German police raided 54 properties in seven states on Thursday morning, November 16th, all belonging to the Islamic Center of Hamburg (IZH). The raids came at the direction of the Federal Ministry of the Interior which has long had suspicions that the IZH has ties to the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah and its sub-organizations.
More than 500 police officers and security investigators from the Federal and State Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) searched properties in Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Hesse, Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Berlin, and North Rhine-Westphalia at around 6 a.m.
The primary property of interest searched by authorities was the Hamburg Islamic Center, also known as the Blue Mosque, which is run by the IZH, the daily Die Zeit reported.
Aside from the Islamic Center of Hamburg, police combed through properties owned by the Islamic Academy Germany (IAD) and the Association of the Supporters of an Iranian Islamic Mosque in Hamburg.
In a press release detailing the nationwide operation, Germany’s interior ministry said that IZH and its associated groups are suspected of working “against the constitutional order and against the idea of international understanding,” and of supporting the activities of Hezbollah, which is banned in Germany.
Additionally, the Imam Ali Mosque based in Hamburg is suspected by the interior ministry of disseminating propaganda within Germany in support of the Iranian mullah regime.
Commenting on the operation, Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) said:
We have the Islamist scene in our sights. Especially now, at a time when many Jews feel particularly threatened, the following applies: We generally do not tolerate Islamist propaganda or antisemitic and anti-Israel incitement. It is happening right now and requires high vigilance and tough action, which is why we investigate every justified suspicion decisively.
The suspicions against the ‘Islamic Center Hamburg’ are serious. It has long been monitored by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and classified as Islamist.
Hamburg’s city-state Interior Senator Andy Grote (SPD) referred to the police sweeps as a “hard blow” to the IZH, saying the Islamist organization’s time has “clearly come to an end.”
“The faster the IZH as a whole disappears from Hamburg, the better. Today we are a lot closer to that,” he added.
The Islamic Center of Hamburg is said to exert significant influence over various Muslim communities and associations throughout Germany.
