Two Men Jailed in Germany for Plotting Iran-Directed Attacks on Pro-Israel Figures

A German court on Thursday sentenced two men to prison for planning attacks on pro-Israel public figures and spying on Jewish individuals on behalf of Iranian intelligence. The Hamburg court sentenced a Danish citizen identified as Ali S. to eight and a half years for plotting attacks that included targeting Volker Beck, head of the German-Israeli Association, and Josef Schuster, head of the Council of Jews in Germany. His Afghan accomplice, Tawab M., received a four-and-a-half-year sentence. Prosecutors stated that Ali S. received orders from the Quds Force, the external operations branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, in early 2025. Tawab M. had agreed to recruit a third individual and provide a weapon for an attack on Beck. The two defendants were transferred to German custody after their arrest and extradition from Denmark last year. Following the indictment in May, Beck called on Berlin to expel the Iranian ambassador and consular officials, stating that "Jewish life and commitment to the Jewish state and democracy are repeatedly threatened with murder and attack by the Iranian Islamic Republic regime on German soil." In July 2025, Germany's Foreign Ministry summoned the Iranian ambassador after Ali S.'s arrest in Denmark. The Iranian Embassy in Berlin, in a statement issued when the charges were brought last month, denied the allegations as "baseless claims made at the behest of Iran's enemies."