Germany will ban the pro-Palestinian group Samidoun, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Thursday, adding that its members were celebrating Hamas "terror" in Israel on German streets.
"Our law governing associations is a sharp sword. And we, as a strong constitutional state, will draw this sword," Scholz said in an address to parliament in Berlin.
The group, which identifies as a Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, posted photos on Instagram on Sunday of pro-Palestinian activists distributing sweets in Berlin in celebration of Saturday's Hamas attack in Israel.
The group has been organising pro-Palestinian protests and is now monitored by Berlin's domestic intelligence agency, according to German magazine Der Spiegel.
Scholz told legislators that Iran bore responsibility for allowing Hamas to grow to the point where it launched the weekend's attack on Israel.
"While we have no firm proof that Iran operationally supported this cowardly attack, it is clear to us all that without Iranian support Hamas would never have been able to launch this unprecedented attack," he said.
"Sadly, we can foresee the suffering of the civilian population in the Gaza strip likely growing further - but that too is the fault of Hamas and its attack on Israel," he added.
