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German İHH rejects links to Hamas
The decision by the Interior Ministry to ban the International Humanitarian Relief Organization (İHH) punishes people in need and will severely damage the country’s image throughout the Muslim world, Mustafa Yoldaş told journalists in Berlin.
Yoldaş said the group is not a political but humanitarian organization that helps the neediest regardless of language, race or religion. “I swear, had they been suffering hunger, thirst or hardship, we would have also helped Jews,” he said.
The ministry banned the group on Monday, saying it is suspected of collecting money in mosques and sending about 6.6 million euros ($8.3 million) to relief organizations belonging to or supporting Hamas, which Germany considers a terrorist organization.
But Yoldaş accused the Interior Ministry of bowing to Israeli pressure and said the organization will appeal in court against the ban and is checking with lawyers to seek a swift court injunction, he said.
Yoldaş acknowledged that delivering aid to people in Gaza made it unavoidable to have some contact with Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip. He claimed the organization supports about 3,200 orphans through a partner organization in Gaza.
Hamas doesn’t recognize Israel. Organizations that work directly or indirectly against Israel’s right to exist lose the right to be active in Germany, the ministry said.
According to a 2004 German high court decision, the ministry said it is irrelevant whether the money was targeted for charity or otherwise because Hamas works as an entity and giving money to any branch will bolster the group’s terrorist activities.
But Yoldaş insisted that humanitarian aid in cooperation with local partner organizations should be allowed, pointing to similar activities by the Red Cross or the United Nations. “Otherwise you would have to let people starve or die to make sure not to support Hamas,” he said.
Yoldaş, a 39-year-old doctor living in the northern city of Hamburg, and other main figures in the organization are also active in the Islamic group Milli Görüş (National View), which has been under observation by German authorities for allegedly supporting Islamic fundamentalists.
The İHH was founded in Germany in the early 1990s, but split into two separate entities in 1997, one in Germany and the other in Turkey, according to the ministry.
The branch in Turkey was recently involved in organizing a pro-Palestinian flotilla meant to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza. The flotilla was stopped by Israeli military May 31. Eight Turks and one Turkish American were killed in the raid.
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