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An alleged ISIS supporter from Libya has been arrested in Germany on suspicion of planning an attack on the Israeli embassy in Berlin.
Detectives believe the suspect, Omar A, 28, exchanged messages with a member of the terrorist group to make preparations for a shooting. He was arrested when federal police searched his home in Brandenburg, near Berlin, late on Saturday.
The suspect was an asylum seeker who had lived in Germany since 2022, local media said. He was not believed to have been on any watch list until intelligence services received a tip-off from a foreign agency. A CIA alert foiled a plot against a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna in August.
Prosecutors said Omar A was a supporter of ISIS ideology but may not have formed his attack plans until recently. He was expected to be brought before an investigating judge on Sunday to decide whether he will be kept in custody.
Israel's ambassador Ron Prosor pointed the finger at “hate rhetoric” after the latest security scare at an Israeli mission in Europe. Shots were fired near a consulate in Munich last month, before gunshots and explosions at embassies in Denmark and Sweden led to suspicion falling on Iran.
The Star of David was daubed on buildings, Israeli flags burnt, a Jewish hospital had a window smashed and Molotov cocktails were thrown at a synagogue in Berlin after Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel last year. Acts of anti-Muslim hatred have also risen sharply during the war in Gaza.
“This is yet another example of Israeli embassies being on the front line of the diplomatic battlefield,” Mr Prosor said after Saturday's arrest. He commended German law enforcement “for their intensive efforts to ensure the safety of the official representatives of the state of Israel”.
A second flat was searched near Bonn, where it was thought the suspect might have planned to take refuge after carrying out an attack almost 500km away in Berlin. The occupant of the flat was not suspected of any crime.
The discovery comes at a sensitive time in the Middle East conflict after the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. A former chief of Britain's MI6 spy agency said on Sunday that the killing may give Islamic terrorism a “further boost”, as experts warn of an ISIS resurgence in Europe.
Extremism could be fuelled by “frustrations that we’ll be seeing because of the lack of movement on the Palestinian question, because of the violence people are witnessing every day”, former-MI6 boss John Sawers told Sky News. He said police and intelligence services should be “on their toes”.
The German arrest is the latest in a spate of Islamist incidents which have driven support for the far right, which scored a historic regional election win last month. In the most serious attack, three people were killed in a stabbing spree in Solingen by a Syrian asylum seeker who had dodged deportation.
The German Parliament approved a package of stricter immigration rules on Friday including cuts to benefits for asylum seekers facing deportation to another EU state. Refugees will also risk losing their right to stay in Germany if they take a holiday in their home country.
A second bill, meant to strengthen counter-terrorism efforts, was unexpectedly rejected by the upper house of parliament. Ministers had planned to widen intelligence powers to allow facial recognition of suspects and random weapons checks by police.
