All parties in Germany's grand coalition government have agreed to ban the flag of Palestinian Islamic fundamentalist group Hamas, the Welt am Sonntag newspaper said in a report published Sunday.
The move comes after several antisemitic incidents occurred last month in Germany during anti-Israel rallies.
Watch video 00:35 Seehofer: Right-wing extremism and antisemitism 'pose the greatest threat to security in Germany'
What did the German government say about the ban?
A proposal to ban the flag was originally put forward by Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
"We do not want the flags of terrorist organizations to be waved on German soil," said Thorsten Frei, the deputy parliamentary spokesperson for the CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union.
The center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), the CDU's coalition partner, raised constitutional concerns about the proposal but later backed the initiative.
"I'm very pleased that the SPD has joined our initiative. In doing so, we can send a clear signal to our Jewish citizens," Frei added, according to the Welt am Sonntag.
CDU chancellor candidate Armin Laschet had also called for the Hamas flag to be banned last month in response to antisemitic activities in Germany.
Synagogues were attacked, Israeli flags were burned and antisemitic slurs were used in cities across Germany in May amid demonstrations against Israel's 11-day war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Watch video 04:31 German antisemitism commissioner Felix Klein talks to DW
Has the German government taken similar actions before?
The German government has taken similar actions towards other anti-Israel Middle Eastern groups.
The German Interior Ministry announced in April of last year it would ban Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah and designate it a terrorist organization. The move made it illegal to show public support for Hezbollah, including the waving of the group's flag.
The US and EU, including Germany, have also labeled both Hezbollah and Hamas as terrorist organizations.
Hamas, whose name serves as an Arabic acronym for Islamic Resistance Movement, was established in 1987. The group became the de facto governing authority of the Gaza Strip in 2007 and has since fought several wars with Israel.
green_flash on June 20th, 2021 at 10:45 UTC »
There's one point that confuses me. Hamas has been declared a terrorist organization by the EU in 2003. I would have assumed that also means the flag is already banned as it is to be considered a symbol of supporting terrorism. Is that not so?
FlaskHomunculus on June 20th, 2021 at 05:29 UTC »
I mean if you're going to attack synagogues and hurl anti-Semitic slurs on the soil of a country that still remembers its sins against the Jewish race with pain, yea your repulsive and genocidal ideology is going to be despised and your flag banned.
autotldr on June 20th, 2021 at 04:01 UTC »
This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)
Extended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: flag#1 Germany#2 group#3 Hamas#4 ban#5