Hamas in Germany
Arrests Suggest Terrorist Organization Is Operating in Europe
By Rasmus Buchsteiner, Tobias Großekemper, Hubert Gude, Wolf Wiedmann-Schmidt, Roman Lehberger und Sven Röbel
Germany used to be considered a safe haven for Hamas, a place where the terror organization could raise money and build networks. Now, with the arrest of suspected members, fears are growing that Hamas could by planning attacks in Europe.
Abdelhamid Al A., Mohamed B. and Ibrahim El-R. had been in the sights of the security authorities since last summer, well before the Hamas attack on Israel.
On Thursday, investigators in Berlin finally made their move and arrested the three men.
Officials conducted further arrests in Rotterdam.
The suspected Hamas fighters had apparently been planning to retrieve weapons from a hidden underground depot – and keep them ready for attacks on Jewish institutions in Europe.
For Hamas members, Germany had generally been viewed as a safe haven and as a country where it could collect funds for acts of terror against Israel.
But plans to attack here?
There was nothing to suggest such a thing in recent years.
But now, it appears that Germany was possibly to become a theater of operations – a base from which to attack Jews in the middle of Europe.
It had always been clear that the terrorist organization’s network extended into Germany.
According to the German security authorities, one person plays a central role in this: Majed Alzeer, 61.
The Interior Ministry considers the British citizen to be the secret "Hamas representative in Germany."
He allegedly maintains contacts in the leadership circles of the Palestinian terrorist group.
The territories for which he is thought to be responsible apparently go beyond Germany. According to official files, the suspected Hamas liaison is said to organize supporters throughout Europe.
He moved from London to Berlin in 2014. Photos show Alzeer with Hamas leader-in-exile Ismail Haniyyeh.
Hamas' Man in Germany?
Alzeer is said to have portrayed the attack on Israel on October 7 on Facebook as an act of Palestinian self-defense.
Years ago, at the unofficial founding ceremony of a suspected Hamas support association, he is said to have stated, according to internal official documents, that "Berlin bears a great burden in the struggle for Palestine.”
Alzeer is officially registered as a resident in the southeast of Berlin, in the more middle-class part of the Neukölln district.
His name is also on the mailbox where he is registered.
For years, there had been little interest in the suspected Hamas representative in Germany and the supporters of the organization, which has been on the European Union's list of terrorist organizations since 2001.
But then Hamas commandos massacred around 1,200 people in southern Israel in October.
In Berlin's Neukölln district, anti-Israeli activists even handed out baklava to celebrate the slaughter on the night of the attack.
In response to the attack, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that a ban would be issued on Hamas’ activities in Germany, which Interior Minister Nancy Faeser moved quickly to formulate.
Raids in suspected Hamas circles and of individuals known for their hatred of Israel followed at the end of November.
Around 500 police officers searched more than 20 buildings in five federal states.
Officers also stood at Majed Alzeer’s door on November 23 looking for evidence.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser presenting the ban on Hamas activities in Germany on November 2. Foto: Clemens Bilan / EPAReporting by DER SPIEGEL has determined that there is a full network of Hamas-supporting organizations in Germany.
Elements can be found not only in Berlin, but also in smaller towns and rural regions like the Sauerland, Emsland and Brandenburg.
The sympathizer scene applauds terrorists, incites against Jews and posts maps on social networks in which Israel does not exist.
And they raise funds.
Since October 7, the authorities have been particularly alarmed, and not just because of the many pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
According to the classified Hamas ban order issued by the German Interior Ministry, Hamas-affiliated organizations are exerting "coordinated and systematic” influence on supporters in Europe.
"There is a particular focus on Germany due to its large Palestinian diaspora.”
The order states that attempts are being made to deliberately conceal proximity and affiliation to Hamas, but at the same time there are close personal ties.
At the end of November, the police also conducted a raid on a doctor in Emsland who doesn’t seem to fit the cliché of a Hamas fighter.
On the website of a doctor’s office, patients praise the "wonderful” and "very empathetic” doctor.
One photo shows a man in a white coat smiling at the camera.
The authorities are investigating suspicions that the doctor could be a Hamas supporter.
The doctor had earlier served as the chair of the Palestinian Community in Germany (PGD), a group that disbanded a few weeks before the attack on Israel.
The association has been classified as the "most important organization for Hamas supporters in Germany” by domestic intelligence agencies.
DER SPIEGEL reached the doctor by phone on Monday.
He said he didn’t want to speak because his office was full of patients, and offered only that the police search had been "unfair.”
And what about Hamas’ terror?
"I don’t have anything to do with it.”
With that, the conversation ended.
According to the findings of the authorities, the doctor and Alzeer, the suspected Hamas representative in Germany, attended the funeral of a Palestinian official in Leverkusen near Cologne together in April 2023.
Alzeer did not respond to questions submitted by DER SPIEGEL prior to publication.
In an earlier statement, which can be read online, he had denied belonging to Hamas.
The ban on activities imposed by the German government does not necessarily give law enforcement and security officials more powers to monitor the local Hamas scene.
Sources in security agencies say that it had already been possible to recruit informants, tap phones and read chats even before the ban order.
The 77-page paper from the Interior Ministry does, however, make it easier for the authorities to prosecute.
For example, the slogan "From the river to the sea,” which denies Israel's right to exist and had been chanted at protests in Germany, has become a punishable offense.
Police officers also now have more tools at their disposal to take action against certain Hamas symbols at demonstrations.
It’s unclear how much new information the authorities have gained since October 7.
But their awareness of the situation has increased significantly.
Donation Boxes in Snack Bars
On November 13, police in Potsdam seized donation boxes from two fast food restaurants.
They bore the lettering and bank details of the association Die Barmherzigen Hände e.V. (compassionate hands), which claims to have disbanded.
But security sources say the disbanding was a ruse and that the group still has close links directly to Hamas’ centers of power in Gaza.
On Wednesday afternoon in Arnsberg in the Sauerland region of North Rhine-Westphalia, a man in work clothes could be seen exiting a house and getting into a white van.
He had been chairman of the charity Barmherzige Hände until mid-August.
When asked what the group does, he answered: "We collect money for orphans in various places: In Bangladesh, Syria, Jordan, Gambia, Lebanon and Palestine."
He said he doesn’t know how much money the association has collected and distributed over the past seven years, and said that the money for the children in Gaza had been transferred to a bank in Israel.
He confirmed that the association had set up a water desalination plant in the Gaza Strip.
He said it is also possible that a leader of the Hamas party inaugurated the water project.
The man said he didn’t see anything untoward about the possible Hamas involvement.
They were merely celebrating their project in Gaza, he said: "Who cares if someone from Hamas comes?"
He described a report by the state chapter of the domestic intelligence agency in North Rhine-Westphalia naming his association in a report as a "contact point for Hamas" as "nonsense."
The association, he stated, has nothing to do with Hamas.
And although it is possible there are still donation tins in snack bars somewhere, he said, the association’s account has been closed.
Rioting during a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Berlin's Neukölln district Foto: Paul Zinken / dpaHamas also reportedly collects money in other ways – through online appeals and digital service providers, for example, where all the recipient needs to get the money is a code.
These often entail very small amounts, making it that much more difficult for the authorities to disrupt financial flows to Hamas.
"We need to set up our authorities in the best possible way in terms of structure and personnel, also working together in an international alliance," says Sebastian Hartmann, the domestic policy expert in the German parliament for the center-left Social Democrats.
"Many five-euro bills add up to large sums in the end," he says, adding that an international alliance against terror financing is needed, as well as the participation of Qatar and Turkey.
The Islamic Center (IZF) is located on the outskirts of Fürstenwalde, a town of 30,000 inhabitants east of Berlin.
The association that sponsors it was focused on expansion and wanted to build a new education center for up to 600 visitors at the site.
According to media reports, however, the city has decided to buy the property.
There is widespread fear locally that tranquil Fürstenwalde could become a Hamas hotspot.
And there appears to be a reason for some of that concern.
Just as Hamas began its attack on Israel, the imam who normally preaches here cheered, and he later went on to glorify the massacre in Israel on social media.
"What a wonderful day this is," he wrote.
In a sermon, the same prayer leader is said to have uttered: "Oh, God, open our eyes to the conquest of Jerusalem that will happen soon, Oh Lord of the Worlds."
The Office for the Protection of the Constitution had already classified the Islamic Center and the mosque community as "definitely extremist" in the summer.
According to the authorities, it was social media posts that raised their attention and prompted them to place the organization under observation, including messages supporting a fundraising campaign by Barmherzige Hände.
"There is clear evidence that Hamas’ ideology of is still being spread from Fürstenwalde,” says Jörg Müller, the head of the state chapter of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Brandenburg.
The Threat of Terror Is Higher Than It Has Been in Years
Communities in which the Hamas narrative is promoted and the intensity with which the wave of propaganda from Gaza is spreading to Germany are causing concern among security experts.
Does this also increase the risk of individuals becoming radicalized or even willing to carry out attacks in this country?
Or is Hamas now even mulling attacks to leave a trail of blood across Europe?
Thomas Haldenwang, the head of the national Office for the Protection of the Constitution, recently warned that the threat of terrorism is "higher than it has been in years.”
The arrests appear to confirm what he has been saying.
One of the men, Abdelhamid Al A., is said to have been involved in trying to locate an underground weapons depot for Hamas since the spring if not sooner, according to the Federal Prosecutor's Office.
The organization is said to have set up the depot somewhere in Europe in the past.
From October onward, Al A. is said to have received help from three other men.
The weapons had apparently been urgently needed.
According to initial findings, the four men arrested in Berlin and the Netherlands were in close contact with the Qassam Brigades, Hamas' terror headquarters.
This gives the threat a new quality.
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