Europe 1 with AFP 17:33 p.m., December 20, 2023
Iran summoned Germany's ambassador to Tehran on Wednesday after a German court reported the Iranian government's involvement in a plan to burn down a Jewish place of worship in the western city of Bochum in 2022.On Tuesday, a regional court in the western city of Düsseldorf sentenced an Iranian-German man to two years and nine months in prison for a plan to attack a synagogue in Bochum in November 2022. The German court further concluded that the attack had been planned with the help of "Iranian state agencies."
High tensions in Germany since war between Hamas and Israel
The German Foreign Ministry later announced that it had summoned the Iranian chargé d'affaires, saying that Berlin "does not tolerate any foreign-guided violence in Germany". In response, Iranian diplomacy said in a statement that it had summoned the German ambassador to protest against the "baseless accusation" of the German judiciary and the summons to Berlin of its diplomat.
"We recommend that Germany beware of the traps set by destructive currents, instead of making accusations and satisfying the Zionist regime's desire to create tensions," the Iranian ministry added.
Berlin has been worried in recent years about the resurgence of anti-Jewish sentiment on its territory. The war between Hamas and Israel has exacerbated tensions in Germany, where anti-Semitic incidents are on the rise, such as the attack on a Berlin synagogue with Molotov cocktails in October.