Germany arrests Russian suspect over alleged plan to attack Israeli Embassy
On Thursday, a Russian national suspected of planning an attack on the Israeli Embassy was arrested by German authorities, and in a separate incident on Friday, a stabbing occurred at the Holocaust memorial in Berlin.
German police announced on Friday that they arrested a Russian national suspected of planning a “politically motivated” attack in Berlin reportedly targeting the Israeli Embassy.
What happened: According to German news agency dpa, the suspect is an 18-year-old ethnic Chechen and Russian national with an “Islamist background.” German police confirmed that he was detained on Thursday night at the Berlin Brandenburg Airport and placed in custody on Friday. Police said the man is under investigation, and a judge at Brandenburg’s district court has ruled that he should remain in custody.
Germany’s Focus news, citing security sources, identified the suspect as Akmad E. and reported that he had planned to send a letter bomb to the embassy and, if that failed, would have attacked those in the vicinity of the embassy with a knife.
The arrest was conducted after a foreign intelligence agency tipped off German authorities, according to German newspaper Bild, which reported that the suspect was attempting to leave Germany when he was detained.
The Israeli Embassy in Berlin maintains heavy police presence and has been on high alert over the past year after multiple threats during the Gaza war. Contacted by Al-Monitor, the Israeli Embassy in Berlin was not immediately available for comment.
Later on Friday, a man was seriously injured in a knife attack near Berlin’s Holocaust memorial. Germany’s Tagesspiegel newspaper reported that police are conducting a search where the incident occurred and have cordoned off the area between the memorial and the US Embassy in Berlin. The perpetrator, according to police spokesman Florian Nath, is still on the run. It is unclear if there is any connection between this incident and the suspect arrested on Thursday night.
Berlin’s police department said late Friday that they had detained a suspect “in the vicinity of the crime scene,” but provided no further details on the person’s identity.
Know more: Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in 2023, Germany has been in the spotlight over its support for Israel and crackdown on pro-Palestinian activists, along with the rise of antisemitic attacks in the country. Berlin has maintained strong political support for Israel, sparking pro-Palestinian protests and subsequent crackdowns on organizing groups.
Germany has also seen an increase in antisemitism since Oct. 7, with German watchdog RIAS reporting an 80% uptick in antisemitic attacks in 2023. In October, German police arrested a Libyan national with suspected ties to the Islamic State on suspicion of planning an attack on the Israeli Embassy in Berlin, and just a month earlier, on the anniversary of the 1972 Black September Organization attack, an Austrian gunman was killed by police after firing several bullets near the Israeli Consulate in Munich.
Adding to the already tense political atmosphere is Germany’s upcoming Feb. 23 election for its lower parliamentary house, the Bundestag. Polls ahead of the election show Germany’s center-right CDU party in the lead, with the extreme right-wing party AfD trailing behind.
