A new type of extremism on the march hala terror attack how deadly is germanys far right. On. Thats our topic on to the point and here are our guests to answer that question christopher works for the New York Times in berlin he reported from hala and says as tragic as last weeks synagogue attack was without germanys strict gun laws the day would have been much worse allan posner is a commentator for the daily he says the far right in germany is a long way from endorsing terror and as long as terror from whatever direction does not have mass support it is an inconvenience for. And in any danger for democracies like germany. And shania was on this it is a producer and a middle east commentator here at the church of ellen shes an israeli citizen living in berlin and she says its time for German Authorities to up their game speeches and death a ration bars you know. So christopher let me start out by asking you what you encountered when you went to hell right after this attack what was the response of people whod been in the senate god and what was the response of others in the house. I spoke with the people who were inside the synagogue the next day on thursday morning and they told me that actually been quite calm and that this counter really taking good care of them and that they were of course worried but that the mood was not one of panic. Just from what i understood they were following the attack that attempt to break down the doors on closed circuit t. V. Is that right thats right think the counter took them to a back room to the congregation and then he himself in the security prison they actually followed the attack so there was could hear things outside but the congregants were away from these screens these video screens what was striking was the people and i met on the night of the attack there was sort of an impromptu memorial up by the big church the Market Square and there were people that were so upset i was trying to run as one does on deadline trying to get some quotes and some of these people i thought i would have to sort of get them medical help i mean there were there was this 11 young man who was 20 years old and he had been praying he was crying i mean it was like people in that city were just so shaken by it much more so than the people of penny inside the synagogue shani no doubt you were shaken were you also surprised or was this in a sense a disaster waiting to happen here in germany. Well thats an interesting question because yes i was shaken by it far more than i expected i have to say and in a way yes immediately its a shock because also its young kapoor its a day that its quite its the holiest of the year that you can you know you can have as a jew even if youre not an observant jew its just a very special day and then the 1st response is of course shock but then immediately soon after follow the idea that actually im not too surprised and thats where the ngar comes and thats where the rage comes or even followed by someone because it is to be expect that unfortunately it is to be expected. Alan as i said in my opening words the Central Council of jews in germany has said that it sees a new type of right wing extremism on the rise the Opening Statement i read off by you would appear to suggest that you dont agree. Well i dont quite know what the self accounts of jews means by new type of ideas images and it seems to me that its same old same old i mean. Its its right we had this image isnt in this case this muslim and islam it isnt which has been weve known for decades which is you know theres been attacks in brussels of either sex in toulouse have been attacks in france on 2 so we know that the case and there is a left wing december you know i die the fact that. Someone actually takes a gun to a synagogue is new but i also think. In germany you not in europe unfortunately but i also think this was something was waiting to happen when the and chinese said about the authorities need to up their game why was there not a policeman at least one and im in front of the synagogue i can understand it in germany in berlin you know every jewish can be gotten schools in a god any way is has as it has come back to that in just a 2nd or but coming back to your Opening Statement you you said in essence this is an inconvenience but not a catastrophe for a democracy like germany but what if we look at it in the larger context a knife an attempted knife attack 2 weeks before here in berlin the murder of the has been politician but to look earlier this year all of them right wing violence with a target of either minorities or of politicians whove spoken up for migrants and and other minorities do you not see a pattern that is more than an inconvenience i see a pattern several patterns i know it sounds heartless i mean if the point is that jews in germany is 6 essential no one in germany and in front of jews are leaving by their thousands to go to israel because they dont feel safe imagine feeling safe in israel and in france that just shows how crazy the situation is but the french democracy itself is not under attack from terrorism and the danger for french democracy is the foreigners you know the danger for german democracy is right wing popular well 1st of all youve got to see the connection between all these processes in the sense that when you see the rise of the right and the way it affects people on the ground i mean these are connected in that in that aspect that does you know pose a threat to the markets around the long term i think you just have a very narrow point of view without you know sort of looking at the outside knowing historical you know processes and understanding how whats the die. And now mix of such of such developments are you know in the sense that this guy you know were talking about. There is that a phenomena that we can still say is relevant or not but he wasnt he didnt come out of nowhere you know even if it was him with his computer game you know there are many harmless Computer Games users and players this is this is something a bit deeper theres got to be more than that and theres a feeling that theres not real attempt to understand the way discourse has changed a way to college is changing and the way this all facts radicalized young not necessarily young but easily influenced resentful usually unfortunately men this is what it is before we pick up on that lets look at how the feelings of jews in germany are changing many say that this attack has in fact sparked a new sense of insecurity and fear. We dont have much protection so in my kids growing up behind fences with police and israeli security. Its not easy to live in germany. I hope you keep hearing we cant let anything happen but nothing is done we feel abandoned if you know. This because just jews in germany are affected its an attack on democratic on uses a home which unfortunately weve got in germany. With the vulnerability of jewish life almost all jewish institutions of god it often has clans when i was a child it seemed normal that my father never wore a kipper on the street for a good reason and anyone who surprised at this doesnt know about the long history of right wing terrorism in germany. Christopher you said that the people had been in the synagogue were pretty calm did they nonetheless express feelings like the ones we just heard their feelings of perhaps heightened anxiety. I mean there is the question about they Actual Police protection and of the protection of the synagogues when you have young kapoor people one of the congregation told me this is sort of the traditional day where jews have been under attack so it was in his mind that there is this idea of. Not feeling safe and i assume that anyone after Something Like this although i didnt specifically ask would feel less safe i mean its you know a tragic thing to go through so the synagogue had asked for more Police Protection and apparently had the authorities turned that request down did you find out why apparently there have been some kind of an assessment by the interior ministry or the Police Direction in. The term and that there was no cause for protection they had what they called Something Like a level 6 protection which meant that there was a it was on the police sort of a circuit that the Police Cruiser would drive making sure that they were ok. But there was not can be somebody stationary in front of the synagogue news exactly at the need to up their game they need to understand that threats are even if they cannot immediately detect all of them they to understand theres a you know theres the unknowns i know and as you know there and this is exactly im talking about the need to make that switch and i feel like its like and there is now in berlin since the attack definitely a more visible Police Presence i just piped by the holocaust Holocaust Memorial there are big trucks outside with very heavily armed policeman does that and women does the hat reassure you that theyve gotten the message well its you know this that they have to attack i had this urge to go to a synagogue which is something that rarely ever happens to me and just to to for the sake of solidarity im not a religious person but and then i was talking to my partner about it and he said are you crazy i told him actually thats the safest place to be right now so after the act yes. As you know its better its better than never but i cant say its reassuring because i think its not just about protecting each and every institution or religious you know or somehow connected institution its just about. Making more of an effort to reach out. Hitting the core the roots of this problem and this is where it needs to start ellen according to the interior ministry there are some 24000 right wing extremists in germany at the moment of whom they say 50 percent are potentially violent how do you think the authorities do need to respond. Would you agree that theyre not doing enough or would you say actually. Theyve got this under control well they obviously dont have it under control and you can really probably never do enough. They do a lot i mean we never hear or rarely hear about the many many plots that oil that dont come to fruition dont even you know and they are these things happen all the time in the muslim side on the on the rightwing extremist side of the police do a lot of good good stuff but the and the point is that theres never going to be complete safety ok so you say after these attacks the synagogue is the safest place in germany probably but you know this Christmas Market is coming up you know the berlin Christmas Market is going to be well protected but what about i dont know where somewhere in southern germany where they havent you know. We are going to experience more attacks from muslim extremists from white wing extremists terrorists theyre going to happen theres no way in the world you can protect against this. Because theres an ongoing discussion here in germany that was prompted by the decade long series of murders by a right wing cell from eastern germany about whether the Security Services and the police are as the germans say blind in the right eye meaning not cognizant enough or interested enough in violence from the right wing and too preoccupied with violence from islamists and or the left wing would you say that is the case and is it something that you think the authorities are now becoming more vigilant about. Id be very cautious in saying that is the case right now it seems that in the past especially i think another thing you didnt mention is the former president of the the Intelligence Agency responsible for monitoring right wing as well as you know slam a sort of left wing groups that he now turns out to be quite far on the right and you wonder you know how good was he about making sure the right wing was really being monitored i will say that theres been a change even in the last year or so if you see somebody like hoss the who was always talking about interior Ministry Interior minister sorry was always going on about islamist terrorists and that he now is the 1st one to say this is you know the the biggest scrapes to germany and that there is really a need to sort of move resources over to be sure that you know that keeping track of the right wing terrorists shani this attack occurred in an eastern german city how the. There is a right wing party on the rise across the east the f d a theyve been quite successful in 2 recent state elections what connection do you see there if any well. Get in for looking at the roots of looking into the profiles of who are the ones more prone to that we see that if you see if you try to find a can and can link with this guy with what were looking at question is are we looking at other times of the where else where we see a lot of that sort of fed by the conditions you can see in the east of poverty or lack of knowledge or sort of the feeling of resentment towards the government or and so on and you can see unfortunately east but i dont think its just that i mean weve had enough done also all over germany i think putting it making it as a an east problem is to a problem will be will just make things works it just makes things worse when you said in your Opening Statement the far right in germany is a long way from endorsing tara but what we are seeing is for example a leader of the party referring to the nazi era as quote unquote a speck of bird poop in the overall context of german history isnt that in some sense an incitement to a kind of radical thinking that can turn violent no. Ive been you know i have no sympathy whatsoever for the day of tea and for mr garland to just quoted i think that its disgraceful pot to have been talk of i mean in the pay of poutine you name it theyre just horrible people and everything and what he said about the speck of bird poop the holocaust brings back a bird poop in german history its just i mean its just plain wrong stupid and so on but that doesnt lead anyone to take up arms and kill jews there is a difference and as long as law is just like saying you know this theres all these terrible things in the koran about killing unbelievers and so on so therefore if youre a muslim you must somehow endorse a terrorism no thats not the case or way back in the seventys when the left wing r. A. F. Terror group was killing people. Left wing nuts like myself were accused of being sympathizers of tara not so we really have to be careful about using terrorism for our own political aims just to bang the political enemy or or all of the political opponent and i say the eightys a horrible piece of work but they are not responsible for this in no way but you do have to think of concede that there has been severe shift in tone in that theres certain things that 1020 years ago you would not have southern germany and now all the sudden its sort of ok to say it a see your point im not saying that this makes somebody go out and pick up a gun and commit violence but something has shifted in germany. Some some people blame the internet in part for the change in discourse in germany and not only in germany and the internet is one area where the authorities seem to want to do more as i noted earlier the how the gunman had announced his intentions on the web and he did live streamed his attack lets take a role a look at the role played by social media. This breivik was among the 1st right wing extremists to post a manifesto on the internet justifying his actions many others followed suit including the attack is in Christ Church and hannah they streams the massacres live on the net and they made use of anonymous websites that spread extremist thought and chant terrorist attacks. Overseas and fishing and attacks these various right wing extremist forums treat all this as the games of. Terrorism becomes a video game. Users rate the manifestos in the live streams but how many people someone killed and they all work points for that. Expense have labeled this the gamification of terrorism the attack in hull now also use the internet right wing as language codes whats new is that the perpetrators see themselves as part of an International Movement as defenders of white supremacy. How can the terrorism be stopped. Chani let me put that question to you the German Government is now proposing to adopt a raft of measures designed to limit the potential for radicalization online and also to to somehow get incitement to violence under control do you think they will succeed or will potential criminal simply migrate to perhaps the dark well yes i agree with you its theres always a way when theres a will theres a way and i think. Definitely we need to also mentioning here if we need to look at it in an international crossreference is these networks dont you know internet has no barriers and so does does not you know hate. Speech and hate violence of incitement on the forms all of that has no barriers this is not limited to germany it is not limited to france nor to europe itself in the u. S. Weve seen that a lot and this is becoming you know sort of a Global Network and meet with needs to be tackled in such a way as well. In that game the cation of terror or violence sounds extremely troubling do you see that connection between video games and perpetrators like the one in hollow or under the believe it or others and if so what can governments do well actually i dont see a connection i think. That again theres no proof that someone who engages in a very brutal video game killing space aliens whatever is then going to go out and shoot jews that simply is that theres that theres a difference between sitting in on the movement and going out and doing what that guy does did. We have to be careful here not just to sort of make a huge hodgepodge of things and then we have to differentiate for instance now i want to talk about the fact that this is something. You know its these are young males theyre generally loses fairly intelligent but you know they have some guests outcasts outcasts in some way who then sit alone or radicalized themselves and give their lives meaning you know by shooting a School Shooting shooting up a mosque in Christ Church shooting up a synagogue in pittsburgh shooting up a synagogue and in holland you know this we need to look at