facebook login.

## Main finding

The quote is a real line that Alice Weidel repeated in the Bundestag on May 16, 2018, but she introduced it as a quotation attributed to former Czech president Miloš Zeman. DPA later reported that Zeman's spokesperson said he did not say it; DPA traced similar English wording back to a 2013 U.S. internet quote, not to Weidel or Zeman as original author.

## Evidence labels

- **Weidel repeated the line:** supported by the Bundestag stenographic protocol and Reuters/Algemeiner coverage.
- **The line was Weidel's own quote:** misleading / not supported. She quoted it as Zeman's.
- **Zeman said it:** contradicted by DPA's fact-check citing Zeman's spokesperson.
- **The policy claim that illegal entry is not punishable in Germany:** oversimplified. Germany's Interior Ministry says illegal entry and residence are punishable, and Residence Act §95 includes unlawful entry under §14; refugee/asylum protections and enforcement choices complicate outcomes.