Several federal states
Searches of Hamas and Samidoun supporters
A police emergency vehicle is on the street during a raid in Berlin-Friedrichshain. Security forces have searched several properties in Berlin, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein in connection with the ban on the terrorist organization Hamas and the international network Samidoun in Germany
© Paul Zinken / DPA
Apartments and offices of Islamist organizations in Germany are being searched again. This time it’s about supporters of Hamas and Samidoun – both organizations are no longer allowed to operate in Germany. Interior Minister Faeser warns their supporters.
Security forces have in connection with the ban on the terrorist organization Hamas and the international network Samidoun in Germany searched several properties in Berlin, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein on Thursday. The Federal Ministry of the Interior announced this in the morning. At the beginning of November, the ministry issued a ban on Hamas’ activities and a ban on Samidoun’s associations.
The measures were ordered by the responsible administrative courts to enforce the bans and to further clarify the banned structures of these groups, it said. A total of 15 objects were searched. According to a police spokeswoman, searches were carried out at eleven locations in Berlin alone to secure evidence and assets.
Focus of the raids in Berlin
During the raids, investigators searched objects in Münster and Bochum. In response to a DPA request, a spokesman for the North Rhine-Westphalia Ministry of the Interior said that each was a private apartment. He was initially unable to provide any further details. The focus was Berlin, where, according to the police, eleven apartments and business premises were examined. Seven searches in Berlin concern the Palestinian organization Hamas and four the Samidoun association. These are primarily supporters’ apartments and the rooms of a Palestinian association. More than 300 police officers are deployed in the capital.
Berlin’s Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) described the renewed raid against Islamist organizations as an important step. “Today’s operation also shows that the terrorist, anti-Semitic and inhumane ideology of the banned associations Hamas and Samidoun will continue to be consistently countered,” said Spranger this morning. Anti-Semitism and support for terror have no place in Germany.
Hamas and Samidoun banned by the Federal Ministry of the Interior
“We are continuing our consistent action against radical Islamists,” said Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD). “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 Hamas’s barbaric terror against Israel.”
On November 2nd, Faeser had the sub-organization “Samidoun Germany”, which is part of the international network “Samidoun – Palestinian Solidarity Network”, banned and dissolved. “We are keeping a close eye on the Islamist scene,” emphasized Faeser. “Islamists and anti-Semites cannot and must not feel safe anywhere here.”
Samidoun supports the use of violence as a means of asserting political views and supports associations that threaten attacks. The glorification of Hamas’s terror following its terrorist attacks on Israel since October 7, 2023 is particularly serious.
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Germany counts Hamas as having around 450 members, writes the Interior Ministry. Their activities therefore included expressions of sympathy and propaganda activities as well as collecting donations. No violent actions have taken place so far. Hamas has been classified as a terrorist organization by the EU and the USA for years, meaning it was de facto banned in Germany.
Note: This article has been updated several times.