The authorities are taking tough measures against supporters of Islamist groups after a rise in anti-Semitism in public opinion.
Several hundred German police officers carried out searches across the country on Thursday, targeting an Islamist association suspected of supporting Hezbollah, the Interior Ministry announced.
“At a time when many Jews feel particularly threatened, we do not tolerate Islamist propaganda or anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli campaigns”said Interior Minister Nancy Faeser in a statement.
The police operation targeted the Islamic Center Hamburg (IZH) and five other organizations suspected of being linked to it. All are suspected of supporting Hezbollah, which Germany officially banned as a terrorist organization in April 2020.
Searches were carried out at 54 properties located in seven regions of Germany.
According to a press release from the Ministry of the Interior, the activities of the IZH aim to disseminate the “revolutionary concept” of the Iranian theocratic regime, which is “suspected of being contrary to the constitutional order in Germany”.
Specifically, the IZH controls the mosque, “Imam Ali”, in Hamburg. The German domestic intelligence service suspects that from there the IZH “exerts a strong influence” on other mosques and associations “could go as far as a total takeover”.
The movement would have “anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli tendencies” clear which are “propagated through various media channels”added the ministry.
The Hamburg authorities specified that the searches aimed to gather evidence with a view to banning the IZH association, which has been in the sights of the authorities for several years. Its vice president was recently expelled from Germany.
“The sooner the IZH disappears completely from Hamburg, the better, and with today’s action we have taken another step towards this goal”says Andy Grote, regional minister of the interior of the city-state of Hamburg, in a press release.
These arrests come in a context of increasingly visible anti-Semitism, which has resurfaced since the Hamas attack in Israel on October 7. Last week, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz pledged to protect Germany’s Jews as he commemorated the 85th anniversary of the Nazi Kristallnacht pogrom.
Germany and many other countries fear that the current conflict between Israel and Hamas could turn into a regional conflagration, particularly due to Hezbollah’s activities in Lebanon. Since the start of the war, exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israel in the border area between the two countries have already been daily.