Attack in Germany: Catholic, Jewish leaders weigh in on deadly terror before key elections

CNA Newsroom, Aug 27, 2024 / 11:45 am

With Germany reeling from an apparent Islamist terror attack on Friday that left three people dead and eight wounded, both religious and political figures are embroiled in a debate about Europe’s hot-button issues: terrorism, mass migration, knife crime, Islamist ideology, and political instrumentalization — ahead of important state elections this Sunday.

Cologne’s archbishop, Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, said in a statement published Aug. 24: “The brutal attack on human lives in Solingen leaves me stunned and deeply saddened.”

As CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, reported, the archbishop said his “prayers are with the victims and their families in these difficult hours. But I am also thinking of all the people of Solingen who came together for a peaceful celebration and are now left shocked and full of unanswered questions.”

A joint statement by German Bishops’ Conference president Bishop Georg Bätzing and a Lutheran representative echoed this sentiment.

Jewish leaders issued a strong warning of the rising danger of Islamism in Europe in the wake of the attack on Aug. 23 in Solingen, a town in the Archdiocese of Cologne in western Germany. 

‘Kill as many infidels as possible’

Following a manhunt and his arrest on Aug. 24, Issa Al H was charged by Germany’s federal prosecutor with membership in a terrorist organization and three counts of murder as well as eight counts of severe physical harm. 

The 26-year-old Syrian man is described as someone who “shares the ideology of the foreign terrorist group ‘Islamic State’ (IS).” 

“Based on his radical Islamist beliefs, he decided to kill as many people as possible” at the town’s “festival of diversity,” considering the people celebrating “infidels,” the prosecutor’s office said on Aug. 25. 

The Islamist stabbed “festival-goers repeatedly and deliberately in the neck and torso with a knife. Three people died and eight others were injured, several of them seriously,” the statement continued.

“The attack in Solingen is part of a series of Islamist attacks by asylum seekers that have plagued Germany for several years,” an investigation by the newspaper NZZ noted.

Unraveling a “chronology of failures” on the part of the German state in dealing with wrongful asylum claims, the Swiss-based newspaper said the case was representative of many others.

Migration key issue of Sunday elections

While one local Catholic priest in Solingen, Father Michael Mohr, told diocesan media he was concerned about the attack being instrumentalized politically during a time of grief, others have called for action.

Even before the deadly attack in Solingen, pollsters predicted that German voters would deliver a resounding defeat to the ruling coalition parties — Greens, Social Democrats, and Liberals — on Sunday in Saxony and Thuringia, with migration being a vital issue.

Driven in part by concerns that the extreme right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) — a party the Catholic bishops have rejected — will benefit from these developments, prominent politicians have called for a change in handling migration policies.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a Social Democrat, called the Solingen attack an act of “terrorism against us all.” Opposition leader Friedrich Merz of the Christian Democrats (CDU) wrote: “Enough is enough!” in a post on his site.

“After the terrorist attack in Solingen, it should now be clear once and for all: It is not the knives that are the problem but the people walking around with them. In the majority of cases, these are refugees, and in the majority of acts, Islamist motives are behind them,” Merz wrote.

Both Scholz and Merz are in talks to discuss migration policies, including deportations.

Recently, the European Union and individual European nations, including Sweden, the Netherlands, and Italy, have decided to take a more proactive stance on illegal migration.

Appeals from Jewish leaders

“The terrible attack in Solingen shocks us all, it strikes at the heart of our society,” said Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, on Saturday. 

“Islamist ideology seeks to destroy our way of life. The developments of recent months in Germany and throughout Europe are alarming. Islamism poses a real threat to our open societies. We must take this threat seriously,” Schuster said in a statement, stressing his thoughts are with the families and friends of the victims.

Condemning both the terrorist attack in Germany and on a synagogue in France on Saturday, the president of the Conference of European Rabbis (CER), Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, warned that Islamism was no less threatening to the future of Europe than the Russian aggression against Ukraine, CNA Deutsch reported.

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“If we hold Europe, our freedom, and liberal values dear, we must stand together and not allow radical ideologies to find a place on our streets and squares,” said the chief rabbi, recipient of this year’s Charlemagne Prize for work in the service for European unity.