German police raid suspected Hamas and Samidoun properties
November 23, 2023
The German Interior Ministry on Thursday said police had conducted raids on properties in four federal states connected to suspected Hamas and Samidoun members.
Germany, along with the US, the EU and others, has designated Hamas a terrorist organization. Samidoun is an international pro-Palestinian network. Berlin had banned the activities of both organizations in early November.
"We continue our consistent action against radical Islamists," German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in a statement.
"With the bans on Hamas and Samidoun in Germany, we have sent a clear signal that we will not tolerate any glorification or support of the barbaric terror of Hamas against Israel," Faeser added.
"Islamists and antisemites must not feel safe anywhere," she said.
Where did German police conduct searches?
Searches were carried out in Berlin, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein.
A spokesperson for the Senate Interior Administration said that more than 300 police officers took part in the raids of 15 properties, 11 of them in Berlin. Seven searches concerned Hamas, and four Samidoun.
Germany's Interior Ministry says that there are around 450 Hamas members in the country.
According to German authorities, their activities include influencing political and social discourse in Germany and financing and fundraising to strengthen the organization.
The interior ministry said that the raids were conducted to enforce the ban on the two groups, as well as in order to collect further information.
They took place largely at the homes of supporters and the premises of a Palestinian association, the German Press Agency (dpa) reported
DW's political correspondent Matthew Moore said questions had been raised whether it would have been wiser to "carry out the ban of the organizations and the raids at the same time." A concurrent operation would have prevented members being able to destroy evidence, but that was not possible, Moore said.
A week ago, authorities also conducted nationwide searches of 54 locations across seven federal states connected to the Islamic Center of Hamburg, suspected of supporting the militant group Hezbollah.
ss, sdi/rt (Reuters, dpa, AFP, AP)
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