""Israel has shown Iran that it can, if it wants, carry out attacks on targets throughout Iran. It has used its fighter jets for this purpose, all of which have returned unscathed," explains terrorism expert Hans-Jakob Schindler from the transatlantic think tank Counter Extremism Project (CEP) in an interview with DW.”"

"“The slim man with short hair looks at the judge with a stern expression. For weeks, Moaaz A. has had to answer to the Higher Regional Court in Munich - 26 years old, born in Syria. […] Hans-Jakob Schindler from the international non-profit organization "Counter Extremism Project", which, among other things, evaluates court proceedings and monitors the social media activities of extremists worldwide, emphasizes that the USA has much greater capacity to investigate terrorism and many more legal options: "All of this, of course, allows the Americans to repeatedly give Germany information that is of key importance. And attacks have been prevented time and again over the last two decades."

“... Aleksandar Ritzman, a researcher at the international organization Counter-Extremism Project and an advisor to the Radicalization Awareness Network at the European Commission, said that "he has never seen any network in right-wing extremism spread so quickly." He says AC is a "sophisticated operation" and warned that if the movement is "allowed to continue to operate and multiply, the likelihood of targeted political violence will increase." He said that its goal is to "create a kind of paramilitary that hides behind the image of a sports club, while actually preparing for organized violence." "When the violence starts, members and groups will not subsequently publish a manifesto," he said. "This is different from the other kind of extreme right-wing terrorism, where manifestos with all sorts of explanations and theories are published after an attack."” 

“... According to experts from the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), France has opted for a strategic partnership with Qatar. Only a fraction of this alliance is transparent - in early 2024, the emirate has committed to investing 10 billion euros in the French economy. The hidden part is much larger and is growing silently as Qatar's significant investments in the French sports and luxury sectors gradually increase. The Qatari government owns luxury hotels in Paris, Cannes and Nice, a stake in Bernard Arnault's famous French brand, LVMH. The Qataris own the Printemps department store and a majority stake in Paris Saint-Germain. In 2022, France became the second European destination for Qatari investments after the United Kingdom, with assets of more than 25 billion euros, and we are only talking about direct purchases by Qatari entities.” 

CEP Non-Resident Fellow Ari Heistein writes: "It has been widely acknowledged that the Houthi attacks against Israel and international shipping that followed Hamas’s deadly October 7th attacks last year, were used to defuse a domestic crisis. Shortly before that terrible day, the Houthis were facing unprecedented opposition at home due to growing resentment over their misrule. That changed in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks, and Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. Since the Houthis started bombarding Israel and international shipping one year ago, the group has promoted massive public rallies in Yemen to celebrate its “resistance” throughout the territory under their control. It has been generally assumed that the Houthi offensive had redirected public anger, but recent public opinion polls tell a different story."

“There was no shortage of strong words immediately after the news broke. For Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the execution of German-Iranian dual citizen Jamshid Sharmahd is a "scandal". According to Annalena Baerbock, her Foreign Office campaigned "tirelessly" for the businessman, who was kidnapped in Dubai in 2020, and sent high-ranking teams to Iran to prevent the execution of the death sentence: "We have repeatedly made it unmistakably clear to Tehran that the execution of a German citizen will have serious consequences." […] According to Hans-Jakob Schindler, it is possible but not certain that "Tondar" was actually responsible. "After the attack, the German embassy in Tehran assumed that Islamists were more likely to be the perpetrators," says the senior director of the international Counter Extremism Project.”

"Moderated by Laura Ellsworth, summit founder and board co-chair, the panel included Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director of the Counter Extremism Project; Mark Dwyer, extremism funding investigator at the Anti-Defamation League; and Alexander Ritzmann, senior advisor of the Counter Extremism Project."

"“Love or loathe him, all can agree that Tommy Robinson faces a torrid time as he is committed to imprisonment after pleading guilty to contempt of court. At Woolwich Crown Court this week, we heard from Mr Justice Johnson that Robinson’s breaches of an injunction following a libel trial that he lost were so serious that any suggestion of a non-custodial sentence was impossible… Ian Acheson, the former head of security at HMP Wandsworth, told me the authorities will face ‘a big headache when dealing with Robinson' s custody.’ He said that on the one hand the offence for which he received a prison sentence is relatively minor and there is no record of him misbehaving in his previous sentence.”

"Robinson was also kept isolated during his last stint in prison, something which would be a "headache" for prisoner officers, according to former prison governor Ian Acheson."

"Writing in August, Ian Acheson, a former counter-terrorism official who also worked as director of community safety at the Home Office, warned that pursuing a strategy of minimal information risked creating a void that would be exploited by elements of the far-right determined to break community cohesion. Acheson called for all the facts about the background of the alleged perpetrator to be disclosed “as soon as possible,” urging the police not to engage in “further dithering”."