Office for the Protection of the Constitution: terror threat has "increased significantly"
The terrorist attack by Hamas in Israel and the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip have significantly increased the terrorist threat in Germany, according to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. However, according to its analysis, the greatest danger in Germany does not come from supporters of Hamas or the pro-Iranian Hezbollah, who are reluctant to make public statements.
Rather, terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda or the Islamic State (IS) are apparently increasingly succeeding in inciting mainly young people by presenting the victims of Israeli bombing in the Gaza Strip and the humanitarian emergency in the Palestinian territory as part of a supposedly anti-Muslim Western strategy.
Increase in politically motivated crimes
The domestic intelligence service is being hit by this development at a time when the agency is, by its own admission, already under considerable pressure in other areas. Last year, the number of politically motivated crimes increased for the fourth year in a row, setting a new record.
Raids and arrests in the so-called Reichsbürger milieu and searches among violent right-wing extremists are just two examples of what else is currently keeping the constitutional protection officers and the police's state security departments busy.
"We are currently confronted with a complex and tense threat situation due to parallel crises, which is being exacerbated by the barbaric crimes committed by Hamas," says the President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Thomas Haldenwang.
"The threat potential for possible terrorist attacks against Jewish and Israeli individuals and institutions as well as against 'the West' as a whole has increased significantly as a result," according to a current assessment by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. According to the domestic intelligence service, it has observed calls for attacks among jihadists and a "docking" of the terrorist groups al-Qaeda and Islamic State (IS) to the Middle East conflict.
Haldenwang sees here, among other things, the risk of radicalization of perpetrators acting alone who attack so-called soft targets with simple means. He emphasizes: "The danger is real and higher than it has been for a long time."
In addition to the jihadist spectrum, there has also been an increase in polemics that portray Muslims and Palestinians as victims of the West and in some cases contain clearly anti-Semitic statements, according to the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
Supporters of the Palestinian Hamas and the Lebanese Hezbollah kept a low profile and did not appear as a group at pro-Palestinian demonstrations, "as they see themselves exposed to clear state persecution pressure". Both groups are banned from operating in Germany.
"Agitators and mobilization drivers"
In addition to Islamists, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution also sees Palestinian extremists, Turkish right-wing extremists and German and Turkish left-wing extremists as "agitators and mobilization drivers" in the current situation. The majority of participants in pro-Palestinian demonstrations are not extremists.
However, extremists repeatedly succeed in spreading hate messages at such events and causing an escalation. German right-wing extremists, for their part, used the situation to agitate against Muslims and migrants. Among German left-wing extremists, some are pro-Israeli, others pro-Palestinian.
"The situation is exacerbated by foreign state actors who exploit or even seek to reinforce this mood," says Haldenwang. He does not name specific states. This is probably primarily about propaganda and reinforcing sentiments that cause unrest in society.
What does Russia have to do with it?
Investigators in France are accusing Russia of being behind the mass spraying of Stars of David on Parisian buildings in October. According to the Paris public prosecutor's office, a couple from Moldova arrested after the spraying campaign in Paris and the surrounding municipalities claimed to have sprayed the Stars of David on the walls on behalf of a third party in exchange for money.
The investigators came across an exchange in Russian on their phone. The two detainees were taken into custody pending deportation. According to the public prosecutor's office, another couple also involved in the spraying operation left France the following day. A man who has not yet been identified is said to have taken photos during the spraying, according to images from a surveillance camera.
Source: www.dpa.com
