Eye on Extremism: January 5, 2026
Top Stories
Reuters: At least 30 killed in Nigeria market attack, police say
At least 30 people were killed and several others abducted when gunmen attacked a market in Nigeria's Niger State, police said on Sunday. Police spokesperson Wasiu Abiodun said the gunmen, locally called bandits, stormed Kasuwan Daji market in Demo village, at around 4:30 p.m. on Saturday burning stalls and looting food items.
Reuters: Maduro set to appear in US court to face narco-terrorism charges
Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is set to appear in Manhattan federal court on Monday to face narco-terrorism charges, days after his capture by the U.S. military sparked deep uncertainty about the oil-rich South American nation’s future. Maduro, 63, and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been jailed in Brooklyn after U.S. forces seized them from Caracas in a surprise weekend raid, opens new tab.
CEP Mentions
Deutsche Welle: Berlin police suspect far-left group of power grid attack
German police suspect the Vulkangruppe ("Volcano Group") was behind an arson attack that caused a power outage in parts of Berlin. Hans-Jakob Schindler of the Counter Extremism Project told DW what's known about the group.
Deutsche Welle: Germany's foreign policy in 2026: The search for direction
However, this does not mean a relativization, says Hans-Jakob Schindler, Middle East expert and head of the international organization Counter Extremism Project, speaking to DW. “I cannot see from the change in wording that there has been any change in the fundamental position of the federal government.”
WELT: VENEZUELA: US arrests Maduro! Trump reveals details of military operation | WELT Livestream
CEP Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler interviewed about the situation in Venezuela, at 4:13:26, 9.22:47, and 10:16:49.
Analysis
The Telegraph: Safety of prison staff must come first
CEP Senior Adviser Ian Acheson writes that Islamist terrorists would try to take a prison officer hostage to murder them and that the prison service was woefully underprepared for that awful outcome. We have evaded this scenario only by luck in the years since.
Jewish Journal: A New Idea to Fight Antisemitism: Less Analysis, More Messaging
Accidental messaging is why we can’t seem to move the needle: We’ve lost control of our message. What we need today is not more noise but intentional messaging.
United States
An alleged ISIS sympathizer has been federally charged with an international terrorism offense after providing bomb components and money to individuals he believed were acting on behalf of a designated foreign terrorist organization. “This case is a testament to the incredible work of our federal agents, who work tirelessly to save American lives,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “ISIS’s poisonous ideology must be ripped out root and stem — anyone who tries to commit violence on ISIS’s behalf will be found, arrested, and prosecuted. You cannot hide from us.”
The Guardian: Republican claims of ‘terrorism’ leave everyone unsafe, Muslim leader warns
The deputy director of the US’s biggest Muslim civil rights and advocacy group warns that Republican governors’ steps to declare his organization a “terrorist organization” won’t stop with the Muslim community. “No governor should have the power to unilaterally declare a civil rights or advocacy group he disagrees with a terrorist organization, take punitive action against them, all in violation of due process and free speech,” Edward Ahmed Mitchell, the deputy director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told the Guardian this month. “If any governor can get away with abusing that kind of power, then no organization is safe.”
Nordic Monitor: Turkey’s state sponsorship of terrorism registered in US judicial documents
In a US federal terrorism case, Turkey was publicly named as the sponsor of an al-Qaeda–linked militant group in Syria whose operations were directed by the government of Islamist President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to trial testimony and evidentiary findings upheld on appeal. The determination emerged in the United States v. Wadi criminal case, a prosecution and trial reviewed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which affirmed convictions for terrorism financing and conspiracy to murder abroad.
State Democratic Party chief Jay Jacobs on Sunday said he opposes Mayor Zohran Mamdani repealing executive orders targeting antisemitism and supporting Israel — but added he still wants to be “fair-minded.” “I disagree with it. It obviously didn’t send a reassuring message to the Jewish community,” Jacobs told The Post of Mamdani’s walk-back of orders issued under former Mayor Eric Adams.
Racist and antisemitic graffiti was found on the outside of Roxborough High School Sunday, the School District of Philadelphia said. The graffiti has been removed, according to the school district.
WKRG: Daphne suspect arrested in terrorist threat case dies in motorcycle crash
A Daphne man accused of making terroristic threats against himself and neighbors has died in a motorcycle crash, Daphne Police said. DPD officers responded to a single-vehicle crash at about 1:20 a.m. at the intersection of State Road 181 and Pleasant Road.
Canada
Classic 107: Antisemitic graffiti found at Winnipeg synagogue, Winnipeg police investigating
Winnipeg police are investigating after the Shaarey Zedek Synagogue was vandalized with antisemitic graffiti late last week. The congregation says the vandilism occured early Friday morning.
Venezuela
Venezuela’s acting leader, in an address to the nation on Sunday, said there were “Zionist undertones” to the U.S. military’s capture of President Nicolás Maduro. Delcy Rodriguez, a vice president under Maduro who is now the interim leader, has demanded the “immediate release” of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, since they were captured by U.S. forces on Saturday. Maduro and Flores were flown to New York City, where they are expected to appear in federal court on drug-trafficking and other charges on Monday.
Austria
Reuters: Grenade found close to synagogue in Austrian capital
A hand grenade was found in a building entrance near a synagogue in the Austrian capital Vienna on Sunday, although police said early indications did not link the device to antisemitism. The grenade discovered in the Leopoldstadt district of the city was removed by bomb disposal experts and was later found to contain no explosive material, while the detonator was not functional, Vienna police said.
France
Financial Times: French far right courts business leaders as it prepares for power
France’s far-right leaders Jordan Bardella and Marine Le Pen are courting business leaders and international investors keen to prepare for the possibility that Rassemblement National may come to power.
Germany
Left-wing extremists have taken credit for an arson attack in southwest Berlin early Saturday that plunged tens of thousands of homes into a blackout, according to local officials. Approximately 45,000 households in Germany’s capital are expected to be without power — and likely heat — through Jan. 8 after a far-left militant group started the blaze near a power station, grid company Stromnetz Berlin said Saturday.
Times of Israel: German state antisemitism czar’s property torched, Hamas symbol painted nearby
The property of a German state commissioner for countering antisemitism was torched early Sunday morning, and a Hamas symbol was painted nearby, according to local media reports. Andreas Büttner, who serves as the commissioner for combating antisemitism in the state of Brandenburg, surrounding Berlin, posted on X that his family was at home when the apparent arson occurred, and that they were not injured.
Spain
An interactive website that blacklisted Jewish businesses and institutions in Spain’s Catalonia region was taken offline this week following complaints from members of the local Jewish community and intervention by public officials.
United Kingdom
The Telegraph: Neo-Nazi group preparing for race war in Britain
A violent neo-Nazi group has launched a recruitment campaign “in preparation for a race war”, The Telegraph can reveal. Vanguard Britannica has been holding fighting camps and carrying out combat training to ready its members for political violence.
The Telegraph: Maccabi fans ban: Police consulted mosques that hosted ‘anti-Semitic’ preachers
West Midlands Police consulted mosques that had hosted anti-Semitic preachers before banning Israeli fans from an Aston Villa football match, The Telegraph can reveal. Officers spoke to three Birmingham mosques that had hosted anti-Jewish preachers before making the decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from the Europa League fixture on Nov 6.
Jerusalem Post: Pro-Hamas extremist Islamist preacher begins UK speaking tour despite calls for ban
A pro-Hamas Islamist preacher began a UK speaking tour on Sunday, despite multiple calls for the government to ban him for his extremism. Dr Shadee Elmasry began his tour in Birmingham, but will head to Bolton on Monday and Ilford on Tuesday. The tour was organized by the Global Relief Trust.
The Guardian: Leading UK far-right activist spoke at Russian extreme nationalist event
The head of a leading British far-right group spoke at a summit of European extreme nationalist groups convened in Russia by an influential oligarch linked to Vladimir Putin, it can be revealed. The revelation has led to renewed concern among MPs over the Kremlin’s links to extremist groups and its attempts to disrupt democracy and sow societal divisions in the UK.
Afghanistan
Protesters in northern Afghanistan set fire to gold mining equipment linked to the Taliban after clashes with security forces and company personnel escalated in Takhar province, local sources said. The violence followed confrontations in the Samti area of Chah Ab district, where residents have opposed what they describe as unregulated gold mining by companies linked to the Taliban. Sources told Afghanistan International that at least three local residents and one Taliban member have been killed so far, while the number of injured has risen to 16.
Amu: Taliban detention decree risks longer, arbitrary arrests, lawyers say
Lawyers and human rights activists say a new decree by Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada could lead to prolonged detention of suspects, including those who may later be found innocent, and increase the risk of arbitrary arrests. Under the decree, the maximum period a suspect can be held in custody has been extended from 72 hours to up to 10 days, and detainees may not be released without a ruling from a Taliban court.
Gaza Strip/West Bank
Times of Israel: West Bank Palestinian arrested for lowering girl over barrier into Israel by rope
The Israel Police said on Sunday that officers arrested a Palestinian man who was filmed last month spiriting a young girl over the West Bank security barrier using a rope. The suspect, a 29-year-old from the West Bank town of A-Ram, was caught on video lifting the girl to the wall’s edge, then lowering her down on the other side with a rope.
Iran
The Times: Ayatollah Khamenei plans to flee to Moscow if Iran unrest intensifies
Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has a back-up plan to flee the country should his security forces fail to suppress protests or desert, according to an intelligence report shared with The Times. Khamenei, 86, plans to escape Tehran with a close circle of up to 20 aides and family, should he see that the army and security called on to quell the unrest are deserting, defecting or failing to follow orders.
Israel
Jerusalem Post: Ankle monitors for Jewish extremists: Shin Bet plan stalled, but not off table
Shin Bet Director David Zini's recommendation to use electronic ankle cuffs to keep certain Jewish extremists out of the West Bank has somewhat stalled since he presented it to the security cabinet in mid-November, but is definitely still on the table, the Jerusalem Post has learned.
Former hostage Romi Gonen said that Hamas’s current commander in the Gaza Strip, Izz al-Din al-Haddad, told her at the end of the November 2023 ceasefire that she would be prioritized for release as long as she didn’t tell anyone that her captors sexually assaulted her.
Ibrahim Shalhoub, from the West Bank city of Tulkarem, was sentenced to life in prison on Sunday for killing 83-year-old Holocaust survivor Ludmila Lipovsky in a terror attack in Herzliya in December 2024. Shalhoub, a former informant for the Shin Bet domestic security service, was indicted on terror charges in January 2025, a month after he stabbed Lipovsky multiple times outside of her assisted living complex.
Yitzhak Wasserlauf, Israel’s minister for the Negev, Galilee and National Resilience, said Sunday that security agencies had identified attempts by Hezbollah to gain a foothold in Upper Galilee city of Kiryat Shmona through apartment purchases by Arab citizens of the Jewish state.
Lebanon
Times of Israel: IDF says two Hezbollah operatives killed in Sunday drone strike in southern Lebanon
The Israel Defense Forces said Monday that two people killed in a drone strike in southern Lebanon the day before were Hezbollah operatives working to rebuild the terror group’s infrastructure. Lebanon’s health ministry had also reported two dead in the strike targeting a driving car near the town of Jmaijmeh — located some eight kilometers west of the Israeli border.
Reuters: Israel urges evacuation of four villages in Lebanon ahead of strikes
An Israeli military spokesperson issued an evacuation order on Monday for four villages in eastern and southern Lebanon ahead of planned strikes. The spokesperson said the military was planning strikes on what he described as Hezbollah and Hamas "military infrastructure" in the villages of Hammara and Ain el-Tineh in eastern Lebanon's Bekaa Valley and Kfar Hatta and Aanan in the south.
Syria
Reuters: Britain says it and France bombed suspected Islamic State arms dump in Syria
Britain's and France's air forces conducted a joint operation on Saturday evening to bomb a suspected underground arms cache previously used by the Islamic State group in Syria, Britain's defence ministry said. Western aircraft have been conducting patrols to stop a resurgence of the Islamist militant group that ruled parts of Syria until 2019. Intelligence analysis identified an underground facility believed to be used to store weapons and explosives in mountains north of Palmyra, Britain said.
Rudaw: Kurdish forces foil al-Qaeda-linked plot in Raqqa
The Kurdish-led Internal Security Forces (Asayish) in northeast Syria (Rojava) said on Sunday that they had dismantled a cell in Raqqa composed of individuals recruited to incite sedition by raising the flag of an al-Qaeda offshoot and writing inflammatory slogans across the city.
Yemen
Reuters: Yemeni government accuses separatists of Aden restrictions
Yemen's Saudi-backed government on Sunday accused UAE-backed southern separatists of cutting off the port city of Aden and warned it would "take all necessary measures" after recapturing territory from them in the east on Saturday. The separatists denied having restricted movement into Aden, but the government accusations indicate that hostility between the sides persists despite proposals for a dialogue that had raised hopes of a negotiated solution to the crisis.
Local and security sources reported the return of elements affiliated with Al‑Qaeda from Marib governorate to areas in Hadramout, under the cover of government forces receiving direct support from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The development has raised growing concerns over the future of stability in southern Yemen.
Pakistan
Afghanistan International: Pakistan Seizes Two Tonnes Of Explosives in Karachi
Pakistani security forces have seized about two tonnes of explosives from a cargo truck in the southern port city of Karachi, authorities said, calling it one of the largest such recoveries in recent years. Police said the explosives, weighing roughly 2,000 kilograms, were being transported for use in large-scale attacks targeting key locations across the city. The seizure was made during an operation against the Balochistan Liberation Army, according to Pakistani police.
An Islamabad anti-terrorism court on Friday sentenced seven journalists and social media commentators to life imprisonment in absentia. The court handed down two life sentences each to journalists Sabir Shakir, Moeed Pirzada, Shaheen Sehbai, and Wajahat Saeed Khan, as well as YouTubers and commentators Adil Raja, Haider Raza Mehdi, and Syed Akbar Hussain, in cases related to what it termed “May 9 digital terrorism.”
Australia
A coalition of Labor party affiliates have backed calls for the prime minister to establish a federal royal commission into antisemitism and events that “led to and enabled” the Bondi terrorist attack. In an open letter seen by Guardian Australia on Monday, 21 associates of the Labor party, including former MPs and members of the Labor Israel Action Committee (LIAC), said the “health of our democracy and our national security” was at stake if the government did not call a commonwealth royal commission.
An Australian Federal Police “national surveillance team” set up under the Commonwealth High Risk Terrorist Offender regime was quietly disbanded because of funding shortfalls just weeks before the deadly Bondi attack. The Nightly can reveal the decision to wind up the Canberra-based squad was made late last year after a senior AFP figure told staff: “Current budget pressures and the lack of certainty in relation to ongoing funding has limited our ability to fill vacancies.”
Stay up to date on our latest news.
Get the latest news on extremism and counter-extremism delivered to your inbox.