German Interior Minister: Magdeburg Vehicular Attacker was ‘Obviously Islamophobic’

The man who plowed his car at top speed into the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany on Friday, killing and injuring numerous people, was a curious case. Taleb al-Abdulmohsen had lived in Germany for years, all the while presenting himself as an ex-Muslim and cultivating connections with high-profile critics of Islam. This led numerous media outlets to present him as an “anti-Islam” terrorist, and German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, who for years has ignored and denied any connection of Islam with terrorism and smeared critics of Islam and mass Muslim migration in Germany as “Nazis,” said (no doubt gleefully) that “we can only say with certainty that the perpetrator was obviously Islamophobic.”

There are numerous reasons why that is an absurd conclusion, as I outlined here. Another is a fact that Faeser didn’t bother either to point out, much less to explain: if Abdulmohsen carried out his attack because he was “Islamophobic,” why did he choose to target a Christmas market, which Muslims would have been unlikely to frequent in any significant numbers, instead of, say, a mosque or some other place where Muslims congregate? Wasn’t it counterproductive of this “Islamophobe” to go after the people he ostensibly wanted to defend from Islam and jihad, rather than those from whom the perpetrators of jihad violence emerge?

The question of why Faeser would take refuge in such a ridiculous conclusion, and why the media would trumpet the idea that Abdulmohsen was an embittered ex-Muslim who was possibly even “radicalized” by his “Islamophobic” friends and associates, is as interesting in itself as the question of who he really was and what he was trying to do when he committed mass murder. What is Faeser trying to do? The answer is as obvious as she thinks Abdulmohsen’s “Islamophobia” is.

The Telegraph reported that Abdulmohsen wrote: “I have to admit that I was deceived by western Leftists. I thought they welcome refugees because they care for human rights. But my experience in Germany showed me that they welcome refugees because they want to Islamise Europe.” There’s one thing that Faeser hates: warnings about the Islamization of Europe. The German political elites are deeply worried about the rise of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which opposes mass Muslim migration, and, when incessantly calling the AfD a bunch of Nazis failed, has even cast about for ways to outlaw it.

So now here comes a mass murderer who was worried about the Islamization of Europe. How convenient! Faeser can, and will, use Abdulmohsen as much as she possibly can in order to discredit foes of mass migration. And more besides: Abdulmohsen also wrote about Geert Wilders, the world-renowned Dutch politician and critic of Islam, that “the real hero is this man.” Abdulmohsen said this as he quoted a tweet from Wilders that read: “Islam is a lie. Mohammed is a criminal. The Koran is poison.” As if that weren’t enough, Abdulmohsen “also voiced support for Elon Musk, Tommy Robinson and Alternative for Germany, the far-right anti-immigration party.”

And so for Faeser and her leftist allies, it’s off to the races. Earlier proponents of mass migration into Europe with no concern about Islamization used mass murderer Anders Breivik’s alleged “manifesto” to discredit the critics of Islam that he supposedly mentioned, now Faeser and other leftists think they have found in Taleb Abdulmohsen this decade’s Breivik.

The same magic might not work for them this time, however, as wonderfully as it did in the past. One ex-Muslim in Germany wrote: “Many people who have had contact with Taleb, like me, deny that he was ever an atheist or ex-Muslim. He himself claimed to be a Wahhabi. He openly had contacts with Hamas people as well as with IS supporters.” Also, “he never directly criticized Islam or its associations. While we protested in front of mosques, he fought against us. He also repeatedly defended Saudi Arabia. For what?”

Another wrote: “Despite claims made by the German press, Taleb Al Abdulmohsen is not an ex-Muslim atheist, nor is he a fan of the AfD or Elon Musk. While he may have spread this misinformation himself, it aligns with the practice of Taqqiye, an Islamic doctrine that permits lying and deception to advance Islamic objectives. In reality, he is a radical Shia Muslim, as evidenced by his name and numerous tweets and chat leaks circulating on Arabic-speaking platforms like X. Disturbingly, his plans to carry out mass killings of Germans were brought to the attention of German authorities by a Saudi woman. Tragically, the police ignored her warnings.”

Yes, these two disagree on what kind of Muslim Taleb Abdulmohsen is. But they agree on everything else. Will Nancy Faeser and her ilk take note? Almost certainly not. To do so wouldn’t fit the narrative she is working so hard to construct.