BERLIN-PARIS (AFP-EJP)---Germany on Monday said it had banned an organisation which collects funds for the Islamist movement Hamas, which is included on the European Union's terror group blacklist.

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said it had shut down the Frankfurt-based International Humanitarian Aid Organisation (IHH), which he said collected millions of euros in donations for Hamas.

"Under the guise of humanitarian aid, the IHH has long backed, with significant financial assistance, so-called social welfare organisations based in the Gaza Strip that can be linked to Hamas," he said.

"Donations to so-called social welfare groups belonging to Hamas, such as the millions given by IHH, actually support the terror organisation Hamas as a whole."

The European Union has included Hamas on its blacklist of terrorist organisations since 2003 in an effort to block the flow of funds supporting attacks against Israelis.

A German federal court ruled in 2004 that Hamas was a unified organisation whose humanitarian aid work could not be separated from its "terrorist and political activities".

The European Jewish Congress (EJC) applauded Monday’s decision and called on other European nations to follow Germany's lead.

The EJC said it led a campaign to garner support for banning the IHH in the European Union and individual European nations. 

EJC President Moshe  Kantor sent an official request to the European Union Foreign Affairs Council and High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, formally requesting that the IHH be placed on the EU list of proscribed terrorist organizations and its assets seized and frozen.

 “It is vital that the European Union and European governments act quickly to ban organizations which pose as charities or humanitarian agencies from raising funds that assist terrorism, murder and militant activity,” he said.

He added, “Today, there is a global network of terror that works under our noses in Europe and they try and stay one step ahead of the authorities,” Kantor said. “It is unfortunate that it took the tragic flotilla incident to wake us up to this reality. We call on European officials to identify and outlaw these front organizations before they act and then we can save a lot of pain and heartache.”