A spate of high-profile arrests and bannings of terror-related charities in Europe indicate that the October 7 massacre in Israel has prompted security officials to take a harder line against Hamas and its allies. This is good news. Hamas and its allies operating in the EU represent a physical threat to European citizens. Their activities also pose a danger to the political order of European democracies.
In view of the gravity of the attacks of 7 October 2023 against Israel, Bulgaria has been a part of the united EU efforts to counter Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad…
Slavena Gergova, Bulgaria’s ambassador to Israel
Focus on Western Islamism (FWI) examined four countries on the continent — Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, and Switzerland. These are the European countries where Hamas activity is most pronounced. While FWI found signs of progress, pro-Hamas infiltration remains a threat. We begin with the most problematic country — Switzerland — and progress toward those which are beginning to address the issue with some seriousness.
Switzerland
Switzerland, often characterized as the continent’s most pro-Hamas country, has the most work to do. After Germany announced in November 2023 that it would proscribe the pro-Hamas Samidoun organization, and “botched” the crackdown against the group, members of the organization fled to Switzerland. Founded in 2012 by operatives from the terrorist organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Samidoun describes itself as a “Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network.” The Jewish Chronicle reports that once in Switzerland, one prominent Samidoun leader, Khaled Barakat, “referred to Hamas as a legitimate part of the Palestinian resistance movement” and “even expressed a willingness to use deadly force against Israel if he had the power.”
The mainstreaming of Hamas in Switzerland has a long, infamous history. In 2012, Geri Müller, a politician from the Green Party of Switzerland, hosted Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri, together with Hamas representatives Khamis Jawdat al-Najjar and Dr. Sayyid Abu Musamih, at the Bundeshaus (the Federal Palace in Bern, which houses the Swiss parliament), to participate in a meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s Human Rights Committee.
In February, the Swiss government took belated action when it announced its intention to ban Hamas in the mountain republic. It remains to be seen if action will follow.
Austria
Austria is also playing catch-up in its dealings with Hamas, which the EU designated as a terrorist organization as far back as 2003. In March, after the U.S. and Britain sanctioned the Arabic language pro-Hamas platform “Gaza Now,” Austrian authorities raided the home of Gaza Now’s director, Mustafa Ayash, who lives in Linz in the state of Upper Austria.
Ayash had used the October 7 massacre as a launching pad to raise donations for Hamas on Gaza Now, which has more than 300,000 followers on X and several hundred subscribers on Telegram. Ayash’s open support for Hamas outraged Manfred Haimbuchner, the chairman in Upper Austria of the Freedom Party of Austria—a far-right and anti-immigrant party. “The fact that people like this are staying in the middle of Austria is not only a massive security threat to our population, it is also an absolute indictment of our protection under the constitution,” he said.
When approached about Hamas operatives in Austria, a spokesperson for the Interior Ministry, which oversees the country’s intelligence agency, told FWI, “In Austria, as throughout Europe, there are certain people who sympathize with Hamas. These include, for example, civilian individuals and/or associations that support Hamas.”
When asked how many Hamas operatives were in the country, the spokesperson said officials are keeping an eye on the problem, but could not give any details. “Since people often do not visibly express their worldview to the outside world, we ask for your understanding that we cannot give you an exact number,” he said.
Germany
Things are a bit better in Germany, which made a high-profile arrest of a suspected Hamas operative in December. After the arrest, investigators uncovered a plot to attack the Israeli embassy in Berlin and a U.S. military base in the country. According to a May 24 report in Welt am Sonntag in Germany, the authorities discovered the planned attacks on the mobile phone of the suspect.
The October 7 massacre also prompted Nancy Faeser, the Minister of the Interior, to ban all Hamas activities in November. This move is less meaningful than it appears, however. The organization was already banned from operating in Germany, making the declaration a reiteration of an existing policy. The real remaining question is when Germany will launch a comprehensive campaign targeting the 450 Hamas operatives who, according to a 2023 intelligence report, are active in the Federal Republic. Still, between the banning of Samidoun, which prompted its members to flee to Germany, and the November arrest of a Hamas member, it appears that the country is taking the threat seriously.
There is more good news. Matthew Levitt, the director of the Reinhard Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told FWI that the October 7 massacre prompted financial intelligence units to sign up to participate in a U.S.- and Israel-led effort to combat Hamas and Hezbollah financing. This is a huge change from 2018, when this writer reported that an unnamed German bank sent $43,720 to Hamas because the Financial Intelligence Unit did not stop the transfer. The German authorities refused to disclose the name of the bank and whether it was sanctioned. Those days appear to be over.
“When it comes to Hamas, there is a pre-October 7 and a post-October 7. Hamas was a lower-ranking intelligence priority, certainly the case in Europe,” Levitt said. Not any more, it seems.
Bulgaria
Things are looking up also in Bulgaria, where in April police seized a cache of weapons linked to suspected Hamas operatives who were arrested in Germany and the Netherlands. This is a change for a country that has had a lax policy toward permitting Hamas officials to enter the country. In 2013, this writer documented the meeting plan of Hamas operatives in Bulgaria and reported on the arrival of three Hamas representatives in Sofia who were slated to meet with the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party, the country’s largest by membership numbers.
When approached for a comment by FWI following the weapons seizure, Slavena Gergova, Bulgaria’s ambassador to Israel, said, “In view of the gravity of the attacks of 7 October 2023 against Israel, Bulgaria has been a part of the united EU efforts to counter Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad by adopting a dedicated EU framework of sanctions against them targeting also ‘the sponsors of the sponsors. The new EU sanctions regime has entered into force in January 2024, which clearly shows our common resolve to take decisive steps to counter any act of terrorism.”
She added that “The new regime complements the restrictive measures previously adopted against Hamas and the PIJ under the ‘EU terrorist list.’ This is an important step towards limiting their military capabilities and tackling the spread of their radical ideology. In addition, the EU sanctioned three entities under the global human rights sanctions regime in response to the widespread sexual and gender-based violence committed during the brutal and indiscriminate terrorist attacks that occurred across Israel on 7 October 2023.”
Europe may not be interested in war against Hamas, but Hamas is waging war against Europe. Some European countries appear to have begun to understand.
Benjamin Weinthal is a Milstein Writing Fellow at the Middle East Forum.