Due to the conflict in the Middle East, jihadist circles are calling for assassinations against the West, to which the terrorists react in the current situation in an "emotionally heightened" mood.
The probability of terrorist attacks increased drastically due to the massacre carried out by Hamas in Israel and the Israeli counterattack, the German intelligence report revealed. According to the federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, there is a significant risk of "possible terrorist attacks against Jewish and Israeli persons, institutions, and the 'West'."
According to Thomas Haldenwang, the head of the office, they have been monitoring the "phenomena" that indicate the organization of Islamist attacks for a long time.
"I have emphasized several times that an Islamist attack can take place in Germany every day, but now this too has reached a new level," he said.
As he said, due to the conflict in the Middle East, jihadist circles are calling for assassinations against the West, to which the terrorists are reacting in the current situation in an "emotionally heightened" mood.
The danger is real and greater than at any time in a long time," he warned.
The head of the German Police Union, Rainer Wendt, told the German press that a terror alert is in effect at Christmas markets in Germany.
"If only because of the Christian symbols, these events become targets of attacks by Islamist terrorists," he added.
In an interview with Bild, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that "Germany is next" after Israel in terms of terrorist attacks by Hamas.
According to press reports, the background of the increased preparedness is that two young Islamists were presumably preparing for a terrorist attack in Cologne on Friday, December 1.
One of the suspects is Edris D., a 15-year-old Afghan living in Burscheid, and the authorities have also caught the attention of a young man of Russian origin in connection with the case. Arrest warrants were issued for both of them.
Cover image: The site of the 2016 Berlin terror attack
Source: Wikimedia.com/Andreas Trojak
