German police killed an 18-year-old attacker in Munich yesterday in an exchange of fire near the Israeli consulate, prompting German politicians to emphasize the importance of protecting Israeli sites in the country.
Police said the man, an Austrian citizen, fired from an old carbine with a bayonet in the Maxvorstadt district of Munich, near the consulate and the Nazi history museum, before he was killed in a shootout with five police officers.
The incident occurred on the anniversary of the attack on the 1972 Munich Olympics, in which Palestinian militants killed 11 Israeli athletes. "There may be a connection between these two events," Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Zoder told reporters, adding that an investigation was ongoing.
The attacker was previously known to the Austrian authorities as a suspected Islamist, and last year he was reported to the police for alleged membership in an extremist group, the spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior in Vienna announced.
Israel's foreign ministry said its consulate in Munich was closed on Thursday to mark the anniversary of the 1972 Olympics massacre and that no consulate staff were injured in yesterday's incident.
German Chancellor Olaf Solz said he was grateful for the quick reaction of emergency services in Munich, which prevented something terrible from happening. "I will say very clearly: anti-Semitism and Islamism have no place here," he wrote on the X network.
German Interior Minister Nancy Fizer described the exchange of fire as a serious incident. "The protection of Israeli sites has the highest priority," she said.
The shooting occurred at a time of increased polarization in the German political environment. On Sunday, the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party became the first far-right party to win regional elections since World War II.
Politicians are also debating how to prevent violent crime after a spate of attacks rocked the country. An attack in the northwestern city of Zollingen last month killed three people and a Syrian migrant who had applied for asylum was suspected.
Israeli President Isak Herzog said he spoke with his German counterpart about the incident in Munich.
"We have jointly condemned the terrible terrorist attack that took place this morning," Herzog announced on the X network, adding that on the anniversary of the massacre at the Olympics, "a hate-filled terrorist came and tried again to kill innocent people."
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