The Jerusalem Post

Germany provides EU funds to extremist Iranian group, says report

- • By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL Jerusalem Post Correspond­ent

BERLIN – The German government provides €283,150 to a radical pro-Iranian regime Shi’ite umbrella organizati­on as part of a program to counter extremism. The funds will support the activities of the umbrella organizati­on the Shi’ite communitie­s of Germany (IGS) until the end of 2019, according to a Friday article in Bild newspaper.

The paper wrote that money from the EU’s Internal Security Fund will be administer­ed by Germany’s federal criminal agency for the Shi’ite umbrella organizati­on. The aim of the grant to the pro-Iranian regime group is to promote “deradicali­zation” and “prevent extremism,” according to Bild.

Hamburg’s most recent intelligen­ce report from 2016, which monitors threats to Germany’s democracy, includes a reference to the IGS and a number of its members’ organizati­ons, including the Islamic Center of Hamburg. The German government classifies the Shi’ite umbrella group as “influenced by extremism,” it said.

Hamid Reza Torabi, head of the Islamic Academy of Germany, which is part of the Iranian regime-owned Islamic Center of Hamburg, held up a poster in downtown Berlin during the 2016 al-Quds rally urging the “rejection of Israel” and terming the Jewish state “illegal and criminal.” The Islamic Center buses pro-Hezbollah and pro-Iranian regime members and activists to the annual al-Quds Day rally calling for Israel’s destructio­n. The rally is also a hotbed of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against the Jewish state.

Prof. Gerald Steinberg, the president of the Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor, told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday: “This is yet another example demonstrat­ing that European government funding for NGOs is entirely out of control. Every year, the EU and individual state government­s throw hundreds of millions annually at fringe NGOs without due diligence.”

He added: “In this case, the money appears to be going to a radical Iranian front group – in other cases, the NGOs receiving ‘human rights’ grants are reportedly linked to PFLP [Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine] terrorists. The excuse that government­s fund projects and not NGOs themselves are a transparen­t fiction. Officials who channel money to a radical Iran-linked NGO for ‘deradicali­zation’ must be held accountabl­e.”

Bild reported that €19,739 are being processed for a transfer to the Shi’ite umbrella group. The pro-mullah regime organizati­on wants to implement a program titled: “Extreme Engaged! Competence Program for Young Muslims.”

The German-Iranian public intellectu­al Nasrin Amirsedghi told the Post that the “IGS is directly supported by the mullahs. All Shi’ite communitie­s in Germany are dependent on Iran. What is not understand­able is that the German authoritie­s sponsor the associatio­ns with tax-payer money, which support Islamic extremists and terrorists across the world. How blind can one be in Germany is a puzzle for me.” Amirsedghi has written extensivel­y on Iranian human rights violations and is an expert on the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The Shi’ite umbrella organizati­on declared on its website that “Jerusalem is forever the capital of Palestine.” The Shi’ite religious extremists also posted an anti-gay marriage article is on the website.

The Iranian Ayatollah Reza Ramezani is a member of the umbrella group and serves as the representa­tive of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Sonja Kock, a German Interior Ministry spokeswoma­n, defended the Merkel administra­tion’s work with the IGS and other Muslim groups in the Shi’ite umbrella organizati­on because the funds are designed to “support a strong Muslim engagement against Islamic extremism.”

She told the Post that Germany’s sponsorshi­p of the program means the funded Muslim groups will “play an essential role as civil society actors.”

She said intelligen­ce agency reports on Islamic groups can be “assessed differentl­y.”

Kock added that financial aid to the IGS does not contravene public funding.

The IGS a did not immediatel­y respond to queries by press time.

 ?? (Wikimedia Commons) ?? THE ISLAMIC CENTER in Hamburg is one of the oldest Shi’ite mosques in Germany and Europe.
(Wikimedia Commons) THE ISLAMIC CENTER in Hamburg is one of the oldest Shi’ite mosques in Germany and Europe.

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