Counter Extremism Project Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler interviewed: Israel's ground assault on Gaza City is supposed to wipe out Hamas's remaining strongholds. But the group has shown remarkable resilience over nearly two years of war and may even be gaining new recruits.

 

Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director of the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), notes that Islamist extremists are skilled at exploiting legal loopholes in Europe, citing imprisoned British Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary as a key example. “Anjem Choudary magically knew everyone who was a terrorist and going toward these groups in the U.K. over three decades. It took half a dozen attempts before the guy was actually in prison, because he was very smart in the way he formulated his messaging,” Schindler said, adding that Choudary “was very deliberate in how far he would take those contacts. He would radicalize the people, but once they became terrorists, they no longer had any contact with him.

Counter Extremism Project (CEP) Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler was quoted regarding Russian intrusion into NATO airspace as part of its hybrid warfare.  

“Active clubs are exploiting the assassination of Charlie Kirk for recruitment purposes, specifically urging white men to join the movement,” said Joshua Fisher-Birch, a professional analyst who researches the far right. “In online posts, active clubs have also stated that the current environment presents an opportunity to expand the movement, claiming that regular people are receptive to their ‘radical message’.”

Online extremism is a growing issue affecting more kids in a world where social media addiction is prevalent and real-world connections are often replaced by online interactions, according to the Counter Extremism Project [CEP]. Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler is the senior director at [CEP], an international nonprofit and non-partisan policy organization that researches and educates people about threats posed by extremist ideologies.

CEP Managing Director Dan Roth writes: The 30-day countdown to the automatic reintroduction of U.N. sanctions against Iran—the “snapback”—has begun. Triggered by Britain, France and Germany (the E3), this long-overdue decision is a response to Tehran’s repeated violations of the 2015 nuclear deal. What matters now is that Europe stands firm and sees the process through.

Shapiro’s address to the Eradicate Hate Global Summit was the first time a politician in office addressed the conference in its five-year history. A day earlier, the summit announced a collaboration with the Counter Extremism Project on the Auschwitz Research Center on Hate, Extremism and Radicalization, in which the former residence of the concentration camp’s commandant will be converted to a center combatting extremism and violence.

Israel's military assumes that there are up to 3,000 combat-ready members of Hamas in the city of Gaza. In total, the terrorist organization still has 16,000 to 18,000 fighters. "However, there is currently no longer any organized 'military' resistance by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The terrorists sometimes attack an Israeli tank with a rocket, sometimes they lay a booby trap," Hans-Jakob Schindler, Senior Director of the Berlin-based think tank Counter Extremism Project, told our editorial team. "In the beginning, Hamas still had real combat units, a kind of army with an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 soldiers. Now it operates with cells that lure Israeli soldiers into an ambush and then retreat again. Parts of the underground tunnel system still exist as escape routes."

Terrorism expert Hans-Jakob Schindler, director of the Counter Extremisms Project (CEP) in Berlin, sees a worrying trend: "The willingness to use violence in the right-wing extremist scene is increasing significantly," he said in an interview with the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper published by Ippen.Media.

Germany maintains only limited economic relations with oil-rich Iraq – not least because of existing sanctions against Iran. However, many goods such as consumer goods and pharmaceuticals are unaffected, says Hans-Jakob Schindler of the Counter Extremism Project, a non-profit political organization. The security expert advises German companies to conduct their business with Iraq in euros whenever possible.