"Munich –  For days, the country was worried about Rouven Laur – but the police officer did not survive the knife attack in Mannheim. It is now known that Sulaiman A.'s attack was motivated by Islamism. Shortly before the European Football Championship, the incident is fuelling fears of further attacks. Hans-Jakob Schindler, former UN terrorism expert and director of the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), assesses the terror threat in an interview."

“…“The terrorist threat to Europe right now is actually quite high because you have an intersection of a range of disconnected but unfortunately mutually reinforcing events,” said Hans-Jakob Schindler, director of the Berlin- and New York-based Counter Extremism Project. “October 7 changed the threat level from groups that didn’t really pose any threat on the European continent for many years. It’s definitely always been Islamist terrorism, but it’s not Islamist terrorism in all of its varieties from Hamas to al-Qaida. Usually it’s Islamic State, it’s al-Qaida, and it’s lone actors. Now you have Hamas, Hezbollah, lone actors, Islamic State, al-Qaida, the left wing, the right wing – all of them who could potentially see this large conglomeration of really soft targets. “We have the threat that has been there all along, but because of October 7 has been fairly diligently pushed out of the headlines, and that’s the Islamic State threat,” he added."

"The Counter Extremism Project, a New York-based non-profit group, noted that anti-LGBTQ ideas had been taken up by both Islamist and far-right extremists.

'It is no surprise that neo-Nazis and jihadis often express mutual admiration for their shared anti-gay visions,' Mark D Wallace, the project's chief executive, said in a statement."

"“... According to the international organisation Counter Extremism Project, Dr Naik follows a conservative brand of Wahhabi Islam and has allegedly 'expressed sympathy for terrorists'. 

CEP Senior Advisor Ian Acheson writes: "Is there such a thing as an acceptable level of terrorism? You would be forgiven for thinking so. Last week, the results of yet another inquest into a terrorist attack here, all but flattened by the news cycle juggernaut, revealed yet more failures by the state’s agencies to protect citizens."

CEP Senior Advisor Ian Acheson writes: "Michael Gove has a reliable track record for sounding the alarm on ideological hatred, so are his latest proposals on redefining extremism a cure for what ails us? The communities secretary has unveiled a plan to broaden the definition of extremism. The new official meaning aims to ban those with a ‘violent or intolerant’ ideology from government links and funds."

"Professor Ian Acheson, Senior Advisor, Counter Extremism Project said: “These are necessary next steps to confront and deter those who advocate for violent extremism.""

"Professor Ian Acheson, Senior Advisor, Counter Extremism Project said: “These are necessary next steps to confront and deter those who advocate for violent extremism. Hateful anti-British ideas that undermine our democracy creating intimidation and fear need ideologues to drive them. It is intolerable that the state underwrites people and organisations poisoning community life in one of the most successful multi-ethnic countries in the world.”"