Police officers lead a suspected Hamas operative (3rd from left) from a helicopter to a police van. Yesterday, the Federal Prosecutor General had three suspected members of the Islamist terrorist organization Hamas arrested. The men will be brought before the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe today. Photo by Philipp von Ditfurth/picture alliance via Getty Images

(JTA) — German police arrested three suspected members of Hamas in Berlin on Tuesday who they said were plotting to attack Jewish and Israeli institutions in the country on behalf of the terror group.

The suspects, who were arrested one day before Yom Kippur, were identified by Germany’s federal prosecutor’s office as Abed Al G, Wael F M and Ahmad I. Two are German citizens, and the other is an immigrant originally from Lebanon.

The men, two of whom are German citizens and one of Lebanese origin, are suspected of gathering firearms and ammunition over the summer to allegedly be used in the attacks.

During the arrests, the federal prosecutor’s office said that “various weapons, including an AK 47 assault rifle and several pistols, and a significant amount of ammunition, were found,” adding that those weapons were “intended for use by Hamas in assassination attacks on Israeli or Jewish institutions in Germany.”

The Israeli foreign intelligence agency Mossad said that it had collaborated with the German government in the arrests. It said the sting operation was “part of an extensive Mossad effort throughout Europe during which weapons caches were located and further arrests were made of operatives suspected of terrorist offenses.”

In February, four Hamas members suspected of plotting on Jewish institutions in Europe went on trial in Berlin, marking the first court case against Hamas operatives in the country. Months later in July, a Danish citizen of Afghani descent was arrested in Denmark for allegedly helping Iran plan attacks on Jewish targets in Berlin.

And in December 2023, seven men were arrested in Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark for allegedly planning terror attacks against Jews and Jewish sites. Some of those arrested were longtime Hamas operatives who had been building up a supply of weapons, German officials said at the time.

Hamas said in a statement that the allegations that the individuals were affiliated with the terror group were “baseless” and accused them of aiming to “undermine the German people’s sympathy for the Palestinian people.”

A recent poll found that 62% of Germans view Israel’s actions in Gaza as a genocide, more than in the United States which like Germany is a staunch ally of Israel. Fueled in part by its commitments following the Holocaust, Germany did not join several other major European countries in recognizing Palestinian statehood at the United Nations General Assembly last month.

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