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Hamas flags during protests in Ramallah: In Germany, the flags of the radical Islamic Palestinian organization will no longer be allowed to be waved
Photo: ABBAS MOMANI / AFP
In the course of the recent escalation in the Middle East, there were several anti-Israeli protests in Germany.
Some of the participants also waved the flag of the radical Islamic Hamas.
In the future, however, this should no longer be allowed.
According to a newspaper report, the government factions in the Bundestag have agreed to ban the Hamas flag.
"We do not want the flags to be waved by terrorist organizations on German soil," said Deputy Union faction leader Thorsten Frei (CDU) of "Welt am Sonntag" (WamS).
The German constitutional state must give the anti-Semitic demonstrations in May a quick and firm response.
"I am very pleased that the SPD has joined our initiative," said Frei.
"In doing so, we are also sending a clear signal to our Jewish citizens."
An amendment to Section 86 in the Criminal Code is intended to take account of unconstitutional organizations as well as those that are on the EU terrorist list when it comes to the ban on the distribution of propaganda material.
Among other things, the radical Islamic Hamas ruling in the Gaza Strip and the left-wing extremist Palestinian organization PFLP, which also has supporters in Germany, are on this sanctions list.
Initially, there were constitutional concerns
According to the report, there had previously been constitutional concerns in the Justice Ministry of Christine Lambrecht (SPD).
The WamS quoted from a letter from the Federal Minister of Justice on June 7th to Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU).
It said about the proposal from the Union parliamentary group: "According to an initial assessment, I consider the specific approach chosen there to be in need of revision, out of respect for Parliament, I asked my House to examine whether a modified variant of this proposal would be conceivable."
The SPD parliamentary group then referred to constitutional concerns of the federal government.
On Wednesday, a spokesman for the Federal Ministry of Justice said in response to a WamS request that a corresponding change in the penal code would raise "a number of difficult legal issues."
During the recent escalation of violence in the Middle East, the German government condemned the Hamas rocket attacks on Israel as "terrorist attacks".
asc / dpa