German police foil suspected Islamic terror plot on Yom Kippur

German police
detained a 16-year-old boy and three others on Thursday in connection with a
suspected plan for a terror attack on a synagogue in Hagen city, according to
an Associated Press report. The detentions took place on Yom Kippur, the
holiest day in Judaism. Police cordoned off the synagogue on Wednesday and the
evening service was called off. Those detained are suspect to have ties with
Islamic terror outfits.

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Wednesday’s threat
and detentions come exactly two years after a deadly terror attack shook
another German city on the Yom Kippur holiday. Officials said they had received
“very serious and concrete information” that there could be an attack on the synagogue
during Yom Kippur. Herbert Reul, interior minister of North-Rhine-Westphalia
state, where Hagen is located, pointed to an “Islamist motivated threat
situation”. Reul also named the possible timing and suspects.

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German Justice
Minister Christine Lambrecht condemned the foiled Hagen attack. “It is
intolerable that Jews are again exposed to such a horrible threat and that they
cannot celebrate the start of their highest holiday, Yom Kippur, together,” the
minister said. 

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Upon receiving the
tip-off, police deployed sniffer dogs at the synagogue but did not find any
dangerous objects. The 16-year-old teenager detained on Wednesday is a Syrian
national who lives in Hagen. Three others were detained in a raid in an
apartment and cops are currently investigating their role in the suspected terror
plot. One German media network reported that the tip to security personnel came
from the country’s foreign intelligence service.

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In 2019, a German
right-wing extremist had attacked a synagogue in Halley of eastern Germany on
Yom Kippur. The attack was regarded as the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in
Germany’s post-war history. The attacker attempted to enter the synagogue while
52 people were praying inside but failed. He later shot and killed a
40-year-old woman and screened the shooting live on a popular gaming website.

(With inputs
from Associated Press)