German authorities close Hezbollah-controlled Imam-Mahdi mosque and association
Police in the western German city of Münster on Thursday stormed the Hezbollah-controlled Imam-Mahdi mosque and its affiliated center because intelligence determined that the mosque and its center are pursuing violations of the constitution.
Sources told The Jerusalem Post in 2019 that pro-Hezbollah terrorism activities were unfolding in the controlled Imam-Mahdi mosque, leading to a Post expose that a Hezbollah member declared in the mosque: “We Have Pledged Allegiance to [Ali] Khamenei; We Are Accused of Terrorism and Are Proud of It.”
Khamenei is the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Germany banned all Hezbollah activities in 2020. Critics argue that the Federal Republic has moved at a glacial-like pace in shutting down Hezbollah centers, mosques and arresting the Lebanese terrorist organization’s members in Germany.
The intelligence agency for North Rhine-Westphalia was not aware of the pro-terrorism statements until the Post published its article.
According to the mass-circulation Bild newspaper, the German authorities raided the apartments of two leaders of the association “Fatime Versammlung,” which is affiliated with the Imam-Mahdi mosque.
A search also took place of a location in Delmenhorst, where Hezbollah also has activities.
The Bild reported that police spokeswoman Antonia Linnenbrink said “The aim of the mission is to convey the ban. The association’s assets are confiscated. We are also looking for evidence of unconstitutional activities.”
Germany’s most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia, where Münster is located, has a serious Hezbollah problem. One German intelligence report examined by the Post in 2019 from North Rhine-Westphalia stated that “for more than 20 years, the Islamic Center (Imam-Mahdi-Zentrum) in Münster has been a platform and meeting place for Hezbollah supporters in North Rhine-Westphalia and western Germany. Other focal points: Essen/Bottrop, Dortmund and Bad Oeynhausen.”
The 363-page intelligence report, which covers threats to the security of the North Rhine-Westphalia, referenced Hezbollah 21 times.
German officials have been criticized for their overly cordial relations with Hezbollah centers For example, the former police head in Der Münster, Hajo Kuhlisch, met with representatives of the now-outlawed Imam-Mahdi center and mosque as part of an “exchange.”
According to the most recent North Rhine-Westphalia intelligence report from 2021, the number of Hezbollah members rose in the state from 115 in 2019 to 250 in 2020.
The Post reported in 2021 that there has been an increase in the number of members and supporters of Hezbollah in Germany, according to a report by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the domestic intelligence agency for the German state of Lower Saxony.
According to the German language intelligence report reviewed by the Post in 2021, the number of supporters and members rose from 1,050 in 2019 to 1,250 in 2020.
There are about 180 Hezbollah members and supporters in the state of Lower Saxony, a rise of 20 members from 160 in 2019.
The state of Baden-Württemberg has 75 active Hezbollah members and is where Hezbollah stored ammonium nitrate in 2016. Israeli intelligence uncovered the storage of the explosive material and notified the German authorities.
Hezbollah terrorists have used ammonium nitrate to plot bomb attacks in Argentina, Britain, Bulgaria, Cyprus and France, and the same explosive material destroyed the Beirut port in August 2020, killing 218 people, wounding more than 7,000 others, leaving an estimated 300,000 people homeless and causing more than $15 billion in property damage.
The US, Israel, England, Canada, Japan, the Arab League and many Latin American and European countries have classified Hezbollah’s entire organization a terrorist entity.
The European Union and France reject designating Hezbollah’s movement a full-blown terrorist operation. The EU has merely outlawed Hezbollah’s so-called military wing while permitting its political wing to raise funds, recruit new members and spread its ideology.
Source: JP
