Two charged in Berlin with “planning a massive act of violence.”

BERLIN–The public prosecutor in Berlin charged two men, both believed inspired by the Islamic State group, with conspiracy to attack the Israeli embassy or another Israeli institution between December, 2014 and July, 2015, Tobiah Kaehni, a spokesman for Berlin’s Criminal Court, told Jerusalem Post Wednesday.

Both men are Berlin-born with Palestinian roots.

The prosecution in Berlin opened its case Tuesday against Mohamed el-N. and Ali el-I., both 21. The men were charged with “planning a massive act of violence.”

Islamic State was a model for Ali el-I., according to Kaehni. He added that both men were inspired by internet stories about IS. The men did not have contact with the Middle East or with Salafist circles in Berlin.

“We wanted to experience something incredible,” said one of the defendants in court, according to the daily Berliner Morgenpost. He dismissed the idea as folly and denied organizing a concrete plan for terror.

One of the men said he could have committed the act of terror “because of wanting to show off.”

Kaehni said the men said they had collected explosives for fun. Ali el-I. was the leader of the plot, Kaehni added.

The suspect Mohamad said: “I noticed that he [Ali] had radical ideas” and wanted to convince him to join Islamic State.

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