Germany: Police kill man who opened fire near Israeli consulate in Munich – what’s new?

Police killed this Thursday A man who opened fire near the Israeli consulate in Munich, on the same day that the 1972 hostage-taking that killed eleven Israeli athletes in this German city is commemorated.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog “expressed his horror” on social network X at what he described as a “terrorist attack.”

However, German authorities said they are still studying “the suspect’s motives.”.

“The man was carrying a long weapon and had fired several shots” before police opened fire on him, Bavarian state Interior Minister Joachim Hermann told reporters.

His act “could” be linked, according to him, to the proximity of the Israeli consulate and a documentation centre on Nazism, as well as the fact that Thursday marks the commemoration of the bloody hostage-taking of 5 September 1972.

That day, an attack carried out by a Palestinian commando left eleven Israeli athletes dead, as well as a policeman and five kidnappers.

On Thursday, several officers who were monitoring sensitive buildings in the neighborhood saw the man with the gun in his hand.

According to the police, He opened fire and shortly after the officers responded with gunfire, fatally wounding him.

The situation in Germany

Germany, like many countries around the world, has experienced a resurgence of anti-Semitism since Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, which sparked the war in the Gaza Strip.

At this time, none of the witnesses have given any indication of other perpetrators, so we assume that the situation, as it currently stands, is resolved.

“At this stage, none of the witnesses have given any indication of other perpetrators, so we assume that the situation as it currently stands is resolved,” Hermann said.

At around 09:00 (10:00 GMT), Munich police cordoned off the entire area around the documentation centre on National Socialism and the Israeli consulate.

It also sent a helicopter to support the operation.

According to police, the weapon used by the suspect is an older model.

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser called the incident “very serious” and said that “the protection of Jewish and Israeli establishments is an absolute priority.”

The situation forced to cancel a ceremony commemorating the victims of
the 1972 Fürstenfeldbruck shootings, where Israeli athletes were shot.

The Nazi documentation centre confirmed that a police intervention had taken place, but did not provide any details.

The centre, called NS-Doku and operating since 2015, is located in the former Brown House, the headquarters of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP).