Eye on Extremism: February 10, 2026
Top Stories
Times of Israel: IDF readying new Gaza offensive to disarm Hamas by force
Four months into a ceasefire with Hamas, the Israeli military is drawing up plans for a renewed offensive in the Gaza Strip to disarm the terror group by force, The Times of Israel has learned.
One-third of American Jews reported being the target of an antisemitic incident in 2025, according to a new survey published by the American Jewish Committee. The finding marked no change over the previous year, suggesting that American Jews could be settling into a distressing new normal in the aftermath of Oct. 7.
CEP Mentions
How does the drone attack on an American aircraft carrier fit into this precarious situation? "The Iranian regime wants to send two messages. Domestically: 'We are strong.' And internationally: 'We can also defend ourselves,'" explains Middle East expert Hans-Jakob Schindler, director of the Counter Extremism Project, in an interview with the Frankfurter Rundschau by Ippen.Media. In this tense situation, however, it's playing with fire: "It already has the potential to be suicidal. Or to put it another way: One has to ask whether they've lost their minds," says Schindler. "Flying a drone that close is quite clearly a provocation."
Analysis
Nearly two-thirds of Jewish Americans say they feel less safe than a year ago, according to the American Jewish Committee’s newly released annual survey of Jewish public opinion, reflecting a heightened fear of antisemitism in the aftermath of several high-profile attacks against Jews and Jewish institutions.
United States
CNN: FBI alarm grows about violent online ring targeting children, exclusive documents show
The FBI has opened hundreds of cases on members of such groups in recent years, and numerous real-world attacks have been attributed to the ideology – including the bombing of a California fertility clinic and a deadly shooting at a high school in Nashville last year. In other cases, extremists have been convicted of manipulating children into cutting themselves or even killing pets on camera, records show.
Fox News: Far-left nonprofits in the hot seat as lawmaker exposes them for 'sowing chaos' in US
Hours before banging the gavel to commence a hearing Tuesday to investigate the dynamic of "malign foreign influence," House Committee on Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith escalated his investigation into the China-based, American-born Marxist tech tycoon, Neville Roy Singham, who has allegedly been "sowing chaos and spreading Chinese propaganda, possibly in coordination with a foreign government."
Jewish Insider: Senate Democrats question Pentagon’s use of Grok AI given record of antisemitism
In a letter sent to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Monday, a group of Senate Democrats raised concerns about the Pentagon’s decision to use xAI’s Grok chatbot in Department of Defense networks. The senators said that Grok’s record of producing antisemitic content — pointing in particular to an antisemitic tirade by the chatbot in 2025 — as well as its more recent history of generating non-consensual pornographic images of people, including children, raises concerns about the Defense Department’s use of the model.
Jewish News Syndicate: Sharia Free America Caucus advances its slate of legislation
A new House caucus focused on opposing Sharia law in the United States has expanded to 36 members from 18 states, according to Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas), one of its co-founders. The Sharia Free America Caucus was founded by Self and Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) following a conversation with Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) at the White House Christmas Party, according to Self.
Jewish News Syndicate: New Jersey township rejects Jew-hatred allegations within police department
Livingston Township officials issued a detailed public statement on Feb. 5 rejecting allegations of antisemitism raised in a lawsuit filed by a longtime member of the Livingston Police Department, calling the claims unfounded and rooted in dissatisfaction over a failed promotion.
Canada
The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario has enlisted Independent Jewish Voices Canada, which accuses Israel of “apartheid” and calls for boycotting the Jewish state, to offer antisemitism training to teachers, staff and executives who work in the public Ontario elementary school system, according to the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, the advocacy arm of Jewish Federations of Canada-UIA.
Europe
Politico: European far-right parties push for ICE-style police
Some European far-right parties and politicians have sparked a backlash by calling for a police force in their countries resembling U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE, which enforces federal laws governing border control, customs, trade and immigration, has been mired in controversy after its agents killed two U.S. citizens in recent weeks, amid a push by the Trump administration to deport unauthorized immigrants.
Germany
DPA: German police crack down on suspected Nazi merchandise retailers
Authorities have raided 11 properties in Germany and Switzerland linked to a suspected retail network of far-right extremist memorabilia adorned with swastikas and the image of Hitler, German prosecutors said on Tuesday. The raids took place last Thursday and focussed on a 43-year-old male main suspect, as well as five accomplices, prosecutors in Göttingen said.
SWR: Around 4,500 people demonstrate against the right wing in Ravensburg.
Under the motto "Loud Against the Right," a broad coalition of civil society groups called for a demonstration in Ravensburg on Saturday. According to police, around 4,500 people attended the rally – 2,000 had registered. The organizers themselves counted 5,300 people in Ravensburg at the end. Police said the demonstration was peaceful. At a similar demonstration last year, 10,000 people took to the streets in Ravensburg.
Creative Review: Anti-fascist group wins trademark rights to neo-Nazi code
Laut gegen Nazis (Noise Against Nazis), which was founded in 2004 to confront the threat of right-wing extremism, has obtained the trademark rights to the neo-Nazi code ‘ESSESS’, stopping it from being used by far-right groups to make money and spread their ideologies.
Netherlands
AFP: Dutch police arrest 15 people for ‘spreading Islamic State propaganda’
Dutch police say they have arrested 15 people suspected of spreading Islamic State propaganda on TikTok, accusing them of trying to “incite others to commit terrorist crimes.” Police launched a nationwide swoop on the suspects, aged between 16 and 53, after an investigation dating back to August 2025.
Poland
The proportion of Polish citizens who dislike Jews has risen to 40%, according to findings of Poland's Centre for Public Opinion Research (CBOS). The poll has been carried out annually since 1993, and questions Poles on whether they like or dislike certain national and ethnic groups (21 in total).
Portugal
Reuters: Portugal's far-right Chega party may have hit its ceiling in presidential election
The moderate Socialist candidate's decisive victory in Portugal's presidential election on Sunday showed that two-thirds of the electorate, including many conservative voters, united against his far-right rival, who likely topped out his support at 33%, according to analysts. Still, the gains made by Andre Ventura compared to the first round last month and a general election in 2025 put his anti-establishment, anti-immigration Chega party within striking distance of becoming the largest parliamentary faction in the next general election, which is not due until 2029 unless an early vote is called. Chega currently has the second-largest number of seats in parliament.
United Kingdom
Assistant Commissioner Lawrence Taylor, the national head of Counter Terrorism Policing, made the comments in an exclusive interview with LBC Crime Correspondent Andy Hughes for the Global Original podcast, The Crime Agents, after LBC was granted rare access inside the UK Counterterrorism Operations Centre.
Searchlight: Yorkshire nazi had ‘library of terrorist publications’
Anazi-sympathiser from West Yorkshire has been sentenced to more than four years in prison after pleading guilty to a series of terrorist offences. 36-year-old Tygue Crowther was convicted of encouraging terrorism, disseminating a terrorist publication and six counts of possessing documents likely to be useful to a terrorist.
Afghanistan
Afghanistan International: Afghanistan Remains Among World’s Most Corrupt Countries
Afghanistan remains among the world’s most corrupt countries, according to Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), which shows the country’s ranking worsening slightly in 2025 under Taliban rule.
Gaza Strip/West Bank
Times of Israel: IDF says it killed four Hamas gunmen who emerged from Rafah tunnel, fired on troops
IDF troops on Monday killed four Palestinian gunmen who emerged from a tunnel and attacked soldiers in southern Gaza’s Rafah, the military said, with several other Palestinians reportedly killed in IDF strikes in the Strip later in the day.
The Shin Bet says it has foiled a West Bank-based terror network that was being directed by figures in Lebanon with ties to Hamas and Hezbollah. According to the security agency, the network was tasked with photographing an Israeli settlement, and its members underwent firearms training ahead of carrying out an attack.
Times of Israel: 3 teenagers arrested over November settler attack on West Bank Palestinian village
Police have arrested three teenage settlers on suspicion of torching cars and buildings during an attack on a West Bank Palestinian village in November, law enforcement announces.
Jewish Insider: White House needs to confront limits of Hamas disarmament, experts say
The White House launched Phase 2 of President Donald Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan last month, intending to transition the enclave toward demilitarization, technocratic governance and reconstruction. But before those plans can move forward, the administration still needs to confront a central reality on the ground: Hamas remains armed and unwilling to cooperate.
Iran
Iran International: IRGC official says US warned of military action before talks
A senior official in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said the United States warned Tehran it could face military action if it did not accept a set of conditions ahead of renewed diplomatic talks. Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps official Aziz Ghazanfari, a deputy head of the Guard’s political department, said Washington initially presented Iran with four demands that went beyond the nuclear issue when outlining a framework for diplomacy.
Iraq
Syriac Press: Kurdistan Region of Iraq dissolves extremist group promoting hate against minorities
The head of the Independent Human Rights Commission in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), Muna Yaku, announced the dissolution of an extremist Kurdish organization accused of promoting racist and violent ideologies against minorities in the region.
Israel
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week released his responses to questions from the state comptroller as part of the review of the events of October 7. In a 55-page document that included partial quotations, half-truths and distortions, the prime minister blamed the security establishment for the failure.
Lebanon
Naharnet: UN force to withdraw most troops from Lebanon by mid 2027
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon plans to withdraw most of its troops by mid 2027, its spokesperson told AFP on Tuesday, after the peacekeepers' mandate expires this year.
Naharnet: US Central Command congratulates army for dismantling Hezbollah tunnel in south
The United State Central Command congratulated the Lebanese Army for finding a Hezbollah tunnel in south Lebanon.CENTCOM shared Monday a statement by its commander, Adm. Brad Cooper, on the X platform, in which he said the Lebanese army has found a massive underground tunnel for the second time in the past two months.
Naharnet: Qassem praises Aoun and Salam, says 'sedition' foiled
Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem on Monday stressed that "the central problem facing Lebanon is the Israeli-American aggression."
Syria
The US-led international coalition to fight the ISIS has welcomed Syria in the fight against the extremists, saying that the priorities include the swift transfer of ISIS detainees to Iraq and third-country repatriation of families linked to ISIS held in two camps in Syria.
Yemen
Yemen Online: U.S. Treasury Imposes Sanctions on 11 Entities for Funding Yemen’s Houthis
The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced sanctions against 11 companies and entities accused of financing the Houthi militia in Yemen. The sanctioned entities include: Sa’a Petroleum and Shipping, Adima Oil Company, Al-Sharafi Oil Services, Wadi Kabir Logistics (WKC), New Ocean Trading, Jannat Al-Anhar General Trading, Barash Aviation and Shipping Ltd., Al-Radwan Exchange and Remittance, Rabia Trading, Al-Buraq Shipping, and Sama Airlines.
Bangladesh
Deutsche Welle: Islamists gain ground as Bangladesh gears up for elections
Bangladesh heads to the polls on February 12 in an election unlike any in its recent history. With the long‑dominant Awami League (AL) barred from participating, an Islamist alliance, strengthened by the student‑led National Citizen Party (NCP), has emerged as a powerful contender. For the first time since independence in 1971, Islamist forces appear poised for their strongest electoral showing, reshaping expectations about the Muslim-majority nation's political future.
Pakistan
Associated Press of Pakistan: Ashrafi calls for united national response against terrorism
Prime Minister’s Coordinator for Religious Harmony and Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC) Chairman Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi called for a united national effort to confront terrorism and safeguard the country’s security and social harmony.
Express Tribune: UNSC report endorses Pakistan's claims of increased TTP attacks from Afghan soil
A United Nations Security Council (UNSC) report has said that attacks on Pakistan by the banned terrorist Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group have increased from Afghanistan, endorsing Islamabad’s long-running complaints about militant sanctuaries across the border.
Ethiopia
Reuters: Ethiopia builds secret camp to train Sudan RSF fighters, sources say
Ethiopia is hosting a secret camp to train thousands of fighters for the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group in neighbouring Sudan, Reuters reporting has found, in the latest sign that one of the world’s deadliest conflicts is sucking in regional powers from Africa and the Middle East.
Myanmar
Reuters: Exclusive: Leader of Myanmar armed group says world is ignoring junta's deadly airstrikes
The head of one of Myanmar’s influential ethnic armies accused world leaders of ignoring the ruling military junta's surge in deadly airstrikes on civilians, adding that only China was intervening in the conflict. Reuters was the only international outlet present for the leader's first meeting with media in years, just days after an election held by the Southeast Asian nation's ruling junta that cemented the military's grip on power.
Australia
The Australian Federal Police has set up “hate disrupter squads” targeting extremist preachers and white supremacists as Commissioner Krissy Barrett promises a more aggressive approach to combating hate and radicalism.
The nation's top spy has welcomed a royal commission into the Bondi terror attack, vowing to "own any mistakes" uncovered by the probe as his agency comes under pressure over whether the tragedy could have been prevented.
Bondi Beach terrorist Sajid Akram voiced support for Islamic State (IS) in 2019 and expressed admiration for a leading Al Qaeda propagandist, according to accounts from two men who moved in the same extremist circles. That same year, Australia's intelligence agency, ASIO, found it could not substantiate intelligence alleging Akram and his then-18-year-old son, Naveed, had embraced violent extremism.
The Australian: Islamophobia envoy slams Morrison over ‘harmful’ reform call
The special envoy to combat Islamophobia says former prime minister Scott Morrison’s call for reform in Muslim Australian organisations to clamp down on extremism “harms” Muslim Australians and appeared to suggest this could endorse racism. Islamophobia envoy Aftab Malik – who was appointed by Anthony Albanese – said he stood by his controversial proposal to remove religion from the list of potential motivations for terrorism and argued that terms like “radical Islam”, “Islamic hatred”, and “Islamist terrorism” drove Islamophobia.
Financial Review: Islamic extremism ‘undeniable’ threat to Australia: spy chief
One of Australia’s top intelligence officials, Kathy Klugman, says the Indo-Pacific has become the epicentre of global rivalry and warned that the threat of Islamic extremism is not in the past. “Its persistence is remarkable. Its threat is undeniable, and it remains a very close focus of many colleagues across the national intelligence community,” Klugman, the head of the Office for National Intelligence, told Senate estimates on Monday evening.
Three men involved in an alleged Neo-Nazi-led attack on an Indigenous protest camp last year have pleaded not guilty, while a court heard Neo-Nazi leader Thomas Sewell disputes the facts of the incident. Mr Sewell was among 14 men allegedly involved in the incident at Camp Sovereignty on August 31 last year to face the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Tuesday.
The Age: Posters of the Bondi shooter appeared around Melbourne. The culprit has now been unmasked
A wealthy neo-Nazi associate has unmasked himself as the person behind an offensive series of posters depicting the Bondi shooter that had appeared at night around Melbourne recently – the latest in a series of far-right stunts exploiting Australia’s worst terror attack.
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