German banks close accounts of Marxist-Leninist Party
The Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany announced on Thursday that the Deutsche Bank and the Postbank have closed all of its bank accounts in Germany.
The anti-Israel MLPD has been engulfed in an election scandal alleging it campaigned during the federal election with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, an EU- and US-designated terrorist organization.
In a statement released on its German-language website, MLPD chairwoman Gabi Fechtner said the termination of the accounts “is a massive attack on the management of the MLPD.”
She added that the closure of the accounts “means a new high point in the criminalization campaign against the MLPD and a politically motivated bank boycott.”
The Jerusalem Post published an investigative series on the party’s connection with the PFLP prior to the September 24 federal election. The MLPD, which adheres to the line of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, blasted the report on its website, claiming that the negative press coverage was related to its support for the “Palestinian liberation struggle.”
The MLPD campaigned on a joint list with the PFLP and its supporters, according to German media reports. The party did not secure the required 5% of the vote to enter the Bundestag.
Germany’s domestic intelligence agency monitors the MLPD and its 1,800 members because the party is deemed a threat to the country’s constitutional democracy.
Fechtner said that “all of the defamations with respect to our alleged terror connections... are without substance. We demand that the Deutsche Bank and the Postbank immediately withdraw the cancellations.”
She added that if the banks refuse to re-open the accounts, the party will pursue legal action.
Tim Oliver Ambrosius, a Deutsche Bank spokesman, told the Post that the bank declines to comment.
Iris Laduch-Reichelt, a spokeswoman for Postbank, told the Post by email that the bank cannot provide “concrete information” on accounts because of bank privacy laws.
She added that the Postbank conducts business relations based on the bank’s values and its legal standards. “We can end, for example, a business relationship if a customer violates applicable law or the customer is not in line with our values,” she said.
During Operation Cast Lead, the MLPD called for “solidarity with the just resistance of the Palestinian people against Israel’s war of aggression and state terrorism.” The party maintains that the PFLP should not be listed as a terrorist organization.
The PFLP has murdered scores of Israelis since the Seventies. Its supporters operate in Berlin and have held support events in the German capital over the years.
Over the years, convicted PFLP terrorist Leila Khaled has toured EU countries, including Germany, to promote the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against the Jewish state and secure support for the party.
According to a report in the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper, the MLPD had €4.17 million for its electoral campaign ahead of the September election. It is unclear how much of this money, if any, was allocated to the PFLP and its supporters.
In addition to the four Deutsche Bank accounts listed on the MLPD website, the GLS Bank in Bochum operates an account for the party.
At the beginning of September, the MLPD said that “the PFLP is not a member of our alliance. Sympathizers of the PFLP are, however, engaged in our alliance and are represented... in the interests of the Palestinians.”
However, German media showed screenshots of Marxist-Leninist Party election literature listing the PFLP as an alliance partner.