What took so long? Hezbollah ban in Germany was long overdue

Germany’s government could have banned Hezbollah decades ago

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL
German special police leaves the El-Irschad (Al-Iraschad e.V.) centre in Berlin, Germany, April 30, 2020, after Germany has banned Iran-backed Hezbollah on its soil and designated it a terrorist organisation (photo credit: REUTERS/HANNIBAL HANSCHKE)
German special police leaves the El-Irschad (Al-Iraschad e.V.) centre in Berlin, Germany, April 30, 2020, after Germany has banned Iran-backed Hezbollah on its soil and designated it a terrorist organisation
(photo credit: REUTERS/HANNIBAL HANSCHKE)
BERLIN - After years of pressure from the US (both the Obama and Trump administrations) and the Israeli government, Germany’s interior minister on Thursday banned all activities of the Lebanese terrorist movement Hezbollah within the federal republic’s territory. 
“That was overdue,” wrote Frank Jansen about the ban in his Tagesspiegel newspaper commentary. Jansen is one of Germany’s leading national security reporters.
German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer declared that Hezbollah’s activities “violate criminal law and the organization opposes the concept of international understanding.”
In other words, Germany’s government could have banned Hezbollah decades ago.
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s administration declined and furnished a series of bogus arguments. Germany linked a ban to the Israel-Palestinian peace process in 2018. Last year, after the UK outlawed Hezbollah, Germany's deputy foreign minister, Niels Annen, said when asked about a ban: “Hezbollah is however also a relevant factor in Lebanese society and an integral part of the country’s complex domestic-policy make-up. It has seats in Parliament and is part of the Government.”
A veteran German journalist, who has written extensively about Iranian regime-sponsored terrorism and intelligence agencies in the federal republic, told me Germany cut a deal with Hezbollah after the organization’s 1992 terrorism attack in a West Berlin restaurant.
A joint Hezbollah-Iran operation assassinated three Iranian-Kurdish leaders and their translator in the Greek restaurant Mykonos. The quid pro quo, according to the journalist, was: Hezbollah and Iran discontinued terrorism operations on German soil in exchange for permission to fundraise, build structures, recruit new members, and spread their deadly ideologies.
In contrast to the foreign policy view held by France and Germany, my Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ colleague and Lebanon expert, Tony Badran, has over the years debunked the belief that  the Lebanese state is independent from Hezbollah. Writing in December in the Washington Examiner, he noted that “ The reality is that Hezbollah took over Lebanon years ago” and the  Eastern Mediterranean  nation is a “failed state run by a terrorist group.”
Jansen said that by proscribing Hezbollah’s activities, interior minister Horst Seehofer sent a message to the State of Israel, Jews and many non-Jewish democrats who have long sought the ban of the Shi’ite terrorist entity. He noted that Hezbollah has over the decades carried out “antisemitic agitation.”
The Jerusalem Post has written hundreds of articles on Hezbollah’s nefarious activities over the decades in Europe, including a Hezbollah member declaring last year in a Hezbollah-controlled mosque in the German city of Münster: “We belong to the party of Ruhollah [Khomeini]. We have been accused of being terrorists – we are proud of terrorism.”
In 2018, this journalist exclusively reported that the Al-Mustafa Community Center in the northern German city-state of Bremen is a major hub for raising funds for Hezbollah in Lebanon, according to a German intelligence report.
The Bremen intelligence agency’s report stated, “The Al-Mustafa-Community Center supports Hezbollah in Lebanon, especially by collecting donations.”
The financial pipeline between Bremen and Beirut means Hezbollah secures funds from German territory to wage war against Israel and Syrian civilians.
Hezbollah’s infamous 1985 manifesto demands Israel’s “obliteration from existence.” Merkel claimed during her 2008 speech in the Knesset that Israel’s security is “non-negotiable” for her government.
Hezbollah fighters have aided Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in wiping out over 600,000 people in Syria.
All of this helps to explain that Germany had a prima facie case to ban Hezbollah. The political will in Germany was non-existent. A sea change appeared with the appointment of Richard Grenell as US ambassador to Germany in 2018.
“The world is a little bit safer with this German government ban of Hezbollah. The entire US embassy in Berlin has worked with the German government and the Bundestag for two years to push for this ban. It’s an incredible diplomatic success that we hope will motivate many officials in Brussels to follow suit with an EU-wide ban,” Grenell said on Thursday.
The US congress has also flexed its muscles with a view toward seeking a change in German Hezbollah policy. In  2019, congress once again urged Germany to designate the entire organization as a terrorist entity, not only its military.
Representatives Ted Deutch, Grace Meng, Gus Bilirakus and Lee Zeldin wrote a letter to Merkel saying in part: “The alliance between our two countries, whether for combating terrorism or supporting democracy, has been a cornerstone of the transatlantic relationship and NATO alliance, and our coordinated efforts have been critical to our collective national security.”
The group of democrats and republicans added “ That is why we hope that Germany will consider this decision to, once and for all, fully designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.” The letter came after the Bundestag failed to pass a resolution that would refer to the entire organization as a terrorist group.”
Moving forward, Germany has positioned itself, along with the Netherlands and the UK, to push the European Union to include Hezbollah’s entire organization on its foreign terrorist entities. In 2013, the EU merely banned Hezbollah’s so-called “military wing” after the organization blew up an Israeli tourist bus in Bulgaria. The terrorist operation murdered five Israelis and their Muslim Bulgaria bus driver. Hezbollah defines itself as a unitary organization without political and military wings. Holland outlawed Hezbollah in 2004.
Germany has still not internalized via counterterrorism methods that Hezbollah is an extension of Iran’s clerical regime.
In 2018 Nathan Sales, the Coordinator for Counterterrorism within the US Department of State, spoke at the Washington Institute’s Counterterrorism Lecture Series. Sales said “Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. Period. It has held that dubious distinction for many years now and shows no sign of relinquishing the title.” He noted that at the time that “Iran provides Hezbollah alone some $700 million a year.”
Germany has not taken the anti-terrorism plunge and joined US economic sanctions against Tehran. Merkel has also refused to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization.
Economic interests are one of the factors in Germany’s opposition to US sanctions along with its view that the Iran nuclear deal is functioning, despite overwhelming evidence that Tehran has violated the terms of the atomic accord. Germany is Iran's most important European trade partner.
Merkel continues to permit US sanctioned Iranian banks ( Bank Melli Bank Sepah  European Iranian Handelsbank,  to operate within German territory.
Iran’s financial system is riddled with terror finance and support for its illegal nuclear and missile programs.
One could argue that the pressing question for the counterterrorism community is, when will Germany finally confront Hezbollah’s paymaster, the Islamic Republic of Iran? Critics of Germany's anti-terrorism strategy believe it is long overdue.
Benjamin Weinthal is a fellow for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.