Mosque Photo Stirs Berlin Election Row
- FDP candidate Christoph Meyer produced a photograph at a Neukölln mosque debate purporting to show the mosque's imam alongside a senior Hamas fundraiser, prompting a heated
- The Dar-Assalam mosque, venue for the cross-party discussion ahead of Berlin's 20 September state election, has been linked by the city's intelligence service to the Muslim
- The CDU boycotted the event entirely, while SPD, Greens, and Die Linke candidates attended; Meyer was pursued to his car by angry attendees after the event.
A pre-election debate at a Berlin mosque associated by the city's domestic intelligence service with the Muslim Brotherhood descended into open confrontation on Friday after an FDP candidate produced a photograph he claimed showed the mosque's imam alongside a senior Hamas fundraiser.
The event and its setting
The discussion, organised by the Council of Imams at the Dar-Assalam mosque in Berlin-Neukölln, brought together the leading candidates for the Berlin state parliament election scheduled for 20 September. Steffen Krach of the SPD, Bettina Jarasch of the Greens, and Elif Eralp of Die Linke all accepted the invitation. The CDU boycotted the event; its lead candidate Stefan Evers was quoted as saying: "You don't talk to Islamists about democracy." The AfD was not invited. The Berlin Verfassungsschutz, the city's constitutional protection agency, has for a substantial period associated the mosque — operated by the Neuköllner Begegnungsstätte — with the Muslim Brotherhood, according to the source material. Whether that classification remains current was not confirmed.
Meyer's photograph and the ensuing confrontation
FDP candidate Christoph Meyer, 50, chose not to avoid the topic of alleged extremist links. He produced a photograph which he said showed the mosque's imam, Taha Sabri, alongside Amin Abu Rashid, whom Meyer described as "the then leading figure of Hamas in Germany." Abu Rashid is separately described in the source material as Europe's principal fundraiser for Hamas; he is said to be subject to an outstanding search warrant and to have since relocated to Turkey. A separate image cited in the source purports to show Abu Rashid receiving a commendation from the then Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh — killed in Iran in 2024 — for services to the organisation. The Planet Times has not independently verified these claims.
The moderator, Iman Andrea Reimann, moved to cut off Meyer mid-sentence as he attempted to raise the question of the mosque's alleged failure to distance itself from the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel. She accused him of grandstanding for the media. Meyer refused to be silenced. "I don't want you to interrupt me — I want to have exactly this debate," he said, noting the irony that other panellists had just criticised the CDU for refusing to engage.
Other candidates' responses
It was Die Linke candidate Elif Eralp who eventually halted the exchange, drawing loud applause from the mosque audience. "It must be possible to discuss Muslim life without talking about religious extremism. That is why we are here," she said. She added: "I think we talk far too little about anti-Palestinian racism in this city." Greens candidate Bettina Jarasch accused Meyer of attributing "guilt by association" to the imam. SPD candidate Steffen Krach, asked about the photograph after the event, said: "I didn't see it from the stage. Don't know what's on it — sorry." The SPD is facing pressure across several German states ahead of upcoming votes.
Restricted access and aftermath
Media access to the event was severely limited. A planned livestream was cancelled at short notice on grounds of "technical difficulties." Multiple news organisations, including the outlet that obtained the footage, were denied accreditation; the private recordings on which this report draws were passed to journalists by attendees. As Meyer and his team left, they were pursued to their car by a group of angry members of the public.
With the Berlin vote less than a month away, the episode raises unresolved questions about where the dividing lines between political dialogue and the legitimisation of contested institutions will be drawn during the campaign.
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