Experts: Consulate attack preventable

BERLIN, May 25 (JTA) — Berlin’s police chief refused offers from the German Interior Ministry to reinforce security around the Israeli Consulate in Berlin a day before Kurdish demonstrators attacked it on February 17, according to a written transcript. This refusal indicates that the attack, which killed four Kurdish demonstrators and injured several others, could have been prevented, said Israeli and German security experts, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of an ongoing parliamentary investigation into the matter. In the transcript of a conference call of German interior ministers and several police commanders the day before the attack, the chief, Hagan Saberschinsky, was told that security should be increased at seven diplomatic missions, including Israel’s. According to the transcript, he replied: “Yes, yes, yes. We have to protect all the world.” Berlin’s Interior Minister then told the chief that the federal Interior Ministry had offered to supply agents, but the chief declined the offer, saying it wasn’t necessary. Three police officers guarded the Israeli Consulate on the day of the attack, while hundreds of officers guarded the other six missions.