About 500 police officers deployed in Germany: 16 raids on Hamas and Samidoun

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Three weeks ago, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser banned the Islamist Hamas and the Palestinian network Samidoun – now the apartments of suspected supporters have been searched in four states.

As the Federal Ministry of the Interior announced, the raid expanded to 16 properties in Berlin, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein on Thursday. In total, approximately 500 emergency services were involved.

First the announcement, then the ban and now the raid

On November 2, Faeser issued a ban on Hamas’ activities and a ban on the German branch of Samidoun. The bans were announced by Chancellor Olaf Scholz shortly after the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel on October 7, likely to send a political signal.

Raids usually take place before or at the same time as a ban is issued – also so that those affected do not have the opportunity to remove or destroy evidence. It was said that the measures had now been ordered by the responsible administrative courts to enforce the bans and further clarify the banned structures of these groups.

350 police officers in Berlin

Eleven locations in Berlin were searched to secure evidence and assets, according to a police spokeswoman. About 350 police officers were on their way in the capital. In North Rhine-Westphalia, private apartments in Münster and Bochum were searched, according to the Ministry of the Interior present there. According to the Lower Saxony Ministry of the Interior, the target was a person under the jurisdiction of the Osnabrück police.

“We continue our consistent action against radical Islamists,” Faeser said. “With the bans against Hamas and Samidoun in Germany, we have sent a clear signal that we will not tolerate any glorification or support of Hamas’ barbaric terror against Israel.” The SPD politician continues: “We are closely monitoring the Islamist scene.” It is unlikely that Islamists and anti-Semites ‘feel safe anywhere’ in Germany.

450 Hamas members

According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Samidoun supports the use of violence as a means to assert political views and supports associations that threaten attacks. The Samidoun network is close to the secular Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). His supporters came to public attention when, after the Hamas attack in Israel on October 7, sweets were distributed on the streets of Berlin’s Neukölln district as an expression of joy over the terrorist attack.

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Germany estimates that Hamas has about 450 members. Hamas has been classified as a terrorist organization by the EU and the US for years, which means that it was de facto banned in Germany. According to the findings, their activities include expressions of sympathy and propaganda activities, as well as collecting donations.

Increased activity of radical Islamists

Unlike Islamist terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda or Islamic State (IS), Hamas does not carry out attacks in Western countries. However, terror experts fear that the war in Gaza will increase the risk of attacks by sympathizers of other terrorist organizations and radicalized individual perpetrators. According to information from security circles, increased background noise can already be observed in these circles.

The dismay of many Muslims – caused by images of injuries and deaths after Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip – also offers jihadist groups a starting point for recruiting new followers.

The situation was already tense

The number of new terrorism investigations initiated by the federal attorney general had already increased significantly before the recent escalation of violence in the Middle East. As shown by a response from the federal government to a request from the Left Party, 356 investigations related to Islamist terrorism were launched between the beginning of January 2023 and the end of September alone. As can be seen from the list available to the German news agency, this mainly concerned the accusation of membership of a terrorist organization.

By comparison, in the same period last year, the federal attorney general initiated 183 such investigations. In 2022 as a whole, 236 of the 451 new investigations concerned Islamist terrorism. (SDA)

Source: Blick