Germany refers alleged Hamas members to trial on arms charges 

The German Federal Prosecutor’s Office announced on Monday that it had requested four suspected Hamas members to be referred to court on charges of amassing weapons in Europe for the movement. The four men, Abdel Hamid A and Ibrahim El-R, born in Lebanon, and two Egyptians, Mohamed B and Nazih R, both Dutch nationals, were arrested on 14 December last year.

According to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Karlsruhe, which specialises in terrorism cases, the men “have all been working for Hamas abroad for years and held important positions within the association with direct ties to leaders of the [movement’s] military wing.”

Ibrahim El-R is alleged to have set up a weapons storage site for Hamas in Bulgaria. “Established in early 2019, the Bulgarian depot contained weapons, including a Kalashnikov assault rifle and ammunition,” said prosecutors, adding that in mid-2019, he had “cleared out” another weapons cache in Denmark and was said to have taken a pistol from there to Germany.

According to investigators, between June and December 2023, all four suspects were said to have travelled from Berlin several times in search of another Hamas weapons store in Poland but failed to locate it.

Nazih R was arrested in Rotterdam on a European arrest warrant, while the other three suspects were arrested in Berlin.

The German Federal Prosecutor’s Office alleged that Hamas set up underground weapons depots in various European countries “long ago” in order to keep them ready for possible attacks against Jewish institutions in Europe. “Hamas had identified the Israeli Embassy in Berlin, the US Air Base in Ramstein or the area around Tempelhof Airport in Berlin as possible targets.”

The EU has officially classified Hamas as a terrorist organisation since 2003. In support of the Tel Aviv government, Germany has continued to send weapons to Israel, which has been waging a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip since 7 October, 2023, killing at least 44,235 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

The German police have also launched a campaign to silence supporters of Palestine and the Palestinians.

READ: Jewish artists sound alarm over Germany’s new ‘absurd’ anti-Semitism resolution