Germany seeks to ban the flag of the Islamist terrorist group Hamas amid a spike in anti-Semitic attacks following last month's conflict between Israel and Palestinian terror groups in the Gaza Strip, German news agency Deutsche Welle (DW) reported on Sunday.
According to DW, the decision came following a spate of violent incidents that took place during anti-Israel demonstrations in May.
“We do not want the flags of terrorist organizations to be waved on German soil,” Thorsten Frei, the deputy parliamentary spokesperson for Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party reportedly said.
The spokesperson added that the move is intended as a “clear signal to our Jewish citizens.”
The move was originally proposed by the CDU despite concerns raised from the center-left Social Democratic Party, a coalition partner to Merkel’s party, over constitutional issues.
The Social Democratic Party, however, later relented and gave its approval for the move.
The European Union considers Hamas as a terrorist organization.
Last month saw a number of rallies held by pro-Palestinian demonstrators as Israel fought an 11-day war against Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip.
Some of the demonstrators shouted anti-Semitic slogans during the rallies, while others burned Israeli flags and in one instance, even threw rocks at a synagogue, prompting Merkel to condemn the actions as “unacceptable.”
Some 200,000 Jews currently live in Germany, with local community organizations reporting a 15 percent rise in anti-Semitic crimes.