Eye on Extremism: April 16, 2026
Top Stories
Business Standard: Ex-IRGC chief says US ground invasion of Iran would be 'great'
Mohsen Rezaei, a former commander-in-chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps and current military adviser to Mojtaba Khamenei, criticised the United States over its naval presence in the Strait of Hormuz in remarks aired on Iranian state television, amid heightened regional tensions. Rezaei further warned of potential escalation, stating: "These ships of yours will be sunk by our first missiles and have created a great danger for the US military. They can definitely be exposed to our missiles, and we can destroy them all. We will not allow a single one to escape us."
Times of Israel: US, Hamas reportedly hold direct talks on Gaza plan, first since ceasefire began
US and Hamas officials this week held their first direct talks since the start of the Gaza ceasefire in October last year, CNN reported Wednesday. Citing two unnamed Hamas sources, the network said senior US adviser Aryeh Lightstone met chief Hamas negotiator Khalil al-Hayya in Cairo on Tuesday night.
CEP Mentions
Caliber: Media: Pro-Iran militants claim Munich attack
Security analyst Hans-Jakob Schindler of the Counter Extremism Project said the method and timing of the Munich blast are consistent with the group’s known tactics: attacks carried out at night against Jewish sites, typically without causing casualties.
BR24: Attack on Israeli restaurant: Video claiming responsibility has surfaced
Hans-Jakob Schindler of the transatlantic think tank "Counter Extremism Project" even considers it possible that the regime itself is behind the attacks – as a reaction to the attacks by the USA and Israel.
Indegazette.be: The fight against terrorist groups in Europe takes center stage in panel discussion
Hans-Jakob Schindler, Senior Director of the Counter Extremism Project, stated that European governments too often still focus on isolated incidents and individual perpetrators, whereas in his view, interconnected networks are primarily at play. He pointed out that while bans on organizations are necessary, they remain insufficient in themselves, because the same individuals often continue under a different name afterwards. According to him, European governments should therefore focus more strongly on disrupting the resources and structures upon which such networks rely, particularly their financial and logistical capacity.
Gzero Media: Iran war jeopardizes Iraq’s momentum
“This, after 2019, was the first phase in the country where you had some sense of stability,” Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director of the Counter Extremism Project, told GZERO.
Deutschlandfunk: Shiite extremism: the networks of the Iranian regime in Germany
CEP Senior Director Hans-Jakob Schindler talks about Iranian networks in Germany.
Analysis
In multiple theaters across the Middle East, negotiators are testing whether they can turn military gains against Iran and its proxies into sustainable political outcomes that help bring three conflicts to a close: disarming Hamas via the Board of Peace, disarming Hezbollah via talks between the United States, Israel, and Lebanon, and ending Iran’s role as a regional menace via talks mediated by Pakistan. While the most punishing military strikes may have subsided in each case, the resultant lulls in the fighting are fragile. At this critical moment in the post-October 7 Middle East, can civilian leaders produce definitive agreements?
United States
A man has been charged in a string of attacks near Atlanta that left two women dead and a man in critical condition, drawing the Trump administration’s attention after one victim was identified as a Department of Homeland Security employee who was walking her dog.
Washington Post: Prosecutors add terrorism charge in new D.C. pipe bomb indictment
Federal prosecutors have added terrorism and weapons-of-mass-destruction charges against the Virginia man accused of planting pipe bombs near the headquarters of the Democratic and Republican national committees in 2021, and he could now face a harsher prison sentence if found guilty.
New York Post: Accused ISIS-loving Gracie Mansion bombers arraigned on federal terrorism charges
The ISIS-loving teens charged with hurling homemade bombs outside Gracie Mansion were arraigned on federal terrorism charges Wednesday — as prosecutors said they need more time to comb through the pair’s phones and laptops.
The two terror suspects accused of hurling homemade bombs outside New York City’s Gracie Mansion in an ISIS-inspired attack pleaded not guilty to federal charges Wednesday. Emir Balat, 18, and Ibrahim Kayumi, 19, allegedly threw live explosive devices into a protest outside Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s residence on March 7, after traveling from Pennsylvania.
Fox News: US kills 3 alleged drug traffickers in another Eastern Pacific strike
The U.S. military carried out its third strike in days against suspected narco-terrorist targets in the Eastern Pacific, killing three men aboard an alleged drug-trafficking vessel in a lethal operation, according to U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM).
The keynote speaker for a Seattle Palestinian cultural festival is set to be an al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades terrorist released as part of a ransom for hostages held in Gaza, according to event promotional images. Raed Abduljalil is set to call from Egypt to give a speech to participants in the April 25 "Palestinian Cultural Resistance Festival" organized by Seattle University Students for Justice in Palestine, Nidal Seattle, and Students United for Palestinian Equality and Return at the University of Washington (SUPER UW).
Argentina
Two Palestinian terrorists released in ransoms for the October 7 Massacre hostages are set to speak on Friday at the San Lorenzo headquarters of Argentina's State Workers Association (ATE), according to social media posts by the union's Rosario branch and Action for Palestine Rosario.
For the first time in history, an Argentinian judge is set to be tried for antisemitism due to discriminatory remarks made about Jews on social media. The proceedings follow complaints filed in March 2025 by the Delegation of Argentine Israelite Associations (DAIA) and the Argentine Forum Against Antisemitism (FACA).
France
Times of Israel: Frenchman who killed woman in Tel Aviv hit-and-run in 2011 shot dead in Paris
A French man, who served five years in a French prison for the 2011 hit-and-run death of an Israeli woman in Tel Aviv, was killed on Thursday in an apparent assassination near Paris, French and Israeli media reported. On Thursday morning, two men on a motorized scooter wearing helmets shot 51-year-old Eric Robic, who himself was on a scooter, in Hauts-de-Seine, a Parisian suburb, French newspaper Le Parisien reported.
France 24: Why is France’s bill against ‘new forms of anti-Semitism’ sparking controversy?
French lawmakers are on April 16 set to vote on a government-backed draft law based on the idea that rising anti-Semitism in the country with Europe’s largest Jewish population is grounded in an “obsessive” hatred of Israel. The legislation has been drafted and redrafted since it was first introduced to the National Assembly at the end of 2024. Earlier drafts would have outlawed any comparison between Israel and Nazi Germany as "trivialising" the Holocaust and banned public speech calling for the ill-defined "denial" of a state's existence.
France 24: Proposed antisemitism law in France stir free speech debate
French lawmakers are due to vote on new laws defining antisemitism, proposed in the wake of a surge in anti-Jewish incidents but which critics say could be used to censor criticism of Israel and chill protest movements. The French law, which is scheduled to be debated on Thursday, proposes to sanction "implicitly" justifying terrorism, calling for the destruction of a state recognised by France, and comparisons of Israel to the Nazis. Critics – including some rights groups, academics and left-wing politicians – say that they will censor legitimate activism for Palestinian rights and contribute to conflating Jews with the state of Israel. FRANCE 24's Shirli Sitbon reports from the National Assembly in Paris, France.
A French appeals court has ruled that an Algerian nanny convicted of poisoning a Jewish family was not antisemitic. As previously covered by The Jerusalem Post in December 2025, an Algerian nanny was sentenced to two and a half years' imprisonment for poisoning a French Jewish family for whom she was working. The nanny, 42, was watching over three children, who were 2, 5, and 7 years old, in January 2024, when a criminal complaint against the nanny was first filed.
Netherlands
NL Times: Dutch courts increasingly alert to intimate terrorism in divorce cases
Dutch judges and social workers are becoming increasingly alert to intimate terrorism in divorce cases. In the past, this form of domestic violence was often treated as an “ordinary” high-conflict divorce, leaving women and children in unsafe situations, Pointer reports. Intimate terrorism is a form of serious domestic violence in which control and coercion play a major role. One partner, typically the man, dominates the other through isolation, manipulation, and sexual violence. Intimate terrorism within a relationship is also a red flag for femicide.
United Kingdom
Reuters: Three arrested after attempted arson at Persian-language media office in London
British police said on Thursday they had arrested three men in connection with an attempted arson attack on the offices of a Persian-language media organisation in northwest London. An ignited container was thrown towards the premises of the unnamed media outlet in Wembley on Wednesday evening, landing in a car park where the fire extinguished itself. No damage was reported and there were no injuries, the police said.
The Times: Two arrested after attempted arson attack on Finchley synagogue
A man and a woman have been arrested on suspicion of arson endangering life after an incident at a synagogue in north London. Two bottles thought to contain petrol were hurled at Finchley Reform Synagogue shortly after midnight on Wednesday. The bottles did not ignite, no damage was reported and there were no injuries.
Jerusalem Post: Masked men hurl firebombs at London synagogue in attempted arson attack
Two masked men threw two firebombs and a brick at a London synagogue on predawn Wednesday morning, in what investigators are treating as a suspected antisemitic hate crime. Neither bottle ignited, and no damage was caused to the Finchley Reform Synagogue, according to the Metropolitan Police and Community Security Trust. Finchley Reform Synagogue leadership and Finchley MP Sarah Sackman said on social media that nobody was harmed in the incident.
Reuters: Man goes on trial accused of attempting terrorist attack at London's Israeli embassy
A man armed with two knives and carrying a "martyrdom note" tried to carry out a terrorist attack at Israel's British embassy because he wanted to send a message about "the killing of children", prosecutors told a London court on Wednesday. Abdullah Albadri, 34, who was born in Kuwait and twice entered Britain from France in a small boat, was arrested by two armed officers trying to scale the fence outside the embassy in west London last April, prosecutor Catherine Pattison said.
Afghanistan
Afghanistan International: Taliban Foreign Minister Defends Government’s Ethnic Representation
Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban’s foreign minister, claimed in Kabul that different ethnic groups are represented in the administration, ensuring balance. He said that the group pursues a balanced foreign policy without favouring one country over another.
Amu: Taliban detain seven members in Badakhshan on ISIS links
Taliban intelligence has detained seven Taliban members in northeastern Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province on allegations of links to ISIS’s regional affiliate, according to sources familiar with the matter. Those detained include individuals holding a range of positions within the Taliban’s military and civilian structures in the province, among them commanders and administrative officials, sources said.
Gaza Strip/West Bank
Jerusalem Post: Hamas refuses to give up weapons, demands Board of Peace change Gaza ceasefire plan
Hamas rejected the US-led Board of Peace's disarmament plan for the terror group and asked the board to make modifications to it, a source told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.
Jerusalem Post: WATCH: IDF kills three Hamas commanders in Gaza strikes this week
The IDF eliminated three Hamas commanders in two separate strikes earlier this week, the military announced on Thursday. The first strike, which occured on Monday, killed Islam Hisham Riyad Kanita and Mahmoud Hamed Youssef Hamdouna, both commanders in Hamas’s Production Unit, the IDF said.
Reuters: Settlers block Palestinian pupils' path to West Bank school with barbed wire
Dozens of Palestinian children have been unable to go to school in the Israeli-occupied West Bank this week because of barbed wire erected by Jewish settlers across the path they normally use. Dozens of children tried on Monday to get to school in the small village of Umm al-Khair near the city of Hebron for the first time since the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran began. They found their way blocked by barbed wire which villagers said had been placed there by Israelis from the nearby Carmel settlement.
Extremist settlers reportedly carried out two attacks against Palestinians late Wednesday in the West Bank, as the phenomenon of settler violence continues largely unchecked. Footage from Wednesday evening showed settlers attempting to steal sheep from Palestinian herders in the West Bank hamlet of Al-Mirkaz in the South Hebron Hills, with residents claiming that the extremists were accompanied by at least one soldier.
Ostensibly designed to prevent friction between Palestinians and Israelis, critics say the entry bans are often selectively enforced against Israeli activists seeking to protect locals from violent settlers, leaving Palestinians exposed to continued harassment and worse. According to Palestinians and activists, the situation has already prompted dozens of families to leave the area.
Iran
IranWire: Qalibaf Calls Lebanon Speaker, Backs “Resistance” Amid War
Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Parliament), held a phone call with his Lebanese counterpart, Nabih Berri, on Thursday, April 16. According to Iranian media reports citing Qalibaf’s Telegram channel, the Speaker expressed sorrow over the loss of Hezbollah forces in the recent war, saying: “God has promised that whenever resistance occurs, the result is triumph and victory. Know that the Islamic Republic does not forget its Lebanese brothers and has the situation in Lebanon at the top of its agenda.”
Iraq
Kurdistan24: Three Mass Graves in Mosul to Be Exhumed, One Believed to Hold Peshmerga Fighters
The ground beneath Mosul has held its secrets for more than 10 years. On Thursday, Nineveh Governor Abdulqadir Dakhil announced at a press conference that three mass graves are to be exhumed in the province — sites that hold, in his words, the commingled blood of Peshmerga martyrs, Ezidi Kurds, and the people of Mosul. "The remains of women, children, Ezidi Kurds, and Peshmerga fighters have been found," Dakhil said. He confirmed that the director of the mass graves department has promised DNA testing for the families of the victims, and emphasized that the sacrifices of those buried must be honored. "These mass graves are a testament to ISIS crimes against innocent people," he said.
Israel
Times of Israel: Security cabinet said to consider one-week Lebanon ceasefire amid US pressure
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet convened on Wednesday night, reportedly to discuss a temporary ceasefire in Lebanon, amid growing expectations in Jerusalem that a truce may be unavoidable in the face of US pressure.
Jerusalem Post: Photos of Nazis left at Haifa health ministry office on Holocaust Remembrance Day
Photos of Nazis with red paint were left at the entrance to the Haifa District Health Bureau on the morning of Holocaust Remembrance Day (Tuesday), the Health Ministry stated, in what was described as an offensive act targeting public employees.
Lebanon
Naharnet: Hezbollah MP says direct negotiations with Israel a 'grave error'
Hezbollah lawmaker Hussein Hajj Hassan told AFP on Thursday that the Lebanese government's decision to hold direct negotiations with Israel was a "grave error," urging authorities to stop making concessions to Israel and the United States.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry insisted on Thursday that Lebanon remains part of the current ceasefire in the Middle East, despite earlier statements from the US and Israel that this is not the case.
Fox News: IDF uncovers more than 130 Hezbollah weapons in school in southern Lebanon
The Israel Defense Forces said it uncovered more than 130 weapons belonging to the terrorist group Hezbollah inside a school in southern Lebanon. The firearms found in the area of Bint Jbeil included “Kalashnikov rifles, pistols, and additional weapons,” it said.
Syria
Syrian authorities intercepted a large shipment of 6,000 explosive detonators that were being smuggled to Lebanon, according to the Syrian Interior Ministry. Syrian authorities did not say if the explosive devices were destined for Hezbollah, but Hezbollah is the main terrorist group in Lebanon that would likely want to import systems like this.
Jerusalem Post: Syrian President Sharaa hosts Kurdish SDF leaders to talk integration
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa hosted two key Kurdish leaders on Thursday to discuss further integration of the Syrian Democratic Forces into the Syrian security forces.
Yemen
The Iran-backed Houthis are training and recruiting children to join the terror group under the guise of summer camps, Yemeni Information Minister Moammar Al-Eryani published on social media on Wednesday, along with footage of the apparent training facilities.
Fox News: Hegseth says Houthis have stayed out of Iran conflict so far: ‘A good decision’
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said Thursday that Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen have so far decided to stay out of the Iran conflict and tensions surrounding maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.
Pakistan
Afghanistan International: Three Dead In Pakistan After Rocket Fired From Afghanistan
Pakistani security sources said a mortar fired from Afghanistan struck a house in Bajaur on Wednesday, killing at least three people, including two children and a woman.
Nigeria
Nigeria’s security forces are on high alert over a planned attack by Islamist militants on public infrastructure in Abuja and Niger states, an internal memo dated April 13 obtained from the Nigeria Customs Service by The Associated Press on Wednesday showed.
BBC: Nigeria drops terrorism financing charges against ex-justice minister
The Nigerian authorities have dropped charges of financing terrorism against a former justice minister and his son. Abubakar Malami, who served under former President Muhammadu Buhari from 2015 to 2023, now faces a revised charge sheet focused solely on the alleged illegal possession of firearms.
Australia
A law clamping down on protests following the deadly Bondi Beach terror attack targeting Australia’s Jewish community was overturned by a court on Thursday, a written ruling showed.
Stay up to date on our latest news.
Get the latest news on extremism and counter-extremism delivered to your inbox.