Man planning Israeli embassy attack in Berlin was armed with guns

A Libyan man being held by German police for allegedly plotting an attack on the Israeli embassy in Berlin was planning to use firearms in his assault, prosecutors said.

The man with suspected ties to the terrorist group Islamic State (IS) was detained in a raid by a heavily armed police unit on his flat in the Berlin suburb of Bernau on Saturday, but law enforcement agencies said nothing about how the suspect planned to carry out the attack.

According to a report in the mass-circulation Bild newspaper, the man entered Germany in November 2022, applying for asylum in January the following year. This was rejected eight months later, and the man has not appealed against the ruling.

While there is no general block on deportations from Germany to Libya, enforcing deportation is difficult as a result of a lack of functioning state structures in the North African country.

Federal prosecutors, releasing more information on Sunday, said the suspect, who has been named only as Omar A in line with Germany's strict privacy laws, was set to be brought before the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe later in the day. A judge will decide whether the suspect should be held in custody during the investigation.

The prosecutor's office said the Libyan national had intended to carry out "a high-profile attack with firearms on the Israeli embassy in Berlin."

"To plan the attack, the suspect exchanged information with an IS member in a chat messenger," the statement continued.

In addition to the suspect's flat in Bernau, police also raided a flat in the western German town of Sankt Augustin in connection with the case. However, prosecutors said the residents are not suspected of crime.

Since the attack by Hamas militants and other extremists on Israel on October 7, 2023, police have charted a sharp increase in what they classified as anti-Semitic incidents in Germany.

Germany's interior and justice ministers stressed the importance of protecting Israeli and Jewish institutions.

"We are acting with the utmost vigilance and attention in view of the high threat posed by Islamist, anti-Semitic and anti-Israel violence," Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said after the statement by prosecutors.

"The protection of Israeli institutions in Germany is particularly important in these times when fanatical hatred of Israel and anti-Semitism are gaining ground worldwide – and Islamist terrorism is constantly finding new supporters," Justice Minister Marco Buschmann said separately.

Law enforcement agencies will continue to "do everything in their power to ensure that the dangerous plans of those who hate Israel and anti-Semites do not come to fruition," he said.

Israeli ambassador Ron Prosor expressed his thanks to the German security authorities. "Muslim anti-Semitism is not restricted to hate-filled rhetoric but promotes global terrorism," he told dpa.

Shots were exchanged with police near Israel's consulate in Munich at the beginning of September in what investigators believe was an attempted terrorist attack.