Munich: Shots fired in front of Israeli consulate

On Thursday morning, Munich police shot an armed person in the city center. Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) later announced that the suspect had succumbed to his injuries. According to research by “SZ”, NDR and WDR, the suspect is an Austrian citizen born in 2006. He is said to be an Islamist known to the authorities, write the “Standard” and “Spiegel”.

The 18-year-old from Salzburg was investigated for spreading IS propaganda, but the case was dropped. The police confirmed the age and nationality of the suspect, but did not comment on his motives. Interior Minister Herrmann announced that the suspected perpetrator had apparently planned a terrorist attack on the Israeli Consulate General.

In the morning, there was a major police operation in Munich city center near the Nazi Documentation Center and the Israeli Consulate General. The police called on people to avoid the area as much as possible. The area affected was Brienner Strasse and Karolinenplatz. Traffic barriers were set up there. The police tried to get an overview of the situation using helicopters and drones.

The “Süddeutsche Zeitung” reported that residents reported gunshots and police sirens. Gunshots can also be heard in a video that the editorial team has received and was shared by “SZ” editor Ronen Steinke, among others.

The police initially reported on X. They said that a suspicious person had been shot by the police. Police officers had seen at around 9 a.m. that the person himself was “apparently carrying a firearm.”

According to the “SZ”, police spokesman Andreas Franken said that the person was carrying a “long gun”. It was an older model of repeating weapon. A video is also circulating on social networks that supposedly shows the attacker. It shows a young man firing several shots from a rifle with a bayonet.

The police said that officers ran towards the armed person and that there was an exchange of gunfire. They asked that no images of the suspected attacker be distributed.

Commemoration of 1972: Israeli Consulate General closed

There are currently no indications of any other suspects, the police say. Nevertheless, they have increased their presence in the city. According to their own statements, the police are examining the suspect’s vehicle for possible booby traps. At around 12 noon, they gave the all-clear: There is “no longer any danger to the population,” they announced on X.

A request from the NZZ to the Munich police about what was known about the man’s motives remained unanswered. A spokesman asked for understanding that due to the ongoing police operation “no inquiries could be answered at this time.”

Today is the anniversary of the 1972 Olympic attack. Left-wing extremist Palestinian terrorists from the group “Black September” took eleven Israeli participants hostage. All Israelis were murdered. According to Bavaria’s Interior Minister Herrmann, “because the crime scene was near the Nazi Documentation Center and the Israeli Consulate General,” it is obvious that “there could possibly be a connection.”

According to information from the NZZ, the Munich consulate was not manned on Thursday morning. The employees are not on site because of the commemoration of Munich 1972, as the Consul General of the State of Israel for Southern Germany, Talya Lador-Fresher, announced. The attempted terrorist attack shows “how dangerous the rise of anti-Semitism” is.

Interior Minister Faeser speaks of “serious incident”

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser also sees the shooting in Munich as a serious incident. “It is a serious incident,” said the Social Democrat. But she did not want to speculate; we should wait and see. “I would like to thank the Munich police, who are doing a good job in my opinion,” said Faeser. “The protection of Jewish and Israeli institutions, as you know, is the highest priority.”

Josef Schuster, President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said: “We do not yet know all the background information. What we do know takes our breath away. There could have been a catastrophe in Munich today.” In the afternoon, Bavaria’s Prime Minister, the Christian Socialist Markus Söder, also appeared before the press. Bavaria in particular is “stronger” and “determined” in dealing with terrorism, he said. He spoke of a clear “warning signal”. The background to the crime “still needs to be clarified for the time being,” said Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann.

Jewish and Israeli institutions in Germany have long been dependent on protection by police officers. The need for this protection was demonstrated by a right-wing extremist terrorist attack on the synagogue in Halle an der Saale on October 9, 2019: The attacker tried to break into the building on the high holiday of Yom Kippur. He wanted to kill as many Jews as possible with a homemade gun. He was unable to break down the door and murdered a passerby and a customer at a kebab shop.

Since Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, the threat situation has worsened again. The police recorded several attempted attacks on synagogues, such as on October 18, when unknown assailants threw Molotov cocktails at the house of the Jewish community Adass Jisroel in Berlin. Anti-Israel demonstrators also repeatedly march past synagogues.

Nationwide, politically motivated crimes in the context of the Middle East conflict rose to 4,369 cases last year (2022: 61 cases). According to statistics, around 64 percent of these fall into the “foreign ideology” phenomenon area. The police classify around 20 percent of all crimes as “religious ideology”, which means Islamism. The police classify almost half of all crimes in the context of the Middle East conflict as anti-Semitic.

With agency material