Germany bans Hamas activities, dissolves Samidoun group

Germany has announced a ban on Samidoun, a group that says it advocates for Palestinian prisoners, and imposed further prohibitions to stamp out support for the Islamist militant group Hamas, which Berlin already lists as a terrorist organization.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz had announced that the government planned to take action against the two groups in the days that followed the October 7 massacres in Israel that killed some 1,400 people.

What do the bans mean?

The ban establishes a legal framework to fully stop the activities of the groups. It means anyone who continues to be active in any way for either organization is committing a criminal offense.

The decision allows authorities to confiscate any of the groups' assets, and it outlaws any internet presence or social media activities by them.

Hamas was already banned, but the latest move further outlaws any activities linked to it, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser explained.

"With Hamas, I have today completely banned the activities of a terrorist organization whose aim is to destroy the state of Israel," Faeser said in a statement.

The German domestic intelligence agency BfV estimates that some 450 people in the country actively support Hamas, which carried out the massacres in Israel.

Meanwhile, Faeser said Samidoun's German wing had shown itself to be part of an international network that spreads anti-Israel and antisemitic propaganda under the guise of solidarity for Palestinian prisoners.

Samidoun was behind an action in which a group of people handed out pastries in a Berlin street in celebration of Hamas's attack.

"Holding spontaneous 'jubilant celebrations' here in Germany in response to Hamas's terrible terrorist attacks against Israel demonstrates Samidoun's antisemitic, inhuman worldview in a particularly sickening way," Faeser said.

Faeser said Samidoun's German branch would be dissolved and that this would "put an end to these activities in Germany."

"There is no place for antisemitism in Germany, and we will fight it with all our might," she added.

Praise from police union

Germany's police union (GdP) said the ban was helpful and had made the legal situation a lot clearer when it came to cracking down on pro-Hamas activities.

"The protection of Jewish life in Germany has the highest priority, and therefore we will also fight this terrorist organization in Germany with toughness and professionalism,"  said Jochen Kopelke, the union's national chairman.

rc/sms (dpa, AP)

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