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Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon (archive).
Photo: Mohammad Zaatari / AP
The name sounded harmless: "Orphan Project Lebanon eV" In reality it was a fundraising association that collected several million euros for the survivors of Hezbollah terrorists.
In 2014, the then Federal Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière (CDU) therefore banned the association.
Police officers in seven federal states - in Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Schleswig-Holstein - have been searching numerous apartments since early Wednesday morning. With the raid brought about by Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU), three associations that are said to have followed in the footsteps of the Hezbollah donation association are to be banned. Their names also sound harmless: they are called »Gib Frieden«, »German Lebanese Family« and »People for People«. The clubs' assets are confiscated.
The interior ministry is convinced that the money that the associations collected went to the so-called "Shahid Foundation" of Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Children whose parents died as alleged "martyrs" are specifically supported.
According to Seehofer's officials, this violates the idea of international understanding.
The certainty that their survivors will be financially supported after their death increases the willingness of young Hezbollah supporters to join the fight against Israel.
The Ministry of the Interior says that one is taking consistent action against associations that misuse humanitarian aid as a cover for extremist goals.
A year ago, Seehofer imposed a so-called ban on the terrorist organization Hezbollah in Germany.
Since then, their supporters in this country are no longer allowed to wave the yellow Hezbollah flag on which an AK-47 assault rifle is raised in the air.
At that time, several clubs were also searched.
The authorities followed up on suspicions that they were part of the Lebanese terrorist organization.
This included the Imam Mahdi Center in Münster, which has been a contact point for Hezbollah supporters for decades.
During a bus trip to an anti-Israel demonstration in Berlin, members of the association are said to have sung: "You rats of Jews, we will return to take revenge."
State within the state
The Office for the Protection of the Constitution recently estimated the number of Hezbollah supporters in the Federal Republic of Germany to be 1,050. The letter was addressed to Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The self-proclaimed "Party of God" emerged as a Shiite militia in the Lebanese civil war and acts there as a state within a state. Hezbollah has been represented in parliament in Lebanon since 1992. In the war in Syria, the militia fought alongside the dictator Bashar al-Assad. Since its inception, Hezbollah has denied Israel's right to exist and has terrorized the state with rocket attacks and bombings. In other countries, too, she is held responsible for attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets.