“Mr. Schindler, the hostage deal has barely been announced and there is already a dispute between Hamas and Israel. What else could cause the agreement to fail? “Hamas wants to decide alone who will be released from Israeli prisons in return for the release of the hostages. Israel cannot agree to that.” What speaks against it?“ No government would allow itself to be dictated to as to which prisoners it would release and which it would not. If there is no agreement on this issue, an agreement could still fail. But I do not expect that to happen. The outcome of the negotiations is basically a given…” Hans-Jakob Schindler is Senior Director of the international Counter Extremism Project and heads its office in Berlin.”

"After the attack, terrorism expert Hans-Jakob Schindler from the Counter Extremism Project also called platform operators to account for this editorial team. He sharply criticized X because, given the abundance of questionable content posted by Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, hardly anyone on the platform seemed to intervene . Individual posts were reported and deleted by users, but nothing more happened. "Unfortunately, social media is full of hate and violent fantasies and the situation is constantly getting worse. X in particular has reduced its content moderation in recent months, not improved it," said Schindler.”

“The villa of the former commandant of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, Rudolf Höss, has been purchased by the American non-governmental organization Counter Extremism Project and will be open to visitors in a few days. The amount for which the building was purchased from private owners is not known. In an interview with the New York Times, a lawyer for the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) only stated that it was "significantly greater" than the market value of the house, which was estimated at about $120,000, or about PLN 500,000. The building has been undergoing renovation in recent weeks, as the new owners wanted to restore the interiors as much as possible to the condition they had during World War II , when the Höss family lived there from 1941 to 1944. In addition, the interiors were furnished with period items, including German newspapers and a coffee mug with the SS emblem.”

"Last summer, Ms. Jurczak agreed to sell her stake in the home to the Counter Extremism Project, a New York-based group that wants to open the house to visitors. She moved out in August, and in October the New York group completed its acquisition of the home and an adjacent house built after the war...

Mark Wallace, a lawyer and former U.S. diplomat who is the chief executive of the Counter Extremism Project, also declined to give the price, saying only that once other family members were paid for their stakes in the property, the total price was “significantly more” than what Ms. Jurczak had indicated. He also said his organization “wanted to do right” by Ms. Jurczak’s family but “did not want to pay a big premium for a former Nazi property, even if we could.""

"A three-story house overlooking an Auschwitz gas chamber, formerly owned by the camp's commander, Rudolf Hoss, has been purchased by the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) with the aim of opening it up to visitors, the New York Times revealed on Wednesday."

CEP Senior Advisor Edmund Fitton-Brown writes: "Iran’s 45-year trajectory from the Khomeini revolution to its current challenge to Israel, the West, and the Rules-Based International System (RBIS) led to developing and solidifying its “Axis of Resistance.” Tehran supports and coordinates this group of regional proxies, including Yemen’s Houthis, Hamas, and Lebanese Hezbollah, to challenge its enemies in various theaters. A key Iranian proxy is found among the Iraqi Shia, who have a history with Iran that goes back to the Saddam Hussein era but whose full value to Tehran only started to be realized after the 2003 US invasion made Iraq’s largest community dominant in that nation’s politics."

“Qatar's prime minister announces that a Gaza truce deal between Israel and Hamas has been agreed. Thousands of Gazans reacted to the news with jubilation. The deal will go into effect as of January 19. Phase 1 of the deal entails 33 hostages being released by Hamas over a six-week period. Israel says some issues are to be resolved with a vote expected on Thursday. Here are the latest developments from Israel, Gaza and the wider Middle Eastfrom January 15 into January 16… While the first phase of the ceasefire deal is not "a problem," the second one will be "tough," counterterrorism analyst Hans-Jakob Schindler told DW. "Because when you are in the second phase, you have to think about the third phase, that is sustainable ceasefire, the rebuilding of the Gaza strip," he said.”
 

CEP non-resident fellow Ari Heistein writes: "Yemen’s Houthis may be on a high from their success in keeping Israelis awake at night with their sporadic missile launches targeting the country’s center of gravity. Dealing with this threat will present considerable dilemmas and challenges to Israel. However, Israeli journalists’ defeatism is overwrought; in fact, less than one year and a half after their grand entrance onto the international stage, the Houthis strategic options are looking considerably worse than they were in October 2023. "

“Quiet, safe and surrounded by greenery. And a view of a gas chamber. The house where Rudolf Höss, commandant of the Auschwitz death camp, lived with his family will soon be open to visitors. The building, located just outside the camp, was made famous by the Oscar-winning film The Zone of Interest, directed by Jonathan Glazer. Until now it has been a private home. For the past 42 years, Grazyna Jurczak, now 62, has lived there with her husband, before he died, and their two children: 'It was a great place to raise the children', thanks to its proximity to nature and the river, and the absence of chaos. But after the release of Glazer's film, the decision to sell the house was reinforced by the streams of people who walked around the building, looking at it and remembering its connection to the tragedies of the Holocaust.”

“... The home in Oswiecim, Poland, was purchased in October by the NY-based Counter Extremism Project, which plans to open it to the public for the first time. Counter Extremism Project CEO Mark Wallace says the house and an adjacent property will ultimately become the newly formed Auschwitz Research Center on Hate, Extremism, and Radicalization, which will focus on combating modern-day extremism. "This house has been closed for 80 years. It was out of reach to the victims and their families. Finally, we can open it to honor survivors and show that this place of incredible evil is now open to all," Wallace said.”