By Peter Tiede
Did the Chancellor say too much too soon – and thereby make important raids against Jew-haters and terror supporters impossible?
The Federal Ministry of the Interior seems to see it the same way – in any case, the ministry’s reactions to public inquiries from BILD today were unusually clear!
Tenor: The Chancellor screwed up!
Olaf Scholz (65, SPD) stood in the Bundestag exactly three weeks ago and announced in his government statement on Hamas terror:
▶︎ “The Federal Ministry of the Interior will ban Hamas from operating in Germany. A club like Samidoun, whose members celebrate the most brutal acts of terror on the street, will be banned.”
Terror celebrations in Berlin: The Jew-haters of Samidoun distributed sweets on Sonnenallee in Berlin – to celebrate the barbaric slaughter of the Hamas terrorists in Israel Photo: samidoun_deutschland/Instagram
The problem: None of this was prepared – and such bans are not normally announced.
The basic rule: first a raid, then a public statement!
In the case of the Hamas ban, however, the Chancellor spoke first. Yesterday, at a press conference, his Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (53, SPD) announced the bans, Raids, police operations, confiscations? None!
Bans in hand – nothing in hand: Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (53, SPD) announced the bans on Thursday – there were no raids Photo: Michael Kappeler/dpa
BILD wanted to know from the government at the federal press conference on Friday: Is anything else happening? Why were there no enforcement requests to the states and their police?
Faeser’s spokeswoman initially spoke meaningfully, saying that such banning orders are usually aimed at “the seizure of assets and the confiscation of assets”.
Then the admission: The Chancellor blurted it out – and apparently prevented or at least made everything else more difficult.
The Faeser spokeswoman:
▶︎ “What you depicted is a common occurrence when clubs are banned.”
▶︎ Then: “Here it was like this: The Chancellor said that this would happen, we announced things yesterday, and you know that that was an unusual procedure in terms of the advance notice, because as a rule it is expressed Federal government does not give advance notice of any bans on associations. And I would also like to deduce from this that things went differently here when it came to enforcement measures.”
Question: Is there anything left to be gained if the Chancellor announced the ban three weeks ago?
Answer: These are “operational operational issues” and are generally not commented on.
When asked again, the Faeser spokeswoman – in the presence of Scholz spokesman Steffen Hebestreit (51) – made it clear that the Chancellor apparently needed something concrete for his speech three weeks ago:
▶︎ “The whole case is an atypical exception. It must be seen against the specific background of an exceptional global political situation and the associated need to demonstrate the Federal Government’s solidarity with Israel through Demonstrate the intention of concrete measures against those who question Israel’s right to exist and approve of terror against the Israeli population to make it clear publicly.“
This means: Faeser, who has been criticized for the hesitant ban on Hamas, has passed the buck back. To the blabbermouth chancellor.