Hudhaifa Al-Mashhadani, the head of the German-Arab school in Berlin and a prominent critic of radical Islam, says he is “still shocked” after a man attempted to push him in front of an oncoming subway train late on Friday morning.
Shortly after 11 a.m., Al-Mashhadani had left Neukölln town hall and descended into the station when he felt himself shoved towards the platform edge. “The man then hit me on the head with his hand. It was over in a few seconds.” He said he managed to fight back as the train approached.
According to his account, the subway driver, once the train had fully stopped, shut the doors behind him, giving Al-Mashhadani a clear view of the assailant. He described the man as appearing to be of “southern European descent,” wearing glasses and a red-and-white Palestinian keffiyeh. Al-Mashhadani said the attacker then mimed a knife across his throat with two fingers and pointed two fingers at his own eyes. “That’s how it was, it didn’t work this time, but we’re keeping an eye on you,” Al-Mashhadani recalled in a comment to Focus magazine.
A police spokesperson told the German news outlet that state security investigators are reviewing surveillance footage and interviewing witnesses. “The State Security Service has taken over the investigation. Video footage from the platform has been secured,” they told the Berliner Zeitung.
Al-Mashhadani is a public critic of Islamist mosque associations in Neukölln and plays a leading role in the German-Arab Council, a coalition of 36 liberal and secular organizations that cooperates with Jews and Israelis in Berlin. He has been supportive of the district’s integration commissioner, Güner Balci, after she warned of an “infiltration” of parts of the Berlin Social Democratic Party (SPD) by Islamist actors.
“Güner Balci is right, the power of mosque associations and Koranic schools has grown ever larger, they bring the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood and other extremists into the country, and especially to the children,” he told Focus.
Al-Mashhadani believes he was deliberately targeted, saying: “The Islamists want to take revenge on me and kill me.” He said he suspects those responsible are former activists linked to the now-banned Hamas support group Samidoun, as well as left-wing radicals in Neukölln.
Al-Mashhadani is the dean of the German-Arabic language school “Ibn Khaldun” on Karl-Marx-Straße in Neukölln. The school is currently under police protection after becoming a target for radical anti-Israel activists.
The governing mayor, Kai Wegener, issued a statement denouncing the incident. “Berlin belongs to those who build bridges – not to those who spread hatred. My solidarity goes to Prof. Dr. Al-Mashhadani. Berlin stands firmly by his side,” he said.
