German gunman published ‘manifesto’ before anti-Semitic attack

A gunman who shot dead two people in the German city of Halle published an anti-Semitic “manifesto” online more than a week ago, the SITE monitoring group and German media said Thursday.

The assault on Wednesday took place as Jews marked the holy day of Yom Kippur, with the gunman filming the attack and posting a video online in which he launched a diatribe against Jews.

Rita Katz, the director of SITE, which tracks the online activity of extremist groups, said on Twitter that a PDF document, apparently the gunman’s manifesto, had surfaced online showing “pictures of the weapons and ammunition he used.”

It also referenced his live stream as well as his objective to kill “anti-whites”, including Jews.

“This manifesto document, which appears to have been created a week ago on October 1, gives yet more indication how much planning and preparation” the gunman put into the attack, she said.

German newspaper Die Welt reported that the text, which is about 10 pages long and written in English, specifically mentions the plan to attack the synagogue in Halle during Yom Kippur.

The rampage was streamed live for 35 minutes on Twitch, and eventually seen by some 2,200 people, the online platform said, in a chilling reminder of the mosque attack in Christchurch, New Zealand last March which was also online in real-time.

Police subsequently captured the Halle suspect after a gun battle that left him injured.