Berlin, August 29 (RHC)-- German Chancellor Angela Merkel has criticized some European Union members for refusing to accept refugees just because they are Muslim.  Speaking on German public television ARD, Merkel said: “What I continue to think is wrong is that some say 'we generally don't want Muslims in our country, regardless of whether there's a humanitarian need or not.'”

Several EU members, particularly those in the east with pro-nationalist leaders, oppose any plans to take in any refugees from the Mideast and South Asia.  Last week, Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said he does not want a large Muslim community because of the "problems we are seeing." 

The political party of Dutch far-right politician, Geert Wilders, pledged last week to close mosques and ban Islam’s holy book of Quran amid growing Islamophobic sentiment in the European country.

The wave of anti-Muslim and anti-refugee sentiment is growing almost a year after Merkel decided to allow hundreds of thousands of refugees stuck in other European countries to enter Germany.

In her interview on Sunday, Merkel supported the idea of a quota system for fairly distributing asylum-seekers among all the bloc's 28 member states.  German officials expect to grant entry to as many as 300,000 migrants throughout all of 2016.