Germany bans Hamas flag and PKK symbols under new “terror” rules Hamas News

According to the official, violence and anti-Semitism have been reported during demonstrations by the Hamas flag-banning movement in Germany.

The lower house of the German Bundestag has passed a law that outlaws the symbols of groups designated by terrorist organizations as the European Union, including the Palestinian Hamas movement.

The new law, approved on Friday, yet to be approved by the Bundesrat chamber, also outlaws the symbols of the Kurdistan Workers ’Party (PKK), which is listed as a“ terrorist ”group by Turkey and its Western allies.

Previously, only symbols of banned organizations in Germany were banned.

The move came after several pro-Palestinian rallies in Palestine in May when the Israeli-Palestinian conflict escalated, and there were cases of violence and anti-Semitism.

Chancellor Thorsten Frei Angela Merkel, a member of parliament for the Christian Democratic Union, told the newspaper Die Welt last week that the government wanted to ban the Hamas flag in response to the demonstrations.

“We do not want the flags of terrorist organizations to be waved on German soil,” he said, adding that the ban would send “a clear signal to our Jewish citizens.”

Germany witnessed several demonstrations in May in the 11-day fighting between Israel and Hamas, with some protesters shouting anti-Semitic slogans, burning Israeli flags and damaging the entrance to the synagogue with stones.

In a protest in Berlin, 59 people were arrested and dozens of policemen were injured as protesters threw stones, bottles and fireworks.

The German Central Council of Jews has said it has received “a torrent of the most malicious anti-Semitic insults” on social media.

Council President Josef Schuster has called on police to take a hard line against anti-Semitism and said the events are “reminiscent of the darkest times in German history”.

Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has said Germany will crack down on anyone spreading “anti-Semitic hatred”.

“We will not allow Israeli flags and Jewish institutions to burn on German soil,” he told Bild am Sonntag.