Eye on Extremism: May 6, 2026
Top Stories
Antisemitic physical assaults in the United States reached record highs in 2025, and included Jewish fatalities on American soil for the first time since 2019, according to the Anti-Defamation League’s annual report. It was the first time there were fatalities in the US that resulted from antisemitic attacks since 2022, the report found.
The US-led Board of Peace tasked with overseeing the postwar management of Gaza does not intend to hold Israel to the terms of the October 2025 Gaza ceasefire if Hamas does not accept the international panel’s framework for the terror group’s disarmament, a document obtained by The Times of Israel shows.
CEP Mentions
Terrorism expert Hans-Jakob Schindler sees no end to the series of attacks at present. On the contrary, he warns of a growing danger to Jews from pro-Iranian attacks – even after a possible end to the Iran-Iraq War. The Iranian intelligence service, with the Revolutionary Guard at its center, is currently pursuing a deliberate escalation strategy, said the head of the Counter Extremism Project.
Evangelische Zeitung: Expert: Iran will continue to threaten Jews in Europe for a long time.
Terrorism expert Hans-Jakob Schindler warns of a growing danger to Jews in Europe and the US from pro-Iranian attacks – even after a possible end to the Iran-Iraq War. The Iranian intelligence service, with the Revolutionary Guard at its center, is currently pursuing a deliberate escalation strategy, the head of the Counter Extremism Project told the Catholic News Agency (KNA)
ARD: Terrorism allegations against Iran · New leads in Germany
Terrorism expert Hans-Jakob Schindler speaks on new Iranian terror “group” HAYI and attack against an Israeli restaurant in Munich.
Terrorism expert Hans-Jakob Schindler addresses the threat by Iran against Jews in Germany,
Analysis
Fox News: Britain’s antisemitism crisis could trigger legal reckoning at home and abroad
That morning in Golders Green, one of London’s most visibly Jewish neighborhoods, a man ran through the streets with a knife looking for Jews to stab. He found them. A 70-year-old man. Another in his 30s. Both were attacked outside a synagogue. By then, the response had become predictable. "Deeply concerning." A line so worn it had lost all meaning. The next day, the U.K. government raised the national threat level "from substantial, meaning an attack is likely, to severe, meaning an attack is highly likely in the next 6 months," the last time it was at that level was in November 2021.
Jerusalem Post: Syria’s crackdown on Hezbollah shows Damascus's commitment to security – analysis
Syria’s Ministry of Interior said on May 5 that they had dismantled a Hezbollah-linked cell. Syria posted images of the raids, showing how important Damascus takes this development. Syrian statement media noted that “Syria’s Interior Ministry announced Tuesday it had foiled a large-scale terrorist plot and dismantled a cell linked to Hezbollah militia that was planning to destabilize the country.”
Two Jewish Democrats from Chicago are looking to run for president. One, Illinois’ two-term governor, JB Pritzker, has built up a reliably progressive record while steering clear of ideological fights over Israel, antisemitism and other cultural issues fueling the Democratic Party.
United States
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security identified the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran as a potential motive for the man accused of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump and senior members of his administration at a White House reporters' gala last month, according to an intelligence report sent to state and local law enforcement nationwide and other federal agencies. The report, a preliminary assessment by the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Intelligence and Analysis dated April 27, assessed that the suspect Cole Allen had "multiple social and political grievances." It concluded that the Iran conflict "may have contributed to his decision to conduct the attack," citing social media posts from Allen that criticized U.S. actions in the war.
U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said Tuesday that the U.S. military carried out a lethal strike on a vessel in the Eastern Pacific, killing three suspected narco-terrorists. The strike, which was conducted by Joint Task Force Southern Spear at the direction of Commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, targeted a vessel that was operating along known narco-trafficking corridors and engaged in narco-trafficking activity.
Texas Sen. John Cornyn has repeatedly praised the American arm of Islamic Relief Worldwide — a charity the State Department cut ties with in 2021 amid concerns including praise of terrorists and antisemitism. After the State Department aired its concerns regarding Islamic Relief Worldwide, Cornyn had kind words for its American branch. A Fox News Digital review uncovered two video messages and two letters where Cornyn commended Islamic Relief USA or endorsed the organization’s operations.
As Michigan’s open U.S. Senate race intensifies, some Jewish residents across the state say Democratic contender Abdul El-Sayed’s candidacy is amplifying concerns over antisemitism as tensions surrounding Israel continue to reverberate far beyond foreign policy.
The U.S. Department of State has announced a reward of up to $10 million for credible information leading to the identification or location of Akram ‘Abbas al-Kabi, the reported founder and leader of Harakat al-Nujaba (HAN) in Iraq.
Iran International: Pro-regime graffiti in Los Angeles sparks concern in Iranian-American hub
Graffiti in support of Iran’s theocracy has appeared in one of the most prominent Iranian-American neighborhoods in the United States, prompting concern among some residents about intimidation and the spillover of political tensions into diaspora communities. One of the markings found in the area bore the name “DISO,” a Los Angeles-based graffiti group whose work has largely focused on pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel messaging.
Times of Israel: Protesters bearing Hezbollah flag scuffle with NYPD while marching on synagogue
Anti-Zionist protesters scuffled with police, chanted for Israel’s destruction and expressed support for terrorist groups at a demonstration in New York City on Tuesday. The protesters said they were targeting an event marketing real estate in Israel held at the Park East Synagogue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
Jewish Insider: Jewish leaders warn of new front in anti-Israel campus activity: targeting Hillels
In the aftermath of the New School student government’s vote to defund and sever ties with Hillel, Jewish leaders are warning that the latest front in campus anti-Israel activity is designed to delegitimize the world’s largest Jewish campus organization. “Hillel is a space of Jewish belonging on campus. It is a place Jewish students need, and particularly need right now. For anyone to call into question a place that Jewish students go for their needs is beyond the pale. This absolutely crosses a red line,” Laura Shaw Frank, vice president of the American Jewish Committee Center for Education Advocacy, told Jewish Insider.
Jewish Insider: Retiring GOP Rep. Don Bacon warns of surging antisemitism at Israel Advocacy Day
Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), a co-chair of the House Antisemitism Task Force, warned on Tuesday that anti-Israel sentiment has moved from the political fringes to a “dominant” position within the Democratic Party and warned the same could happen to his own party. “My colleagues across the aisle on the Democrat side, what I see right now is a very anti-Israel dominance on the Democrat side and that scares me because it used to be bipartisan,” Bacon said. “I got a lot of friends on the Democrat side that are pro-Israel, but right now the anti-Israel tone is dominant.”
JTA: Boulder hostage-march firebombing suspect to plead guilty to state charges
The man charged with firebombing a Boulder, Colorado, march for Israeli hostages in 2025 will plead guilty to killing one person and attempting to kill others in the incident, according to documents filed in the case over the weekend. Mohamed Sabry Soliman, who was arrested at the scene of the June 1, 2025, attack, is asking for his ex-wife and children to be able to remain in the United States as a condition of his guilty plea, according to the documents.
WTOP: Campaign sign vandalized with hate symbols in Prince George’s County
Greg Holmes said he felt a range of emotions when he saw one of his campaign highway signs covered in hateful vandalism on Friday. “It wasn’t just a damaged sign,” Holmes said. “It was a level of violence and vandalism that I hadn’t seen in the county.”
Canada
CBC: Quebec man found guilty of fomenting hatred against Jews appeals 15-month sentence
A Quebec man convicted of fomenting hatred against Jews is appealing his guilty verdict and 15-month jail sentence. The case involving Gabriel Sohier-Chaput is scheduled to be heard today at the Quebec Court of Appeal in Montreal.
St. Albert RCMP say charges are under review after an alleged hate-motivated assault on a Muslim man. Ali Wahad Noor, 56, says he was knocked unconscious and called the n-word after leaving his mosque last Friday.
After hiring an alleged ISIS recruiter, Ontario's largest electricity provider tried to bring in a much more intensive security screening process to protect its grid — but a labour arbitrator has found Hydro One's national security background checks were "intrusive" and "unreasonable." The decision comes as Canada's intelligence agencies have increasingly warned that critical infrastructure in Canada is vulnerable to attack from foreign states, and that private companies need to take national security and insider threats seriously.
Argentina
JTA: Jewish library and Chabad near Buenos Aires attacked, Argentine Jewish advocates say
Counterterrorism officials in Buenos Aires are investigating after a Jewish library and a Chabad center in a suburb in the Argentine capital were attacked last week. On Thursday night, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at the Israeli Literary Center and Max Nordau Library in La Plata, according to a statement published Friday by the center’s board of directors. Multiple individuals “threw a blunt object filled with fuel at the front of the library, breaking windows and causing material damage,” the board said, noting that the device did not ignite and no one was injured.
Czech Republic
Prague Police are investigating the brutal assault of two members of the German band Abbruch in the late night hours of Friday, 1 May and the early morning hours of Saturday, 2 May after the Antifascist Action (AFA) Festival in Prague, Czech Republic. One musician was hospitalized with serious injuries.
Germany
BBC: German police raid neo-Nazi criminal youth groups
Police have raided around 50 homes and other locations, targeting people suspected of involvement in far-right criminal youth groups that have recently emerged in Germany. Prosecutors said the suspects were believed to be part of two groups, "Jung & Stark" (JS), or Young and Strong, and "Deutsche Jugend Voran" (DJV), which means Forwards German Youth.
Romania
Deutsche Welle: Romania's government falls, far-right firewall crumbles
Romanian governments rarely stay in power for long. The last time a Romanian prime minister completed a full term was between 2004 and 2008. Since the constitutional crisis of 2012, the country has had no less than 11 elected prime ministers, seven interim leaders and 19 different cabinets. In short, Romania has been chronically unstable for years. Now, another government has fallen.
Romania is once again plunging into political turmoil. Just 10 months after the formation of a pro-European governing coalition uniting the Social Democrats, the liberals of the National Liberal Party (PNL), the Save Romania Union (USR) and the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR), the government has fallen following a no-confidence motion passed on Tuesday, May 5.
United Kingdom
Times of Israel: London cops announce new unit to protect Jews amid surging antisemitic violence
London’s Metropolitan Police on Wednesday announced the creation of a special unit to protect Jews following a spate of hate attacks amid growing antisemitism. The Met said the new “community protection team” will initially comprise 100 extra officers and combine neighborhood policing with “specialist protection and counterterrorism capabilities.”
Times of Israel: UK Green Party said to probe dozens of council candidates over antisemitism
The United Kingdom’s Green Party is investigating over 30 local council candidates for alleged antisemitism, the Daily Mail reported Wednesday, the latest in a series of British media reports that week highlighting antisemitic and anti-Israeli rhetoric by party members, including from its Jewish leader, Zack Polanski.
Reuters: British Jews gather for annual celebration in shadow of recent attacks
Thousands of British Jews gathered in north London on Tuesday to mark the Lag B'Omerfestival, a celebratory event in the Jewish calendar, after weeks of heightened tension and fear following a string of antisemitic attacks. At one event in the area, men in ultra-Orthodox Jewish dress packed out a school playground to dance and pray together around bonfires as hundreds of women and children watched from nearby streets and some crowded onto the balconies of residential buildings.
Violent antisemitic abuse was allowed to proliferate across a Jewish political candidate’s social media as part of a broader trend designed to intimidate Jewish Australians from public life, a royal commission has heard. Joshua Kirsh launched a campaign as an independent candidate for the New South Wales upper house in late 2025 but found his advertisements online bombarded by antisemitic tropes, abuse and threats.
Afghanistan
Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff Asim Munir said Taliban support for Pakistani militants is an irrational and misguided policy, adding Pakistan’s military operations against them will continue. According to a statement from the Pakistani military’s press office, army generals said the Taliban’s policy of supporting militant groups has become fully evident and has backfired.
Afghanistan International: Defence Lawyers Must Support Authorities, Says Taliban Senior Official
Abdul Karim Haidar, deputy justice minister, said defence lawyers in Afghanistan must act in line with the interests of the Taliban’s Justice Ministry and authorities after receiving legal licences. The Taliban Justice Ministry said on Tuesday that it had held an entrance examination for issuing licences to defence lawyers.
Iran
Reuters: Iran says it is reviewing new US proposal after sources say sides closing in on deal
Iran said on Wednesday it was reviewing a new U.S. proposal, after sources said Washington and Tehran were closing in on a one-page memorandum to end the war in the Gulf while leaving tricky issues such as Iran's nuclear programme for later. An Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson, cited by Iran's ISNA news agency, said Iran would convey its response soon via Pakistan, which hosted the war's only peace talks and has since served as the main conduit for messages between the sides.
Reuters: Iranian FA chief says FIFA guarantees over IRGC respect essential for World Cup trip
Iranian FA (FFIRI) chief Mehdi Taj says FIFA must guarantee that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is not insulted by the United States if the national team is to travel to the country to play at the World Cup in June. An FFIRI delegation, including Taj, turned back from the Canadian border last week because of what they said was disrespectful treatment at the hands of immigration officials as they tried to attend the FIFA Congress in Vancouver.
IranWire: IRGC Threatens Vessels: Transit Only Through Iran-Declared Corridor
On Tuesday, May 5, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy issued another warning to all vessels intending to transit the Strait of Hormuz, declaring that the only safe route for passage is the corridor previously established by the Islamic Republic. The message published by the IRGC states: “We warn all vessels intending to transit the strait; the only safe path for passing through the Strait of Hormuz is the corridor previously announced by Iran. The deviation of vessels to other routes is unsafe and will be met with decisive action by the IRGC Navy.”
Jerusalem Post: IRGC targets Komala headquarters in Kurdistan Region with drone strike – report
The IRGC targeted the Surdash camp, an Iranian Kurdish area of the Biban region, where families of Iranian Kurdish opponents live, with two drones, the Kurdistan Regional Government Security Directorate stated on Tuesday. No casualties were reported, according to the security directorate.
Israel
Naharnet: Report: Netanyahu tells Trump he's 'interested in' escalating against Hezbollah
If the Iran ceasefire collapses, Israel is eyeing the possibility of escalating strikes on Hezbollah across Lebanon, an Israeli source told CNN on Tuesday. Washington is still pushing for diplomacy between Israel and Lebanon, but the U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Lebanon appears to be on the verge of collapse. U.S. President Donald Trump extended the truce to the end of next week, but Israel and Hezbollah have continued to exchange fire on a daily basis.
Lebanon
AFP: Zamir vows from S. Lebanon to seize every opportunity to dismantle Hezbollah
Israel's army chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir visited troops in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, vowing to dismantle Hezbollah and saying the military was prepared to launch a new offensive against Iran if needed. "We will seize every opportunity to deepen the dismantling of Hezbollah and continue weakening it," Zamir told soldiers in the area of the Lebanese town of Khiam.
Naharnet: Rubio says peace 'achievable', problem 'not Israel or Lebanon' but Hezbollah
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that peace between Israel and Lebanon is "achievable" and that "the problem is not Israel or Lebanon" but Hezbollah. Rubio told reporters on Tuesday at the White House that he thinks "a peace deal between Lebanon and Israel is imminently achievable and should be".
Syria
Damascus thwarted a plot by a Hezbollah-affiliated cell to assassinate government officials, the Syrian Interior Ministry announced on Tuesday night. “Its members had infiltrated Syrian territory after receiving intensive specialized training in Lebanon,” the ministry asserted.
Reuters: Syrian forces detain Uzbek fighters in security sweep
Syrian forces have arrested Uzbek fighters during a security sweep in the northwest, after a dispute involving one of them escalated into protests outside a government security facility, two Syrian security officials said. The tensions began after authorities sought to detain an Uzbek fighter accused of opening fire in Idlib city, prompting demonstrations by armed Uzbek fighters demanding his release, according to the officials and locals.
Mali
RFI: Mali junta chief takes over defence minister's role amid criticism from UN
The attacks on 25 and 26 April by Tuareg separatists and Al Qaeda-linked jihadists saw the groups capture the key northern town of Kidal, as they launched numerous assaults in the largest offensive in the west African country in nearly 15 years.
Australia
Canberra Times: Hate speech charge laid for banner at neo-Nazi rally
A rally orchestrated by prominent neo-Nazis outside the gates of a state parliament has resulted in a hate speech arrest nearly six months later. A group of 60 black-clad demonstrators who were allowed to assemble outside NSW parliament and yell Hitler youth chants on November 8.
Jerusalem Post: Antisemitic manosphere streamer Sneako kicked out of, banned from Australia
Antisemitic American streamer and YouTuber Nicolas Kenn De Balinthazy, known as Sneako, was kicked out of and banned from visiting Australia by Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, Sky News reported on Wednesday.
Times of Israel: Despite mayor’s cancellation, ‘Globalize the intifada’ event proceeds in Sydney
An event seeking to promote the use of the slogan “Globalize the intifada” went ahead in a park in Sydney after the city’s mayor blocked it from taking place at a state council-owned venue. The event, which was officially canceled on Monday after fears that it would spark violence, attracted just about 150 people and was held without major incident, according to local news reports.
An official told the ABC the Australian government was responsible for the nearly two-week delay of the group leaving the capital, Damascus, for Australia. The ABC revealed the group of four women and nine children, who have links to Islamic State, left Syria's Al Roj refugee camp in late April, but were stuck in limbo in Damascus.
The National: Thirteen ISIS-linked Australians returning home from Syria
Four Australian women and nine children linked to ISIS have left Syria's Al Roj camp and are set to arrive in Australia where they could face arrest and charges. “Some individuals” will be charged, Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett told reporters, without specifying which ones, and indicating that the rest are still under investigation.
Independent: Australia says it’s ready to handle return of Isis-linked families from Syria
Australian police were ready to arrest members of a group of 13 people linked to Isis fighters who were returning home from Syria, the home affairs minister announced on Wednesday. Some of the individuals had committed crimes and would face the law, Tony Burke claimed.
Technology
While the biggest dating platforms generally aim to unite people regardless of their identity or heritage, the internet hides a much more exclusionary side. In these shadows, specific apps have emerged to help white supremacists find each other by building entire communities around the concepts of prejudice and segregation.
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