INTERNATIONAL – Un « probable » attack on a highly symbolic day in Germany. On this day of commemoration of the hostage-taking targeting Israeli athletes during the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, this Thursday, September 5, a man was killed by the Bavarian police after opening fire near the Consulate General of Israel, in the city center of Munich.
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The Bavarian regional interior minister told the press that the act of the 18-year-old man was ” “probably an attack on the Israeli institution”. While the investigation to understand his actions and his motivations has only just begun, Le HuffPost takes stock of what we know about the attack near this diplomatic site, 52 years after the events of the Munich Olympics.
· An Austrian opens fire
According to AFP, the incident began around 9am, when the shooter was spotted holding a gun by members of the police force who were guarding sensitive buildings in the Karolinenplatz/Brienner Straße district, where the Israeli Consulate General is located. According to German police, the suspect opened fire before the officers returned fire, fatally wounding him.
“The man was moving with a long weapon and had fired several times” before police opened fire on him, said Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Hermann. Police said the weapon used by the suspect was an old model.
Without delay, Munich police cordoned off the entire area around the National Socialism Documentation Center and the Israeli consulate on a large scale and sent a helicopter to support the operation. Asked by AFP, the Nazi Documentation Center confirmed by email that a police intervention was taking place, but declined to comment further.
· Possible Islamist radicalization
According to the few details provided by the police at this stage, the suspect killed is an 18-year-old Austrian living in Austria. Several German media outlets, including the South German Timesindicate that he had ” attracted the attention of Austrian authorities last year due to possible Islamist radicalization ».
The German newspaper cites reports that it is ” Bosnian origin “, but was not known to German security authorities as a radical Islamist. Citing police, the South German Times also indicates that he traveled by car on Thursday morning from Salzburg, Austria, to Munich.
“As things stand, none of the witnesses have given any indication of other perpetrators, so we assume that the situation as it currently stands is resolved.”Joachim Hermann also said about possible accomplices of the shooter.
· Terrorist lead considered, but not confirmed
During his press briefing, the regional Minister of the Interior therefore indicated that he could ” probably “ to be an attack on the Israeli Consulate General. Indeed, Joachim Hermann cautiously suggests that the act ” could “ be linked to the proximity of the Israeli consulate, a documentation center on Nazism and the fact that it took place on the anniversary of the bloody hostage-taking of September 5, 1972.
In this attack committed by a Palestinian commando during the Olympic Games, eleven Israeli athletes were killed, as well as a policeman and five hostage-takers. The events were brought to the screen in the film Munich the Steven Spielberg and 2005.
Although the theory of an attack has not yet been confirmed, the German authorities have pointed out that “the suspect’s motivations” need to be further clarified, Israeli President Isaac Herzog took to social media to ” express his horror “, calling the event a“terrorist attack”He emphasizes the concordance of the dates with the events of 1972. He also specifies that he spoke with the German president to express their common condemnation of this attack.
· Tense context, 11 months after October 7
As Germany, like many countries around the world, faces a resurgence of anti-Semitism since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser spoke of a “very serious act” and assured that “The protection of Jewish and Israeli institutions is a top priority”.
Since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, the increase in anti-Jewish crimes has been a particular cause for concern in Germany, a country which, because of the Holocaust, has elevated support for Israel to the status of a reason of state. As such, a record number of 5,164 anti-Semitic crimes were recorded in 2023, compared to 2,641 in 2022, according to German internal intelligence.
German authorities have also announced the cancellation of a memorial ceremony planned for the town of Fürstenfeldbruck on Thursday. The ceremony will pay tribute to the victims of the 1972 hostage-taking, who were killed in the town, located about twenty kilometres from Munich.
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