Hamas and Hezbollah in Berlin: More than half German
More than half of the supporters of Islamist organizations involved in the Middle East conflict living in Berlin have German citizenship. Almost 40 percent of the approximately 540 supporters of the Palestinian Hamas, Hezbollah and other groups have only a German passport, according to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. 25 percent have German and another nationality and 36 percent have only a non-German nationality. This is according to a response from the Berlin Senate Interior Administration and the Office for the Protection of the Constitution to a CDU inquiry.
According to this, 25 percent of the approximately 300 Hezbollah supporters in Berlin only have a German passport, 35 percent live with two passports and 40 percent are foreigners. Of the approximately 120 Hamas supporters, 65 percent have only German citizenship and 10 percent have two passports. The "Hizb ut-Tahrir" (Islamic Liberation Front) has around 70 supporters, almost 70 percent of whom have only German or two nationalities.
The left-wing extremist "Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine" (PFLP) and its sub-organization Samidoun, which are not strongly religious, have around 50 representatives, around half of whom are German. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) banned the activities of the Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas and the Samidoun network in Germany at the beginning of the month.
The data highlights that a significant portion of supporters for Middle East conflict-involved extremist groups in Berlin, such as Hezbollah and Hamas, hold German citizenship. Furthermore, the presence of foreigners is also notable among these supporters, as evidenced by the 40% of Hezbollah supporters and 10% of Hamas supporters who are identified as being of non-German nationality.
Source: www.dpa.com
