Eye on Extremism: August 6, 2025
Top Stories
Jerusalem Post: Israeli military: UN enabling Hamas through aid mismanagement in Gaza
The Israeli military claims that United Nations agencies operating in Gaza have enabled Hamas to hijack humanitarian aid and distort global perception, alleging that the aid system has become both operationally dysfunctional and politically compromised. In a closed-door background briefing at the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, a senior Israeli security official presenting the position of the defense establishment said the UN had “failed the test,” allowing Hamas to shape the international narrative around humanitarian need in a way that advances the terror group’s strategic objectives.
Jewish News Syndicate: UN confirms 88% of aid trucks in Gaza looted before reaching destination
The United Nations published data on Tuesday showing that 88.7% of aid trucks collected by the international organization in the Gaza Strip in recent months were intercepted before reaching their destination. According to the U.N., it collected a total of 2,604 trucks between May 19 and Aug. 5 that entered Gaza from Israel, but 2,309 of these were intercepted “peacefully” by Arab mobs or forcefully by armed terrorists during transit in the Strip.
CEP Mentions
Tagesspiegel: Risky and controversial: Netanyahu's apparent plans to occupy Gaza
One of them even dug her own grave in the video. "It was a shock element deliberately copied by Hamas, which the terrorist militia 'Islamic State' regularly used in its hostage videos and continues to use to this day," says Hans-Jakob Schindler, Senior Director of the international Counter Extremism Project. "It was clear: The Israeli government had to respond."
Analysis
Just Security: It’s Time to Designate The Base as an FTO
The Base – a neo-Nazi accelerationist network – recently claimed responsibility for the assassination of Colonel Ivan Voronych, a Ukrainian intelligence officer, in Kyiv. The attack should serve as a wake-up call for U.S. policymakers. For years, The Base has operated in a legal gray zone, recruiting American extremists, disseminating propaganda, and promoting racial war. While the group has been designated as a terrorist entity by four member nations of the Five Eyes alliance and the European Union, the U.S. government has yet to follow suit. That inaction is no longer tenable.
Christopher O’Leary, a former senior FBI official who led many hostage recovery teams, said that while Hamas likely published the propaganda videos in hopes of pressuring Netanyahu to re-engage in the cease-fire talks, they likely had the opposite effect.” The logistics of occupying Gaza, however, are being questioned by at least 19 former Israeli military, intelligence and security chiefs, who publicly warned of unnecessary bloodshed earlier this week. Mona Yacoubian, the director and senior adviser of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said the plan would put too much strain on the IDF, which likely doesn’t “have the bandwidth or ability to maintain the occupation.”
United States
WIRED: Combating Domestic Violent Extremism Is No Longer a FEMA Priority
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is planning to direct states and tribes to immediately stop certain activities intended to combat domestic violent extremism, according to a draft of an information bulletin obtained by WIRED. These changes, according to a separate document also obtained by WIRED, appear to have been suggested following a meeting between FEMA and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) where the two agencies essentially discussed how to legally stop funding dedicated to combating domestic extremism.
The Trump administration said it would cut terrorism prevention funding for New York City, according to a grant notice posted days after a gunman killed four people inside a Manhattan skyscraper. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) stated in a grant notice posted on Friday that New York City would receive $64m less this year from its urban area security fund. The amount was listed in a single line of an 80-page Fema notice on the grant program.
Hate crimes data released today by the Federal Bureau of Investigation reveals that while reported hate crime incidents across the country decreased from 11,862 in 2023 to 11,679 in 2024, reported single-bias anti-Jewish hate crime incidents rose to 1,938 incidents, an increase of 5.8 percent from 2023, and the highest number ever recorded by the FBI since it began collecting data in 1991. These included 178 anti-Jewish assaults, up from 174 in 2023. Although Jews only make up around 2 percent of the U.S. population, reported single-bias anti-Jewish hate crimes comprised 16 percent of all reported hate crimes and nearly 70 percent of all reported religion-based hate crimes in 2024, which is a slight increase from prior years.
Reuters: Trump declines to say if he supports or opposes potential Gaza takeover by Israel
U.S. President Donald Trump declined to say whether he supported or opposed a potential military takeover of Gaza by Israel and said his administration's focus was on increasing food access to the Palestinian enclave under assault from Washington's ally. "I know that we are there now trying to get people fed," Trump told reporters on Tuesday. "As far as the rest of it, I really can't say. That's going to be pretty much up to Israel." Trump said Israel and Arab states were going to help with food and aid distribution in Gaza and provide financial assistance. He did not elaborate.
Several cars were set on fire and “Death to the IDF” graffiti was spray-painted in a residential neighborhood in the St. Louis area overnight Tuesday, according to local reports and the head of the Trump administration’s antisemitism task force. Leo Terrell said the “horrific antisemitic attack,” in which three cars were torched, targeted an American citizen who served in the Israel Defense Forces and who had returned to his family home in Clayton.
Six weeks after being released by federal detention, Mahmoud Khalil, the first student pro-Palestinian protest leader to be arrested by the Trump administration last spring, said concerns about antisemitism at Columbia University reflected a “manufactured hysteria.” Khalil first made the allegation in a jailhouse letter in April, soon after he was detained by immigration authorities over his role in the university’s pro-Palestinian protests, which critics said were fueling antisemitism.
Leon Botstein, the president of Bard College for half a century, has seen many crises shake American colleges. But none has stripped schools of their leaders and their students like the present moment. The second Trump administration has gone to war against elite universities, claiming to root out antisemitism and left-wing indoctrination. In a bid to ideologically reshape academia, the White House has severed billions of dollars in federal funding, attempted to block the enrollment of international students and pushed out college presidents.
Wendy Kopp, founder of Teach for America, stated on Aug. 1 that the Jewish state is guilty of the “mass starvation of innocent civilians” and of inflicting “heartbreaking and inexcusable” trauma on children and families. The word “Hamas” appeared nowhere in her LinkedIn post, titled “Thoughts and updates: standing in solidarity with Palestine.”
The Santa Clara Unified School District determined that one of its teachers violated district policy by showing a video to her class in March 2024 that compared Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza to the Holocaust, according to a document that JNS viewed.
A Texas man with white supremacist and Nazi ideologies was arrested on felony charges for allegedly plotting a massive, racist attack involving explosives against Black and Jewish people. Authorities with the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office say 39-year-old Nathan James Henderson was taken into custody on July 12 after they received a “credible tip” about threats of mass violence and possession of illegal explosive components.
KCUR 89.3: Missouri fire being investigated as antisemitic hate crime
No one was injured in the fire, which damaged three vehicles. Clayton Police found antisemitic graffiti in the roadway. The Regional Bomb and Arson Squad and the FBI are also investigating
The Clayton Police Department is investigating an early morning fire as a hate crime.
Arizona Jewish Post: Rocks Through Downtown Office Window Perceived as Antisemitism
Tucsonan Doug Levy and his wife, Nanci, returned from vacation last week to discover that a rock had been thrown through the window of his downtown Tucson office, where he displays a large menorah. Levy initially dismissed the vandalism as the act of “some random kid,” but when more rocks were hurled through his window during the night of July 30-31, he began to believe this was a targeted antisemitic or anti-Zionist attack.
Haiti
Reuters: Ireland calls for hostages' release after gunmen storm Haiti orphanage
Ireland's Foreign Ministry called on Tuesday on Haitian authorities to ensure "everything is done" to secure the release of a group of people, including an Irish missionary and a 3-year-old child, taken by gunmen who stormed a local orphanage. Irish Foreign Minister Simon Harris spoke with his Haitian counterpart overnight, the government said in a statement, during which they agreed to stay in touch on their work to ensure the group is released, including missionary Gena Heraty.
Germany
Coordinated largely through the German Embassy in Tel Aviv, the process took place almost entirely under the radar, with no public announcements or political fanfare. For those involved, it was one of the few tangible lifelines amid the uncertainty and grief. Within hours after Hamas launched its deadly October 7 onslaught, the German embassy in Tel Aviv says it began receiving desperate calls from Israelis and Germans who believed their loved ones had been taken into Gaza. More than two dozen of the 251 hostages taken into Gaza that day were either German citizens or members of families with German roots eligible for citizenship, according to the embassy.
New York Times: On Gaza, Germany’s Government Faces Pressure From All Sides
German public opinion has tilted steeply against Israel over the last year. Mr. Merz’s prime coalition partners, the center-left Social Democrats, are calling for halting or limiting weapons deliveries to Israel. Two of his most important European colleagues, President Emmanuel Macron of France and Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain, are moving to recognize Palestine as a state, even before an Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement defines that state. Like President Trump, Mr. Merz has ruled out such a step, arguing that a Palestinian state must emerge from negotiations between the two parties. But Germany wants the process to start.
ARD: Gray wolves: Turkish right-wing extremists in Baden-Württemberg
Turkish right-wing extremists are trying to establish themselves in German society. They have been partially successful in Baden-Württemberg. The so-called Grey Wolves have almost 13,000 members in Germany. The ARD documentary "Im Visier der Grauen Wölfe" shows the structures of the group. In the documentary, journalists uncover criminal links, plenty of racism and a willingness to use violence. Nationwide, the scene comprises around 12,900 people. Most of its approximately 2,200 followers in Baden-Württemberg are active in numerous associations and groups. The milieu also includes non-organized young people, "who make themselves known primarily on the internet through aggressive and radical statements and are also violent and armed", according to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
Daily Record: Chilling images show Scots racists meet neo-Nazis in Germany to plot “revolution”
Young Scottish racists joined neo-Nazis in Germany to practice combat drills and plot “revolution”. The sinister Caledonia Club sent a contingent to form bonds with far right extremists from other European nations. Extremist recruits at the boot camp - organised by neo-Nazi party The Third Way (Der Dritte Weg)- marched through the countryside in the rural Thuringia region, commando-style, with other bigots from the Netherlands, Germany and England.
Greece
Times of Israel: Greek pro-Palestinian groups plan ‘Day of Action’ targeting Israeli tourists
Three Greek pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel groups are planning a “Day of Action” on Sunday against Israeli tourists, vowing that the country will not become a “refuge” for “genocidal people.” The effort by the groups, first announced last week, comes on the heels of a string of anti-Israel incidents in Greece, a popular nearby tourist destination for Israelis. Near-identical Instagram posts in Greek by the three groups — March to Gaza Greece, Palestinian community in Greece and BDS Greece — celebrated some of those incidents and called for protests at “on islands and tourist destinations.”
Russia
Novaya Gazeta: Russia’s unofficial censor to stop looking into ‘extremist’ activity online
Russia’s Safe Internet League is to stop looking into cases of “extremist” activity online, Yekaterina Mizulina, the organisation’s head, announced on Tuesday, citing a recently adopted law prohibiting searches for “extremist” material. “We will no longer look into cases of extremist activities, terrorism or threats of attacks on schools,” Mizulina wrote, adding that the organisation would continue to deal with cases relating to “child pornography, drug sales, incitement to suicide and animal cruelty”.
United Kingdom
The Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP), MI5, and the National Crime Agency (NCA) have delivered a public warning to parents that online offenders will exploit the school holidays to engage in criminal acts with young people when they know less support is readily available, according to a news release.
Times of Israel: UK antisemitism neared record levels in first half of 2025
Some 1,521 antisemitic incidents were recorded in the UK between January and June 2025, according to figures released Wednesday by the Community Security Trust (CST), a nonprofit providing security protection to British Jews. The figure represents a 25% drop from the all-time high of 2,019 incidents in the same period of 2024, but is the second-highest total ever for a six-month period, with more than 200 incidents a month.
Afghanistan
Afghanistan International: Taliban Flog 10 In Kabul, Maidan Wardak On Theft, Drug Charges
The Taliban’s Supreme Court has announced that 10 individuals were publicly flogged in Kabul and Maidan Wardak provinces after being convicted of drug-related offences and theft. According to separate statements released on Tuesday, the court said nine people in Kabul were convicted of “selling and trafficking drugs” and sentenced to between 10 and 20 lashes, in addition to prison terms ranging from one to 18 months.
Gaza Strip
Süddeutsche Zeitung: How real are the images from Gaza?
People are starving in Gaza, as documented by many independent sources, including the UN. However, some images supposedly depicting the suffering are taken out of context. Experts urge a closer look.
Iran
Reuters: Iran executes man accused of passing information on nuclear scientist to Israel
Iran executed a man on Wednesday convicted of spying for Israel and passing on information about a nuclear scientist killed in Israel's June attacks on the Islamic Republic, the judiciary's news outlet Mizan reported. The report said the man, named Rouzbeh Vadi, had worked in one of Iran's "important and sensitive organisations," without going into further detail.
Iran International: Iran executes man accused of ISIS membership
Iran’s judiciary said on Wednesday it had executed a man convicted of membership in the Islamic State militant group and plotting attacks inside the country, the judiciary’s Mizan news agency reported. Mizan identified the man as Mehdi Asgharzadeh, also known by the aliases Abu Khaled and Hesam, and said he had received military training in Syria and Iraq before attempting to enter Iran with a five-member team from Iraq through the western highlands.
Iran International: Iran sentences two youths to death over 2022 protests, rights group says
Two young men have been sentenced to death for involvement in the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protest movement, Norway-based rights group Hengaw said on Monday. Mohammad Darvish Narouei, 22, and Yasin Kebdani, 21, were convicted by a court in Zahedan in southeastern Iran of “waging war against God” and “corruption on Earth,” the rights group reported, adding they face imminent execution if the sentences are upheld.
Iran International: Son of Iran's former intel chief charged with bolstering Israel online
Ason of a former Iranian intelligence chief has been charged with supporting Israel and was banned from using social media for three months, Hassan Younesi announced on his X account, amid a sweeping postwar crackdown by Iranian authorities. "I have been banned from activity on social media for three months. Turns out that in addition to spreading ‘falsehoods and propaganda against the sacred system,’ I am also accused of ‘strengthening the Zionist regime,’” said Younesi, a former advisor to former president Hassan Rouhani.
Israel
Israel’s negotiation strategy has collapsed, according to Dr. Avner Saar, a negotiation expert and lecturer at the Western Galilee Academic College, who warned that the government is facing a dramatic strategic decision. Amid the deadlock in negotiations for the release of hostages and the ongoing fighting in the Gaza Strip, Saar told Maariv that decision-makers must clearly choose between two conflicting objectives - releasing the hostages or continuing the destruction of Hamas - arguing that trying to pursue both simultaneously only deepens strategic failure.
Reuters: Israeli military chief opposes Gaza war expansion, raising pressure on Netanyahu
Israel's military chief has pushed back against Benjamin Netanyahu's plans to seize areas of Gaza it doesn't already control, three Israeli officials said, as the prime minister faces increasing pressure over the war both at home and abroad. During a tense, three-hour meeting on Tuesday, Eyal Zamir, the military chief of staff, warned the prime minister that taking the rest of Gaza could trap the military in the territory, which it withdrew from two decades ago, and could lead to harm to the hostages being held there, the sources briefed on the meeting said.
Times of Israel: 2 Palestinians arrested for allegedly working to establish West Bank terror cell
Two Palestinians who allegedly attempted to establish a terror cell in the al-Am’ari refugee camp in the West Bank city of Ramallah were recently detained by officers, police say. The pair, who were known to have been armed, were nabbed by officers of the police’s elite Gideonim unit, in a joint operation with the IDF and Shin Bet, a police spokesperson says.
Times of Israel: Sa’ar at UN: Plans to recognize Palestinian state ‘assassinated the hostage deal’
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Tuesday said countries that announced plans to recognize a Palestinian state in recent weeks sabotaged a ceasefire deal with the Hamas terror group. “There are countries that acted, also in this building, to pressure Israel, instead of Hamas, during sensitive days in the negotiations by attacking Israel, campaigning against Israel, and the announcement of a recognition of a virtual Palestinian state. They gave Hamas free gifts and incentives to continue this war,” Sa’ar said during a press briefing at the United Nations in New York.
Jewish News Syndicate: Security forces seize terror funds in northern Samaria
Israeli security forces overnight Tuesday confiscated hundreds of thousands of shekels in terrorist funding during a raid in the Palestinian Authority town of Barta’a, which abuts the security fence in northern Samaria. Border Police officers and soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces’ Paratrooper Brigade’s reconnaissance unit searched 50-plus homes, locating and confiscating terrorist funds, in addition to “combat equipment” used by terrorists, the Israel Police and IDF stated.
Israeli musician Efraim Shamir is under investigation on suspicion of incitement to terrorism and violence against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his lawyer confirms. Shamir, a longtime critic of the prime minister, was summoned for questioning by the Israel Police’s Lahav 433 major crimes unit earlier this morning without being told why.
Lebanon
Reuters: Lebanon tasks army with limiting arms to state forces in challenge to Hezbollah
Lebanon's cabinet on Tuesday tasked the army with drawing up a plan to establish a state monopoly on arms by the end of the year, a challenge to Hezbollah, which has rejected calls to disarm since last year's devastating war with Israel. The Iran-backed group is under pressure from its rivals in Lebanon and from Washington, who want Lebanon's ministers to publicly commit to disarming the party and worry that Israel could intensify strikes on Lebanon if they fail to do so. The session at Lebanon's presidential palace was the first time the cabinet addressed Hezbollah's weapons - unimaginable when the group was at the zenith of its power just two years ago.
Reuters: Hezbollah chief says missiles will fall on Israel if it resumes war on Lebanon
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem threatened Israel directly for the first time in months in a televised speech on Tuesday, saying missiles would fall on it if it resumed a broad war on Lebanon. His comments came as Lebanon's cabinet met to discuss the fate of Hezbollah's arsenal, after Washington pressured Lebanese officials to commit to disarming the Iran-backed group and amid fears that Israel could intensify strikes if they fail to do so. Qassem said that, should Israel engage in a "large-scale aggression" against Lebanon, Hezbollah, Lebanon's army and Lebanon's people would defend themselves. "This defence will lead to missiles falling inside the Israeli entity, and all the security they have built over eight months will collapse within an hour," he said.
Jewish News Syndicate: Israel kills Hezbollah terrorist linked to Golan rocket plots
Israel on Tuesday night eliminated a Hezbollah terrorist in Southern Lebanon responsible for directing rocket-launching squads in Syria, according to the Israeli military. Hassam Qassem Ghrab, who was killed in an airstrike in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, was commanding terrorist cells in Syria that were planning to launch rockets toward the Golan Heights, the Israel Defense Forces said.
Syria
New York Times: Truce Quiets Syrian City Torn by Sectarian Clashes
A cease-fire has brought calm to the city of Sweida in southwestern Syria over the past few days after a wave of sectarian violence, but clashes continued in the surrounding countryside as recently as the weekend. The atmosphere remains tense, with shortages of electricity and water and long lines for bread in the city, according to public statements from local officials and residents and an aid worker reached by telephone. The latest conflict began in mid-July with clashes between two local groups — the Bedouins and the Druse. During five days of intense fighting, the government made a short attempt to intervene.
Nigeria
Reuters: Gunmen abduct 60 in northern Nigeria, kill villagers in overnight raids
Gunmen abducted at least 45 women and children in an overnight raid on five villages in northwest Nigeria, witnesses said, in the second mass kidnapping in the area within days. The attackers returned to Sabongarin Damri on Monday and raided nearby villages including Sade, Tungar Tsalle, Tungar Sodangi and Tungar Musa Dogo, in an assault that lasted until dawn, Shehu Musa, the traditional head of Damri, told Reuters by phone late on Tuesday. The incident followed a separate mass abduction in Sabongarin Damri, in Zamfara state, on Saturday in which 70 people were taken. "The attackers invaded the communities and kidnapped no fewer than 45 people from the five neighbouring villages, which are less than half a kilometre apart," Musa said.\
Sudan
New York Times: ‘Bad Things Happen in Darkness’: Sudan’s Civil War Shifts West
The center of Sudan’s brutal civil war has shifted west as fighting between the army and paramilitary forces intensifies. The Sudanese Army drove the paramilitary group, known as the Rapid Support Forces (R.S.F.), from central Khartoum, the capital, in March. Since then, the R.S.F. has turned its attention to the western Kordofan region, and Darfur, where it already controls most territory, except El Fasher, the only city in western Darfur that is still held by the Sudanese Army. Now, Kordofan has become a strategic crossroad for both sides in the conflict. If the R.S.F. wants to strike central Sudan again, it has to go through Kordofan from Darfur. And if the Sudanese Army wants to push the war into R.S.F. territory in Darfur, it likewise needs to go to Kordofan.
Technology
Afghanistan International: Taliban Spokesman Alters Ministry Name On X To Bypass Platform Rules
The spokesperson for the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has altered the ministry’s name in a recent post on social media platform X, apparently to circumvent content moderation policies. In a post written in Pashto regarding the arrest of six university students on blasphemy charges, Saif-ul-Islam Khyber inserted slashes between letters in the ministry’s name, rendering it as: “Am/robelm/a/roof aw nah/yi an el/m/unkar aw shikayatoon awreedlo wezarat” — a distorted version of “Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice and Listening to Complaints.”
NPR: Nihilistic online networks groom minors to commit harm. Her son was one of them
The beginning of ninth grade was already shaping up to be a bumpy transition for then-14-year-old Elliott. His longtime friend group from preschool days had fractured. His parents were separating. And, he was starting high school. With his new smartphone, Elliott increasingly sought community online, in spaces where other users shared his musical interests. And it was there that he eventually fell under the influence of predatory networks that would upend his and his family members' lives.
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