Eye on Extremism: October 1, 2026
Top Stories
Associated Press: Why a copilot attacked the captain of an Israel-bound flight remains unknown
Investigators worked Thursday to determine why an Omani pilot stabbed the captain of a flight to Israel, causing the plane to plummet dangerously before others on board landed it in Saudi Arabia.
JNS: ‘Antisemitic conspiracies spread within 67 minutes of flydubai attack’
Antisemitic conspiracy theories began circulating on social media just 67 minutes after the first emergency signal from the flydubai flight that was apparently targeted in a terrorist attack on Wednesday, according to a new study by the Combat Antisemitism Movement.
CEP Mentions
WTOP News: The Hunt: Terror in the sky
A copilot on a FlyDubai jet bound for Tel Aviv on Wednesday allegedly stabbed the flight’s captain and tried to crash the plane, witnesses said. The plane sharply descended before passengers rushed the cockpit and subdued the accused attacker. On this episode of “The Hunt with WTOP National Security Correspondent J.J. Green,” Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director at the Counter Extremism Project, said the entire sequence is bizarre.
The government in Jerusalem is calling it an attempted terrorist attack. Expert Hans-Jakob Schindler analyzes possible motives, the threat posed by Iran, and the significance of the Israeli election campaign.
ZDFheute: US troops are leaving Iraq: What are the consequences of the withdrawal?
Baghdad called for help, and so US troops returned in 2014. The military intervention had far-reaching consequences: “The physical caliphate was effectively ended, so effectively that to this day it has not been possible to proclaim a new caliphate in these two countries, Syria and Iraq,” says terrorism expert Hans-Jakob Schindler.
Analysis
Wednesday’s flydubai flight that made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia after the copilot apparently attempted to crash the plane appears to be the closest Israeli air travelers have come to being intentionally killed in over two decades.
Washington Post: How cockpit doors have changed amid terrorism attacks
Wednesday’s Flydubai flight that made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia could have ended in a much bigger disaster if crew and passengers had failed to get past the cockpit door. The cockpit doors on modern aircraft are designed to act as hardened barriers — a focal point in efforts to thwart terrorism after the 9/11 attacks, when hijackers breached the doors to seize control of the planes.
United States
Jonathan Mark Susor, who lives in Georgia, was charged with making terror threats after allegedly saying that he would kill U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the U.S. official’s family unless Hegseth killed Jews at a Chabad.
Fox News: Suspect arrested after alleged plot to attack Texas Capitol: officials
A Texas man was arrested Wednesday after allegedly planning to attack the Texas State Capitol, according to officials. Benny Caldera Jr., 40, was taken into custody early Wednesday morning at his home in Converse, Texas. He was charged with the felony offense of making a terroristic threat against a public servant and taken to the Bexar County Jail.
CBS News: Mayor Mamdani defends plan to combat antisemitism after criticism from Jewish groups
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is defending his plan for combating antisemitism in the face of strident criticism from a number of high-powered Jewish religious and community groups.
Inna Vernikov, a Jewish member of the New York City Council and co-chair of its bipartisan task force on fighting Jew-hatred, isn’t impressed with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s new strategy to fight antisemitism.
A comprehensive body of research released by the Anti-Defamation League on Thursday documents the systemic exclusion and marginalization of Jewish and Israeli artists across American cultural life.
Jerusalem Post: Chicago hall, playground defaced with antisemitic grafitti, ADL opposes Mamdani plan
Deerfield’s village hall in suburban Chicago was defaced overnight with antisemitic graffiti, local officials announced, marking another antisemitic incident in the area. The graffiti was discovered the next morning and quickly removed. Local police opened an investigation.
Fox 5 San Diego: Alleged white supremacists charged with hate crimes for attacks at Oceanside Pier
Two alleged white supremacists from Riverside County were charged with hate crimes in connection with attacks near the Oceanside pier last year, according to an indictment that was unsealed in federal court Wednesday.
New York Times: A Hasidic Jew Protested Against an Israeli Flag. He May Be Deported
The Israeli flag hanging outside a New York town hall disappeared just weeks after it was raised in solidarity with the victims of the 2023 Hamas-led attacks on Israel. Shortly after, two men were accused of stealing the flag during an anti-Israel protest.
James Fishback, a fierce critic of Israel and a far-right politician, offered scathing remarks about the Jewish state and likened abortion to the Holocaust during a Tuesday evening address hosted by the University of Mississippi’s Turning Point USA chapter.
Canada
CBC: Former soldier exposes how Canadian white supremacist group recruits members
Second Sons Canada describes itself as a “men’s nationalist club” dedicated to fitness and preserving Canada's heritage, but a former military member who attempted to join the group says he only learned about its true nature — which includes adoration for Hitler, neo-Nazis and hatred for Jews — when he met them in person.
The University of Toronto is facing criticism on social media over a planned student vigil scheduled for the anniversary of the October 7 attacks, as well as the separate screening of a film titled The Gaza Ghetto Uprising in the UTSU Student Commons, organized by student groups.
Germany
DPA: Suspected Islamic State member arrested in central Germany
A suspected member of the Islamic State terrorist group was arrested in central Germany on Wednesday. The man is alleged to have joined the group in Iraq by early 2016 at the latest and to have served as a fighter until the early part of 2017.
Deutsche Welle: Do Jewish representatives see the Left Party as antisemitic?
The socialist Left Party won the Berlin election on September 20. This means there’s a good chance that the party's top candidate, Elif Eralp, could become Berlin's next mayor — making her the first member of the Left Party to hold that office.
Politico: Russian propaganda fueled far-right AfD’s rise, says Polish foreign minister
Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said Germany’s decision to allow the Kremlin-backed broadcaster Russia Today on its cable networks helped feed the far-right Alternative for Germany’s popularity.
Deutsche Welle: Germany's public broadcasters under fire from far-right AfD
After the AfD came out victorious in Saxony-Anhalt’s state election, critics fear Germany’s public broadcasters could come under pressure. The far-right party wants to end the media treaty that funds public broadcasting.
The Guardian: The German town where the right has banned new ‘stumbling stones’ for Nazi victims
The town hall of Heidenau, Germany has a freshly restored cream-coloured facade, tidy flower boxes on the windowsills and a charming shingled clocktower. At the entrance, closer inspection reveals a single brass plaque embedded in the pavement honouring the former mayor Paul Gröger, whom the Nazis hounded into killing himself.
Lithuania
LRT: Lithuanian president says anti-Muslim incidents may be orchestrated
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda said recurring incidents against the Muslim community in the country may not be isolated cases but could be part of orchestrated campaigns.
Russia
Afghanistan International: Lavrov To Meet Taliban Foreign Minister In Moscow
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet the Taliban foreign minister in Moscow on 5 October on the sidelines of the Moscow Format meeting on Afghanistan, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said.
The prosecutors general of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan have signed an agreement to cooperate in combating terrorism and extremism, RBC reported.
Belsat: Belarus and five CIS countries sign agreement on extremist data exchange
Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan have signed a new agreement on cooperation in the fight against terrorism and extremism. The document was signed by Belarus's Prosecutor General Dzmitry Hara, Russia's Prosecutor General Alexander Gutsan, Kazakhstan's Prosecutor General Berik Asylov, Kyrgyzstan's Prosecutor General Malik Bekturganov, Tajikistan's Prosecutor General Khabibullo Saidullo Vokhidzoda, and Uzbekistan's Prosecutor General Nigmatilla Yuldashev, RBC reports.
Middle East
Reuters: Israel’s Netanyahu: Co-pilot of flydubai plane underwent radical Islamist indoctrination
The co-pilot of a passenger jet who stabbed the captain in an apparent attempt to crash the plane as it flew to Israel had undergone radical Islamist indoctrination and was clearly suicidal, Israel's prime minister said Thursday.
There were four flydubai pilots aboard flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv on Wednesday when an alleged terror attack inside the cockpit sent the aircraft plunging thousands of feet and ultimately forced it to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.
Wall Street Journal: U.A.E. Investigates Whether Terrorism Played Role in FlyDubai Attack
The United Arab Emirates opened an investigation into the stabbing onboard a FlyDubai flight bound for Israel, saying authorities would examine whether terrorist activity played any role in the attack.
Israeli officials were forced to confront Saudi Arabia’s reluctance to cooperate during Wednesday's incident involving a flydubai flight from Dubai, despite years of claims by Israel’s political and defense establishments that warm understandings had developed behind the scenes with Riyadh.
Afghanistan
Murtaza Solangi, spokesperson to the President of Pakistan, has warned the Taliban of consequences if it continues to provide what he described as “safe sanctuaries, training and logistical support” to terrorist groups.
Reuters: Pakistani airstrikes kill nine in Afghanistan, Taliban say
Pakistani airstrikes on Afghanistan hit three houses on Thursday, killing nine people, the Afghan Taliban government said, while Islamabad said the strikes killed 22 “terrorists” after targeting their hideouts.
Afghanistan International: Pakistan Rejects Taliban Claim Of Islamabad’s Role In Nuristan Clashes
Pakistan’s Information Ministry rejected Taliban claims that Islamabad was involved in the recent clashes in Nuristan, calling them self-invented lies. It said the accusations reflected the Taliban’s desperation and frustration over internal problems.
Taliban authorities should immediately permit the independent Afghan Voice Agency (AVA) to reopen its Kabul office, release reporter Zamin Ali Chavoshi and five other detained media workers, and halt their escalating campaign against news organizations serving Afghanistan’s persecuted Shiite Hazara community, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday.
Gaza Strip/West Bank
A Palestinian journalist who the Israeli military said participated in the Hamas-led October 7 onslaught was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday as the IDF vowed to expose the terror affiliations of dozens more Palestinian journalists killed in the war.
Iran
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards killed six members of a “terrorist” group on Thursday, the IRNA state news agency reported, in a region often hit by clashes between the security forces and armed groups, including Sunni militants and separatists.
AFP: Iran Guards hail US withdrawal from Iraq as ‘historic victory’
Iran's Revolutionary Guards on Thursday welcomed the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq as a “historic victory” and called for American troops to leave the Middle East.
Iraq
NBC: U.S. ends ISIS-fighting mission in Iraq as regional security fears mount
The last American troops assigned to fight ISIS in Iraq pulled out of the country Wednesday, ending the mission that dismantled the extremists’ self-declared caliphate but raising fears about what might fill the vacuum as the Iran war grinds on.
Los Angeles Times: U.S. troops leave Iraq, but future of Iran-backed militias remains uncertain
America opened its “forever war” in Iraq more than 23 years ago with “Shock and Awe.” It ended it on Wednesday with little of either, even as the legacy of that conflict — which saw Iraq endure sectarian bloodbaths, civil war and an insurgency that made Baghdad the car bomb capital of the world — continues to cast its shadow on the country today.
Israel
Jerusalem Post: Reporter’s notebook: Hezbollah’s flags no longer intimidate Metula’s residents
In Metula, northern Israel, a new mural has appeared. In large red numbers, it says “7.10” in memory of the Hamas attack on October 7. The mural is a bit jarring as it now appears on the historic main road of the town, among pretty homes and restaurants.
Reuters: Israel to ramp up pilot checks after flydubai scare
Israel is set to ramp up security checks on pilots flying into the country, a spokesperson for the prime minister's office said, after it said a co-pilot on a flydubai flight to Tel Aviv had stabbed the pilot and attempted to crash the plane.
Times of Israel: Herzog says Israeli politicians have not done all they can to halt settler violence
President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday charged that the political echelon has not done everything it can to halt attacks by extremist Israeli settlers on Palestinians in the West Bank, adding that the phenomenon “can be stopped.”
Lebanon
Naharnet: Israel threatens Beirut invasion if Hezbollah doesn’t disarm, report says
U.S. Ambassador Michel Issa warned Deputy Head of the Higher Islamic Shiite Council Sheikh Ali Al-Khatib last month that Israel would launch a full-scale military invasion reaching as far as Beirut, if Hezbollah does not hand over its weapons, al-Modon newspaper reported.
Naharnet: Salam says Lebanon wants ‘state-to-state relation’ with Iran
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has said that Lebanon wants “a state-to-state relationship with Iran based on mutual respect,” adding that “this is what we asked of the Iranians” during his meeting with the Iranian delegation in New York.
Syria
Reuters: Syrian government officials and Hezbollah held secret talks in Turkey, sources say
Representatives of the Syrian government and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah have held face-to-face talks in Turkey to try to calm tensions between them, according to six sources briefed on the first known meeting between the longtime foes. The Syrian officials and the Iran-aligned group met secretly at least once last month, the sources - who include two Syrian officials, a US official and a senior Lebanese security source close to Hezbollah - told Reuters.
Australia
A Northern Territory teenager who allegedly posted "pro-Nazi, anti-immigration, anti-trans and white nationalist" content on Instagram over the course of almost a year has faced court over a string of alleged Commonwealth offences.
Stay up to date on our latest news.
Get the latest news on extremism and counter-extremism delivered to your inbox.