Eye on Extremism: April 1, 2026
Top Stories
The latest Global Terrorism Index 2026 shows a sharp decline in terrorism worldwide, but the trend is masking a growing and more complex threat picture—particularly across Western countries.
Iran International: IRGC takes de facto control of Iran government amid deepening power struggle
Rising tensions between the Pezeshkian administration and Iran’s military leadership have pushed the president into a “complete political deadlock,” with the Revolutionary Guard effectively assuming control over key state functions, informed sources told Iran International.
CEP Mentions
WELT: IRAN WAR: "It will continue to seek revenge!" Mullah alert
Donald Trump announces that the attacks on Iran are nearing their end. US troops will withdraw very soon. However, a completely different tone is emerging from Israel. [CEP Senior Director] Middle East expert Hans-Jakob Schindler summarizes the developments.
Analysis
Iran International: Khameneism after Khamenei- why Mojtaba represents continuity, not change
The rise of Mojtaba Khamenei is not an unexpected deviation within the Islamic Republic—it is the logical outcome of a system carefully engineered over nearly four decades by Ali Khamenei. What appears, at first glance, as a dynastic shift is in fact the continuation of an ideological and institutional project: the consolidation and reproduction of Khameneism.
Iran International: Child recruit’s death shows Iran prioritizing regime survival over civilians
The death of 11-year-old Alireza Jafari, the first known child recruit killed during the Iran war, underscores what rights advocates describe as a governing doctrine that places regime survival above civilian protection amid mounting wartime pressure.
United States
CNN: Former Army JAG: I worry about 'extremism' war in Iran is seeding
As the Trump administration claims changing objectives for the war in Iran, former Army JAG Margaret Donovan worries about what she says could be further seeding radicalization in Iran due to civilian casualties. The NewsNight panel debates.
As we approach Passover, one truth from the Exodus story stands out: hatred of Jews has never needed a reason, and today, that reality is once again impossible to ignore. From Pharaoh’s decree to drown Jewish children in the Nile to the threats we see unfolding across the world today, the pattern is unmistakable. Jews have been targeted not for what they have done, but for who they are, and it is exactly this reality that prompted me to recently write an open letter to the Jewish community.
Courthouse News: 'Nihilistic extremist' pleads not guilty to grooming 13-year-old
A Pennsylvania man who federal prosecutors consider a nihilistic violent extremist pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges he groomed a 13-year-old online and flew to California to have sex with her. Matthew Pysher, a slender, bespectacled 18-year-old from the small town of Bangor, appeared in court in downtown LA for his post-indictment arraignment before a U.S. magistrate judge.
Jewish Insider: Nearly half of young Jewish American women are dating less over antisemitism fears
Nearly half (47%) of young Jewish women reported dating less as a result of increased antisemitism and other negative consequences of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks, according to a new survey by Jewish Women International. Over one-third (36%) of respondents said they’ve ended existing romantic relationships due to these dynamics, while 18% said they’ve stopped online dating altogether.
Jewish Insider: Top American Prospect editor peddles antisemitic conspiracy theories online
Maureen Tkacik, a top editor for The American Prospect, an influential progressive magazine in Washington, has made no secret of her self-avowed hatred of Israel, particularly in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and the ensuing war in Gaza. “Hating Israel is everything to me,” Tkacik wrote in one social media post in February, while adding in another, “If you don’t hate Israel I strongly question your humanity.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) reportedly committed on Tuesday to opposing “any spending on arms for Israel, including so-called defensive capabilities” for Israel as well as the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, according to an editor from City & State New York.
Der Spiegel: From Right-Wing Extremist Heir Apparent to Trans Woman
Adrianne Black was raised to be a leader in the White Nationalist movement in the United States. But then she broke with the extremists and her family - and became the woman she had long wanted to be.
A US federal judge ruled Tuesday that the Trump administration can legally demand that the University of Pennsylvania turn over information about Jews on the campus as part of an antisemitism probe. The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission began investigating the university in December 2023 for allegedly allowing discrimination against Jewish employees.
New York Jewish Week: Tensions flare at Passover seder over Mamdani’s inclusion
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani was briefly interrupted by a heckler during an appearance at a Passover seder in Manhattan Monday night, marking a tense moment that highlighted ongoing strains between the mayor and segments of the Jewish community.
New York Post: Video shows accused bomb fiend hurling device in NY street days before arrest
Disturbing video shows the moment an accused explosive fiend lit and hurled a device toward a neighbor’s home — just days before dozens of pipe bombs were found stashed in his suburban New York apartment. Raymond Elders, 65, had black and blue residue on his hands and was clutching a lighter when he was arrested on Monday in White Plains after allegedly terrorizing his neighbors for weeks with a spate of explosives, authorities said.
In the first federal indictment in the Prairieland ICE detention center shooting case, prosecutors dubbed the defendants accused in the nonfatal shooting of an Alvarado police officer the “North Texas Antifa Cell.” Four months later, the government carved out its definition of antifa, short for anti-fascist, over three weeks of trial in the Fort Worth federal courthouse last month. But when it came down to the instructions directing jurors on how to reach their verdict, the word "antifa" only came up once in dozens of pages. The prosecution’s antifa-related evidence during trial didn’t directly correlate to the plain text of the criminal charges.
Canada
CBC: Teen released into parent's custody in Sask. case of alleged online 'violent extremism'
A Saskatoon teen charged with uttering threats has been released after being held in custody for nearly seven weeks. The 14-year-old was arrested and charged on Feb. 11 after the RCMP's national security unit and Saskatoon police investigated "a report of an online account sharing content associated to violent extremism," police said in a news release at the time.
CBC: Hamilton committee approves hate response plan as members urge stronger actions
Following high-profile incidents of white-supremacist organizing, the City of Hamilton is looking to strengthen its response to hate, with better training, co-ordination and $50,000 in funding for community groups. The plan is outlined in a staff report members of the Emergency and Community Services Committee discussed Thursday before unanimously voting to accept the recommendations, which will now go before city council for final approval.
Global News: Passover feels ‘close to home’ as antisemitism rises, Jewish Canadians say
As Jewish Canadians gather with their families for Passover this week, community leaders say the holiday holds increased significance this year amid growing antisemitism across Canada and around the globe.
Argentina
Iran International: Argentina designates Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization
Argentina has designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization, broadening a years-long effort by Buenos Aires to hold Tehran and its proxies responsible for the deadliest attacks in the country’s history. In a statement issued on Tuesday, President Javier Milei’s office said Argentina had added the IRGC to its public registry of individuals and entities linked to terrorism and its financing, a move that allows financial sanctions and operational restrictions.
France
The French counterterrorism prosecutor’s office said Wednesday four individuals are suspected of “terrorist criminal conspiracy” after police thwarted a bomb attack outside a Bank of America building in Paris in a case believed to have links to Iran.
Germany
RFI: Three men on trial over extremist plot to overthrow German government
The men are accused of backing the "United Patriots" group, part of Germany's Reichsbürger movement. The term Reichsbürger ("Citizens of the Reich") refers to a loose grouping of extremists and conspiracy theorists who reject the legitimacy of the modern German republic.
Serbia
An anti-government protest in Belgrade on Tuesday has sparked criticism for antisemitic outbursts and calls for the murder of Serbia's president.
Sweden
Jerusalem Post: Sweden: The ‘perfect storm’ of antisemitism
Malmo’s small Jewish community, today numbering around 800 people, has been under enormous pressure for years. Over the past few decades, Jewish residents have faced repeated harassment, threats, and attacks, many attributed to radicalized elements within the city’s Muslim population. Over time, the pressure drove nearly a third of the community to leave.
United Kingdom
Associated Press: 3 more men arrested in suspected antisemitic ambulance torching in London
Three additional suspects were arrested Wednesday on arson charges in the torching of four ambulances owned by a Jewish charity in London, police said. Two British men, ages 20 and 19, and a 17-year-old boy with dual British and Pakistani nationality, were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life, London’s Metropolitan Police Service said in a statement.
Independent: Social media influencers fuelling ‘violent extremism’, MPs warn
Social media algorithms and influencer content are actively contributing to the rise of new belief systems and "nihilistic violent extremism", a parliamentary committee has warned. The Home Affairs Committee has expressed concern that smaller digital platforms “are not receiving sufficient regulatory scrutiny”.
The Guardian: Anti-terrorist programme Prevent ‘outdated and inadequately prepared’, report finds
The government’s anti-terrorism programme, Prevent, is “outdated and inadequately prepared” to deal with modern challenges such as extremists adhering to no particular ideology, an influential cross-party group of MPs has concluded.
The mayor of Bath, in southwestern England, resigned from his post Monday after drawing criticism for amplifying the idea that the London arson of ambulances owned by a Jewish emergency service was a “false flag” attack.
Afghanistan
Associated Press: Pakistan and Afghan Taliban resume talks in China as Beijing seeks ceasefire
Pakistan and Afghanistan’s Taliban governments have resumed talks in China, which is mediating between the two sides to broker a durable ceasefire after more than a month of fighting, two Pakistani officials said Wednesday.
Afghanistan International: Nobel Laureate Calls For Women’s Rights To Be Central In Taliban Talks
Malala Yousafzai has urged countries to support the rights of Afghan women and girls, saying women’s rights must be a non-negotiable condition in any talks with the Taliban.
Gaza Strip/West Bank
Times of Israel: Settlers establish illegal outpost in Palestinian village, IDF evacuates site
Settler activists attempt this morning to establish a new illegal settlement inside the West Bank Palestinian village of Tayasir, which has been the subject of severe settler attacks in the last two weeks.
Four Palestinians were wounded Tuesday in a settler attack in the area of the village of Tayasir in the northern West Bank, the Palestinian Red Crescent said. Footage from the extremist attack showed several men injured, cars on fire and burned-out structures.
Iran
Iran International: Leaked IRGC manual shows systematic use of civilian sites as missile cover
A leaked internal directive from the IRGC’s missile command appears to show that the use of civilian locations to conceal, support and in some cases facilitate missile launch operations is not ad hoc, but structured, documented and built into operational planning.
Naharnet: Iran’s supreme leader vows to continue supporting Hezbollah
Iran’s supreme leader vowed Wednesday his nation will continue to support anti-Israeli forces in the Mideast. The message from Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, like others since he was named Iran’s new supreme leader, came in a statement read on air by a state television anchor.
Iraq
Shelly Kittleson, a freelance journalist who has worked for years in Iraq and Syria, remains missing after her abduction on Tuesday. The video shows two men approaching a person standing on a street corner and ushering the person into the back of a car. There appears to be a brief struggle to shut the car door before the men get into the vehicle and it drives away.
Israel
Times of Israel: Girl critically hurt by Iranian cluster bomb as repeated salvos target center
A young girl was critically wounded and 13 others were injured to various degrees Wednesday morning after an Iranian ballistic missile attack on central Israel, as people around the country prepared to mark the Passover Seder.
Times of Israel: Israel shifts to hitting Iran’s economy, as it enters ‘completion phase’ of war
A month into the war with Iran, the Israeli military has almost completed bombing all of the targets it defined for itself at the start of the conflict, and has now been ordered by Israel’s political leadership to shift to hitting “economic” targets of the Iranian regime, The Times of Israel learned on Monday.
Damage was caused to a home in Kiryat Shmona by a Hezbollah rocket strike, rescue services say. No physical injuries are reported.
Washington Post: Israel mandates death penalty for West Bank Palestinians who kill in terrorist acts
The Israeli parliament voted Monday to make death by hanging the default penalty for Palestinians from the West Bank who are convicted of killing someone in a terrorist act, a significant push to expand capital punishment in a country where it has been practically abolished.
Lebanon
The Israeli military said on Wednesday it had killed a senior Hezbollah official in an overnight attack. Israel's navy killed Haj Youssef Ismail Hashem, the commander of Hezbollah's southern front, the country's military
Naharnet: Berri says Iran officially told him Lebanon to be part of any deal
Speaker Nabih Berri has revealed to his visitors that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had informed him, one day before the Lebanese Foreign Ministry’s decision to expel Iran's ambassador, that Tehran insists any agreement to end the war must also include Lebanon, affirming that “what applies to Tehran applies to Beirut.”
Saudi Arabia
The National: Saudi Arabia executes man convicted of terrorism
Saudi Arabia has executed a man who had been convicted of terrorism charges, the kingdom's Interior Ministry said. Saud bin Mohammed bin Ali Al Faraj, a Saudi citizen, committed crimes including “joining a foreign terrorist organisation, establishing a terrorist cell within the Kingdom that sought to kill security personnel, supporting and financing terrorist acts, harbouring its members, making explosives and possessing weapons”, the Interior Ministry said.
Syria
Kurdistan24: Syria will Not Enter Regional War Unless Directly Attacked, Al-Sharaa says
In a decisive declaration shaped by the weight of past conflicts, Syria’s president drew a firm line: the country will not be drawn into the region’s escalating tensions unless it faces a direct attack, emphasizing a national priority of recovery over confrontation.
Yemen
The latest issue of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)’s Inspire Guide series, titled “The Night Bullets Spoke,” glorifies the December 2025 Bondi Beach terror attack, highlighting it as a model for other “lone wolves” to follow. The guide, which was reported on by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM) project, also gives detailed instructions for making a pipe bomb. It is notable that the Bondi Beach attack has been praised and promoted for emulation by the official media of both AQAP and the Islamic State (ISIS).
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