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Police and intelligence agencies raided 54 properties across Germany on Thursday as part of a crackdown on what they described as “anti-Israel” Islamism in the wake of the deepening crisis in the Middle East.
Germany’s interior ministry said it had opened an investigation into the Islamic Center Hamburg (IZH) – one of the largest and oldest Islamic organizations in the country – over its links to Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
“We have the Islamist scene in our sights,” said Interior Minister Nancy Faeser. “Especially now, at a time when many Jews feel particularly threatened, the following applies: We do not tolerate Islamist propaganda or anti-Semitic and anti-Israel incitement.”
More than 800 security officials carried out raids in seven federal states, seizing material they said would be investigated for insurgency and terror-related offences.
The IZH did not respond to a request for comment.
The interior ministry said the organization that runs the Imam Ali Mosque in Hamburg has political ties to the regime in Tehran. This link has been on the radar of authorities since 1993, when the IZH was placed under government surveillance. The mosque was an important center of Iranian student protest against the Shah in the 1970s.
The IZH tried, unsuccessfully, to have surveillance orders lifted in court, and previously declared the allegations regarding its ties to Iran to be baseless.
“The IZH exerts great influence on certain mosques and clubs,” the interior ministry said, citing evidence from Germany’s domestic intelligence agency. “Within these circles, a clear anti-Semitic and anti-Israel attitude can often be observed, which is also spread in various media channels.”
Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition government has been under increasing domestic pressure in recent weeks to take a firmer line against Islamism in Germany.
According to German security authorities, anti-Semitic hate crimes have increased since the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, and Israel’s subsequent invasion of Gaza.
They included a firebomb attack on one of Berlin’s largest synagogues, and the desecration of Holocaust memorials around the country.
Most of the crimes were committed by Muslims, according to government officials, with many taking place at pro-Palestinian rallies held in anger at Israel’s campaign in Gaza and the tensions in the West Bank.
Berlin has traditionally been one of the staunchest international supporters of Israel, and has pledged a zero-tolerance attitude to anti-Semitic behavior in Germany.
This month the government banned the internationally known activist group Samidoun, declaring it a front for Hamas.
“Israel is our raison d’être,” Scholz said in October, just as his predecessor Angela Merkel did, highlighting the historic responsibility many Germans feel to Israel for atonement for the horrors of Nazism.
The government equated anti-Israel attitudes with anti-Semitism, but this led security officials into a legal gray area.
The interior ministry has now banned the often used pro-Palestinian slogan, “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free”, for example, stating that it is a statement that implicitly supports the destruction of the Israeli state.
But government lawyers could not decide whether the phrase “From the River to the Sea” alone was also illegal, saying it would depend on the context in which it was used.
Some state prosecutors said they don’t understand the substance of the new legal orders from Berlin, and aren’t sure what might stand up in court.