The intelligence agency for the city-state Berlin registered an increase in the number of Hamas, pro-Iranian regime and Muslim Brotherhood individuals, in its new report released on Tuesday.
According to the 136-page German-language document reviewed by The Jerusalem Post, the intelligence agency reported an increase of Hamas members from 70 in 2019 to 80 in 2020.
The State Office for the Protection of the Constitution report covers the year 2020. The United States and the European Union both classify the jihadi movement Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, a terrorist entity.
The document lists an increase of people loyal to the Islamic Republic of Iran in the category: “Others, especially Iranians loyal to the regime.” The report said the increase of pro-Iranian regime supporters rose to 50 in 2020 from 40 in 2019. Iran was cited 13 times in the intelligence report.
The Islamic threat to Berlin numbered 2,170 people.
The Iranian regime-sponsored Hezbollah movement had 250 members in Berlin in 2020. The Lebanese Shi’ite terrorist organization also had 250 members in 2019. Germany’s Interior Ministry in 2020 banned all Hezbollah activities within the federal republic. The so-called military wing was already considered a terrorist organization.
The number of Muslim Brotherhood supporters rose from 100 in 2019 to 150 in 2020, according to the intelligence report.
The agency to protect the constitution documents serious threats to Berlin’s democratic order. The intelligence agency is the rough equivalent to the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency).
There are 450 documented violent Salafists in Berlin from a sector of 1,100 radical Sunnis.
The report noted that Iran’s regime, along with Russia and China, is active in cyber espionage.
“Iranian cyber actors are also trying to gain access to protected information in Germany,” the intelligence agency stated. “A major cyberattack campaign was recently discovered in which employees of German companies received fake job offers by means of spear phishing emails.”
On the Iranian cyberattack, the intelligence report said: “When executing the corresponding applications, malware could be loaded onto the computer unnoticed. One reason for the increase in Iranian cyber operations in Germany is likely to be the political tensions in the Persian Gulf region.”
The report added that “Iran has a fundamental interest in obtaining political and economic information” and “to circumvent existing sanctions” against the Tehran regime.