Hamas planned an attack on the Israeli embassy in Berlin and a US military base in western Germany. The German newspaper "Welt am Sonntag" reported that according to the investigation, one of the members of the terror cell, whose associates were already arrested in December last year, attempted to locate a weapons depot belonging to Hamas hidden somewhere in Europe.
According to the investigation, the intention was to transfer the weapons to Berlin for potential attacks, and the order came from Hamas' military leadership in Lebanon. German security service officials told the newspaper that the identities of the targets planned by the terrorists to attack were exposed thanks to the information found on the mobile phone of that arrested Hamas member, a Lebanese-born operative. The phone contained a map of the Israeli embassy in Berlin and the American base in western Germany.
In December last year, Germany arrested four Lebanese Hamas operatives. Further investigation discovered that the operatives had broader communications with the Lebanon-based Hamas stronghold in Tyre than what was known. Three of the operatives were arrested in December in Berlin and the fourth in Rotterdam, while they attempted to locate weapons caches in Europe.
One of them was buried under an oak tree in southern Bulgaria, exposed last month by local police. According to suspicions, that weapons cache was hidden years ago by Hamas' Lebanon personnel, and one of the arrested terrorists came to Europe to search for it. The investigation revealed that another weapons depot, probably in Poland, has not yet been exposed.
According to a report last month in the German magazine "Der Spiegel," the investigation began two months before the arrests in December following a tip from Israeli intelligence. On October 23, the German federal police stopped a car crossing the border from Poland. The passengers tried to explain the suitcase, backpack, binoculars, and rubber boots found in the car as equipment for a trip they took with friends. They also explained the mud on their pants.
However, the German police did not believe them and were determined that the Israeli tip was reliable. The passengers were looking for the weapons depot hidden in Poland to bring automatic weapons and ammunition to Berlin for the Hamas operatives. Gradually, it became clear to investigators that the terrorist network was operating in Berlin, but drove east in an attempt to find the weapons and bring them to Berlin.
Pro-Palestinian protest in Berlin
(Video: Reuters)
According to flight data from German security authorities, one of the detained passengers arrived in Berlin eight times in the 14 months preceding his arrest from Beirut, Italy, and Denmark. He used a refugee passport issued to him in Italy to enter Europe. According to the report in "Der Spiegel," he lived in Germany for years, even after his request for refugee status was rejected. It was also reported that he was in constant contact with the deputy commander of Hamas' military wing in Lebanon, who was responsible for the organization's activities abroad.
The Mossad and the Shin Bet shocked the German security forces when they dismantled the terrorist infrastructure in December. So far, Hamas has mainly collected donations at gatherings and distributed propaganda against Israel, but never carried out a terrorist attack on German soil. After the arrests, a senior Hamas figure denied the allegations "These accusations are aimed to influence the mass pro-Palestinian rallies taking place in Europe," he said.
First published: 20:32, 05.25.24