Total ban on Hezbollah activities in Germany

Text by: Pascal Thibaut Follow

Four mosques and associations were raided early this Thursday, April 30, in several German cities. The government has decided to ban the activities of the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah movement. His military arm was placed on the list of terrorist organizations in 2013 by the European Union, but his civil activities remained authorized in Germany.

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From our correspondent in Berlin , 

It may be a coincidence of the calendar. But the total ban on Hezbollah in Germany coincides with the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. The Minister of the Interior, Horst Seehofer, justifies his decision because of the particular responsibility of his country towards Israel whose Shiite organization wants the disappearance.

The latter country, like the United States, calls for such a measure from Berlin. It is therefore not surprising that the American ambassador to Berlin, like the Israeli foreign minister, welcomed this measure. The Central Council of Jews in Germany considered that this ban should have taken place a long time ago. The organization hopes that Berlin will use the presidency of the European Union in the second half of the year to obtain a complete ban on Hezbollah in the 27 member countries .

The armed branch of the Shiite movement has been banned in Germany since 2013, as in all of Europe. But its civilian arm, with a thousand members, used the country with mosques and associations as a rear base to collect money and for anti-Israeli propaganda. In December, the German parliament voted by a very large majority for a resolution to get the government to ban these activities.

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• Germany
• Lebanon
• Terrorism
• European Union