Humanitarian Helpline Puts Muslim Brotherhood Funding at the Center of Controversy in Germany
A telephone-based psychological support helpline operated by an organization considered to be close to the Muslim Brotherhood has reignited the debate over the provision of German public funding to the movement under the guise of “charitable” activities.
The health department operating under Berlin’s municipal administration provides €135,000 annually to Islamic Relief, an organization that German authorities say is linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, to finance a “psychological support” project. The decision has drawn criticism from members of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and prompted calls for the funding to be suspended.
The annual €135,000 funding allocated by Berlin’s municipal administration to support a “spiritual helpline” initiative has therefore come under criticism within the CDU, the leading party in the governing coalition of the state.
The controversy follows a parliamentary inquiry revealing that the health department, headed by Social Democratic Party (SPD) politician Ina Seibora, had paid a total of €675,000 to Islamic Relief Germany between 2022 and 2026.
A Persistent Risk
Burkhard Dregger, a CDU expert on domestic affairs and security, said that organizations linked to the Muslim Brotherhood and political Islam seek to “transform our liberal democratic social system through infiltration.” He added that such organizations should be “stopped and should not be funded with public money.”
Günter Krings, deputy chairman of the CDU parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Germany’s federal parliament, also criticized Berlin’s health department. He said: “It is strange to see an SPD health official consider the best form of care for Muslims facing psychological emergencies to be that provided by an extremist association.”
German security authorities say that Islamic Relief has links to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Recently, a German court criticized the Federal Foreign Office for providing substantial sums of money to the organization over several years. The funding reportedly amounted to nearly €8.5 million during the period from 2013 to 2016 alone.
According to the judicial review, the German Foreign Office “was unable to explain the basis on which it had concluded that Islamic Relief enjoyed a good reputation as a non-governmental humanitarian organization.” Nevertheless, the ministry provided the organization with funding for several years.
The investigation also accused the Foreign Office of disregarding the provisions of the “Comprehensive Strategy to Combat Terrorist Organizations,” which calls on ministries “to refrain from supporting the organizations concerned when relevant information exists in the context of constitutional protection.”
“Pockets of Terrorism”
A few weeks earlier, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party submitted a parliamentary inquiry. The document stated that “the German Foreign Office had allocated substantial sums of money to Islamic Relief for years, even though the government had already informed Parliament in 2017 of the existence of links between the organization and the Muslim Brotherhood.”
According to the inquiry, specific indications suggest that some of these funds may have reached areas that were under the control of terrorist groups such as the al-Nusra Front in previous years, through Islamic Relief.
The parliamentary inquiry also quoted German expert Rebecca Schönenbach as saying: “Ten years ago, the al-Nusra Front controlled northern Syria. Therefore, it can be assumed that some of its members may have received part of these funds.”
According to observers, the receipt of German government funding by Islamic Relief has triggered widespread criticism in the country’s political circles and has led to numerous parliamentary inquiries in recent years.
Islamic Relief Worldwide has been associated with “circles close to the Muslim Brotherhood” since the publication of a 2009 report by the Baden-Württemberg Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the state’s domestic intelligence agency.
Following a question raised by former Green Party member of parliament Volker Beck, the federal government informed Parliament in January 2017 of close links between Islamic Relief Germany (IRD) and the German Muslim Community organization, described as the Muslim Brotherhood’s branch in the country. The same position was reiterated in a memorandum sent by the government to Parliament in 2019, which confirmed the existence of links between the organization and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Unlike in previous years, Islamic Relief is no longer explicitly mentioned in the latest reports issued by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency.
However, according to the German newspaper Die Welt, the agency stated that “significant personal ties between Islamic Relief Germany and the Muslim Brotherhood” remain in place.
