Eye on Extremism: May 27, 2026
Top Stories
NPR: For far-right extremists, the rise of a new enemy: Women
Evidence tied to last week's deadly attack on a California mosque illustrates a violent ideology and playbook that is all too familiar to counterterrorism and extremism experts. A 75-page typewritten document, attributed to the teenage suspects, and a livestreamed video showing the attack show extensive grounding in far-right, neo-Nazi thinking. But one facet of the ideology behind this attack has, so far, been left out of much mainstream coverage.
National Security News: West Africa now the global centre of Islamist Jihadism
West Africa has become the global epicentre of Islamist jihadism, with fighters linked to the Islamic State group and al-Qaeda now strong enough to threaten local states, a new analysis warns. The expansion has been made possible by increasingly sophisticated weapons and tactics, including the use of drones for attacks, reconnaissance and propaganda, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (Acled).
CEP Mentions
BR24: Germany's IS prisoners – displaced, relocated, forgotten?
Sofia Koller speaks about the fate of young people from Germany who joined the terrorist group Islamic State in Syria.
BBC: Former member of German militant group jailed for armed robberies after decades on the run
"They could still be here, they could be abroad," Hans-Jakob Schindler told the BBC. "I guess they have learned the lesson not to put any pictures of themselves online."
Deutsche Welle: Germany: Alleged leftist militant found guilty of robbery
Klette was arrested in February 2024, in central Berlin, where police said she had been living as "Claudia Ivone" for some 20 years. It remains unclear how she was able to evade authorities for decades, but Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director at the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) think tank, said that extremist left-wing networks remain notoriously difficult for German police to infiltrate or to gather information on.
WELT TV: "As long as the Europeans don't cut off funding, Hamas has a chance of survival."
A fragile ceasefire exists in the Gaza Strip. Despite losses, Hamas remains capable of action and prevents any stable order. Middle East expert Hans-Jakob Schindler explains how the remaining Hamas structures and the influence of Iran continue to fuel the conflict.
Analysis
The IDF struck the latest leader of Hamas in Gaza on Tuesday. This came after the killing of another Hamas leader there a week ago. At the same time, Israel's prime minister has vowed to crush Hezbollah. This puts Israel once again in the complex position of fighting and managing two fronts.
Iran International: Khamenei vows Israel’s annihilation as Hezbollah steps up attacks- why now?
As Washington says a deal with Tehran is drawing closer, Iran’s supreme leader on Tuesday echoed his slain father’s call for Israel’s destruction while Hezbollah intensified drone attacks on northern Israel, raising questions over the timing.
Crime+Investigation: Finsbury Park terrorist attack: Tragedy during Ramadan
Ramadan should be a time of worship and celebration. In the early hours of 19th June 2017, a quiet street in north London became the scene of one of Britain’s most shocking acts of far-right terrorism. Outside Finsbury Park Mosque, Muslim worshippers who had just finished evening prayers during Ramadan were suddenly targeted in a violent attack that left one man dead and many others injured.
National Interest: The Terrorist Threat Washington Isn’t Hearing
Terrorist groups are exploiting music and audio platforms to spread extremist propaganda, exposing dangerous gaps in online content moderation and counterterrorism coordination.
United States
The U.S. military carried out a lethal strike Tuesday on a suspected drug-trafficking vessel in the Eastern Pacific, killing an alleged narco-terrorist, according to U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM).
France 24: Brazilian candidate Flavio Bolsonaro asks Trump to designate crime groups as terrorists
Brazil's conservative presidential hopeful Flavio Bolsonaro said Tuesday that he asked US President Donald Trump during a White House meeting to designate two organised crime groups in his country as terrorist organisations.
The U.S. Department of Justice sued the University of California for the second time this year over allegations of an antisemitic campus environment at UCLA, claiming the school “was deliberately indifferent to the suffering of its Jewish and Israeli students” after Oct. 7. UCLA’s Jewish chancellor harshly pushed back on the lawsuit, telling the Jewish Telegraphic Agency its premise was “simply wrong.”
Jewish Insider: Republicans press Trump to permanently dismantle UNRWA
Republicans in both chambers of Congress are urging the Trump administration to move to permanently dismantle the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, with a new letter from House Republicans calling for a reworking of Palestinian refugee programs in the region.
Jewish Insider: Democrats reject antisemite in Texas while Trump tightens GOP grip
In last night’s Texas primary runoffs, Democrats successfully prevented a virulent antisemite from becoming the party’s nominee in a battleground House race, while voters also ousted one of the party’s longtime anti-Israel lawmakers for a younger, more pragmatic replacement.
It will now be a crime target or harass congregants heading to and from houses of worship or parochial schools — under a new state law crafted in response to soaring antisemitic incidents. The new law, tucked in a massive budget bill, establishes a new penalty for “criminal interference with access to a place of religious worship” — a class B misdemeanor with a penalty of up to 90 days in jail and a maximum $500 fine.
A vote at the Park Slope Food Coop on Tuesday night intensified an already heated debate among members over whether the grocery should boycott Israeli products amid the ongoing conflict involving Israel and Gaza.
Adam Hamawy’s past relationship with terrorist mastermind Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman has loomed over his rapid rise in the race to succeed retiring Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ).
WYFF NBC 4: 13-year-old accused of racist, antisemitic vandalism at vacant home
A 13-year-old was charged with the hate crime ordinance in Richland County, South Carolina, after authorities say the teen broke into a vacant home and vandalized the walls with racial slurs and symbols of antisemitism.
Belgium
JTA: Jewish leaders say Belgium’s prosecution of circumcision is antisemitic
Dozens of European Jewish leaders, joined by Israeli and American diplomats, decried Antwerp prosecutors who plan to charge two Jewish men with performing illegal circumcisions. In an open letter on Tuesday to European and Belgian officials, 45 communal and religious Jewish leaders accused the Antwerp Public Prosecutor’s Office of “effectively criminalizing the act of circumcision” and infringing on religious freedom.
Cyprus
Jerusalem Post: Three Israelis suffer alleged violent attack in Nicosia
Three Israeli citizens reportedly suffered a violent attack in old town Nicosia on Monday. According to initial information, one of the three victims was wounded in the ear.
Germany
Reuters: Accused German Red Army Faction militant sentenced to 13 years
A German court sentenced Daniela Klette, identified by police as a former member of the extreme-left Red Army Faction, to 13 years in prison on Wednesday for a series of armed robberies. Klette, 67, was arrested in 2024 after more than three decades in hiding when she was found living under an assumed name in Berlin by an investigative journalist using facial recognition software.
Reuters: German police arrest Syrian suspected of helping attack at Holocaust memorial
German police arrested a Syrian citizen on Wednesday suspected of aiding and abetting attempted murder and grievous bodily harm in an attack on a tourist at the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin last year, prosecutors said. The arrest of the suspect, identified as Khalaf A. in line with German privacy laws, follows the sentencing of a Syrian refugee, Wassim Al M., in March to 13 years behind bars for attempted murder.
Bloomberg: German Far-Right Plots Purge of Civil Service in Eastern State
Germany’s far-right party is vetting public workers ahead of a planned purge of civil servants if it takes control in an eastern region holding an election later this year, according to people familiar with the matter.
Netherlands
NL Times: Far-right FvD takes blows from almost all parties in debate on violent anti-asylum riots
The far-right FvD and party leader Lidewij de Vos faced attacks from almost all other parties in a Tweede Kamer debate on the violence used at recent anti-asylum protests. This is a turnaround to parliament’s usual stance of largely ignoring the FvD in an attempt not to feed the party’s far-right ideologies. De Vos still refused to distance herself from these racist ideas, NU.nl reported.
United Kingdom
The Telegraph: Ban extremist influencer who defended Oct 7, MPs urge Mahmood
Shabana Mahmood has been urged to ban an extremist influencer from Britain for praising Hamas and defending the Oct 7 massacre. MPs and survivors of anti-Semitic terror attacks have told the Home Secretary to revoke the visa of Hasan Piker, who is expected to speak at a festival in London at the start of June.
New York Times: Nigel Farage’s Far-Right Party Is Now Central to British Politics
Until recently, Nigel Farage was the leader of small but loud political start-ups in Britain. For decades, his anti-Europe parties sought to shift the country’s trajectory, using anti-immigrant and nationalist rhetoric to lead the Brexit campaign. But until 2024, Mr. Farage had never been elected to Parliament, and his movement remained on the fringe, unable to dislodge Britain’s two big political parties. That is all changing.
Russia
Jerusalem Post: Russia warns ISIS-K recruiting Central Asian migrants for regional terror networks
Russia’s top security official has warned that the Afghanistan-based Islamic State Khorasan Province (IS-KP) is actively recruiting citizens from Central Asian countries and migrant workers in Russia into terrorist networks operating across the region.
Afghanistan
A cybersecurity research platform has reviewed Afghanistan International’s report on technical cooperation between the Taliban and Islamic Republic of Iran to develop software capable of surveilling Afghan users.
Afghanistan International: Taliban Releases 2 Detained TOLOnews Journalists On Bail
Sources in Kabul told Afghanistan International on Tuesday that the Taliban has temporarily released Mansoor Niazi and Imran Danish on bail, with their trial expected after Eid.
Gaza Strip/West Bank
Israel on Tuesday evening carried out a strike in the Gaza Strip targeting new Hamas military chief Mohammed Odeh, 11 days after killing his predecessor.
Reuters: Palestinians mourn slain Hamas militant chief as Israel escalates Gaza attacks
Dozens of Palestinians carried the body of Hamas' armed wing chief through the streets of Gaza City in a funeral procession on Wednesday, a day after Israel killed him as it moves to eliminate the militant group's top brass despite a ceasefire.
Jerusalem Post: Board of Peace blames breakdown of ceasefire in Gaza on Hamas’s refusal to disarm
The Board of Peace acknowledged the stalled ceasefire in Gaza and pressed the United Nations Security Council to force Hamas to disarm and allow for the 20-point agreement to proceed.
Israel
Jerusalem Post: Multiple Hezbollah explosive drones impact in northern Israel
Several Hezbollah drones exploded in northern Israel on Wednesday afternoon, the IDF announced. The military did not comment on whether there were any injuries or damage from the latest wave.
Jerusalem Post: Israel bans 40 Euro-Med activists from entry over alleged Hamas ties
On the recommendation of the Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Ministry, 40 activists from the organization Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor were banned from entering Israel. Among the activists whose entry will not be approved are the organization’s founder and chairman, Ramy Abdu; the chairman of its board of trustees; a migration and asylum researcher; and the manager of the organization’s Lebanon branch.
Lebanon
In response to ongoing Hezbollah drone attacks that have harmed an increasing number of IDF soldiers, Israel confirmed on Tuesday that the military has infiltrated deeper into Lebanon beyond the April 17 ceasefire Yellow Line.
AFP: Hezbollah says clashed with Israeli troops north of Litani river
Hezbollah said its fighters clashed with Israeli forces in a town north of the Litani river on Wednesday, a day after Israel's military said it was expanding its ground operations in the country's south.
India
A sessions court in Cuttack on Tuesday acquitted Mohammad Abdur Raheman Ali Khan in a case related to alleged links with Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and Indian Mujahedin (IM), citing lack of evidence.
Pakistan
Pakistan’s Chief of Defense Forces Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir vowed that the armed forces would pursue the facilitators, abettors and perpetrators of “terrorism” with full force, the military’s media wing said on Wednesday, as Islamabad attempts to quell rising militant attacks.
Sudan
Reuters: Survivors of al-Fashir attack describe brutal escape from Sudan
They could do nothing but watch as paramilitary fighters shot and killed their loved ones. They were held captive and endured beatings. Their phones, shoes and life savings were stolen. Survivors of a three-day paramilitary assault in western Sudan began showing up in the desert town of Tine, on the Chad-Sudan border, in early November 2025. There, a team of Reuters journalists spoke with some of them about the horrors they say they faced fleeing the Rapid Support Forces takeover of al-Fashir, a large city in Sudan’s Darfur region. The famine-stricken city, once home to some 1 million people, had been under siege for 18 months before the final RSF offensive, which began on October 25.
Australia
An Australian state police force has worked to form a heavily armed rapid response team since gunmen killed 15 people and wounded three police officers armed only with handguns at a Sydney Hanukkah celebration in December, a government inquiry heard Wednesday.
The head of an inquiry into antisemitism in Australia on Tuesday said Jewish witnesses who appeared before it are facing online harassment and bigotry and issued a condemnation.
Victims of antisemitism have been targeted with death threats and depicted as animals in AI-generated images after giving evidence to the royal commission examining the Bondi terror attack.
Technology
JTA: A teen’s guide to the antisemitic slang flourishing on social media
For teens active on social media, it is hard to escape such coded language, which can be used to describe people and things not even associated with Israel or Palestinians. As criticism of Israel exploded after the Oct. 7 attacks and the war that followed, these dog whistles multiplied.
PsyPost: Video games aren’t major engines for extremist radicalization, new research suggests
A recent study exploring how political extremists use video games to find new members suggests that while recruitment attempts do happen, they are relatively rare. The research provides evidence that encountering far-right or far-left messaging in gaming spaces can influence hostile attitudes and aggression in different ways. These findings were published in the journal Psychology of Popular Media.
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