Dear First Mayor Dr Tschentscher,
dear Second Mayor Fegebank,
we wish you every success in your current coalition negotiations. We would like to take this opportunity to remind you that in an open and tolerant city such as Hamburg, the subject of combating Islamism and combating hatred of people of other faiths must be an indispensable part of civil-society and political engagement and must therefore occupy a prominent place in your coalition negotiations.
The order imposing a ban on the activities of the Lebanese terrorist militia Hezbollah (Party of God) in Germany was issued on 20 April 2020. The main reason for the ban is this association of fundamentalist Shiites’ agitation against Israel. Following this, large-scale raids took place in Berlin, North Rhine-Westphalia and Bremen. In the course of these, several mosques and association premises were searched by the police.
In Hamburg too there are Hezbollah supporters who, among other places, frequent the “Islamisches Zentrum Hamburg” (IZH). In the assessment of the Verfassungsschutz, the IZH is the most important propagandistic and organisational institution of the Iranian regime in Europe (https://www.mopo.de/-islamisches-zentrum-hamburg–an-der-alster-liegt-irans-propaganda-zentrale-19548712; http://www.hamburg.de/innenbehoerde/archiv/232318/fuehrungswechsel-izh-artikel/).
In the course of the searches in connection with the Hezbollah ban, the IZH demanded in a public letter to Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier reparation for the “disregard for the esteem owed to mosques, the Koran and the fasting month of Ramadan” (https://izhamburg.com/blog/2020/05/08/breif-an-den-bundespraesidenten/). It is striking that the IZH criticises the investigations by German security authorities against mosque associations suspected of supporting terrorist activities, yet one looks in vain in this letter for any distancing from Hezbollah. This confirms the assessment of the Verfassungsschutz that the IZH is a direct representative of Iran’s interests. The greatest supporter and financier of Hezbollah is the Iranian mullah regime. As a member of the Schura, the council of Islamic communities in Hamburg, the IZH is at the same time a partner of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg in the treaties with the Islamic associations.
Consistently implementing the Hezbollah ban means, at the political and civil-society level, a strict refusal to cooperate with right-wing extremists, Islamists and their supporters. Associations and individuals who carry misanthropic ideas (antisemitism, racism, degradation of women, hatred of homosexuals and minorities) and terror out into the world can in no way be democratic partners, but must be combated consistently and lastingly by democratic means. Our open, diverse and democratic society must be strengthened and protected.
The state treaty with the Schura Hamburg must be suspended for as long as the IZH is part of the Schura!
We furthermore call on the SPD and the Grüne as coalition partners to discontinue all contacts and official dialogue formats with Islamic associations and mosque communities that spread hatred and agitation against people of other faiths as well as antisemitic and anti-Israel propaganda and that engage in the glorification of war in houses of worship. We expect the same distancing from religious extremism as from political extremism.
This appeal is supported by:
• Dr Necla Kelek, chair of the Verein säkularer Islam Hamburg
• Ercan Degirmenci, 2nd chair of the Alevitische Gemeine Hamburg
• Prof. Dr Susanne Schröter, director of the Frankfurter Forschungszentrum Globaler Islam (FFGI)
• Shelly Meyer, board member of Koach Hamburg
• Seyran Ateş, lawyer and author
• Dr Thomas K. Gugler, Forschungsverbund Normative Ordnungen, Goethe-Universität
• Volker Beck, lecturer at the Centrum für Religionswissenschaftliche Studien, Ruhr-Universität Bochum
• Paul Nellen, member of the “AK Respekt und Klarheit” of the Grüne in the Hamburg regional association
• Carsten Ovens, Executive Director at ELNET Deutschland
• Hourvash Pourkian, International Women in Power Initiative
• Dr Matthias Küntzel, political scientist
• Christoph de Vries, member of the German Bundestag
• Oliver Bertrand, research coordinator of the Frankfurter Forschungszentrum Globaler Islam (FFGI)
• Esther Heller, board member of Koach Hamburg
• Ali Ertan Toprak, president of the Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft der Immigrantenverbände in Deutschland/BAGIV
• Anna von Treuenfels-Frowein, member of the Hamburgische Bürgerschaft
• Stefan Hensel, chair of the Deutsch-Israelische Gesellschaft Hamburg
• Zana Ramadani, political adviser and author
• JuFo – Junges Forum Deutsch-Israelischen Gesellschaft e.V.
• Jüdische Studierenden Union Deutschlands
• European Union of Jewish Students
• Verband Jüdischer Studierender Nord
• WerteInitiative. jüdisch-deutsche Positionen e.V.
• Iranische Menschenrechtsinitiative Hamburg
• NAFFO – Nahost Friedensforum e. V.
• Mideast Freedom Forum Berlin
• American Jewish Committee (AJC) Berlin
