Germany is tightening its course against Islamist Hezbollah. Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) has issued a ban on the self-proclaimed “Party of God”. This is a terrorist organization and is “against the idea of international understanding”. The 30-page ban is addressed personally to Hassan Nasrallah – the leader of the Shiite militia in Lebanon.
–
With the ban, their supporters in Germany are no longer allowed to wave the yellow Hezbollah flag on which a fist raises an AK-47 assault rifle. Symbols of the Islamist youth movement, the “Imam al-Mahdi Scouts”, will also be banned in Germany in the future.
Since early Thursday morning, officials in Berlin, North Rhine-Westphalia and Bremen have also been searching four mosque and cultural associations that are considered to be close to Hezbollah. The Ministry of the Interior has initiated investigations under club law and is suspected of being part of the terrorist organization for support through money and propaganda.
–
According to SPIEGEL information, the associations include the Imam Mahdi Center in Münster, which has been a contact point for Hezbollah supporters for more than 20 years and is monitored by the North Rhine-Westphalian Office for the Protection of the Constitution. At the end of 2018, a community member there announced that he was “proud of terrorism” and called for the death of Hezbollah leader Nasrallah. On a bus trip to an anti-Israeli demonstration, members of the Münster association are said to have sung: “You rats of Jews, we will return to take revenge.” The community describes itself as peaceful.
–
Visit from Lebanon
In Bremen there was a raid on the Al Mustafa community, in Berlin officials searched the rooms of the Al Irschad mosque association in the Neukölln district. According to information from the security authorities, so-called “travel sheiks” and high-ranking officials from Hezbollah have been visiting there in recent years. These would be sent to Europe by the “Department for External Relations” of the Islamist organization.
“The influence of the Hezbollah leadership in Lebanon on the supporters living in Germany and their association activities can be assessed as high,” says the order of the Interior Ministry, which is available to SPIEGEL.
–
A stricter approach against the Islamists loomed for months. In December, the Union, SPD and FDP jointly called for a ban on Hezbollah in Germany in the Bundestag. US ambassador Richard Grenell had previously urged the federal government to take tough action against the “Party of God” and its supporters in Germany, and he also appeared in the chancellery.
However, the Ministry of the Interior has so far not found any fixed structures that could be prohibited under the law on associations. According to Seehofer’s officials, there is no “Hezbollah Germany”. For this reason, they initially only issued a ban on activities and initiated searches of clubs close to Hezbollah.
It is not the first action against Hezbollah supporters in Germany. Already twelve years ago, the federal government prohibited public broadcasting of al-Manar TV, the Islamist organization’s in-house riot broadcaster. In 2014, the Interior Ministry banned the “Lebanon Orphan Project” fundraising association, which transferred several million euros to survivors of Hezbollah terrorists who died in the fight against Israel as alleged “martyrs”.
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution recently estimated the number of Hezbollah supporters in the Federal Republic to be 1050. Germany was a “retreat” for the Islamist organization, the domestic secret service stated.
Hezbollah supporters are openly anti-Semitic at the annual Al-Kuds Day in Berlin, when hundreds of demonstrators roam the streets and regularly chant slogans like “child killer Israel”. With the ban now imposed, the capital could get a handle on the March of the enemies of Israel to be banned in the future.
State in the state
Hezbollah emerged as a Shiite militia in the Lebanese civil war and acts there as a state within a state. The self-proclaimed “Party of God” has been represented in Parliament in Lebanon since 1992, and is currently involved in the government. The militia fought in the Syria war alongside the dictator Bashar al-Assad.
Since its inception, Hezbollah has denied Israel’s right to exist and has terrorized the state with rocket attacks and bombings. She is also held responsible for attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets in other countries. The Ministry of the Interior has information that the Islamist organization is also preparing possible acts of terrorism from Germany. For example, a southern German freight forwarder had stored suspicious chemicals a few years ago, from which explosives can also be produced. The authorities believe that Hezbollah was behind the order.
The United States has long classified Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. So far in the EU only her military arm on the terrorist list. Critics consider such a distinction wrong – this also includes the majority of the German Bundestag.
–
