After years of terror, the far-right terrorism is exploding in Germany

Intelligence services have increased surveillance of far-right activists, but few have managed to evade them. Nationalist ideology permeates the political mainstream, causing Merkel's heir fall. Towards the end of the chancellor era, Germany finds it difficult to find the right-wing poison

After years of terror, the far-right terrorism is exploding in Germany

In a widespread raid by German police at various locations across the country last Friday, members of an extreme right-wing cell were arrested who allegedly planned shooting attacks in mosques in the country in order to spark a civil war. It is unclear at what stage they were in their plan, but the very planning has caused great concern among the Muslim authorities and community in the country, given the intensification of violence from the extreme right.

Despite the ambiguous details at this point, less than a week later, this ideology seems to have motivated another person to open fire in two hookah bars, which are usually frequented by citizens of Middle Eastern origin. The result is fatal - at least nine dead, some of Turkish-Kurdish descent, others local residents in the city of Hanau, near Frankfurt.

Much like the radicalization that many Muslims pass under the security services radar, so too was the extreme right-wing terrorist unknown to them. He had a lawful firearm license, which he used to massacre the innocent, and his murder campaign chose to end at his home, following a police chase, while murdering his mother and ending his life.

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Intelligence services have increased the surveillance of right-wing activists. Woman lighting candles at shooting scene in Hanau city (Photo: AP)

Demonstration in Berlin following the terror attack in the city of Hanau against Muslims, February 80, 2020 (Photo: AP, AP)

His manifesto and video are in line with those of extreme white nationalists of recent years around the world. Like the terrorist who perpetrated the massacre of mosques in New Zealand last year, or the terrorists who sprayed Jewish and Hispanic worshipers across the United States, all saw "foreigners" invading their homeland, "defiling" their pure race. When it happens in Germany, history requires the warning light to flash louder.

In recent years, German intelligence services have increased their surveillance of right-wing activists, numbering several thousand, and they have been able to thwart many of the significant attacks. Judging from what was published in the media in Germany, members of the cell caught last Friday imagined a series of massacres in some of their mosques in order to provoke revenge from Muslims and chain reactions that would drive Germany into war.

However, some extremists manage to evade them - as was the case with the far-right terrorist who attacked a synagogue and Turkish kebab stall in this city during Yom Kippur. As we know it from our districts, it is very difficult to trace individuals, unlike branched organizations that tend to leave many traces of intelligence.

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The right-wing nationalist ideology is "poison." Chancellor Merkel (Photo: Reuters)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the summit of EU leaders in Brussels, Belgium. February 21, 2020 (Photo: Reuters)

Alongside the increase in violence against Muslims, as well as Jews - the leap in anti-Semitic acts in Germany is largely attributed to the extreme right and not to Muslims, as is the case in other European countries - nationalist ideology penetrates back into German mainstream politics. Chancellor Angela Merkel described it as "poison," but not sure the authorities have the experience of curing it.

Until a few years ago, it did not exist, but the "Alternative to Germany" (AfD) party, which some of its most senior members have expressed in a particularly blatant anti-Semitic and racist way, is the third largest party in the Bundestag. In some East Germany communist countries, it is even stronger, and part of Thuringia's election this month, hand-in-hand with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative party, stirred the country.

Cooperation between the established parties and the far-right was a taboo that continued from the fall of the Nazi regime, but it shattered to pieces. Although Thuringia's new prime minister, who came from the Liberal Democratic Party at once, resigned immediately to the outcry, the Berlin Federal Coalition was shocked: Anger Krump-Kernbauer, the Conservative Party leader who was labeled as the successor to Merkel, was forced to relocate And reopened the race for the future leadership of Germany.

Young woman lighting memorial candles close to shooting scene (Photo: AP)

Demonstration in Berlin following the terror attack in the city of Hanau against Muslims, February 80, 2020 (Photo: AP, AP)

Not at all sure that the shaky coalition between conservatives and Social Democrats will survive its final year before the next elections scheduled for 2020 will be particularly challenging for Europe's strongest economy. Merkel, whose 15-year tenure has cemented Germany's status as the most important country on the continent, is ending her role, in part because of her consistent plunge in popularity since she decided to open the country's gates to one million immigrants and asylum seekers in 2015. At the expense of the moderate right, the far-right has been strengthened, and conservatives are waging a battle over the nature of the party for years to come. The situation on the left is not much different, with the dramatic weakening of the veteran Socialist Party, in favor of the radical "left" party.

And while it is experiencing an economic slowdown, Germany will be required to regularly engage in talks with the United Kingdom on the new trade agreement after its departure from the EU. But instead of focusing on the restoration of European unity, as French President Emmanuel Macaron pressed it, Merkel will face the extreme right epidemic, which has been bubbling underground for years and is now exploding in Germany.