October 7 was apparently not enough.
German federal prosecutors have charged seven alleged Hamas members with participating in preparations for a terrorist attack in Germany or Austria. According to the indictment, the planned attack was supposed to take place around the second anniversary of the October 7, 2023 Hamas assault on Israel.
The alleged targets make the case particularly disturbing. Prosecutors say the attack was intended to target representatives of Israel, Jewish people or individuals considered pro-Israel.
This was not a political demonstration. It was not civil disobedience. According to prosecutors, it was preparation for murder.
An arsenal was already being assembled
The allegations go far beyond angry rhetoric or an undeveloped fantasy. German prosecutors say the network had already obtained a functioning fully automatic rifle, 13 functioning pistols and more than 700 rounds of ammunition by the time three suspects were arrested in Berlin on October 1, 2025.
Part of the arsenal was allegedly transported to Vienna and stored there. Another suspect, who is being prosecuted separately, allegedly recorded a video in advance claiming responsibility for the planned attack in the name of Hamas.
According to German authorities, senior Hamas figures had instructed members of the network to obtain weapons and ammunition in Germany. The alleged operation extended across several European countries, with arrests eventually taking place in Germany, Denmark, Britain and Cyprus.
Seven men have now been charged in Berlin. They face allegations including membership in a foreign terrorist organization and preparation of a serious act of violence endangering the state. Some also face charges related to weapons of war.
Hamas denies any connection to the suspects.
Jews targeted simply for being Jews
One aspect of the allegations deserves particular attention. The supposed targets were not limited to Israeli government or military officials.
They included Jewish people.
That distinction matters enormously. A Jewish civilian living in Berlin or Vienna is not responsible for the decisions of the Israeli government. A synagogue is not an Israeli military installation. Jewish identity does not make somebody responsible for Benjamin Netanyahu, the IDF or the destruction of Gaza.
Targeting Jews because of a conflict involving Israel is antisemitism in one of its most dangerous forms. When that hatred is accompanied by automatic weapons and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, it becomes something much worse.
The same principle applies to people targeted merely because they support Israel. Political opinions can be criticized, challenged and condemned. They cannot legitimately be answered with bullets.
Nothing about this liberates Palestinians
Hamas and its defenders frequently place its violence within the language of resistance. Yet deliberately murdering civilians does not become morally acceptable when somebody attaches the word “resistance” to it.
October 7 demonstrated that with horrifying clarity. Hamas-led attackers murdered civilians, attacked communities and took hostages. The suffering of Palestinians before or after October 7 cannot retroactively transform those crimes into legitimate acts.
Nor would murdering Jews in Berlin or Vienna liberate a single Palestinian.
It would not rebuild Gaza. It would not create a Palestinian state. It would not protect Palestinian children. It would not end occupation or military violence.
It would simply create more dead civilians.
Hamas is not Palestine
This distinction is essential, particularly at a time when discussion of Israel and Gaza has become intensely polarized.
Condemning Hamas is not the same as condemning Palestinians. Hamas does not represent the moral worth of the Palestinian people any more than the Israeli government represents the moral worth of every Israeli or every Jew.
Palestinians have every right to demand freedom, security, political representation and a future in which their children do not grow up surrounded by war. None of those rights require defending an organization that deliberately targets civilians.
Indeed, Hamas has repeatedly helped turn Palestinian suffering into part of its political and military strategy. Its terrorism gives its enemies an extraordinarily powerful weapon: the ability to portray Palestinian aspirations through the actions of extremists.
People who genuinely care about Palestinian civilians should therefore have no difficulty condemning Hamas.
Criticizing Israel does not require defending Hamas
There is another false choice that should be rejected.
One can condemn the enormous civilian suffering caused by Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and simultaneously condemn Hamas without hesitation. There is no contradiction.
Human rights are meaningless if they apply only to one’s preferred side.
A Palestinian child killed in Gaza is not worth less because Hamas committed atrocities. An Israeli civilian murdered on October 7 is not worth less because of the actions of the Israeli government. A Jewish civilian in Berlin does not become a legitimate target because Israel is fighting a war thousands of kilometers away.
The same moral principle applies to all three.
Europe cannot tolerate imported sectarian violence
The alleged plot also carries a warning for Europe.
Europe contains millions of Muslims and substantial Jewish communities. It also contains people holding virtually every possible position on Israel and Palestine. They must be able to disagree—even bitterly—without importing the violence of the Middle East into European streets.
The moment political disagreement becomes permission to murder Jews, Muslims, Israelis, Palestinians or political opponents, democratic society begins to collapse into tribal violence.
Europe has seen enough of that history already.
If the German allegations are proven in court, the alleged preparations demonstrate something particularly chilling: people were apparently willing to acquire an arsenal and prepare an attack against civilians in European cities around the anniversary of one of the worst massacres in Israel’s history.
There is nothing heroic about that.
There is nothing progressive about it.
There is nothing liberating about it.
It is terrorism.
And opposing terrorism should never require us to stop caring about Palestinian civilians. It requires exactly the opposite: refusing to divide humanity into tribes whose innocent members may be murdered for the actions of somebody else.
