Eye on Extremism: May 21, 2026
Top Stories
European Parliament on Thursday adopted a resolution condemning the Taliban’s penal code and calling for an end to public floggings and executions, as well as sanctions against Taliban leaders.
Euractiv: EXCLUSIVE: Suspected IRGC operatives retain diplomatic cover in EU
The EU’s decision earlier this year to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation has opened a thorny new question for European governments: what to do about Iranian military attachés serving in EU capitals. A classified dossier seen by Euractiv alleges that some Iranian military representatives posted across Europe are active IRGC officers operating under diplomatic cover, raising concerns that individuals linked to a sanctioned organisation continue to benefit from diplomatic protections and freedom of movement across the bloc.
CEP Mentions
Bayerischer Rundfunk: Arrest after Munich attack: Trail leads to terror network
Terrorism expert Hans-Jakob Schindler of the transatlantic think tank Counter Extremism Project describes the arrest of al-Saadi as a "serious blow" to the network. In his assessment, HAYI is less an independent terrorist organization than an ideological label under which various operations are consolidated. Actual control, he believes, was likely exercised through intermediaries from the Iraqi Shiite milieu. Schindler sees this as further evidence of connections to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
Analysis
Times of Israel: Texas Dem’s vow to castrate Zionists highlights anti-Israel turmoil in US politics
A Texas congressional candidate’s call to imprison and castrate “Zionists” rocked her Democratic party this week, as lawmakers expressed alarm and decried antisemitism in politics. Two Democrats — US Reps. Josh Gottheimer and Jared Moskowitz — said in a joint statement that if the candidate, Maureen Galindo, enters Congress, “We will force a vote to expel her every single day.”
Jerusalem Post: ISIS escalates rhetoric, seeks ‘new phase of fighting’ in Syria – analysis
DAMASCUS Syria witnessed a notable escalation in the rhetoric of the Islamic State group (ISIS) over the past week after the organization released a new propaganda message urging its members and foreign fighters inside Syria to “continue fighting” against the Syrian state and refrain from surrendering or leaving the country.
United States
In rambling writings full of vitriol against a wide range of people, the teenagers who attacked the Islamic Center of San Diego this week, killing three men and themselves, left little doubt about the models for their violence. Chief among them: the shooter who killed 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019.
For months, the ABC7 I-Team has been reporting on sadistic online groups that sow chaos in communities across the globe. Sources tell ABC News the now-dead San Diego Islamic Center shooting suspects may have been connected to similar nihilistic violent extremism online. Those connections should have triggered immediate intervention according to a former Department of Homeland Security expert.
The two teenage gunmen who killed three people at the Islamic Center of San Diego, California, on Monday blamed all the world's issues on the Jews. The Jerusalem Post obtained a copy of the 75-page manifesto found in the possession of the two teens, both found dead, apparently from self-inflicted gunshot wounds, after the attack. The shooters were identified as Caleb Liam Vazquez, 18, and Cain Lee Clark, 17.
NBC News: San Diego mosque suspects’ writings reveal influence of online extremism, experts say
The two teenage suspects in this week’s deadly attack on a San Diego mosque appear to have written a 75-page document replete with neo-Nazi ideology, incel rage and racist meme culture drawn from the darkest corners of the internet.
Democratic leaders are trying to prevent Maureen Galindo, a candidate who has repeatedly expressed antisemitic views, from winning their party’s nomination in next week’s Texas runoff, and they’ve accused Republicans of propping up her campaign. Galindo faces Johnny Garcia in the runoff for the Democratic nomination in the state’s 35th Congressional District, which is located in the San Antonio area. The district was redrawn by Texas Republicans to boost their party’s chances of holding onto the seat in this year’s midterms.
Rabbi Mara Nathan says watching an antisemitic conspiracy theorist emerge as a serious contender for a U.S. House seat in her Texas district has been “very disorienting.” Nathan lives and works in San Antonio, where Maureen Galindo, a local activist who has vowed to turn a local immigrant detention center “into a prison for American Zionists,” was the top vote-getter in a Democratic primary in March and now faces a runoff on Tuesday.
Jewish Insider: House hearing spotlights antisemitism from healthcare unions
Speaking at a House Education & Workforce subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, a doctor accused his union of engaging in systemic discrimination against Jewish and Israeli health providers, supporting terrorist sympathizers and making “its obsession with a single geopolitical conflict a defining future of its identity” — all while he’ll be forced by federal law to fund it.
Bergen Record: Jewish group urges NJ governor to better define what is antisemitism
Supporters of a state antisemitism definition in New Jersey are pressing Gov. Mikie Sherrill to enact it by executive order before lawmakers vote. The Jewish Majority, a nonprofit advocacy group that fights extremism, sent a petition to the governor in support of an immediate adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of antisemitism through an executive order.
Fox KTVU 2: Antisemitic symbols found inside San Jose elementary school staff room after break in
Parents at an East San Jose elementary school are grappling with how to address hate speech with their children after a weekend break-in left anti-Semitic and other hateful symbols inside a campus facility.
New Hampshire Patch: Neo-Nazi Trial Over Concord Rally Delayed Due To Late Evidence
The state’s civil trial against Neo-Nazi group NSC-131 and its leader Christopher Hood is on hold as the court waits for the white supremacists to turn over cell phone videos and social media messages. Hood and NCS-131 are being accused of violating civil rights laws for their aggressive June 18, 2023 demonstration in Concord that targeted staff and patrons at a Teatotaller Cafe’s drag queen story hour.
A Jewish woman is suing a white supremacist group over its self-described “European heritage community” near Ravenden, saying they are violating the Arkansas Civil Rights Act and Fair Housing Act by denying her application to build a home there.
Canada
Windsor Star: Windsor man sentenced to nine months of jail for supporting neo-Nazi group
A Windsor man who, as a teenager, tried to join a neo-Nazi group and pledged to support its terrorist activities has been sentenced to nine months in jail. Seth Bertrand, now 23, “was entrenched in the ideology of a ‘white ethnostate,’” when he attempted to join a group listed in Canada as a terrorist entity, Superior Court Justice Maria Carroccia said during her sentencing decision on Wednesday.
Germany
Germany continues to face persistently high levels of antisemitism, with 2,197 anti-Jewish incidents recorded in Berlin in 2025, according to a report published Wednesday by Germany’s Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism, known as RIAS.
Jerusalem Post: Two men charged for plot to assassinate German Jewish leaders on behalf of Iran
Two men were indicted for a plot to assassinate two German Jewish community leaders on behalf of the Iranian Regime and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the German Federal Public Prosecutor General announced on Thursday.
United Kingdom
The Arsenal soccer team’s home stadium in London was vandalized this week with antisemitic graffiti, days after the British club announced a sponsorship by tech company Deel, whose co-founder is Israeli. “No Deel ZOG,” the graffiti spotted on Monday night read, using an acronym for “Zionist Occupied Government,” a term popularized by white supremacists and deployed for anti-Jewish conspiracy theories.
The National: London calling: Iran's IRGC media operations find UK base
A cluster of companies owned and controlled by a UK citizen has established ties to the media arm of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, The National can reveal. Yasser Al Sayegh's businesses can be linked to the Islamic Radios and Televisions Union (IRTVU), which is sanctioned by the US government over allegations it is controlled by the IRGC.
Afghanistan
Afghanistan International: Kabul Military Airport Hit In Rocket Attack, Claims Anti-Taliban Group
Afghanistan Freedom Front says it carried out rocket attacks on a Taliban base at Kabul’s military airport on Wednesday night, claiming the site stored key equipment and trained Taliban fighters.
Gaza Strip/West Bank
The National: Hamas militarily depleted and divided but remains 'very dangerous'
Israel’s assassination of Hamas's military commander in Gaza last week has compounded the group’s woes, with layers of its leadership now eliminated, its military capabilities significantly diminished, and infighting threatening its unity. Moreover, according to sources with direct knowledge of Hamas's inner workings, Israeli-backed militias in Gaza are posing a growing threat to the group, which had been the target of relentless Israeli strikes for two years before a US-sponsored ceasefire took effect in the territory in October.
Hamas has reportedly selected longstanding member Mohammed Odeh to lead the group’s so-called military wing, the Al Qassam Brigades. The news was first reported by Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat on May 18, after Israel eliminated the previous chief of Al Qassam, Izz al Din al Haddad, in a May 15 targeted strike in Gaza City.
Iran
Reuters: Exclusive: Supreme Leader says enriched uranium must stay in Iran, Iranian sources say
Iran's Supreme Leader has issued a directive that the country's near-weapons-grade uranium should not be sent abroad, two senior Iranian sources said, hardening Tehran's stance on one of the main U.S. demands at peace talks. Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei's order could further frustrate U.S. President Donald Trump and complicate talks on ending the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
With Iran now in de facto control of the strait, the system can involve government-to-government arrangements, intense vetting by the Iranian government and sometimes fees in exchange for safe passage, Reuters has found.
Israel
Wall Street Journal: Inside Israel’s High-Tech Campaign to Kill or Capture Every Oct. 7 Attacker
The men were crossed off a list of thousands of names kept by an Israeli task force created for one job—to kill or capture all who planned or joined in the Oct. 7 attack, said current and former Israeli officials. Hundreds have been struck from the list, in one of the most personal and highly technical targeting campaigns in the history of warfare. The campaign continues amid the demands of the war with Iran and a cease-fire agreement in Gaza.
Times of Israel: Rare charges filed for Jewish terror attack targeting Palestinians in West Bank
A 25-year-old man from Jerusalem was indicted Wednesday on terror charges after allegedly taking part in three separate Jewish terrorist attacks on West Bank Palestinians and their property, one of which left a man in a coma.
Jerusalem Post: Inside Israel’s secret operation to turn Hezbollah’s beepers into bombs – exclusive
The whole world was shocked out of its wits on September 17-18, 2024, when the Mossad brought the mighty 150,000-rocket-wielding Hezbollah terror army to its knees in an instant with a “fleet” of exploding beepers. Or, rather, almost the whole world, excluding the Mossad operatives and defense officials who ran the operation, such as “Adam Feyn,” who recently published a book in Hebrew, Hoda’ah Goralit (Fateful Message), about the operation and gave his first English-language interview about it to The Jerusalem Post.
Times of Israel: COGAT demands UN halt support for Turkish IHH group over Hamas ties
The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) demands that the UN World Food Programme immediately halt its support to the Turkish IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation, according to a letter sent by the agency.
Kuwait
The National: Kuwait refers IRGC members to court over island infiltration plot
Several suspected members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were referred to court by prosecutors in Kuwait on Thursday in connection with an armed infiltration into the Gulf state. Kuwait said it had foiled an IRGC plot on Bubiyan Island this month. Four attackers linked to the IRGC were arrested on May 3 after attempting to infiltrate the island by fishing boat to carry out “hostile acts”.
Lebanon
Naharnet: Hezbollah says Lebanese left with no choice but to resist occupation
Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc urged on Thursday Arab and foreign embassies to inform their governments of the daily Israeli aggressions, over the course of fifteen months, since a truce was reached in November 2024. "That agreement obligated both sides to cease all forms of hostilities and mandated the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the territories it occupied in southern Lebanon. While Lebanon has strictly adhered to this agreement, the Israeli side has continued its daily aggressions," the letter said.
Naharnet: Bassil tells Hezbollah to stop 'insisting that its arms can't be touched'
Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has said that Lebanon should devise a national security strategy document and Hezbollah's weapons "should be part of it." "Hezbollah must accept that we should live in peace when the conditions are secured for protecting Lebanon, achieving a ceasefire, Israel's withdrawal from Lebanese territory, the return of captives, the return of diplaced Lebanese to their homes, and the state obtaining reparations and other issues," Bassil said in an interview with al-Mayadeen television.
Naharnet: Lebanon, Israel may agree to 'declaration of intent': What does it involve?
A draft agreement, resembling a "declaration of intent" between Lebanon and Israel, is circulating in political and diplomatic circles, an informed diplomatic source said. This agreement, sponsored directly by the United States and spearheaded by the administration of President Donald Trump, is intended to pave the way for a comprehensive agreement that would end the ongoing conflict between the two sides, the source told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Thursday.
Times of Israel: 10 soldiers, including brigade commander, hurt in separate Hezbollah drone attacks
Ten IDF soldiers were wounded, including two seriously, in two separate explosive drone attacks launched by Hezbollah on troops operating in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, as limited fighting with the Iran-backed terror group persisted despite a ceasefire.
Naharnet: Hezbollah says fierce resistance in Haddatha forced Israeli troops to retreat
Hezbollah said Wednesday its fighters were engaged in clashes with a force of Israeli soldiers that repeatedly tried to advance from the southern border town of Rshaf towards Haddatha. The group said in a statement that the Israeli force had tried to enter Haddatha three times in one week amid fierce resistance.
Syria
Reuters: Syria's Sharaa to attend G7 summit in France, sources say
Syria will attend the G7 summit in France next month as a guest nation and be represented by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, three sources familiar with the matter said, marking Syria's first participation in a summit of the group since the forum was founded in 1975. An invitation to Sharaa to attend the June 15-17 summit in Évian-les-Bains, southeastern France, was hand-delivered to Syrian Finance Minister Yisr Barnieh, who attended the group's financial talks earlier this week in Paris, one of the sources said.
Sudan
Reuters: Death in Darfur: 3 days of horror caught on camera
Sudanese paramilitary forces recorded themselves killing civilians while conquering the city of al-Fashir – as their commanders stood by. Using fighters’ videos and survivor accounts, this Reuters documentary reconstructs the violence.
Australia
Jerusalem Post: Man arrested for theft of Bondi Beach victim, event photographer's camera
An Australian man was arrested on Wednesday for the theft of Bondi Beach massacre victim and event photographer Peter Meagher’s camera in the aftermath of the attack, the New South Wales Police announced on Thursday. The suspect, a 35-year-old Marayong resident, was also working as the tragic Hanukkah event’s photographer when he stole his peer’s camera, the police alleged.
SBS: Neo-nazi group lodge legal challenge against hate group listing
Neo-Nazi organisation White Australia's bid for temporary immunity from being listed as an illegal hate group has been put on ice — but the High Court could decide the matter as soon as June.
Technology
Jerusalem Post: Spotify declines to take down rap song cited for antisemitic conspiracy claims
Spotify declined a request by the International Legal Forum to remove a song from its application that the ILF argued spread antisemitic conspiracy theories and violated the audio media platform's guidelines on hate content. In an email reviewed by The Jerusalem Post, Spotify said on Monday that it did not believe that Chris Webby's rap song Raw Thoughts VII met the threshold for removal under the platform's rules.
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