Suspect behind German Christmas market attack 'Islamophobic', authorities say

[AntiFascist]

Source: France24

The Saudi suspect behind the deadly car attack on a Christmas market in Germany is believed to be “Islamophobic”, the interior minister said Saturday. The 50-year-old doctor, now under arrest, said German authorities had not done enough to fight the “Islamism of Europe” and had also voiced support for the far-right and anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party.
...
Taleb’s X account is filled with tweets and retweets focusing on anti-Islam themes and criticism of the religion while sharing congratulatory notes to Muslims who left the faith. He also described himself as a former Muslim.

He was critical of German authorities, saying they had failed to do enough to combat the “Islamism of Europe.”

He has also voiced support for the far-right and anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Read more: https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20241221-suspect-behind-german-christmas-market-attack-islamophobic-authorities-say

---

Also a fan of Musk?

[Lulu KC]

1. And a psychiatrist

Interesting combination of things.

[Historic NY]

2. A Saudi.......aren't they mostly islamic

[LatteLady]

3. Silly fellow thinks quitting the religion makes him "white" in the eyes of the German far right racist party

Just like Latinos in the US, he doesn’t get it that as far as the racists are concerned he is not white and never will be.

Kudos for leaving a fundamentalist “faith”, but it hasn’t helped his critical thinking any.

[alarimer]

4. Yes, also a fan of the neo-Nazis

I think this really needs to be emphasized here. This is what happens when you turn up the right-wing rhetoric. Right now, people seem to be blaming immigrants (because he was an immigrant) and we really should not go down that road, generally. Hateful right-wing ideology is WHY these things happen. He was radicalized by the right-wing.

[Lucky Luciano]

5. Exactly...Islamic terrorists are basically right wing populists.

He is a right wing populist too.

[AntiFascist]

6. I agree totally, leaving one right-wing movement and adopting another...

I'm sure that most Islamic immigrants aren't extremists. This Islamophobia is spread by Trump on Truth Social and particularly Musk on X. Musk's anti-immigrant posts recently triggered widespread Far Right rioting in the UK while he gleefully posted that this was leading to a civil war. They want to tear society apart, pitting one side against the other, no matter whether the Other side is Islamic, POC, LatinX, LGBTQ, etc, etc.

[LudwigPastorius]

7. He's the Saudi Clayton Bigsby.

[prodigitalson]

8. so he attacked a Xtian thing?

[AntiFascist]

9. Because most German Christians probably don't support the AfD?

Who knows what craziness drove him to do this, but what he probably has in common with others on the Far Right is a certain level of manic-depression.

[AntiFascist]

10. More information is being released...

The suspect had built up a following on social media as the self-described "greatest critic of Islam in Saudi Arabia." He was critical of the German government for not providing more protection for secular Arab immigrants and made increasingly dark threats:

Earlier this year, he made dark threats against Germany and the German people online – something the German authorities were apparently alerted to. On his account on X, formerly Twitter, he posted in May to his nearly 50,000 followers: “German terrorism will be brought to justice. It’s very likely that I will die this year in order to bring justice.”

He made a similar statement in August, when he posted: “I assure you that if Germany wants a war, we will fight it. If Germany wants to kill us, we will slaughter them, die, or go to prison with pride.”

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/12/21/europe/suspect-germany-christmas-market-attack