Germany bans Turkish aid organisation IHH

Thomas de Maizière, the German minister of the Interior, (Christian Democratic Union), on Monday outlawed the Turkish charity IHH, because it has been giving aid to organisations in the Gaza Strip which are considered to be subsidiaries  of Hamas. The banned charity has no ties with the charity of the same name in Istanbul. De Maizière:   

«Unter dem Deckmantel der humanitären Hilfe unterstützt die IHH seit einem langen Zeitraum und in beträchtlichen finanziellen Umfang im Gaza-Streifen ansässige sogenannte Sozialvereine, die der Hamas zuzuordnen sind», sagte de Maizière. Das «geradezu zynische Verhalten der IHH» komme schon in der Vereinsbezeichnung «Internationale Humanitäre Hilfsorganisation» zum Ausdruck. Sie missbrauche die Hilfsbereitschaft gutgläubiger Spender, um mit dem für vermeintlich gute Zwecke gespendeten Geld im Ergebnis eine terroristische Organisation zu unterstützen.
Da die Hamas Gewalttaten gegenüber Israel und israelischen Staatsbürgern ausübe, beeinträchtige sie die friedliche Verständigung des israelischen und palästinensischen Volkes, sagte de Maizière weiter. Organisationen, die sich unmittelbar oder mittelbar von deutschem Boden aus gegen das Existenzrecht Israels richteten, hätten ihr Recht auf Vereinigungsfreiheit verwirkt.

 In translation:
Under the pretext of humanitiarian aid, IHH supports since long and with substanbtial sums so called social organisations in the Gaza Strip which can be considered to belong to Hamas, Maizière said.The cynical behavior of IHH is already clear from the way it calls itself Ínternational Humanitarian Aid Organisation, according to him. He said it abused the generosity of trusting contributors by using the money that was given to ostensibly charitable goals to support a terrorist organisation.
Because Hamas exerts violence against Israel and Israeli's it inhibits the peaceful relations between the Israeli and Palestinian peoples, De Maizière said. Organisations which, from German soil, either directly or indirectly act in contravention of Israels right to exist loose their freedom of association, the minister said..

Well, I thought that Holland was rigid in its refusal to consider the fact that Hamas has more faces than the Ezzeddin al-Qassam Brigades and that - maybe - also the blockade of Gaza is not exactly contributing to peaceful relations between the Israeli and Palestinian peoples. But Germany is even more rigid.
The banned organisation is, by the way, not a part of  IHH (İnsan Hak ve Hürriyetleri İnsani Yardım Vakfı) in Istanbul, one of the main organizers of the Free Gaza Flotilla which was attacked and intercepted by the Israeli marine on 31 May. The Istanbuli IHH said in a declaration on its website: The ''Germany-based Internationale Humanitären Hilfsorganisation has no relation to us, that is to IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation in Turkey. In various European countries such as Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, several organizations exist and operate in the same field as us under similar names and logos with our organization. Those organizations carry no actual links to our foundation. IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation only works with partner organizations everywhere it goes to.''