The Magdeburg attacker: What is the truth?

By Gary Fouse

For several years now, the Christmas season has brought special angst to Europeans trying to celebrate the holidays. What should be a time of joy has become a time for police to take special precautions against Islamist terror. In particular, the traditional Christmas markets have become targets for jihadists. That is particularly true in Germany, where the Christmas markets in cities are the most traditional. Most significantly, the Germans recall with horror the car attack at Berlin’s Christmas market in 2013 where 13 died. 

Now comes the December 20 car attack at Magdeburg’s Christmas Market, which has claimed the lives of 5 people, including a nine-year-old child. The accused perpetrator is Taleb al Abdulmohsen, a Saudi national who came to Germany in 2016 and is a doctor of psychiatry no less. To add more confusion, he claims to be a Muslim apostate who has supported many other Muslim apostates, especially Saudi women, in escaping from their country and coming to Europe. Abdulmohsen has been very vocal in recent years about what he claims is Germany’s mistreatment of Muslim apostates. It has now been reported in many news outlets that Saudi Arabia had been sending alerts to German police about this man and his violent nature for several years. What is that all about? Was it an attempt to silence an opponent, an apostate, or a genuine concern that he was a terror risk?  One thing is known: The man was known to the German police for previous threats of violence.

And to add more fuel to the fire, just days before that attack, Abdulmohsen was interviewed by the conservative blog sites, RAIR Foundation USA and Vlad Tepes, in which he aired his claims about Germany not doing more to help apostates in their country. He actually was much harsher than that. He accused German authorities of deliberately destroying the lives of apostates in their country, particularly Saudi women. It appears that on other social media he has threatened Germany and its people based on the above claims. (He did not make any violent threats during the above interview with Vlad Tepes and RAIR.)

What are we to make of all this?

At the moment, there are many conflicting theories about Abdulmohsen. Many are claiming that he is a fake apostate, a mole spying on Saudis in Germany for the Saudi regime. Others point to social media postings he has reportedly made. There are screenshots attributing statements to him and statements by some who knew him that cast doubt on his apostate claims.

In addition, many point out the obvious question: Why would a Saudi national attack a Christmas market if he was truly an apostate, an Islamophobe as the German media calls him, quoting the words of  Interior Minister Nancy Faeser? Why didn’t he target a mosque?

In short, the Internet and social media have exploded worldwide with conflicting claims and people expressing their opinions on this horrific crime and its motivation. That is the big question that remains in this case-the motivation. It is obvious that Abdulmohsen, clearly a seriously ill man, hated Germany and Germans. What we are wondering is why did he actually hate them? Was it as he said, that Germany has not assisted apostates from Islam, or was he actually a fake apostate who attacked the Christmas market for same reason that the Berlin attacker committed his crime in 2016, or the Strasbourg (France) Market attacker in 2018 that killed 5, that is, a jihadist attack against the infidels?

The German media appears to have completely bought into the Islamophobia theory. Of course, that would fit in with their usual narrative. The media and the left in Germany have used this attack to target the conservative political party, Alternatif fuer Deutschland (AfD), which is strongly against continued mass migration of people from Islamic countries. There are elections coming up after the recent collapse of the government, and the left in Germany is worried about the possibility that AfD leader Alice Weidel may become the next chancellor. AfD, in contrast, is calling this attack just another example of how Islamic immigration has damaged the country, thanks to former chancellor Angela Merkel’s open border policy that began in 2015. Abdulmohsen reportedly has made social media posts that praise AfD. The party, in turn, states that he was not a member. And on it goes.

I consider myself a counter-jihadist, much like my friends at RAIR and Vlad Tepes, with whom I have collaborated for years in translating news reports about this issue coming out of Europe. They are shocked at what this man did just days after the above interview, in which Abdulmohsen gave no hint that he was about to commit this act of terror against innocent Germans. Whatever his motive, he must be condemned for this act, and I see nobody defending this-except for three unidentified persons in Magdeburg who were seen celebrating the event a few blocks away just after the fact. They have been arrested, but, as is the custom in Germany, not publicly identified.

As one who spent nearly 30  years in law enforcement, including 3 in Germany (US Army Military Police)  and 5 in Italy (DEA), let me take off my counter-jihad hat and put my law enforcement hat back on. During my career, I had many occasions to work with the German police, both as an MP in Germany and as a DEA agent stationed in Italy. Whatever shortcomings the German police and intelligence may have, they are very efficient investigators. From what I see, the Western European police and intelligence are quite good at solving crimes and putting the pieces together after the fact. One of the major problems I see is that the German police -like their colleagues all over Western Europe- are handcuffed to some extent by their political leaders. Make no mistake, Western Europe is suffering from poor political leadership, and political correctness rules the day. All too often, we have seen these mass murderers and terrorists dismissed as mentally ill. Often the public is never informed that perpetrators are jihadists. In recent years, attackers in Germany have been described as “southerners” as if they might be beer-swilling guys from Bavaria with pot bellies and wearing lederhosen and funny green hats.

 My point is this: I believe that the German police will eventually determine what this man’s motive was, if they don’t already know. They will clear up all these questions and doubts that are flying all over the Internet and social media. It may be that the facts will all be divulged at the time of trial. The question that many have is whether the powers that be in Germany will allow the truth to come out if, in fact, it goes against their preferred narrative, that he was simply a mixed-up Islamophobe. I also share the concern of many that Germany is trying to clamp down and control public opinion as to the whole issue of mass Islamic migration and the resultant crime and terror that have come with it. Not wanting to stoke the fires of resentment against innocent foreigners in general is reasonable. However, not informing or misinforming the public as to the dangers that exist is inexcusable. The decision to let in hundreds of thousands or millions of young Muslim men has been a disaster for Germany and all of Western Europe. Every time an innocent person is murdered or raped by these migrants or “asylum-seekers”, the government has blood on its hands. It may very well be that the German government was negligent over the past years with Abdulmohsen and the warning signs that were out there about this man. 

But this is the situation we are left with. We are all, including myself, speculating. At this point, as a former investigator, I still have an open mind as to his motive. Is the truth out there somewhere on the Internet and social media? Is it in the German media?  Whatever the truth is, German authorities have a moral duty to be transparent and tell their public what that truth is. And whatever the truth is about the attacker and his motives, there is no justification for this heinous act. I say prosecute the man to the full extent of the law, let the truth about his motives come out, and hopefully, the Germans will go about the task of making their Christmas markets and the country as a whole safe again.