Fact:
On May 8, 2019, Taliban insurgents detonated an explosive-laden vehicle and then broke into American NGO Counterpart International’s offices in Kabul. At least seven people were killed and 24 were injured.
Eye on Extremism: December 18, 2023
Reuters: Israel Says It Struck Hezbollah Sites After Attacks From Lebanon
“Israel said on Sunday it had hit weapons launch sites and facilities belonging to Hezbollah in Lebanon in response to cross-border fire, while the Iran-backed group said it had attacked Israeli army targets. Israel and Hezbollah fighters have been trading fire along the frontier on an almost daily basis since the war in Gaza erupted more than two months ago, in the worst hostilities since a 2006 conflict. The violence, which has largely been contained to the border area, has killed more than 130 people in Lebanon, including 94 Hezbollah fighters and 17 civilians. In Israel, the hostilities have killed eight soldiers and four civilians. Israel's military said it had responded to Hezbollah attacks with artillery, tank fire and airstrikes at launch sites, an observation post of the Lebanese group and what it called a "terrorist cell." Hezbollah said it had fired at a range of Israeli military targets along the border, including what it said was a barracks, a command centre and an army crane installing surveillance equipment. Israel did not report any casualties resulting from the attacks that set off rocket sirens in areas of northern Israel.”
“Militants attacked a regional police headquarters and two military posts in northwest Pakistan early Friday, triggering firefights that killed five security personnel and five insurgents, police and the military said. The attacks came three days after a suicide bomber in the same region rammed his car into a police station’s main gate and five others opened fire, killing 23 officers in this year’s worst attack on Pakistani security forces. The military and local police chief Iftikhar Shah said three police officers were “martyred” and three others were wounded in an attack on the police headquarters in the town of Tank in Dera Ismail Khan, while a total of five attackers died in the ensuing shootouts. Hours later, Pakistani Taliban also attacked a military post in the northwestern Khyber region bordering Afghanistan, killing two soldiers and wounding five others, local police official Salim Khan said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for Friday’s attacks, but suspicion was likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. The group is separate from Afghanistan’s Taliban though it is allied with the Afghan movement, which seized power in the neighboring country in August 2021 as United States and NATO troops were in the final stages of withdrawing after 20 years of war.”
CEP Mentions
TVP World: Yazidis, Led by Nobel Winner, Sue French Cement Maker Over ISIS Support
“Hundreds of Yazidi-Americans, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Nadia Murad have filed a lawsuit against French cement maker Lafarge. The suit alleges that Lafarge was complicit in providing material support to ISIS during their 2014 campaign of violence against the Yazidi community. Represented by human rights lawyers and former U.S. diplomats, the Yazidis are seeking compensation for the survivors of this terror. Interview with CEP Senior Director Hans-Jakob Schindler.”
The Jerusalem Post: Nearly Half Of British Jews Considered Leaving UK Due To Antisemitism - Poll
“…According to the Counter Extremism Project, Hizb ut-Tahrir advocates the establishment of a global Muslim caliphate and presents Islamic law (Sharia) as an alternative to both capitalism and secular democracy. In October, the Jerusalem Post reported that the group had "a history of promoting antisemitism and engaging in activities with violent inclinations." Survey respondents were next asked about various political parties in the UK and whether or not they that they were too tolerant of antisemitism among their MPs, MEPs, councilors, members, and supporters. UK political parties too tolerant of antisemitism? The party British Jews felt was the most tolerant of antisemitism was the Labour Party, with 63% of respondents saying it was too tolerant of antisemitism. It was followed by SNP (47%), the Green Party (42%), the Liberal Democrats (32%), and Sinn Féin (32%). The least accommodating of antisemitism was the Reclaim Party (11%). Only 2% of respondents said that no party was too tolerant of antisemitism, and 26% said they didn’t know. The Labour Party is the party formerly chaired by Jemery Corbyn, a figure who accrued numerous accusations of antisemitism both during and since his tenure.”
Western Journal: Watch: Michigan Imam Posts Rant Urging Muslims To Wage Jihad Against 'Infidel West'
“…The cleric in question has spent nearly seven years in federal prison for financial crimes and possession of firearms and ammunition as a convicted felon, according to the Counter Extremism Project.”
“It would have been the first attack by the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas in Europe: four men have been in custody in Germany and the Netherlands since Thursday; the federal prosecutor's office in Karlsruhe accuses them of looking for weapons that were ready for possible attacks on Jewish institutions in Europe should be. Does Germany have to expect further attack plans in the future? The extremism expert Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler from the transatlantic think tank “Counter Extremism Project” has long been warning about possible risks. Mr. Schindler, how do you assess the risk in Europe posed by Islamist organizations? The mood is heated. We have noticed this again and again at demonstrations in the last few weeks, including radical Islamists in Essen, for example.”
United States
The Guardian: How American Citizens Are Leading Rise Of ‘Settler Violence’ On Palestinian Lands
“Washington’s ban on travel to the US by extremist Jewish settlers who attack Palestinians in the West Bank has one gaping loophole. American citizens have been at the forefront of the rise of settler violence in the occupied territories, and the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their land, but as US passport holders they cannot be barred from their own country. Many of the estimated 60,000 Americans living in the West Bank outside of occupied East Jerusalem moved to settlements for the lifestyle and have little to do with the Palestinians on whose land they live. But a core of ideologically driven US citizens were at the forefront of building religious settlements on land expropriated from Palestinians while others have led the rise of what has been described as “settler terrorism”. The US announced the travel restrictions as settler violence against unarmed Palestinians escalated in the wake of the Hamas cross-border attack in October, including shootings, the destruction of Arab homes and entire communities driven out at gunpoint. The UN estimates that about 500 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank this year including dozens of children. While Israel claims many of the dead were associated with armed Palestinian groups, the UN said the army frequently works with settlers attacking Arab civilians.”
Politico: US Weighs Strike Options To Deter Houthis From More Red Sea Attacks
“Top Biden administration officials are actively weighing options to strike back at Houthis in Yemen after the Iran-backed group launched new attacks on naval and commercial ships in the Red Sea on Saturday, according to two U.S. officials. The Pentagon has in recent days moved the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group from the Persian Gulf into the Gulf of Aden, off the coast of Yemen, to support a potential U.S. response to attacks, said one of the officials, both of whom were granted anonymity to speak about sensitive plans. The military has also provided options to commanders to strike the Houthis, the official said. The Biden administration has been reluctant to respond militarily against the Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in recent weeks for fear of provoking Iran, which backs Hamas and Hezbollah in Yemen as well as the Houthis. Previously, the Pentagon had recommended the administration not do so. But a significant uptick in attacks in recent days could potentially lead top U.S. national security officials to change their calculus. The destroyer USS Carney, operating in the Red Sea, shot down 14 one-way attack drones launched from Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen early Saturday morning. Meanwhile, a British destroyer, the HMS Diamond, which had recently arrived in the region to help protect commercial shipping, also shot down a Houthi drone.”
Canada
Reuters: Ottawa Youth Charged With 'Terrorism' Offences For Alleged Targeting Of Jews
“Canadian officials charged a youth in Ottawa with "terrorism" offences over alleged targeting of the Jewish community, police said on Saturday, amid warnings of rising antisemitism from the war in the Middle East. The suspect was charged with "facilitation of a terrorist activity by communicating instructional material related to an explosive substance" and "knowingly instructing, directly or indirectly, a person to carry out a terrorist activity against Jewish persons," officials said in a statement on Saturday. Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe said on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that "there has been a rise in anti-semitism in Ottawa in recent weeks." The arrest happened on Friday and the operation involved cooperation from multiple Canadian security agencies, according to the statement. Police said the youth's age prevented further release of information about the suspect or the plot. The Royal Canadian Mounted Policed noted it was seeing a concerning trend of violent extremism and "terrorist use of the internet, including amongst young persons." Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has warned about a marked rise in antisemitism in Canada following Palestinian Islamist group Hamas' attack on Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 and Israel's subsequent assault on Gaza that the local health ministry says has killed nearly 19,000.”
Iran
Reuters: Iran Executes Agent Of Israel's Mossad Intelligence Service - Official Media
“An agent of Israel's Mossad intelligence service was executed on Saturday in Iran's southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province, the official IRNA news agency reported. "This person communicated with foreign services, specifically Mossad, collecting classified information, and with participation with associates, provided documents to foreign services, including the Mossad," it said. It did not name the person. It said the accused had handed classified information to a "Mossad officer" with the aim of "propaganda for groups and organizations opposed to the Islamic Republic". It did not say where the alleged handover had taken place. It was not clear when the person was arrested, but IRNA said an appeal had been rejected. The execution, which took place in a Zahedan jail in Sistan-Baluchestan, came a day after Baluch militants attacked a police station in the province, killing 11 security personnel and wounding several others. A state funeral was held on Saturday for the men in the town of Rask where the attack took place, according to state television. Two militants of the Jaish al-Adl group were also killed in ensuing clashes.”
Yemen
“Any hostile move against Yemen will have dire consequences and great costs, Ali al-Qahoum, a member of the Houthi group's Ansarullah politburo, told Al Mayadeen TV late on Friday. "The Houthis will not abandon the Palestinian cause, regardless of any U.S., Israeli, or Western threats," he said, adding that operations against Israel will continue. Yemen is ready with all defensive options to respond to any American, Israeli or Western hostile moves, he said. "Yemen is concerned in protecting international maritime navigation in accordance with international laws and norms," al-Qahoum said. Earlier in the day, the U.S. military said attacks from Houthi-controlled Yemen struck two Liberian-flagged ships in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, underlining the threat to vessels in shipping lanes being targeted by the Iran-aligned group. Part of the Iran-aligned "Axis of Resistance", the Houthis have been attacking vessels in Red Sea shipping lanes and firing drones and missiles at Israel. The Houthis, who rule much of Yemen, have said they will continue their attacks until Israel stops its offensive in the Gaza Strip.”
Lebanon
“U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Friday that he has discussed with Israeli officials the volatile situation along the Lebanon-Israel border, adding that a “negotiated outcome” is the best way to reassure residents of northern Israel. Speaking to reporters in Jerusalem, Sullivan said that Washington won’t tolerate threats by Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group, which has been attacking Israeli military posts along the border since a day after the Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7. Over the past two months, Israel has evacuated more than 20,000 of its citizens from towns and villages along the border with Lebanon, some of whom have expressed concerns that they have no plans to return home as long as Hezbollah fighters are deployed on the Lebanese side of the border. “We need to send a clear message that we will not tolerate the kinds of threats and terrorist activity that we have seen from Hezbollah and from the territory of Lebanon,” Sullivan told reporters in Jerusalem. “The best way to do this is to come up with a negotiated outcome,” Sullivan said, adding that such an outcome will ensure that “those Israeli citizens in those communities up on the northern border can know that they are not going to be subject to an attack that will take their lives or destroy their communities.”
Reuters: Lebanon's Parliament Extends Army Commander Term Amid Crises
“Lebanon's parliament extended on Friday by one-year the term of army commander Joseph Aoun, avoiding a vacuum in leadership in an institution seen as vital to keeping peace inside the country amid crises that include a border conflict with Israel. Parliament approved the extension as hostilities raged on the frontier between the Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah and Israel. Hezbollah, a political group and heavily armed militia, is widely seen as militarily more powerful than the army. Aoun had been due to leave office next month, with no agreement among Lebanon's deeply divided sectarian factions on who should fill the role reserved for a Maronite Christian in Lebanon's sectarian power-sharing system. The patriarch of the Maronite church had said the post must not be left vacant and said the army's stability was at stake. The army, which recruits from across the sectarian spectrum, was rebuilt after Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war and many Lebanese see it as the country's most trusted security institution. Lebanon has been in deep economic and political crisis since the financial system collapsed in 2019, destroying the currency, driving up poverty and paralysing much of the state.”
Middle East
“Israeli troops mistakenly shot three hostages to death Friday in a battle-torn neighborhood of Gaza City, and an Israeli strike killed a Palestinian journalist in the south of the besieged territory, underscoring the ferocity of Israel’s ongoing onslaught. The deaths were announced as a U.S. envoy tried to persuade the Israelis to scale back their campaign sooner rather than later. The hostages were killed in the Gaza City area of Shijaiyah, where troops have been engaged in fierce fighting with Hamas militants in recent days. The soldiers mistakenly identified the three Israelis as a threat and opened fire on them, said the army’s chief spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari. He said it was believed that the three had either fled their captors or been abandoned. “Perhaps in the last few days, or over the past day, we still don’t know all the details, they reached this area,” Hagari said. He said the army expressed “deep sorrow” and was investigating. Hamas and other militants abducted more than 240 people in the Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war, and the hostages’ plight has dominated public discourse in Israel ever since. Their families have led a powerful public campaign calling on the government to do more to bring them home.”
Reuters: US Wants Shakeup Of Palestinian Authority To Run Gaza After Hamas
“A succession of top U.S. officials have travelled to the West Bank in recent weeks to meet with Mahmoud Abbas in the hope the 88-year-old – a spectator in the war between Israel and Hamas – can overhaul his unpopular Palestinian Authority enough to run Gaza after the conflict. An architect of the 1993 Oslo peace accords with Israel that raised hopes of Palestinian statehood, Abbas has seen his legitimacy steadily undermined by Israeli settlement building in the occupied West Bank, which he oversees. Many Palestinians now regard his administration as corrupt, undemocratic and out of touch. But in the wake of Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, President Joe Biden has made it clear that he wants to see a revitalized Palestinian Authority – which Abbas has run since 2005 - take charge in Gaza once the conflict is over, unifying its administration with the West Bank. Jake Sullivan, Biden's national security advisor, met with Abbas on Friday, becoming the latest senior U.S. official to urge him to implement rapid change. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters after meeting the Palestinian leader in late November that they discussed the need for reforms to combat corruption, empower civil society and support a free press.”
Reuters: UN Security Council Moving Toward Vote To Demand Aid Access For Gaza
“The United Nations Security Council could vote as early as Monday on a proposal to demand that Israel and Hamas allow aid access to the Gaza Strip - via land, sea and air routes - and set up U.N. monitoring of the humanitarian assistance delivered. Diplomats said the fate of the draft Security Council resolution hinges on final negotiations between Israel ally and council veto power, the United States, and the United Arab Emirates, which has drafted the text. "We have engaged constructively and transparently throughout the entire process in an effort to unite around a product that will pass," said a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "The UAE knows exactly what can pass and what cannot — it is up to them if they want to get this done." The U.S. wants to tone down language on a cessation of hostilities, diplomats said. The draft text, seen by Reuters, currently "calls for an urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities to allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access." U.N. officials and aid agencies warn of a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza - mass starvation and disease - with the majority of the coastal Palestinian enclave's 2.3 million people driven from their homes during the two-month long conflict.”
Nigeria
Associated Press: Nigeria's Supreme Court Reinstates Terrorism Charges Against Separatist Leader
“Nigeria’s Supreme Court on Friday overturned a lower court ruling dismissing terrorism charges against a popular separatist leader whose trial has been blamed for an outbreak of violence in the country’s southeast region. The Court said Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) separatist group that seeks independence for Nigeria’s southeastern region, still faces terrorism charges despite the lower court ruling. Kanu, who also holds British citizenship, has already pleaded not guilty to the charges. In announcing the decision, Justice Garba Mohammed said that although Nigeria’s secret police violated Kanu’s rights during his arrest and extradition from Kenya in 2021, the Court of Appeal was wrong to rule in October last year that the violation was grounds for the dismissal of the charges. “No legislation in the country stripped the trial court of the jurisdiction to go ahead with Kanu’s case, despite the illegal action,” of the secret police, the justice said. The trial of the separatist leader, who also holds British citizenship, is expected to resume next year. Kanu has remained in detention since the Court of Appeal’s ruling.”
Africa
BBC: South African Hostage Gerco Van Deventer Freed By Al-Qaeda Militants
“Gift of the Givers said it had facilitated the "unconditional" release of Gerco van Deventer. The charity described Van Deventer as the longest-held South African hostage. He was seized by an unnamed group in Libya in 2017, sold to militant Islamists in Mali a year later, and released "into" Algeria, it added. A Malian security source confirmed to AFP news agency that Van Deventer, 48, had been freed. It quoted a humanitarian source as saying that the paramedic was freed on the border between Mali and Algeria. Large parts of Libya have been lawless since Nato-backed forces overthrew and killed long-serving ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, while Mali is battling an Islamist insurgency and a rebellion by separatist forces in the north. Gift of the Givers, a South Africa-based charity, said that Algeria's security agencies had taken Van Deventer to hospital for a check-up following his release. "We await the next step on his health and arrangements to bring him home to be reunited with wife Shereen and son Asher. It has been six agonising years of prayer, patience, and hope," the charity said in a Facebook post. Van Deventer was an emergency paramedic who was working for a security company when he was seized on 3 November 2017, while on his way to a power plant construction site around 1,000km (600 miles) south of Libya's capital Tripoli.”
France
ABC News: Nobel Laureate And Hundreds Of Yazidi Sue French Company For Supporting ISIS
“Hundreds of Yazidi-Americans filed a civil lawsuit Friday against French conglomerate Lafarge S.A. for conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State. Lafarge pleaded guilty last year in Brooklyn federal court to engaging in a criminal conspiracy to support ISIS and another terrorist group, the Al-Nusra Front. From August 2013 to November 2014, LaFarge and LaFarge Cement Syria knowingly and willfully agreed to make and authorize payments for the benefit of armed groups in Syria, the company conceded. The civil lawsuit was filed by Nobel Prize winner Nadia Murad and more than 400 members of the Yazidi ethnic and religious group – all American citizens – who survived a "campaign of genocide" against the Yazidi population of Iraq by ISIS, which the lawsuit said included mass executions, abductions, torture, sexual violence, the use of child soldiers, and the destruction of the Yazidi homeland. "When ISIS attacked Sinjar, my family was killed, and I was taken captive as a slave. I was exploited and assaulted every single day until my escape," Murad said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. "Unfortunately, my story is not unique among Yazidis. It is the reality of thousands of Yazidi women. Even more tragic is that our horror took place under the awareness of and thanks to the support of powerful corporations like Lafarge."”
Europe
“Denmark is holding two people in custody and four others are the target of a terrorism investigation, a prosecutor said Friday, in a case that coincided with an arrest in the Netherlands and several in Germany of alleged Hamas members. Authorities in Germany said three people arrested there were suspected of preparing for attacks on Jewish institutions in Europe. Danish authorities said that one person was arrested in the Netherlands, but it wasn’t clear if there were any ties to the Hamas investigation in Germany. Denmark hasn’t cited an alleged Hamas link in its investigation. The two people being held in Denmark were ordered to remain in pretrial detention until Jan. 9. Danish media identified them as a man in his 50s and a 19-year-old woman. Danish intelligence agency PET on Thursday announced the arrests of three people on suspicion of plotting to carry out “an act of terror.” One of them, identified by Danish media as a 29-year-old man, was released, prosecutor Anders Larsson said early Friday after a night-long custody hearing at a Copenhagen court. None of the suspects can be identified because of a court order, and the custody hearing was held behind “double closed doors” — meaning no details were available about the case, which is shrouded in secrecy.”
Reuters: Pope Francis Deplores Israeli Killings Of Civilians In Gaza Church
“Pope Francis on Sunday again suggested Israel was using "terrorism" tactics in Gaza, deploring the reported killing by the Israeli military of two Christian women who had taken refuge in a church complex. At his weekly blessing, Francis referred to a statement about an incident on Saturday by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Catholic authority in the Holy Land. The Patriarchate said an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) "sniper" killed the two women, whom the pope named as Nahida Khalil Anton and her daughter Samar, as they walked to a convent of nuns in the compound of the Holy Family Parish. The Patriarchate statement said seven other people were shot and wounded as they tried to protect others. "I continue to receive very grave and painful news from Gaza," Francis said. "Unarmed civilians are the objects of bombings and shootings. And this happened even inside the Holy Family parish complex, where there are no terrorists, but families, children, people who are sick or disabled, nuns." Francis said they were killed by "snipers" and also referred to the Patriarchate's statement that a convent of nuns of the order founded by Mother Teresa was damaged by Israeli tank fire."
Daily Dose
Extremists: Their Words. Their Actions.
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