New evidence developed by the GMBDW raises possible links between German Muslim Brotherhood leaders and Hamas. As reported in earlier posts, German law enforcement is in the midst of a police investigation into seven individuals on suspicion of forming a criminal association and intending to commit a crime by obtaining funds for its “politico-religious and ultimately Islamist goals.” The major subject of that investigation is Ibrahim El-Zayat, the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Germany and an officer in the Federation of Islamic Organizations (FIOE) in Europe, the umbrella group for the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe. German court documents identify one of the individuals involved as Abou Shewarib (aka Abou Shewareb) likely the same individual discussed in a 1997 German media report and who was said to have been named in “Palestinian circles” as the head of Hamas in Berlin, a charge which he denied at the time. Recent German media reports say that prosecutors believe that Mr. Shewarib, head of a local travel agency, was responsible for funneling hundreds of thousands of euros from the group under investigation to overseas accounts in Israel and Palestine from where the money was further distributed to support Hamas terrorist units. Prior reports and sources in Germany say that the Belgian branch of the Al-Aqsa Foundation is believed to have played a role in the fund transfers. Further information from the FIOE website identifies Mr. Shewarib as an official in the FIOE education (Tarbiya) department.
A relationship between the German Muslim Brotherhood, FIOE and Hamas is not surprising and a report from the NEFA Foundation on FIOE as well as a NEFA report on the Belgian Muslim Brotherhood discuss numerous such links. In addition, the 1997 German media report on Hamas in Berlin stated that the Berlin Hamas leadership was said to be in close contact with INTERPAL, the key U.K. member charity of the Union of Good, a worldwide coalition of charities headed by global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi and designated by the U.S. a terrorist entity for its financial support of Hamas. It should also be noted that, as documented in another NEFA Foundation report on the Union of Good U.K. charities, German convert Ahmed von Dennffer, also a subject of the German investigation, is a trustee of Muslim Aid, another large Union of Good Charity. Khadem Al-Rawi, a brother of the former FIOE President Ahmed Al-Rawi, is also a trustee of Muslim Aid and Ahmed Al-Rawi himself is a Union of Good trustee.
In another interesting development, a web page for the Saudi-financed King Fahd Academy, raises the possibility that the Shewarib family is involved with the King Fahd Academy in Germany. According to German TV reports, the King Fahd Academy maintained contact with the German Muslim Brotherhood and its registration papers indicated that in the event of its closure, its assets would revert to them. The King Fahd Academy was also accused of various forms of extremism including teaching hatred of Jews and Christians.
Ibrahim El-Zayat has strong ties to Saudi Arabia and is the former Western European head of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY), a Saudi religious organization that U.S. government agencies and officials have argued has helped spread Islamic extremism around the world as well as sponsoring terrorism in places such as Bosnia, Israel, and India. He is also married to the sister of Mehmet Sabri Erbakan who is in turn the nephew of Necmettin Erbakan, the leader of Turkish Milli Görüs. Mr. El-Zayat is highly active in managing Milli Gorus properties in Germany and in Holland where a mosque project he was involved with has become embroiled in controversy.
A former professor and former Muslim living in Germany has claimed that he attended sermons by El-Zayat and his business partner Oguz Ücüncü, the secretary-general of Milli Görüs in Germany and also a subject of the German police investigation. He reported the following incendiary comments by the pair:
In a mosque in “Klein Istanbul”, Berlin, which is predominantly inhabited by Muslim Turks and Arabs, Ücüncü said, “We Muslims must use every means possible to fight the infidels in this society and change it into a Muslim one. Armed jihad is a legitimate instrument. The Germans understand only the language of violence. They are fighting our brothers and sisters in Afghanistan and Iraq.” The local media were not allowed to attend this preach.El Zayat is not less militant. He also urged his Muslim audience to turn to jihad in the name of Islam. He said in a mosque in Aachen (Feb. 2, 2009), “We must follow the path of our beloved prophet Muhammad – peace be upon his soul – Allah and his apostle want us to fight for Islam and spread it across the globe, also here in Germany. The earth belongs to the believers. There is no room in it for the infidels. They defile it. This country is part of the Muslim Umma (people). It must be cleansed from the infidels.” Also in this mosque, no local media were allowed to attend.
If confirmed, these remarks would no doubt constitute another serious violation of German law.
Until shortly after 911, Ibrahim El-Zayat was listed as the German representative of the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), an important part of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood.