Germany harboring hundreds of Hamas, Hezbollah activists
Berlin’s domestic intelligence agency says most group members in country ‘are focused on their regions of origin’
Some 300 Hamas members and supporters – as well as 950 Hezbollah activists and members – are operating in Germany, the country’s domestic intelligence agency said in its annual federal report, the same numbers as were listed in its 2013 and 2014 reports.
The Jerusalem Post’s examination of the 317-page intelligence report, which was released on Tuesday, revealed the Islamic terrorists were on the radar screen of the country’s intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
“The followers of Islamist-terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah striving for the abolition of the Jewish State of Israel are focused on their regions of origin, which is where they commit most of their terrorist acts of violence,” the report stated.
Europe has long been a platform for Hezbollah members to launch terrorist attacks against Israelis and European Jews. Hezbollah operatives blew up an Israeli tour bus in the Black Sea resort of Burgas, Bulgaria, on July 18, 2012, killing five Israelis and their Bulgarian bus driver.
The EU included Hezbollah’s so-called military wing on its terrorism list in 2013, but Hezbollah’s political operation remains a legal organization in Europe. The US, Canada, the Arab League, and the Netherlands proscribed all of Hezbollah’s organization to be a terrorist militia.
It is unclear why Germany is harboring Hamas members. The EU classifies Hamas’s entire organization as a terrorist entity.
Radical Islamic terrorist groups have long put down roots in Germany.
Gerald Steinberg, professor of Political Studies at Bar-Ilan University, told the Post that Hamas and Hezbollah cells “are ready to be activated” in Europe in the event of Israeli conflicts with the terrorist organizations. He also warned that “these organizations are actively raising funds in Europe and recruiting members.”
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, something akin to Shin Bet, has documented the steady presence of Hezbollah and Hamas members and supporters. According to the agency’s reports in 2013 and 2014, the number of members and supporters of Hamas and Hezbollah remained 300 and 950, respectively.
The 2015 reports said 360 members and supporters of the group Turkish Hezbollah are active in Germany.
Such statistics can be hard to square with the administration of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who declared in 2008 Israel’s security to be “non-negotiable” for the Federal Republic. Israel and Germany wrapped up a packed year of events in 2015 celebrating 50 years of diplomatic relations.
An estimated 800 pro-Hezbollah activists and Iranian regime supporters marched in the annual al-Quds Day march in Berlin on Saturday.
The Berlin State Senate banned Hezbollah flags at the march. Berlin state Interior Minister Frank Henkel defended the flag ban, saying Hezbollah missuses the right to assemble because the group “propagates the destruction of an entire people and endorses war and violence.”
According to the Berlin State intelligence 2015 report, which was overseen by Henkel, there are 250 active Hezbollah members and 70 Hamas operatives in the capital. It is unclear why Berlin authorities have not detained the Hamas members.
International Quds Day – initiated by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Islamic Republic’s founder, in 1979 – is an annual event calling for the destruction the Jewish state.
“This demonstration [al-Quds Day] is directed at a state that represents the same values as Germany and the other countries of Europe,” said Yakov Hadas-Handelsman, Israel’s ambassador to Germany, at a counter-al-Quds Day demonstration on Saturday. “And therefore this demonstration today is not only directed at Israel. The demonstration is directed not only against Jews in the entire world. No, the demonstration is directed against the entire Western world and its values.”
The number of pro-Israel protesters ranged from 260 to 500. Hadas-Handelsman said it is a “disgrace” that for the last 20 years in Germany, agitating publicly against Jews and Israel is allowed.
The intelligence report noted that a German court in 2015 rejected the claim by the Lebanon Orphan Children Project that it is not involved in terrorist activities.
The alleged charity was outlawed in 2014, and has renamed itself “Colors for Orphans.”
The Lebanon Orphan Children’s Project was founded in 1997, and transferred donations to the al-Shahid (“The Martyr”) Association in Lebanon. Al-Shahid was “disguised as a humanitarian organization” and “promotes violence and terrorism in the Middle East using donations collected in Germany and elsewhere,” according to a 2009 European Foundation for Democracy report by Middle East expert Alexander Ritzmann.
The donations to Lebanon Orphan Children’s Project aided the families of suicide bombers who murdered Israelis.
The report also estimated the number of Islamic extremists could be as high as 10,000 in the Federal Republic. Radical Islamists likely have infiltrated the flow of refugee entering Germany, the report noted.