• Germany has been increasingly forced to confront "homegrown" Islamist terrorism, the threat of radicalized converts to Islam, and the threat of non-integrated Muslim immigrants. In 2003, Iranian-backed Hizbullah was found to have identified Israeli, Jewish, and American facilities in Germany as terror targets. Which are the prominent radical Islamic groups operating in Germany?
• The Islamic Jihad Union (IJU), one of the most significant threats to German national security, is a Sunni terrorist organization closely associated with al-Qaeda. IJU is well known to the German public due to frequent video threats published on the Internet and on television.
• Hizb ut-Tahir al-Islami (HuT) is a clandestine, radical Islamist political organization that operates in 40 countries around the world including Germany, which banned the organization in 2003. Prior to its ban, HuT operated mainly in college towns in Germany, and orchestrated a terrorist attack in 2006, when two terrorists placed two suitcases containing bombs (which failed to detonate) on regional trains in Germany.
• The Islamic Center in Hamburg (IZH), which was under the direct guidance of Iran's Ayatollah Khameini between 1978 and 1980, is considered to be the most important Hizbullah base in Germany and is the institution most engaged in exporting the Islamic Revolution of Iran. It has branches in Berlin, Munich, Muenster, and Hannover, pointing to the ability of Hizbullah to launch attacks within Germany at any time in line with directives from the Iranian Supreme Leadership.
• Millî Görüs (MG), a radical Islamic group associated with Islamist parties in Turkey, is anti-Western, anti-Semitic, anti-Israeli, and opposes integration into Western society by the 2.5 million Turkish immigrants and their families in Germany. Yakup Akbay of the Fathi Mosque in Munich told Turkish television in 2007: "When Europe, as we hope, will be Islamized, the credit has to be given to the Turkish community. That's the reason for us doing the groundwork."

 

Islamic Jihad Union

The Islamic Jihad Union (IJU), widely considered to be one of the most significant threats to German national security,¹ is an offshoot of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.² It is a Sunni terrorist organization whose close association with al-Qaeda was confirmed by those arrested in connection with terrorist attacks in Bukhara/Uzbekistan in 2004,³ who testified about the close ties between the IJU leadership, Osama bin Laden, and Mullah Omar.⁴ In addition, the IJU runs training camps together with al-Qaeda in the Waziristan border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan.⁵

IJU is well known to the German public due to frequent video threats published on the Internet and on television.⁶ In an IJU video published in April 2008, a German convert to Islam, Eric Breiniger, called on Muslims in Germany to "join the jihad."⁷ In another video published on January 31, 2009, the group threatened to strike in Germany and warned viewers in German of the IJU's goal to Islamize the world.⁸

Breiniger is an example of a dangerous trend of radicalized German converts to Islam who are indoctrinated and trained in the terror camps of the IJU.⁹ Another illustration of this is the 2007 bomb plot in Germany which was orchestrated by three terrorists, among them two German converts, Fritz Gelowicz and Daniel Martin Schneider, both of whom had attended Pakistani camps run by the Islamic Jihad Union.¹⁰ The two were arrested in Germany after planning to attack Frankfurt International Airport and U.S. military installations, including Ramstein Air Base.¹¹ These examples demonstrate the new danger posed by German converts to radical Islam who, via the IJU, are building a network of potential sleeper cells made up of native Germans and not exclusively people of Middle Eastern descent.

 

Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami

Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami (HuT) is a clandestine, cadre-operated, radical Islamist political organization that operates in 40 countries around the world including Germany, with headquarters apparently in London.¹² The declared goal of HuT is jihad against the West and the overthrow of existing political regimes and their replacement with a religious, pan-Islamic state based on shari'a (Islamic law).¹³ Germany banned the organization on January 15, 2003.¹⁴

Prior to its ban, HuT operated mainly in college towns in Germany since its target audience was mainly young academics and students.¹⁵ There, HuT advocated the incompatibility of democracy and Islamic order.¹⁶ According to data provided by the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, in 2005 HuT had about 300 members in Germany.¹⁷

HuT attracted international attention in Germany on July 31, 2006, when two terrorists, Jihad Hamad and Youssef el-Hajdib, placed two suitcases containing bombs on regional trains in Germany,¹⁸ though the bombs failed to detonate due to faulty construction.¹⁹ According to German authorities, this attempted attack was orchestrated by HuT in coordination with the al-Qaeda affiliate Fatah al-Islam.²⁰ Saddam el-Hajdib, the brother of Youssef el-Hajdib, was suspected of having helped plan the attack and was known to be a high-ranking member of Fatah al-Islam. He was killed during the 2007 confrontation between the Lebanese Armed Forces and Fatah al-Islam.²¹

While banned in Germany, HuT is considered legal and legitimate by other European Union member states, a situation which undermines German counter-terrorism activities.²² These countries provide HuT with a possible base from which to prepare terrorist attacks which it can then perpetrate in Germany. The open border policy practiced in the EU enables terrorists to infiltrate Germany from other EU member states where the organization operates legally.

 

Hizbullah

The Islamic Center in Hamburg (IZH), which was under the direct guidance of Iran's Ayatollah Khameini between 1978 and 1980, is considered to be the most important Hizbullah base in Germany.²³ It is currently headed by Ayatollah Seyyed Abbas Hosseini Ghaemmaghami²⁴ and is the institution most engaged in exporting the Islamic Revolution of Iran.²⁵ The center is frequently visited by Shiites from Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Turkey, and Pakistan, as well as German converts to Islam.²⁶ It has branches in Berlin, Munich, Muenster, and Hannover.²⁷

Alexander Ritzmann, a senior fellow at the European Foundation for Democracy whose research focuses on the radicalization of Muslims in Germany and Hizbullah structures in Europe, believes that the danger emanating from Hizbullah is of special concern "in regard to the conflict with Iran about its nuclear program."²⁸ Hizbullah in Germany is also responsible for recruiting and training German convert Stefan Smyrek as a suicide bomber in Lebanon in the late 1990s.²⁹  Furthermore, in 2002, Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution revealed that Hizbullah was actively seeking real estate in Berlin to establish a headquarters and a "training center" for its supporters in the country.³⁰ All of these cases point to the international infrastructure and ability of Hizbullah to launch attacks within Germany at any time in line with directives from the Iranian Supreme Leadership.³¹

Currently, Hizbullah in Germany focuses primarily on collecting donations.³² German authorities closed two charitable institutions engaged in fundraising for Hizbullah in 2002: the al-Shahid Social Relief Institution³³ and the al-Aqsa Fund.³⁴ However, other institutions connected to Hizbullah still remain active in Germany, among them the IZH and the Orphaned Children Project Lebanon.³⁵ German policymakers still accept the idea that there is a political Hizbullah independent of those Hizbullah terrorists who have murdered hundreds of people around the world.³⁶ This is a misinterpretation. As Mohammed Fannish, a member of the political bureau of Hizbullah and a former Lebanese energy minister, declared in 2002: "I can state that there is no separating between Hizbullah's military and political arms."³⁷

 

Millî Görüs

Millî Görüs (MG) is a radical Islamic group associated with a religio-political movement and a series of Islamist parties in Turkey.³⁸ The German chapter of Millî Görüs was established in Cologne in 1985.³⁹ Its agenda is anti-Western, anti-Semitic, and anti-Israeli.⁴⁰ The organization, founded by the Turkish politician Necmettin Erbakan in the late 1960s,⁴¹ opposes integration into Western societies.⁴²

MG is headed by Osman Döring and has approximately 27,000 members, according to the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.⁴³ Other German sources, however, claim that MG has between 57,000 and 80,000 members.⁴⁴ It is considered a key organization because it reaches out to the 2.5 million Turkish immigrants and their families and people of Turkish origin in Germany.⁴⁵

MG's focus involves a long-term strategy to disseminate its radical Islamic ideas.⁴⁶ It offers radical Islamic-oriented education in mosques and community centers, especially for children and young immigrants in Germany.⁴⁷ For instance, Yakup Akbay, the dean of the Fathi Mosque's juvenile department in Munich, which is controlled by MG, was cited by Turkish television TV5 on June 6, 2007, as saying: "When Europe, as we [MG] hope, will be Islamized, the credit has to be given to the Turkish community. That's the reason for us doing the groundwork."⁴⁸ Such statements and education underlie the process of radicalization among young Muslims in Germany.⁴⁹ Yet German officials have not banned MG, though they continue to monitor the organization.

 

Conclusion

The numerous radical Islamic groups pose an important challenge not just to Germany, but also to the rest of the Western world. The growing threat from groups such as Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami, Hizbullah, the Islamic Jihad Union, and Millî Görüs should not be underestimated. Many other groups with similar policies exist in Germany and it is important to realize that these groups cannot be countered by policies of appeasement. In order to avoid the creation of a parallel Islamist society committed to undermining Germany, outlawing these groups should be considered. However, while outlawing Islamist groups is no guarantee against attacks, zero-tolerance legislative policies by the German parliament will make it far more difficult for radical Islamic groups to create and maintain terror infrastructures and networks inside Germany.