Germany has now banned the IHH

Germany's government on Monday banned an organization it accuses of collecting donations that are sent to Hamas-related welfare projects.

German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said in a statement that the International Humanitarian Relief Organization was banned Monday because it has used donations to support projects in Gaza that are related to Hamas — while presenting their activities to donors as humanitarian help.

De Maiziere said organizations that directly or indirectly work against Israel's right to exist lose their right to be active in Germany.

The IHH, a Turkish charity that was one of the main planners of the Gaza flotilla, is widely considered a terrorist organization by a number of bodies - including the Israeli government - and has been accused of maintaining ties with a number of terror organizations.

Operatives from the IHH organization carefully prepared a violent ambush on navy commandos on board the Mavi Marmara ship headed to Gaza in May.

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

“Over a month ago we called on front-groups like the IHH to be proscribed and banned from raising funds in Europe, we encourage the European Union to give this the highest priority,” EJC President Dr. Moshe Kantor said in a statement released Monday. “Now that Germany has shown the way, we hope that European Union and other European governments will officially ban the IHH.”

“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,” Kantor continued.

The EJC is the democratically elected umbrella body representing Jewish communities in Europe.