Germany bans Islamist group for incitement, calling for global caliphate

Germany on Wednesday announced a ban on the Islamist Muslim Interactive group and ordered the confiscation of its assets, citing the organisation’s calls for a global caliphate and incitement against Israel.

Berlin will bring “the full force of the law” against anyone who calls for a “caliphate on our streets, incites hatred against the State of Israel and Jews in an intolerable manner, and despises the rights of women and minorities,” said Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt.

German authorities believe that Muslim Interactive, founded in 2020, is affiliated with the global Hizb ut-Tahrir organisation, which Berlin banned in 2003 for promoting violence, including against Jews.

German security authorities had already listed Muslim Interactive as an extremist group. It calls for a global caliphate and rejects the democratic order as enshrined in the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany.

In overnight raids on Tuesday, law enforcement searched seven properties in Hamburg and 12 more in Berlin and the state of Hesse. The raids are also focused on two other suspected extremist groups, Generation Islam and Realität Islam, the ministry added.

In April 2024, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz vowed there would be “consequences” after 1,000-plus people participated in a Hamburg demonstration organised by Muslim Interactive that called for the imposition of Islamic law and the establishment of a caliphate.

“It is quite clear that all Islamist activities must be tackled using the possibilities and options of our constitutional state,” Scholz stated.

Then interior minister Nancy Faeser said at the time that “anyone who wants a caliphate has come to the wrong place in Germany … We are taking a hard line against Islamist terror propaganda and antisemitism.”