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Libyan suspected of planning Israel embassy attack arrested in Germany

The man, 28, thought to have links to Islamic State, is accused of planning a high-profile attack with firearms

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Police secure the area near Israel’s embassy in Berlin, Germany, on Sunday. Photo: Reuters

A Libyan suspected of planning an attack on the Israeli embassy in Berlin and having links to Islamic State (IS) group will appear before a judge on Sunday, German prosecutors said.

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The suspect, identified only as Omar A, was arrested on Saturday evening at his home in Bernau, just outside the German capital, the federal prosecutors’ office said.

He was accused of planning a “high-profile attack with firearms” on the Israeli embassy in Berlin, it said.

As part of his preparations, Omar A was suspected of having “exchanges with a member of IS in a messenger chat”, said the prosecutors, who described him as a supporter of the group’s ideology.

In a message on X, Israel’s ambassador to Berlin said: “Muslim antisemitism is no longer just hate rhetoric. It leads to and encourages terrorist activities worldwide.”

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Israeli embassies were “on the front line of the diplomatic battlefield”, ambassador Ron Prosor said.

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