German Gov’t Gave Millions to Charity Tied to Muslim Brotherhood
Germany gave Islamic Relief Germany 8.5 million euros despite intelligence warnings about Muslim Brotherhood ties, with audit reports hidden from public view for over five years.
Reports from Berlin’s Federal Audit Office, obtained by German newspaper Die Welt and detailed by Breitbart News, reveal that Germany’s Federal Foreign Office handed Islamic Relief Germany nearly 8.5 million euros between 2013 and 2016, with additional millions flowing to the group beyond that period.
The funding continued even after the parent organisation, Islamic Relief Worldwide, was designated as a terror group by Israel in 2014 for allegedly channeling money to Hamas terrorists in Palestinian territories. The charity has denied these accusations.
German domestic intelligence had raised red flags about the organisation years earlier. A 2009 report from Baden-Württemberg’s Office for the Protection of the Constitution accused the group of ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, a radical Islamist movement dedicated to imposing Sharia law globally.
A subsequent 2019 government report confirmed that Islamic Relief Germany maintained significant personnel connections to the Muslim Brotherhood and organisations affiliated with it. Only then did the Foreign Office stop providing taxpayer funding to the group.
The Federal Audit Office reports were kept classified and hidden from public view for over five years. Government officials argued that releasing the information could trigger polemics and public discourse deemed unhelpful to federal government interests.
The documents were finally disclosed following a protracted lawsuit brought by attorney Seyran Ateş and the Institute for Secular Law. According to Die Welt, the first audit found that the Foreign Office was unable to justify its determination that Islamic Relief Germany was a reputable charity deserving of millions in government grants.
The audit also revealed that the Foreign Office ignored a clear and binding 2009 directive specifically instructing officials not to work with the organisation.
A second report determined that financial support for Islamic Relief Germany was provided blindly by the Foreign Office, without first verifying the legality and economic efficiency of prior funding decisions.
The law firm Höcker, representing Islamic Relief Germany, denied any connection to the Muslim Brotherhood or Hamas. The firm stated that the organisation has no contacts with the Muslim Brotherhood and maintains institutional independence from its parent organisation, Islamic Relief Worldwide. The group insists it only seeks to raise funds for charitable work.
The disclosure arrives as European governments intensify scrutiny of Muslim Brotherhood operations across the continent. A French intelligence report produced last year found that since the 1950s, the Muslim Brotherhood has designed the matrix of political Islamism adapted to establish itself in the West, with the ultimate goal of subversion and implementation of theocratic rule.
That report identified approximately 280 Islamic associations in France with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, including charitable organisations. It also determined that Germany and Austria were hotbeds of Muslim Brotherhood activity, being historically the first lands where the movement established itself in Europe.
The French findings prompted Sweden to launch its own investigation into Islamist infiltration, aiming to strangle foreign funding of religious communities where states finance radical mosques and to counter Islamist and undemocratic forces.
With information from Breitbart News
