The Active Clubs network has been notable for the speed with which it has grown and spread. Alexander Ritzmann, a researcher for the Counter Extremism Project and an adviser to the European Commission’s Radicalisation Awareness Network, said he had “never seen a network in right-wing extremism grow so fast”.

Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler, renowned terrorism expert and Senior Director of the Counter Extremism Project, analyzed the current threat posed by international terrorism. In his keynote speech, he referred to nine attempted attacks in the recent past and identified three key challenges: First, the geopolitical situation, marked by conflicts such as those in Ukraine and the Middle East, as well as disinformation campaigns. Secondly, technological developments, with terrorists increasingly resorting to modern technologies and artificial intelligence – for example, to plan attacks or manufacture explosive devices. Thirdly, the legal situation, which, according to Schindler, needs to be fundamentally overhauled in order to effectively counter the current threats.

Since 2020, Active Clubs have expanded rapidly across the United States, Canada and Europe, including the U.K., France, Sweden, and Finland. Precise numbers are hard to verify, but the clubs appear to be spreading, according to The Counter Extremism Project, the Anti-Defamation League, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and my own research.

DW talks to Sofia Koller, Senior Research Analyst at the Counter Extremism Project about counter terrorism efforts in Europe.

CEP Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler interviewed on the 10th anniversary of the Paris terror attacks: “France is marking the 10th anniversary of the Paris terror attacks by Islamic State Jihadists, who killed more 130 people and wounded hundreds more. President Emmanuel Macron is visiting each one of the sites where gunmen and suicide bombers carried out the attacks to pay his respects to the victims of France's worst terror incident. Commemorations are being held across the capital. Tributes started last night at the Place de la République, where Parisians gathered with candles, flowers and handwritten notes at the base of Marianne, the national symbol, as they did in 2015.”

The Middle East conflict has radicalized many people in Islamist and left-wing extremist circles, [CEP Senior Director] Hans-Jakob Schindler said on NDR Info.

Islamist terrorist attacks are increasingly being carried out by lone perpetrators—radicalization is happening faster and faster and also affects minors. “We are in a very complex threat situation,” says terrorism expert [and CEP Senior Director] Hans-Jakob Schindler.

"It confronted European officials with a new reality," comments Hans-Jakob Schindler, founder and current director of the Counter Extremism Project (CEP)—based in New York and Berlin—and former head of the UN Security Council's Sanctions Monitoring Team against the Islamic State (Daesh), Al Qaeda, and the Taliban. "They no longer only had to monitor terrorists leaving Europe to join the caliphate. Above all, they had to ensure that they did not return from Iraq or Syria and closely monitor their networks here, determined to attack on European soil."

New episode of #PodParis – with Sofia Koller from the Counter Extremism Project (CEP). Ten years after the attacks of November 13, 2015, we look back – and forward – together with Sofia Koller. In this episode, we talk about the security policy and social consequences of November 13, about responsibility and resilience – and about what Germany and France have learned from ten years of fighting terrorism.

The late Qaradawi served as spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, and was best known, the Counter Extremism Project notes, for advocating “the murder of Americans, gay people, and Jews through his writings, speeches, and fatwas.” In 2022, Ibrahim posted on Twitter a video of him speaking with Ismail Haniyeh, leader of the U.S. designated terrorist group Hamas. Speaking in English, Ibrahim states that his own election victory is also a victory for the “Palestinians and the ummah” and pledged to “work together, inshallah, to redeem the lost image and also role of the ummah.” Ibrahim subsequently also spoke to Hamas’s political leader Khaled Meshal, former chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau.