German Hezbollah and Iran supporters mourn Soleimani
German media reports said 100 supporters of Soleimani registered to attend the event at the Hezbollah-dominated mosque Imam Riza in the Berlin neighborhood of Neukölln.
By BENJAMIN WEINTHALA man in uniform holds a picture of Qasem Soleimani during a protest in Tehran following his targeted assassination. (photo credit: NAZANIN TABATABAEE/WANA VIA REUTERS)
German Islamists turned out on Thursday in Berlin to mourn the death of the US and EU-designated terrorist Qasem Soleimani.German media reports said 100 supporters of Soleimani registered to attend the event at the Hezbollah-dominated mosque Imam Riza in the Berlin neighborhood of Neukölln.Ulrike Becker, a spokeswoman for the NGO Stop the Bomb, which staged a counter-protest against the ceremony to honor Soleimani, said Soleimani sought the “destruction of Israel” via his control of the Quds Force.She added that “all of this is not just theory, but bloody serious and manifests itself in military attacks against Israel from Syrian territory, through the support of Hezbollah as well as in the bloody suppression of any protests in the Middle East that oppose the influence of Tehran's Islamist dictatorship in the region."The US military neutralized Soleimani in a strike last week to prevent attacks on American diplomats.The Neukölln politician Falko Liecke condemned the ceremony praising Soleimani, stating Neukölln "does not accept it when terrorists are glorified as 'heroic martyrs.'"The Berliner Morgenpost paper reported that 50 people protested against Soleimani. The slogans of the Stop the Bomb demonstration against Soleimani ranged from “Protest against Islamism and Antisemitism” to “For human rights in Iran.”The Jerusalem Post reported last year that Berlin’s intelligence agency said there are 250 Hezbollah operatives in the capital. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s administration has vehemently rejected a full ban of Hezbollah in Germany, where a total of 1,050 Hezbollah members and supporters raise funds and recruit new members.Becker said the "nuclear deal of 2015 did not stop the expansion” of Iran’s clerical regime in the region that was led by Soleimani, but intensified Tehran's jingoism.She cited the further destruction of Syria as an example after 2015.
US President Donald Trump urged remaining partners to the atomic deal on Wednesday, which includes Germany, to abandon the accord.Merkel’s government remains one of the most zealous advocates of the nuclear deal that was supposed to curb Iran’s nuclear weapons ambitions in exchange for sanctions relief.
