The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) on Sunday condemned the Christmas market attack perpetrated in Germany by an outspoken atheist from Saudi Arabia who had reportedly spent years attacking Islam, embracing far-right views, praising Israel, and criticising the German government for supposedly failing to protect other atheists who fled Saudi Arabia.
CAIR also criticised anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant voices for spreading disinformation about the attack, such as falsely claiming that the man was a Muslim and blaming German immigration policy for the attack.
Washington, D.C., based CAIR also called on Elon Musk to stop sharing such disinformation and to explain why X deleted social media history on the killer’s X page that showed his extensive, years-long hostility toward Islam and support for Germany’s Neo-Nazi inspired AfD Party, for which Musk has also expressed support.
CAIR is calling on the German government to stop wasting resources investigating, censoring and abusing Germans who have peacefully protested Israel’s genocide in Gaza and instead focus on the threat of racist, xenophobic extremism.
In a statement, CAIR said: “The man accused of committing the Christmas market attack is Dr. Taleb Al Abdulmohsen, a German resident and outspoken atheist from Saudi Arabia who has publicly condemned Islam and Muslims for years, praised anti-Muslim voices in Europe such as the AfD Party and Dutch Islamophobe Geert Wilders, expressed support for Israel, advocated for atheists fleeing Saudi Arabia, and openly threatened Germany for its supposed failure to protect such Saudi asylum seekers.”
Anti-Muslim groups have been spreading disinformation online in an attempt to blame the attack on Islam. One popular anti-Muslim X page used doctored video to falsely claim that Abdulmohsen yelled “Allahu akbar” after the attack, but video shows he actually said ‘Alles Klar’ in German in response to police commands.
