Eurasia Press & News
Spy agency probe finds that guns seized in Austria last month belonged to son of Hamas political leader, who likely got green-light for attack from his father while in Doha
Recently foiled Hamas terrorist plots in Europe were planned in Qatar and possibly Turkey, the Mossad intelligence agency said Wednesday, detailing results of a lengthy probe into the busted schemes.
The spy agency said in a statement that it carried out the investigation alongside European counterparts that resulted in the arrest of terror suspects and weapons stockpiles “intended for use by Hamas cells to harm innocent civilians on command.”
Earlier this month, German police seized weapons and arrested a British man suspected of links to alleged Hamas members in Germany who are accused of plotting attacks on Jewish targets.
The man, 39, was arrested in London on a German arrest warrant, German prosecutors said.
His Berlin contact, a German citizen known as Abed Al G., was one of three alleged Hamas “foreign operatives” detained in October on suspicion of attempting to procure weapons for the attacks. Police seized an AK-47 assault rifle, handguns and ammunition during their arrests. Hamas denied any connection to the three.
The suspect had been given five handguns and ammunition, which he transported to Vienna for storage, according to Germany’s Federal Prosecutor.
Austria’s state intelligence agency DSN seized the arms in Vienna after probing “a globally active terrorist organization with close ties” to Hamas, the country’s interior ministry said in a statement. The Mossad said at the time it was involved in the investigation.
According to Wednesday’s Mossad statement, the weapons belonged to Hamas operative Muhammad Na’im, whose father is senior Gaza-based Hamas politburo official Basem Na’im.
Na’im met his father in Qatar in September, Mossad said.
“The timing of the meeting suggests possible involvement of Hamas leadership in authorizing and directing terror activity in Europe,” the spy agency added, while qualifying that statement with “the leadership’s sweeping denials may point to a loss of control over its rogue operatives.”
The investigation into Hamas’s European network is looking into the possibility that Hamas members in Turkey were among the planners of the attack, according to Israel. A year ago, suspected Hamas member Burhan al-Khatib was arrested in Germany after having been in Turkey.
The Mossad insisted that European partnership in the effort to counter the Hamas terror threat “reflects growing international recognition of the increasing danger and their determination to thwart any Hamas activity on their territory.”
Since the October 7, 2023, attacks, said Israel, Hamas has been focused on building its terror network in Europe.
At the time of the arrests last month, Hamas denied links to the three suspects in Germany, calling the allegations unfounded and saying its struggle is “confined to opposing Israeli occupation in Palestine.”
In February, four Hamas members suspected of plotting attacks on Jewish institutions in Europe went on trial in Berlin, in what prosecutors described as the first court case against Hamas terrorists in Germany.
Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization by the European Union and several other countries, including the United States.
The terror group has several political offices in both Qatar and Turkey, where the terror group’s leaders have enjoyed luxurious accommodations for years. Hamas’s Doha office was the target of an unsuccessful Israeli airstrike in September, which was intended to kill several top officials in the terror group.
