But the court also found that he actually intended to target the synagogue, on the instructions of the Iranian state.
In a statement posted on X/Twitter, the German Foreign Office said: “According to the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court, the planned attack on a synagogue in November 2022 in Bochum was carried out by an Iranian state agency.
“We have therefore summoned the Iranian charge d’affaires to the Foreign Office.
“The fact that Jewish life should be attacked here is intolerable. We will not tolerate any foreign-controlled violence in Germany.”
Police recently carried out raids on 50 addresses thought to be linked to Islamic extremists, including the Blue Mosque in Hamburg, a noted city landmark since the 1960s. It has been accused of serving as a platform for extremist preachers and fostering an environment conducive to radicalisation.
Iranian dissident and opposition activist Kazem Moussavi told the JC that Germany has had many years to act on Iranian support for antisemitic violence in the country.
Germany’s political obsession with forging an appeasement policy with Iran means it has left the authorities paralysed, he said.
Germany has repeatedly refused to act on how Iran has been supporting both Hezbollah and Hamas in Germany, he claimed. Instead, the highest-ranking German officials have fostered a cosy relationship with leading Iranian figures.
“I’ve spent 30 years in Germany investigating and exposing the leading Iranian figures operating here, and passing the information to the authorities,” Moussavi said. et very often almost nothing was done for years.
“Iran has been supporting Hezbollah and Hamas in Germany, and German authorities know this but, they have just tried for year to camouflage all the information because it is just completely obsessed with its approach of appeasement with Iran for trade reasons.
“But the price of this is that it sends out the message to Iran that it can use Germany like its playground to support antisemitism and cultivate radical Islam and this is exactly what it has done.”
“So the recent German clampdown on these Islamic organisations, like the Blue Mosque in Hamburg – the Islamic Centre of Hamburg – well, ok, but I have been speaking out about this organisation for years, as have Jewish organisations because of their antisemitism and cultivating of radical Islam.”
“But instead of doing anything about it, you would then even find German government officials, and even German presidents then visiting these places and even posing for photos with the very same figures, including even at the Blue Mosque.
“So even though I was of course happy that Germany had this nationwide series of raids at these organisations, it was a bit ridiculous that it then claimed it was doing this to examine whether anything odd was going on there. They have known for many years what has been going on there because of people like me.
“Finally we are seeing some action on this now, and there have just been some arresting of Hamas members in Germany. Yet it is only now that we are starting to hear about a ‘possible’ Iranian link here.”
“But this is ridiculous. The Iranian embassy is totally involved here and has been for years. What it does is it provides support to these terrorists and these antisemites, then wants to get these terrorists out of Germany quickly.
“I monitor the demonstration regularly, even though there is a direct threat to my life as Iran has taken me to court repeatedly here in Germany, and via the courts the Iranian regime has been able to get my address.
“So right now you have more and more of these dangerous rabidly antisemitic Islamic figures coming from many countries, including from the UK and the US. They are moving in radically pro-Palestinian and left-wing political circles and they are extremely dangerous.”
