Iran endangers ‘Israel and Jewish’ people in Germany
“Spying activities against (pro) Israeli and (pro) Jewish targets in Germany are therefore part of the task of intelligence agencies in Iran,” wrote the German intelligence officials in the report.
By BENJAMIN WEINTHALSoldiers of the German armed forces Bundeswehr hold the Iranian flag during a ceremony for the diplomatic accreditation of the new ambassador of Iran to Germany in Berlin(photo credit: FABRIZIO BENSCH / REUTERS)
Israelis and Jews, as well as their organizations, are the focus of Iran’s infamous intelligence apparatus in Germany, according to an eye-popping passage in the federal government’s newly released domestic intelligence report.“Spying activities against (pro) Israeli and (pro) Jewish targets in Germany are therefore part of the task of intelligence agencies in Iran,” German intelligence officials wrote in the report that was released on Friday.The passage in the intelligence report was cited under the section: “Islamic Republic of Iran intelligence services.”“Among Iran’s declared enemies are the United States, the State of Israel, its representatives and supporters of the Jewish state,” the intelligence officials wrote. “This can include leading representatives of Jewish organizations in the Diaspora.”The report did not, however, cite concrete examples of Iranian intelligence services targeting Israeli or Jewish institutions in Germany during 2019. The intelligence document chronicles threats to Germany’s democratic, constitutional order in 2019.However, the mere mention that Iran’s vast intelligence system is operating largely unhindered in Germany and that Iran has Jewish and Israel targets within its scope raises a host of security and counterterrorism questions.The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its Quds Force – a highly specialized unconventional-warfare unit – have been active in Germany over the years. The US government has designated the IRGC and the Quds Force as foreign terrorist organizations.German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s administration refused to sanction the IRGC or the Quds Force for terrorist operations on German soil.The Jerusalem Post sent email press queries on Monday to Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, and his spokeswoman, Jutta Wagemann.In 2017, a Berlin court sentenced Pakistani citizen Mustufa Haidar Syed-Naqfi, 31, to four years and three months in prison for working for Iran’s intelligence service to spy “against Germany and another NATO member.”Merkel, however, did not expel any Iranian diplomats or sanction Iranian officials for Syed-Naqfi’s terrorist plot on German soil.According to German prosecutors, Syed-Naqfi was assigned to identify Israeli and Jewish institutions and Israel advocates in Germany, France and other unnamed Western European countries for possible attacks. He monitored a German-Jewish newspaper’s headquarters in Berlin and Reinhold Robbe, former head of the German-Israel Friendship Society.Syed-Naqfi spied on French-Israeli Prof. David Rouach, who teaches business at the elite Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Paris and served as head of the French-Israeli Chamber of Commerce. According to German authorities, Syed-Naqfi’s actions were “a clear indication of an assassination attempt.”The Quds Force paid Syed-Naqfi at least €2,052 from July 2015 through July 2016. A joint Iran-Hezbollah terrorist operation murdered five Israelis in Burgas, Bulgaria, in 2012.
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