Lebanese-born man arrested for planned attack on German synagogue
A Lebanese-born man, according to police, who had previously lived in Jerusalem, according to Spiegel news, has been arrested by German police for planning an attack on a German synagogue.
By BENJAMIN WEINTHALCANDLES LIGHT the scene of the fatal shooting outside a synagogue in Halle, Germany, in October 2019.(photo credit: REUTERS/HANNIBAL HANSCHKE)
German police in the northern city of Bremen arrested a 42-year-old man on Wednesday for a planned attack on a synagogue in the city’s Schwachhausen district. This man was also born in Lebanon."An individual intended to attack the synagogue in Bremen," states an exclusive report by the German magazine Der Spiegel.According to the report, the suspect had been previously arrested for threatening others, inflicting bodily harm, committing robbery as well as holding a series of narcotics violations.The report added that he currently lives in an “asylum shelter” for men.German Muslims have made attempts in the past to protest in front of a synagogue in the city of Gelsenkirchen, about 250 kilometers east of Schwachhausen, amid rising escalations between Hamas and Israel over the last two weeks.The report added that the man is from Jerusalem, though it did not specify if he is of Palestinian origin. However, according to a police statement, the man is from Lebanon and they denied that the attack was planned.A special task force was created by the Bremen State Police to address the attack, according to Spiegel, who informed the Bremen Jewish community about the planned attack. Police then intensified the existing security measures for the Jewish community.A police spokesman stated that one individual is under investigation into the matter, and that “for an assessment, it is still too early” to reach any conclusions, according to t-Oline.The report added that the investigation is ongoing.
