Eye on Extremism: October 21, 2025
Top Stories
New York Times: Nations Hesitate to Send Troops to Gaza, Fearing Clashes With Hamas
The fragile cease-fire in Gaza that came into force last week rests on some key assumptions: that Hamas militants give up their weapons and that an international troop presence keep the peace as Israel withdraws its military from the enclave. But the countries that might make up that force are skittish about committing soldiers who could potentially come into direct conflict with Hamas while it is still an armed group, diplomats and other people familiar with the deliberations say.
Hamas does not announce these actions on its official social media accounts. But every few days since the ceasefire began and the Israel Defense Forces partially withdrew, Telegram channels linked to Hamas have been publishing footage showing violence against Gaza residents — people being shot in the legs or hit with stone blocks in ostensible punishment for alleged crimes including stealing aid, using drugs and collaborating with Israel.
CEP Mentions
Deutsche Welle: 'German money for terror': How Islamist terror groups fundraise in Germany
"You effectively have to prove that a specific euro was intended to go towards the purchase of a Kalashnikov or explosives or the preparation of a specific attack," explains Hans-Jakob Schindler of the New York, London and Berlin-based Counter Extremism Project (CEP). "And [giving away such evidence] would be a level of stupidity which few terror financers ever reach."
Tagesschau: German money for terror
From the perspective of terrorism expert Hans-Jakob Schindler of the research organization "Counter Extremism Project," this makes the work of investigators in Germany extremely complicated: "You practically have to prove that this euro was intended for a Kalashnikov, explosives, or the preparation of an attack. That's a level of stupidity that few terrorist financiers achieve."
BR24: How German money reaches IS and Hamas
"You practically have to prove that every euro was intended for a Kalashnikov, explosives, or the preparation of an attack. In this respect, you make it extremely complicated for investigators here in Germany—in terms of the possibility of conviction." Hans-Jakob Schindler, terrorism expert at the research organization Counter Extremism Project.
Tagesschau Podcast: “Private Donations from Germany? The money of IS”
CEP Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler cited on terrorism financing in Germany.
Analysis
Prospect: The difficult truth about antisemitism in the UK
The murderous attack this month on worshippers at a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, has left many Jews in Britain with a sense of foreboding. Given the timing of the attack—on the eve of a fragile ceasefire in Gaza—many MPs and Jewish leaders understood the shocking scene at Heaton Park as a coda to the two-year period since Hamas’s 7th October massacre in southern Israel.
The Loop: Rising inequality is driving Europe's far-right surge
Rising inequality is a defining feature of our times, and the rise of Europe’s far-right is part of that trend. Deepening economic divides are fuelling far-right success: parties often promise protective measures for the native population while blaming migrants and refugees for 'stealing jobs' or living off countries' welfare systems.
Why are the online far right so successful in shaping our political language? With Dr Robert Topinka. At a press conference in September, Reform UK announced a seismic policy proposal – the end of indefinite leave to remain for immigrants. This change, which would drastically transform the UK immigration system, was justified by a supposed need to tackle the “Boriswave”.
United States
Time: Trump’s Caribbean Bombing Campaign Brings War on Terror to the Americas
On Sept 2, President Donald Trump shared a grainy video of a U.S. missile strike against a boat carrying what he described as a group of “narcoterrorists” traveling in international waters from Venezuela. The strike would be the first of many to come against the Tren de Aragua gang, a cartel that the Trump Administration designated a terror organization on his first day in office, despite it not having carried out attacks on the United States.
Reuters: Pardoned Jan. 6 rioter accused of threatening US Democratic leader Jeffries
A Jan. 6 rioter pardoned by U.S. President Donald Trump has been charged with threatening to kill House of Representatives Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, according to a court document. Christopher Moynihan, 34, sent threatening text messages about an appearance Jeffries, who represents New York's 8th congressional district, was scheduled to make in New York City, according to a felony complaint filed in New York state court in Clinton. The recipient of the texts was not identified.
Paul Ingrassia, President Donald Trump’s embattled nominee to lead the Office of Special Counsel, told a group of fellow Republicans in a text chain the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday should be “tossed into the seventh circle of hell” and said he has “a Nazi streak,” according to a text chat viewed by POLITICO.
Queens Daily Eagle: White nationalist group's banners hung throughout Queens
Banners promoting the white nationalist group Patriot Front were hung from several overpasses along a major road over the weekend in Queens, the most diverse county in the United States. The banners, each of which included a white nationalist message and the hate group’s website, were hung from at least three overpasses along the Long Island Expressway in the World’s Borough on Saturday.
Times of Israel: Jewish leaders issue fresh warnings about Mamdani in closing weeks of campaign
Jewish religious leaders and communal groups issued warnings about New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani this week in the closing weeks of the campaign.
Texas Observer: ICE Still Won’t Answer Questions About Prosecutor with White Supremacist X Account
emocratic Congressman Marc Veasey made an unannounced visit to a Dallas Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) processing facility on Monday in an effort to demand accountability from the agency, which has failed to substantively respond to multiple inquiries from the congressman—including one stemming from a Texas Observer investigation earlier this year.
WTOP: Flyers referencing Ku Klux Klan found in Leesburg
Flyers referencing the Ku Klux Klan were found Saturday morning in downtown Leesburg, Virginia, according to the town’s police department.
A federal judge on Monday declined to block Northwestern University from disciplining students who refused to complete an online anti-bias training that the graduate student plaintiffs say characterizes criticism of Israel as antisemitic.
A pro-Palestinian graduate student group has sued Northwestern University, claiming the school’s mandatory antisemitism training is discriminatory and violates the free speech rights of Arabs, new court papers show. The university began cracking down on campus anti-Israel demonstrations and requiring the training modules, “ironically-named ‘Building a Community of Respect and Breaking Down Bias,'” in February, months after heated protests, according to the lawsuit.
Chile
In the final stretch of Chile’s presidential election campaign, with the vote scheduled for Sunday, November 16, one of the phenomena drawing the attention of analysts is the surge of the radical right. Republican candidate José Antonio Kast, who is into his third presidential bid, is polling at an average of 23.26%. Johannes Kaiser, a lawmaker for the National Libertarian Party who has surpassed Kast in the radical nature of his proposals, comes in at 11.95%. Together, their support level reaches 35.16%, more than double that shown for Evelyn Matthei, of the moderate right, who is polling at 15.9% with less than a month to go before the first round of voting.
Austria
Afghanistan International: Austria Deports First Afghan Asylum Seeker Since Taliban Takeover
Austria has deported an Afghan asylum seeker convicted of a serious crime to Kabul, marking the first deportation to Afghanistan since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, Austrian media reported. The man had previously been sentenced to four years in prison for sexual assault and aggravated battery. After serving his sentence, he was transferred on Tuesday, 21 October, from Vienna to Istanbul and then on to Kabul.
Italy
Ynet: Italy convicts influencer for antisemitic remarks: 'I hate all Jews'
A court in Milan levied a sentence of one year and six months' suspended jail time to social media influencer Cecilia Parodi after convicting her of incitement to commit crimes motivated by racial, ethnic and religious discrimination.
Netherlands
Bloomberg: Meta’s Political Ad Ban Boosts Dutch Far-Right Leader
Bilal Gacha knows where to reach his voters online. Gacha is head of communications for Denk, a Dutch political party that mostly represents minority communities. He and his colleagues have typically paid to get their campaign messages into Facebook feeds, using the platform’s data to target people interested in Arabic pop music, Turkish TV dramas and couscous. Then, on Oct. 6, Facebook’s owner Meta, pulled the plug on all political advertising across the European Union, in response to the bloc’s new transparency rules. That’s left Denk without one of its most powerful tools. “Meta created an online level playing field, which now has completely disappeared,” Gacha said.
Germany
Deutsche Welle: Germany news: Merz stresses CDU's rejection of far-right AfD
Chancellor Friedrich Merz's Christian Democrats (CDU) wrapped up a two-day meeting that focused on the party's strategy toward the populist party, with Merz reiterating the CDU's rejection of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. The leader of CDU's sister party in Bavaria, the CSU's Markus Söder, said the AfD is the "enemy of the system."
United Kingdom
Reuters: UK removes terrorism designation for Syria's HTS
The British government on Tuesday removed Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the group which spearheaded the Syrian rebel alliance that helped oust President Bashar al-Assad, from its list of banned terrorist organisations. HTS, a former al Qaeda affiliate, was proscribed in 2017, meaning that Britain designated it as a terrorist group, making it illegal to support or join it.
Times of Israel: King Charles visits site of deadly Yom Kippur synagogue terror attack in Manchester
The UK’s King Charles III visited the synagogue in Manchester on Monday where two Jewish worshipers were killed earlier this month during a terrorist attack by a man who told police he was acting for Islamic State.
Express: Foreign ISIS fighters 'being given Syrian passports' to reach the UK
Foreign ISIS terrorists are being handed passports in Syria they could use to bring hate-filled destruction to Britain. Shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel said reports the new Syrian regime was granting citizenships to foreign Islamic extremists were "extremely alarming". President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former Al-Qaeda jihadist, seized power in the Middle East country in December after deposing the former leader Bashar al-Assad, who fled to Moscow.
Jerusalem Post: BBC producer under fire for post calling Charlie Kirk's widow a ‘Zionist handler’
Jayne Egerton, a BBC Radio 4 producer, shared a post referring to Erika Kirk, the widow of murdered right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk, as his “Zionist handler,” according to a report by Jewish News UK.
Since the terrorist attack on a Manchester, England, synagogue on Yom Kippur that left two congregants dead, British politicians have redoubled their efforts to reassure the country’s Jewish community, which has been increasingly concerned about security issues amid widespread anti-Israel sentiment that has grown in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks and ensuing war in Gaza.
A referee has been forced to apologise for stopping a football match in France after mistaking anti-terrorist chants for homophobic abuse. In the 87th minute of Nice's thrilling 3-2 win over Lyon in Ligue 1 on Saturday, referee Jerome Brisard abruptly interrupted play and stopped the match after hearing an 'insulting' chant from the stands.
Kyrgyzstan
Caliber: Kyrgyzstan arrests man suspected of ISIS links
Authorities in Kyrgyzstan have detained a citizen suspected of being recruited via Telegram by the international terrorist organisation Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS). According to the State Committee for National Security (GKNB), the suspect, identified as A.Ch.K., had been studying extremist ideologies online, repeatedly attempting to travel to conflict zones, and seeking ways to acquire weapons, Caliber.Az reports per foreign media.
Afghanistan
Afghanistan International: Three Taliban Members Killed In Kabul Attack, Says AFF
The Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF) claimed responsibility for an attack in Kabul on Monday evening saying it killed three Taliban members in the city’s First Security District. In a statement, the group said its fighters targeted a Taliban military vehicle near the Chaman-e-Hozori gate. Local residents reported hearing a loud explosion at the time of the incident.
Gaza Strip
US President Donald Trump reiterates his claim that he has been fielding offers from Middle Eastern countries that have expressed interest in sending troops into Gaza to “straighten ou[t] Hamas” but that he is holding them off as there is still time for Hamas to do “what is right.”
Times of Israel: Hamas: We will hand over two bodies of deceased hostages at 9 p.m.
Hamas’s military wing announces that it will transfer two bodies of deceased hostages to Israel tonight at 9 p.m.
Two IDF soldiers were lightly injured after their tank was hit by an explosive device in the Khan Younis area of the southern Gaza Strip earlier today, the military says. The two wounded troops were taken to a hospital and their families were notified, the IDF adds.
Times of Israel: Trump floats renewal of Gaza fighting, but says Hamas still has chance to ‘behave’
US President Donald Trump said Monday he could ask Israel to return to areas of Gaza from which the IDF has withrawn and “eradicate” Hamas if he wanted to, but he is holding off for now in order to give the fragile ceasefire he brokered earlier this month a chance to succeed.
Iran
Iran International: Iran will turn region into 'hell' if attacked, Guards commander warns
Iran would unleash a devastating response to any assault on its territory, the commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Major General Mohammad Pakpour, said on Tuesday. “If any aggression is committed against Iran, our response will be stronger than the 12-day war and we will turn the region into hell for the enemy,” Pakpour said, quoted by state broadcaster IRIB.
Iran International: Iran’s Guards media calls US protests ‘prelude to civil war’
An outlet affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) described the mass No Kings demonstrations across the United States as a “prelude to civil war,” portraying the rallies as evidence of deepening political and social divisions. The commentary followed mass No Kings rallies on Saturday, when millions of Americans poured into the streets across hundreds of cities and suburbs to protest President Donald Trump’s policies.
Iran International: Iranian police open fire on family in car, killing child
A six-year-old boy was killed in southwest Iran after police fired on a family car and abandoned the wounded at the scene, local sources told Iran International, suggesting that officers’ failure to take him to hospital and leaving his family by the roadside led to his death.
Iraq
Kurdistan24: Iraq Bans Roblox Over Sexual Exploitation, Blasphemy, and Online Blackmail Concerns
In a decisive and sweeping move reflecting a growing global backlash against one of the world's most popular gaming platforms, Iraq has officially banned the US-based online game Roblox, citing grave concerns over sexual content, blasphemy, and the risk of online blackmail targeting minors.
News.AZ: Iraq confirms some US troops will remain due to ISIS threat in Syria
Washington and Baghdad reached an agreement last year to gradually wind down the US-led coalition fighting ISIS in Iraq by September, with US forces withdrawing from some of the bases where they had been stationed. Iraq's prime minister said on Monday that a small contingent of US military advisers will remain in the country to coordinate with US forces in neighbouring Syria combating the so-called Islamic State (IS) group, News.Az reports citing foreign media.
Israel
Times of Israel: Jewish extremists brutally assault Palestinian olive harvesters in West Bank
Jewish extremists have carried out a series of attacks against Palestinian olive harvesters in the West Bank over the last two days, including one brutal assault in which the assailant clubbed a woman on her head, leaving her bleeding and severely injured.
US Vice President JD Vance arrived in Israel on Tuesday as part of efforts to advance and bolster the Gaza ceasefire, amid reports that Washington is concerned that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could collapse the truce and return to war.
Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli was instructed on Tuesday to issue a formal apology to leaders of the U.K. Jewish community for not consulting with them before inviting far-right British agitator Tommy Robinson to Israel on an official visit last week.
Lebanon
Hezbollah has gained strength, one of its representatives in the Lebanese parliament said this week. Hassan Ezzedine, from the Tyre district, was first elected to parliament in 1992. “The resistance in Lebanon has regained its health,” he said, Beirut-based newspaper Al Akhbar reported. Hezbollah refers to itself as the “resistance.”
Naharnet: Report: US sees Lebanon sovereignty as vital for regional peace
Washington is investing in the course of “restoring Lebanon’s sovereignty” seeing as it is vital for regional peace after “the progress that has been made in Gaza and Syria,” a U.S. State Department source said.
Naharnet: Israel says troops destroyed Hezbollah sites in Shebaa Farms area
Israeli ground forces destroyed launching sites belonging to Hezbollah earlier this week in the Shebaa Farms area near the border, the Israeli army said on Tuesday.
Syria
Reuters: Syria hopes to have US sanctions formally lifted in coming months, says economy minister
Syria hopes that U.S. sanctions against the country will be formally lifted in the coming months, the country's Economy Minister Mohammad Nidal al-Shaar told Reuters on Tuesday. U.S. President Donald Trump ordered most sanctions lifted on the country in May after meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, but the Caesar Syria Civil Protection Act of 2019 authorising them remains U.S. law.
Rudaw: SDF captures ‘dangerous’ ISIS commander in Raqqa
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Tuesday announced the capture of a “dangerous” Islamic State (ISIS) commander in Syria’s Raqqa province, reportedly responsible for overseeing the distribution of weapons and coordinating activity among the group’s sleeper cells.
Enab Baladi: ISIS claims 38 attacks against the SDF in northeastern Syria over 70 days
The Islamic State (ISIS) said it carried out 38 operations against what it called the “PKK militia” (a reference to the Syrian Democratic Forces/SDF) across parts of northeastern Syria over 70 days, according to statistics published in issue 517 of its weekly newspaper al-Naba on October 16.
Turkey
Caliber: Türkiye detains 19 in major operation against ISIS network
Turkish police have detained 19 people in the southern province of Adana as part of a large-scale operation targeting the Islamic State (ISIS). The raids followed a ten-month investigation into two groups suspected of maintaining ties with the terrorist organisation, Caliber.Az reports, citing Turkish media.
Yemen
Houthi rebels in Yemen have released five Yemeni United Nations staff members and allowed 15 international employees to move freely inside the U.N. compound in Sanaa, following their detention during a weekend raid, the United Nations said Monday.
Al Arabiya: Yemeni government forces say repelled deadly al-Qaeda attack
Forces loyal to Yemen’s internationally recognized government said on Tuesday they had repelled an attack by al-Qaeda in the country’s south that left nine people dead on both sides. “Our forces managed to foil a large-scale terrorist attack launched this morning by members of the al-Qaeda terrorist organization against the headquarters of the government complex... in Abyan province,” Nasr Atef al-Machouchi, commander of the targeted brigade, said in a press release.
Pakistan
Afghanistan International: Pakistan Rules Out Talks With TTP, Says Defence Minister
Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said on Monday that the government will under no circumstances hold talks with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and will instead engage solely with the Taliban in Afghanistan. His remarks came after both the Afghan Taliban and Imran Khan, the imprisoned leader of Pakistan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf party, urged Islamabad to resolve its dispute with the TTP through dialogue.
Sudan
Reuters: Civilians in Sudan's al-Fashir cower from drones as siege worsens hunger
Residents of Sudan's besieged city of al-Fashir have been taking refuge in underground bunkers to try to protect themselves from drones and shells after intensifying attacks on displacement shelters, clinics and mosques. Famine-stricken al-Fashir is the Sudanese army's last holdout in the vast, western region of Darfur as it battles the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in a civil war that has raged for two-and-a-half years.
Technology
Bellingcat: How a Former Political Hopeful Helps Russian Neo-Nazi Group Rusich Sell its Online Merch
An investigation by Bellingcat has tracked Romanov from these early days in St. Petersburg, finding that he appears to have assisted in Rusich’s fundraising and business activities. He has even been pictured near the front line in eastern Ukraine.
Nonprofit says phrases such as “Gaza Holocaust” and “Holocaust survivor from Gaza” have surged since the October ceasefire, reaching millions and exploiting Holocaust language to target Jews and Israel.
Algemeiner: Antisemitic AI-Generated Videos Flood OpenAI’s New Sora 2 App
The release of OpenAI’s Sora 2 video generating app last month has prompted a wave of criticisms, notably from the family members of deceased celebrities ranging from Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. to George Carlin and Robin Williams seeing their loved ones repurposed in tasteless ways. Now, examples have emerged of rampant antisemitic content flooding the app.
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