Berlin: Why some people celebrate Hamas’ terror against Israel

Hassan is standing in the entrance to a cell phone store on Sonnenallee. A young man, Airpods in his ears. Did he notice anything about the demonstration a few meters down the street on Saturday cheering the attack on Israel by the terrorist group Hamas? “Yes, of course, I was there,” says the young man. “So that everyone knows that we stand behind our country.” Our country: For him this is Palestine.

This celebration of around 50 or 60 people in Berlin-Neukölln on the day of the attack on Israel caused horror for many. The anti-Israel network Samidoun distributed sweet baked goods “to celebrate the victory of the resistance,” as it said on Instagram. Slogans were chanted and a stone was thrown at a police car. All this while Hamas terrorists in Israel kidnapped dozens of civilians and killed hundreds. How can that be?

Silence about celebration in Berlin-Neukölln

Almost no one wants to talk about it on this Monday morning on Sonnenallee. Kebab stalls and baklava bakeries sell their wares; most people don’t want to hear about the bloody Middle East conflict. But on some house walls there are posters: “Freedom for Palestine.” There are several Palestinian flags hanging in front of a shop. But no one wants to answer questions. “We’re not interested,” says a young man.

Only Hassan ventures out of the cover, he puts out one blatant theory after another. Just “because three Israelis died,” the Palestinians are now suddenly terrorists – the 18-year-old is serious about that. He doesn’t want to hear about hundreds of deaths or atrocities against civilians. He counters everything with the argument that no one talks about what Israel has already done. “Why did they come to Palestine and take our land?”

“Until we take back Palestine”

The student, whose family fled from the Palestinian territories to Syria, from there to Lebanon and finally to Germany, claims that he has no problem with Jews. But the fight against the people in Israel will continue for 200 or 300 years until “we take back Palestine in this way.”

It’s not just Hassan who thinks that way. And it makes people uneasy in a country that has made Israel’s right to exist a reason of state. The fact that Israel has a right to live and to defend itself is the minimum, the lowest common denominator that no one should shake here. Not after the historic crimes committed by Germans against Jews, many of whom found their only refuge in Palestine. There is no going back from this after the Holocaust, that is the German line.

Club ban for Samidoun?

“We do not accept it when the hideous attacks against Israel are celebrated here on our streets,” said Chancellor Olaf Scholz after Saturday’s scenes. Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser brought up expulsions when hate and hate speech are spread. The Green Party interior expert Irene Mihalic called for club bans to be examined. The main focus now is on organizations like Samidoun – the one with the sweets on Sonnenallee.

According to constitutional protection officers, the association belongs to the radical Palestinian organization PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) and is hostile to Israel. The PFLP itself propagates the armed struggle against Israel, but, unlike Hamas, is not religious. The PFLP has a few dozen, mostly older, supporters in Germany.

Hundreds of Hamas supporters in Germany

According to estimates by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Germany, there are around 450 people behind Hamas, which launched the massive attacks on Israel on Saturday, many of whom are German citizens. The use of Hamas license plates is punishable in Germany. “Western states such as Germany are viewed by Hamas as a retreat area in which the organization concentrates on collecting donations, recruiting new followers and spreading its propaganda,” says the 2022 Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution report.

The Amadeu Antonio Foundation believes that a ban on Samidoun would be the minimum. One must “honestly ask whether we have done enough in recent years to combat international anti-Semitism,” said foundation managing director Thiemo Reinfrank to the “Rheinische Post”. This often begins with glorification of terror and free sweets on Sonnenallee, “but in the end it always ends with dead Jews.”

Jews in Berlin repeatedly attacked

In fact, in Berlin there are repeated insults and even attacks on people who are recognizable as Jews through clothing, language or symbols. This happens to men who wear a kippah – the traditional Jewish head covering – as well as people who talk on the phone in Hebrew or display a Star of David on a chain. It is unclear how large the proportion of perpetrators of Arab origin is. Neither the police nor the victim support organizations record the religious or ethnic background.

It is clear that there are repeated anti-Israel demonstrations by Palestinian groups in Berlin-Neukölln and elsewhere. Usually a few hundred people take part who demand an independent Palestinian state in the place of Israel. Maps are then shown on banners on which the territory of Israel is drawn in green, the color of Islam. “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free,” are the chants. The state of Palestine should extend from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean, where Israel is now located.

Slogans against Israel at a demonstration

Last Easter, at a Palestinian demonstration in Neukölln and Kreuzberg, some participants chanted anti-Israel and anti-Semitic slogans. Observers reported that slogans such as “Death to the Jews, Death to Israel” were also shouted. The police investigated suspicions of incitement and evaluated videos. In the following months, some Palestinian demonstrations were banned by the Berlin police.

Israel’s ambassador Ron Prosor wrote some time ago that he had not expected “the streets of Neukölln to be so similar to those of Gaza.” And: “This terrorist propaganda in the heart of Berlin is a disgrace.” But he also emphasized: “The majority of the population here in Neukölln are good, decent people.”