Germany: What Really Was the Motive for the Magdeburg Attack?

Yesterday’s car attack at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany now has a revised official death toll: Five people, including a 9-year-old child, were killed and over 200 injured. The driver of the car has been identified as 50-year-old Talib al Abdul Mohsen, a doctor from Saudi Arabia who had been living and working in the town of Bernburg, Saxony-Anhalt since he immigrated to Germany in 2006.

But it is his motive that is and will be the topic of discussion for some time. It is not so clear as it seemed yesterday.

As I have previously posted on this blog, I collaborate with three other like-minded blogs to report on and translate news coming out of Europe pertaining to terrorism, radical Islam, criminal migrants, and anti-Semitic acts. The three other sites are Vlad Tepes, Gates of Vienna, and RAIR Foundation USA. In that vein, I translated the news report (from Welt) coming out of Magdeburg as well as a video from Berliner Morgenpost. At that time, the suspect was only identified as a Saudi doctor (50) partially identified as Taleb A. The initial assumption was that this was an act of jihad.

Now it is not so clear. On December 12, this very same man, then-identified as Dr. Talib al Abdul Mohsan, was interviewed via Skype by Vlad Tepes and RAIR. In a 44-minute interview, he described himself as an apostate from Islam who was an activist helping Saudi apostates and apostates from other Muslim countries escape their countries and come to Germany. In the interview, he sharply criticized Germany for its alleged mistreatment of apostate refugees, particularly Saudi women. 

While he made no specific threats against Germany during the interview, given yesterday’s attack, we are all left scratching our heads. German media sources and from other countries are starting to report that the suspect was believed to be a fan of Alternatif fuer Deutschland (AfD) the far-right party that wants to halt mass Muslim migration into Germany. This is apparently based on his social media activity. (AfD denies that he was a member of the party.) Interior Minister, Nancy Faeser, is calling him an “Islamophobe”. Others believe he is lying about his status of being an apostate pointing to the method of attack and questioning why an apostate from Islam would attack non-Muslims in this manner. 

The point is that we will have to await the results of the German police investigation to determine the truth. Vlad Tepes notes that, at the time of the interview, the man appeared credible. I applaud Vlad Tepes and RAIR for coming out and posting this interview subsequent to the tragedy. Above all, it is the truth that matters most of all. The victims and their families deserve nothing less than the full truth. Whatever his motive, this heinous act cannot be excused.