Crackdown On Mosques and Islamic Centres in Germany Has More to Do with Geopolitics Than to Anti-Semitism

By New Age Islam Staff Writer 30 July 2024 Blue Mosque and Other 52 Mosques of Germany Were Raided for Terror Links Main Points: 1. Blue Mosque, the oldest Shia mosque in Germany was banned. 2. Interior ministry alleged it was linked to Hezbollah. 3. Ministry alleged Blue Mosque promoted anti-semitism. 4. In June 2023, an interior ministry report said one third of Muslims in Germany faced racial discrimination. ----- A pro-Palestinian rally in Berlin, Nov. 4, 2023. Credit: Streets of Berlin via Wikimedia Commons. ------ On 24 July, hundreds of police personnel raided the oldest Shia Mosque, Imam Ali Mosque popularly called Blue Mosque in Hamburg in Germany. Other 52 mosques and Islamic centres in five states across Germany were also raided and the property confiscated. The government claims that police have secured extensive documents, computers, mobile phones and large sums of cash. According to the Interior Ministry of Germany, the raids were being conducted since November 2023 and it had gathered much evidence about the Mosque's link to Hezbollah which is designated as a terrorist organisation by Germany in 2020. However, the interior ministry has not produced any material evidence of the mosque's links to Hezbollah. The German Ministry of the Interior released a statement citing two main reasons behind the crack down: It pursued extremist objectives and promoted aggressive anti-Semitism. As a matter of fact, any country has the right to take legal action against individuals and groups involved in terrorism and racism. Therefore, Germany has the right to crackdown on organisations and individuals pursuing terrorism and extremist ideology on its land. But it has not provided any material evidence of the links of the Blue Mosque to Hezbollah though it has been conducting raids on mosques and Islamic centres since November. The statement of Interior Minister Nancy Faeser on the mosque so far have political undertones. She said the mosque was a 'front for the Iranian government and it was planning an Iran like Islamic revolution (coup) in Germany. Condemning the Iran government's crackdown on mosques, Iran's minister Ali Baqeri Kani wrote on X: "The decision by the German political and law enforcement authorities on inspection of premises affiliated to IZH (Islamic Centre of Hamburg) which is the oldest Islamic centre (in the country) with a history of 70 years and a precious heritage of late Shia authority Grand Ayatollah Baroujerdi is.an unjustified move and flouts all principles of freedom of religion and thought." German police closed the Islamic Centre in Hamburg, also known as the Blue Mosque, as part of nationwide raids (Image Source: AP) ------- Turkey's religious affairs directorate also expressed concern over the ban on the Islamic Centre of Germany. The crackdown seems to be a fall out of widespread protests against Israel's genocidal war across Germany in which both Muslims and non-Muslims have participated. The governments of the US and the European countries have cracked down on protesters and even cancelled visas of foreign students. The Islamic Centre of Hamburg too issued statements protesting against the massacre of Palestinians. According to a report in Tehran Times 26 July: "In recent months, the centre has issued many statements regarding Israeli genocidal war in Gaza and the heart wrenching massacre of Palestinian civilians urging the German government and other western states to put an end to their support of the regime in order to help protect defenceless civilians in the besieged Strip." The recent crackdown, therefore, may be seen in the backdrop of the involvement of the Islamic Centre of Hamburg in the widespread protests against the Israel's genocidal war in Gaza. As for anti-Semitism, the statistics of the Interior ministry of Germany itself shows that the Muslims face more racial discrimination and stereotyping in Germany. A 400 page report of independent experts produced to the Interior ministry in June 2023 (only last year) revealed that one third of the Muslims of Germany have experienced racial discrimination and stereotyping from kindergarten to old age. The October 7 war affected the Muslims more as Islamophobia grew in Germany since October 2023. A report by Human Rights Watch on April 30, 2024 said: "By end of September 2023, the government's preliminary hate crime statistics for the year had counted 686 anti-Islamic crimes, surpassing the 610 recorded for all of 2022. In mid 2024, the Interior Ministry told the Human Rights Watch that it could not yet provide any data for the period before October and December. But German civil society groups have warned of a rise in anti-Muslim incidents since October following the outbreak of hostilities in Israel-Palestine." The repot further states: " To the dismay of an author of the study, the Interior ministry has neither engaged with the experts who produced the report nor carried out their recommendations. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said she did not agree to everything in the report. " Nancy Faeser who is seemingly so perturbed by the anti-Semitism allegedly promoted by the Blue Mosque that she ordered a crackdown on it along with other 52 mosques and Islamic centres but did not take any action against documented incidents of anti-Islamic hate crimes in her country. She even rejected the report of her own government on growing Islamophobia in Germany. This shows that Nancy Faeser has a biased approach towards Muslims in line with the leaders of the US, UK and Netherlands. The fact is that Germany is one of the staunchest supporters of Israel in Gaza war and one of the biggest suppliers of arms to Israel. For its complicity in the genocide in Palestine, Nicaragua has even instituted proceedings against Germany at the International Court of Justice under inter alia the Genocide Convention concerning alleged breach of certain international obligations in respect of the occupied Palestine territory arising from Germany's support for Israel in the Israel-Hamas war. In short, the crackdown on mosques and Islamic centres by the German government has more to do with geopolitics than to terrorism or anti-Semitism. Germany, like other European countries, is trying to suppress voices protesting and condemning the genocide in Gaza by Israel for its own political goals. 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