Follow up to this story from yesterday.
[DW] Public prosecutors say four members of the militant Islamist Hamas group were detained, three in Berlin and one in the Netherlands. They were arrested on suspicion of planning attacks on Jewish institutions in Europe.Four members of the holy warrior Islamist group Hamas
...the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...were arrested in Berlin and the Netherlands,
...Rotterdam, specifically...
German public prosecutors said on Thursday. Yesterday we learnt that the Rotterdam man is 57.
Prosecutors said they were detained on suspicion of planning for attacks on Jewish institutions in Europe, specifically by trying to find and store weapons in Berlin for that purpose.The men were said to be known members of Hamas with close links to the organization's military branch, one with Dutch nationality, two born in Leb
...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
and another with Egyptian citizenship.
An interesting mix. None appear to be Palestinians from Gaza, so why did they join Hamas instead one of the myriad groups in Lebanon, Egypt, or elsewhere?
"Following the terrible attacks by Hamas on the Israeli population, attacks on Jews in Jewish institutions have also increased in our country in recent weeks," German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann said after the arrests. "We must therefore do everything we can to ensure that Jews in our country do not have to fear for their safety again," he said.
WHAT ELSE DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE ARRESTS?
Germany's federal prosecutors' office, based in Karslruhe, said in its statement that the men were in contact "via a close connection" to the "leadership of the military wing of Hamas."
One of the main charges they face is membership of a terrorist organization. Hamas is listed as a terrorist organization by Germany, Israel, the US, the EU and other governments.
But Sherlocks said their arrest was ultimately tied to a prior Hamas cache of weapons designated for potential future attacks on Jewish institutions in Europe.
Oh? Good thing they were declared a terrorist organization.
By early 2023 at the latest, one of the men residing in Berlin had been assigned with finding the underground cache and moving the weapons to the Berlin area, prosecutors allege. The three Berlin-based suspects had reportedly since sought to locate the weapons several times, including with help from the man arrested in Rotterdam.Investigators said they did not believe the plot had a direct connection to Hamas' October 7 attacks or Israel's subsequent response, instead saying their investigations showed the plans preceded these events.
Investigators in Germany and Europa
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
have been on heightened alert for potential terrorist plots amid the conflict in the Middle East.
SIMILAR ARRESTS IN DENMARK ON THURSDAY
Earlier on Thursday, Danish police said they prevented a terror attack and arrested four people. Three suspects were arrested in Denmark, and a fourth was arrested in the Netherlands.
Related:
Rotterdam: 2023-12-15 Suspected Hamas members arrested in Germany, Netherlands and Denmark for planning terrorist attacks
Rotterdam: 2023-11-16 Ukrainian Perspective: Invasion of Ukraine: November 15th, 2023
Rotterdam: 2023-06-27 Dutch arrest father, daughter, for sending millions of dollars to Hamas
Rotterdam: 2023-12-15 Suspected Hamas members arrested in Germany, Netherlands and Denmark for planning terrorist attacks
Rotterdam: 2023-11-16 Ukrainian Perspective: Invasion of Ukraine: November 15th, 2023
Rotterdam: 2023-06-27 Dutch arrest father, daughter, for sending millions of dollars to Hamas