Germany approves law banning Hamas flag

• Author: Elad Benari
• Published date: 26 June 2021
• Publication title: Israel National News (Israel)

The new law, which must still be approved by the Bundesrat upper house, also outlaws symbols of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), listed as a terrorist group by Turkey and its Western allies.

Previously, only symbols of organizations banned by Germany had been prohibited.

The move, which was reported in Germany earlier this week, comes after several violent and anti-Semitic pro-Palestinian rallies in the country during the escalation of the Middle East conflict in May.

In one of those incidents, a Jewish man was punched in the face and abused with anti-Semitic language while walking home in Berlin.

At one protest in Berlin, 59 people were arrested and dozens of police officers injured as protesters threw stones, bottles and fireworks.

Thorsten Frei, a lawmaker for Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU, told Die Welt newspaper 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 a ban would send "a clear signal to our Jewish citizens".

The German government has in the past taken similar actions against the Hezbollah terrorist...