BERLIN: Germany has announced a complete ban on the activities of Hamas and ordered the disbanding of a pro-Palestine group for spreading anti-Israel and anti-Semitic ideas, reported Al Jazeera.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser on Thursday said she implemented a formal ban on activity by or in support of Hamas, which has been designated as a “terrorist” organisation in the country.
“With Hamas, I have today completely banned the activities of a terrorist organisation whose aim is to destroy the state of Israel,” Faeser said.
Reacting to the decision, a Hamas official in Lebanon said that the move showed that the country was in partnership with Israel on crimes against Palestinian people, according to Al Jazeera. Osama Hamdan, the Hamas representative in Lebanon, said, “This prompts us to question whether the German political mentality is a Holocaust mentality that affects all peoples and is not limited to one party or another.”
Moreover, Faeser added that she is also banning and dissolving the German branch of the Samidoun network, which she noted “supports and glorifies” groups including Hamas. Samidoun was behind an October 7 action in which a group of people shared pastries in a Berlin street in celebration of Hamas’s attack on Israel.
On October 7, at least 1400 people were killed, in which, most of them were civilians, according to Israeli officials.
“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 according to Al Jazeera.
In a move to retaliate, Israel has bombarded Gaza, tightened its blockade on the territory, and cut off their access to fuel, food, water and electricity.
In Israel’s attack on Gaza, over 9,000 people have been killed, including 3,760 children, according to Gaza authorities. (ANI)