Libyan held in Germany over suspected Israel embassy plot

By AFP - Oct 20,2024 - Last updated at Oct 20,2024

Police officers stand in front of the Israeli embassy in Berlin on Sunday (AFP photo)

BERLIN — German prosecutors said Sunday they had arrested a Libyan man on suspicion of having links to the Islamic State group and planning to attack the Israeli embassy in Berlin with firearms.

The suspect, identified only as Omar A., was arrested on Saturday evening at his home in Bernau, just outside the German capital, the federal prosecutors' office said.

The 28-year-old was accused of "supporting a foreign terrorist organisation" and was said by prosecutors to be an adherent to the ideology of the Islamic State group.

Prosecutors said Omar A. was planning a "high-profile attack with firearms" on the Israeli embassy in Berlin.

As part of his preparations, Omar A. was said to have had "exchanges with a member of IS in a messenger chat".

The suspect was set on Sunday to be put before a judge who would decide if he should be remanded in custody, according to prosecutors.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz wrote on X that he "would like to thank our security authorities for preventing a cowardly attack plan. We will not let up in the fight against terrorism".

Authorities said they searched the suspect's home in Bernau on Saturday. They also searched the property near Bonn of another person "not suspected" of involvement in the alleged plan.

German media said the flat in the town of Sankt Augustin near Bonn belonged to the suspect's uncle, who was being treated as a witness.

Asylum request

German authorities arrested Omar A. after a tip-off from a foreign intelligence agency, according to local media, adding that he had not been on any militant watchlist in Germany.

The suspect was said to have entered Germany in November 2022 and to have made a request for asylum the following January, a government source told AFP.

This was rejected in September 2023, meaning Omar A. would have been required to leave the country, the source said.

The suspect's immigration status is similar to that of the alleged perpetrator of a deadly stabbing at a festival in Germany in August.

The attack in the western city of Solingen, which left three people dead, caused public outrage after it was revealed that the Syrian suspect had evaded authorities' attempts to remove him from Germany.

The government in Berlin has responded with stricter knife laws and a tougher line on immigration. MPs on Friday passed rules which remove benefits offered to asylum seekers who are set to be deported to other EU countries.

'Utmost vigilance'

Responding to news of the arrest, Israel's ambassador to Berlin said: "Muslim anti-Semitism is no longer just hate rhetoric. It leads to and encourages terrorist activities worldwide."

Israeli embassies were "on the front line of the diplomatic battlefield", ambassador Ron Prosor said in a message posted by the embassy on social media platform X.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said protecting Jewish and Israeli institutions in Germany was "of the utmost importance to us".

Law enforcement were acting with the "utmost vigilance" to prevent any suspected "Islamist, anti-Semitic and anti-Israel violence", Faeser said.

Since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and Israel's retaliatory onslaught on Gaza, German authorities have increased vigilance about possible Islamist threats and anti-Semitism.

In early September, Munich police shot dead a young Austrian man known for his links to radical Islamism after he opened fire at the Israeli consulate and on police.

In early October, there were explosions near the Israeli embassy in Denmark and gunfire near its mission in Sweden.

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