German intel chief raises alarm: Muslim Brotherhood tries to influence German politicians with Islamist ideology

The Muslim Brotherhood (MB) is working to undermine Germany’s democratic institutions and politicians, with a focus on left-wing parties, according to a report by the daily BILD newspaper.

The report cited an unusual warning recently issued by Sinan Selen, director of Germany’s domestic intelligence service, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

According to participants in a closed-doors event hosted by Christoph de Vries, a Parliamentary State Secretary at the Interior Ministry and vocal critic of Islamist ideology, Selen warned that the MB is highly dangerous despite its non-violent tactics.

As the group has done first in countries across the Middle East, and then increasingly in the West – the MB is now working to gain influence within the political parties of Germany, Selen said.

EXKLUSIV in @BILD: Bei einer Veranstaltung im Bundestag warnte Verfassungsschutz-Präsident Sinan Selen hinter verschlossenen Türen vor einer versuchten Unterwanderung des 🇩🇪 Staates durch Islamisten. Teilnehmer waren (positiv) von Selens Deutlichkeit überrascht. Seine Warnung:… pic.twitter.com/6Qbgs7Rsv4

— Filipp Piatov (@fpiatov) June 3, 2026

Earlier this year, the Israeli Ministry for Diaspora Affairs had warned that groups affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood are spreading antisemitism and anti-Israel propaganda across Europe.

Selen reportedly noted that the group was working according to patterns established elsewhere, in that it is careful to comply with democratic laws insofar as they are compatible with Islamic religious law, Sharia, intending to ultimately transform the society into a Muslim society.

Despite its officially non-violent tactics, it has directly or indirectly spawned most of the major Sunni terror organizations in the world, including Hamas and al-Qaeda. While the MB is banned in several countries in the Middle East, it is currently still legal in Germany.

Since Oct. 7, 2023, many pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Germany, as well as in other Western countries, have been organized and advertised by Islamist groups, often working in tandem with far-left progressive groups.

De Vries warned that the Hamas massacre in Israel has acted as “a driver for Islamism as a whole.”

Several participants expressed their surprise at the urgency of Selen's warning to BILD but also said they were pleased by its clarity. Experts on Islamism have often criticized the complacency of German society and political leaders regarding the danger posed by Islamist groups like the MB.

“The infiltration efforts of political Islam have been visible for years—for all those who want to look,” Ahmad Mansour, an Arab-Israeli expert on Islamism who lives in Germany, commented on the BILD report.

“They are evident in the writings of the ideologues of the Muslim Brotherhood, in documents secured by the FBI during its investigations, and for years in the reports of the Constitutional Protection Office. Yet some in Germany have chosen to defame the warners as fearmongers and Islam haters instead. A sad reality,” Mansour lamented.

In April, a report showed that almost half (45.1%) of Muslims in Germany under the age of 40 hold Islamist-leaning views.

Security officials further told BILD that politicians in left-wing parties could be particularly susceptible to efforts to influence them. This is a known cause of concern for Germany’s security establishment.

This is due to a misguided understanding of tolerance caused by their progressive ideology, or even a simple lack of knowledge about Islamism and its danger to democracy, the officials said.

The report also noted that the German federal government stated last month that there is “no evidence of a targeted infiltration” of parties by Islamic organizations; however, it didn’t want to go into detail regarding the activities of the MB due to “reasons of state security” and to avoid jeopardizing the work of the domestic intelligence service.

German Islamism expert Eren Güvercin also commented that German politicians are subjected to influence campaigns not just by the MB, but also by organizations affiliated with the Turkish government, which is Islamist as well.

He pointed to a report in Spiegel magazine that highlighted similar attempts to influence politicians ahead of the 2023 elections. Güvercin cited a passage from the report noting that “the goal was that those addressed would show themselves to be friendly toward Turkey and act in the spirit of Ankara, for example when it came to the Armenia conflict, commemorative events, school instruction, or controversial arrests in Turkey.”

Around 1,000 mosques in Germany are reportedly affiliated with the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB), which is funded and overseen by Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet).

“In Turkey, and thus indirectly also through DITIB in Germany, we see a mixture with currents of the Muslim Brotherhood and the partly antisemitic Milli Görüş, another Islamist movement. We also notice how antisemitic the leaders of the religious authority Diyanet in Turkey are. The mood stirred up there is also reflected in Germany,” De Vries said in April.