FRANKFURT, Germany: The German foreign ministry said Tuesday it had summoned Iran's charge d'affaires after a court found that an attempted arson attack on a synagogue last year was planned with the help of Iranian state agencies.
"We will not tolerate any foreign-controlled violence in Germany," the ministry wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
The higher regional court in Duesseldorf had earlier sentenced a German-Iranian national to two years and nine months in prison over a plot to attack a synagogue in Germany in November 2022.
The 36-year-old, identified only as Babak J., had planned to target a synagogue in the western city of Bochum but ended up throwing an incendiary device at an adjacent school building. No one was injured.
In handing down the verdict, the Duesseldorf court on Tuesday said the attack had been planned with the help of "Iranian state agencies".
"The fact that Jewish life should be attacked here is intolerable," the foreign ministry said.
It added that it would carefully study the judgment to determine the "consequences and next steps, including at EU-level".
Germany has grown increasingly alarmed in recent years about rising anti-Jewish sentiment eight decades after the end of the Holocaust.
The Israel-Hamas war has further enflamed tensions with German authorities registering a number of anti-Semitic incidents in recent weeks, including the targeting of a Berlin synagogue with Molotov cocktails in October.
More than 3,000 people turned out to demonstrate against anti-Semitism and racism in Berlin earlier this month.
Berlin summons Iran envoy over 2022 synagogue arson plot
https://arab.news/m3r7r
Berlin summons Iran envoy over 2022 synagogue arson plot
- "We will not tolerate any foreign-controlled violence in Germany," the ministry wrote on X
- The 36-year-old, identified only as Babak J., had planned to target a synagogue in the western city of Bochum
Top US defense official hails ‘model ally’ in South Korea talks
SِEOUL: The Pentagon’s number three official hailed South Korea as a “model ally” as he met with local counterparts in Seoul on Monday, days after Washington’s new defense strategy called for reduced support for partners overseas.
Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby arrived in South Korea on Monday and is seen as a key proponent of President Donald Trump’s “America First” foreign policy.
That policy — detailed in Washington’s 2026 National Defense Strategy (NDS) released last week — calls for the United States to prioritize deterring China and for long-standing US allies to take “primary responsibility” for their own defense.
Arriving in Seoul on his first overseas trip as the Pentagon’s number three official, Colby in a post on X called South Korea a “model ally.”
And he praised President Lee Jae Myung’s pledge to spend 3.5 percent of the country’s GDP on the military.
That decision, he told a forum, “reflects a clear-eyed and sage understanding of how to address the security environment that we all face and how to put our storied and historic alliance on sound footing for the long haul,” according to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency.
“Such adaptation, such clear-eyed realism about the situation that we face and the need for greater balance in the sharing of burdens, will ensure that deterrence remains credible, sustainable and resilient in this changing world,” he added, according to the agency.
Colby also met Monday with South Korea’s defense and foreign ministers, who touted Seoul’s development of nuclear-powered attack submarines as proof the country was taking more responsibility for its defense.
Details remain murky on where the nuclear submarines will be built, however.
South Korea’s leader said last month it would be “extremely difficult” for them to be built outside the country.
But Trump has insisted they will be built in the United States.
Longstanding treaty allies, ties between the United States and South Korea were forged in the bloodshed of the Korean War.
Washington still stations 28,500 troops in South Korea as a deterrent against the nuclear-armed North.
