Suspect Indicted for Stabbing Incident at Berlin's Holocaust Memorial
Berlin, Germany - A 19-year-old suspect, Wassim Al M., has been charged with causing serious bodily harm and attempted membership of a foreign terrorist organization, following an attack at Berlin's Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in February.
The victim of the attack was a tourist from the Basque Country in northern Spain. The incident occurred amid a series of attacks blamed on foreign nationals, fueling a debate about immigration.
The suspect, who arrived in Germany in 2023, has been linked to the foreign terrorist organization Islamic State (IS) and is said to hold radical Islamist and antisemitic views. Before the stabbing, he sent a photo of himself to IS members with the intention of allowing the group to claim responsibility for the attack.
The suspect traveled from Leipzig to Berlin with the intention of targeting "alleged infidels." The attack was one of several that occurred ahead of the German general election, which saw a doubling in the vote-share for the far-right, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD).
The new German government, under Chancellor Friedrich Merz, has moved swiftly to introduce stricter curbs on immigration, as part of a coalition government agreement involving Merz’s conservatives and the Social Democrats. The agreement provided for deportations to Afghanistan and Syria, targeting delinquents and individuals considered threats.
The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe is located near the Brandenburg Gate and the US embassy, making it a symbolic target for such an attack. The new government is signaling its intent to resume deportations to Syria, which have been suspended since 2012. In fact, starting in mid-2025, Germany began deporting Syrians with criminal records, following Austria’s lead as the first EU country to do so in recent years.
Taliban envoys are expected to visit Germany to discuss deportations, as the government continues to crack down on immigration and address the concerns of its citizens. The suspect remains in pre-trial detention as the investigation into the attack continues.
[1] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-57900095 [2] https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/germany-resume-deportations-syria-2021-2022-02-24/ [3] https://www.dw.com/en/germany-resumes-deportations-of-syrian-refugees/a-57824197 [4] https://www.thelocal.de/20210224/germany-resumes-deportations-to-syria-for-first-time-since-2012
- The incident at Berlin's Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, involving a 19-year-old suspect with radical Islamist views and ties to a foreign terrorist organization, has become a general-news topic and fueled debates about crime-and-justice and immigration in Germany.
- The new German government, under Chancellor Friedrich Merz, has proposed stricter immigration policies in response to the attack, which included the resumption of deportations to countries like Syria, as part of a coalition agreement with the Social Democrats, generating vast discussions in politics and general-news platforms.
