On November 2, 2023, the German Federal Ministry of the Interior enacted bans on the activities of Hamas (Hamas Ban) and the Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network (Samidoun) (Samidoun Ban) in Germany, which took immediate effect. (Vereinsgesetz §§ 3, 14, 15, 18.) Furthermore, it prohibited the suborganization Samidoun Germany and dissolved it.
The ban on Hamas states that its activities contravene German criminal law and are directed against the concept of international understanding between peoples. Furthermore, they compromise and jeopardize other substantial interests of Germany. (Hamas Ban para. 1; Basic Law art. 9, para. 2.) Similar language is used regarding Samidoun. The ban adds that Samidoun compromises and jeopardizes the peaceful coexistence of Germans and foreigners and of different groups of foreigners in Germany, and compromises and jeopardizes public order because it supports violence to reach political goals and causes such violence. (Samidoun Ban para. 1.)
Included in the activities ban are bans on showing certain enumerated symbols of these organizations publicly, in an assembly, or in pamphlets or sound and image media that are being or are intended to be distributed. (Hamas Ban para. 3; Samidoun Ban para. 5.) “Third-party property” and “third-party claims” that were used to or are intended to further the illegal interests of the organizations “will be seized and confiscated” by the authorities. (Hamas Ban paras. 5, 6; Samidoun Ban paras. 7, 8.)
German Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser stated in a press release that
… organizing spontaneous celebrations in Germany in response to the horrible terrorist attacks of HAMAS against Israel show the antisemitic, inhuman world view of Samidoun in a particularly repugnant way. The ban on the activities of HAMAS and Samidoun and the dissolution of “Samidoun Germany” end these activities in Germany. Antisemitism has no place in Germany – no matter where it originates from.
Jenny Gesley, Law Library of Congress
November 3, 2023
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