Eye on Extremism: September 8, 2026
Top Stories
A quarter of a century after the Al-Qaeda attacks on the United States, jihadist groups still pose a major threat to security in Europe, but a new menace has surfaced that is driven mostly by young people online and the authorities are worried.
FBI data suggests “a small, but meaningful decline” in antisemitic hate crimes in the country between 2024 and 2025, but it’s “very unlikely” that the numbers will return to pre-Oct. 7 levels anytime soon, according to Ayal Feinberg, associate professor of political science and antisemitism studies at Gratz College in Jenkintown, Pa.
CEP Mentions
DW News: The War on Terror 25 years on: Did it make us safer?
DW traces 25 years of the War on Terror with an expert asking: “Did the world get safer — or did the threat just move?” DW talks to Hans-Jakob Schindler, Senior Director, Counter Extremism Project (CEP), and other experts.
Analysis
Just Security: The Looming Terrorist Threats to America
Twenty-five years after 9/11, the U.S. counterterrorism community still must stop threats to the United States—but with fewer resources, additional responsibilities, and new threats. Directing the counterterrorism community to do more with less is a recipe for disaster.
International Institute for Counter-Terrorism: Antisemitism: Trends, Threats & Responses August 2026
August 2026 brought repeated incidents in which Jews and Israelis were targeted because of their identity, from physical assaults and threats to exclusion from everyday services. These incidents occurred in streets, tourist destinations and businesses, as well as in and around Jewish religious institutions. Synagogues featured prominently during the month, including an attack during Shabbat services at New York’s Central Synagogue. Swastikas, Nazi salutes and references to Hitler also appeared across several countries.
On September 3, 2026, Uzbek-, Russian-, Arabic-, and English-language jihadist media platforms, as well as research organizations monitoring Islamist and extremist movements, disseminated a new statement attributed to a group of Uzbek Muhājirūn (foreign fighters) in Syria. The statement constitutes a significant escalation in public criticism of Syria’s transitional authorities under President Ahmed al-Sharaa and provides further insight into the deteriorating relationship between the Syrian government and elements of the Central Asian jihadist community.
Farhad N. was just a few months old when hijacked airliners were deliberately piloted into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001, part of attacks on the United States that killed thousands of people. Twenty-five years later, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for plowing a Mini Cooper car into a crowd of people in Munich, killing two people and injuring dozens.
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has scored a historic victory in Saxony-Anhalt, falling just three seats short of an absolute majority. Its rise could reshape Holocaust education and remembrance policy, while a small party critical of Israel may now hold the balance of power.
United States
ABC News: Top FBI official warns 9/11 is still inspiring terrorists inside America 25 years later
Twenty five years after al-Qaeda struck inside the U.S. homeland in shocking and tragic ways, federal authorities are warning that the threat from foreign terrorist organizations has hardly gone away, and in some ways is more challenging to stop now than it was two decades ago.
Iran International: US sanctions most major Iranian airlines in sweeping aviation crackdown
The US Treasury on Tuesday imposed fresh Iran-related sanctions on one individual and 35 entities, including 27 Iranian airlines, as Washington expanded pressure on Tehran’s aviation sector and networks supporting sanctioned carrier Mahan Air.
Fox News: US forces sink narco-refueling station linked to Ecuadorian cartel in Pacific: SOUTHCOM
U.S. forces on Monday sank a floating refueling vessel used by an Ecuadorian organized crime ring, officials said. Forces with Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere (JTFWH) interdicted the refueling vessel used for “at-sea drug trafficking operations” in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said.
Military prosecutors will move ahead with the trial against the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks without a key confession, a decision made to avoid further delays in the long-awaited proceedings scheduled for 2028.
Reuters: Republicans are making Muslims a campaign issue in the 2026 US midterms
Republican Vice President JD Vance called Abdul El-Sayed, a Muslim and a Democrat running for the U.S. Senate in Michigan, “very, very evil” at a rally last week, accusing him of defending terrorism because of remarks he made after a March attack on a suburban Detroit synagogue.
Times of Israel: In protests and politics, ‘Zionists’ are being blamed for NYC housing woes
The flyers went up in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood last month, plastered onto lampposts, bollards, building walls and traffic control boxes. “Beware: Talmudists are trained to cheat,” said one of the flyers posted in opposition to a housing redevelopment project.
Fox News: Mamdani to release documents on 9/11 health impacts before 25th anniversary
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Tuesday that his administration will release more than 170,000 pages of documents shedding new light on the air quality around Ground Zero in the months following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
An armed assailant charged toward the Democratic candidate for Ohio governor, Amy Acton, on Sunday during a campaign stop at the Canfield Fair, injuring several people before he was stopped by troopers, the Ohio State Highway Patrol said.
Bergen Record: Rising antisemitism prompts tighter security at Jewish institutions
The High Holidays traditionally bring prayer, charity and reflection. This year, they bring heightened security. Amid a spike in antisemitic incidents, Jewish communities around the country are preparing for one of their holiest periods by boosting security measures, such as surveillance systems, armed guards and trained volunteers to protect worshippers.
NY1: 25 years after 9/11: Addressing anti-Muslim and anti-Sikh hate
Twenty-five years since 9/11, NY1 turns its attention to the Muslim and Sikh communities. In the aftermath of the attacks, they faced a wave of prejudice and a spike in hate crimes. Japneet Singh, a community organizer and President of the Khalsa Community Patrol out of Richmond Hill, Queens, discusses the topic.
The Guardian: Giuliani says Mamdani should skip 9/11 ceremony during rant against Islam
New York mayor Zohran Mamdani is set to come face-to-face with Rudy Giuliani at the main September 11 memorial service, just days after the former mayor – who led the city at the time of the 2001 terrorist attacks – disparaged his Muslim religion and said he should skip the ceremony.
New York Times: For Fired DeSantis Campaign Staff Member, a Second Chance at State Dept.
The hiring of Nate Hochman, who lost his job amid an uproar over a video containing a Nazi symbol, underscores the administration’s willingness to overlook past transgressions.
JNS: Austin initiative hosts public training on recognizing, combating Jew-hatred
An Austin city initiative focused on combating hate hosted a training session on Thursday on recognizing and responding to antisemitism. The Austin Equity and Inclusion’s “We All Belong – Austin Against Hate” initiative held the session at the Ruiz Branch Library as part of a series of bystander-intervention trainings designed to give residents practical tools to recognize, disrupt and safely respond to identity-based harassment. The training, titled “Stop Jewish Hate,” was led by the Anti-Defamation League and Shalom Austin.
Belgium
Brussels Times: Police investigate hate crime in mosque near Antwerp
A mosque in Schelle has been vandalised with swastikas, hate messages and dog excrement, prompting a police investigation. The vandalism at the Tawfieq mosque in Steenwinkelstraat was discovered on Friday morning by members of the mosque’s board, according to Muslim Rights Watch Belgium and local police in the Rupel area.
France
Nine News: Far-right extremist admits killing international rugby star
A former member of a violent far-right group has told a Paris court he shot dead former Argentina rugby international Federico Martin Aramburú in Paris four years ago. On the opening day of his trial, Loik Le Priol told the court he was responsible for the death of Aramburú, who was killed following an altercation during a night out in the French capital.
Reuters: France to ban products from Israeli settlements in West Bank, foreign minister says
France will launch a process to ban products from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said on Tuesday, amid rising settler violence that has further undermined prospects for a two-state solution with the Palestinians.
Ynet: Three arrested in France over suspected ISIS plot targeting Jews
Three men have been arrested in France on suspicion of advancing a jihadist plot in which they considered joining the Islamic State in Africa and carrying out an attack against the Jewish community in France.
Germany
New York Times: AfD Victory in Saxony-Anhalt Sends a Signal to Europe
When a far-right party won a landslide victory on Sunday in a small state in eastern Germany, its reverberations could be felt from Downing Street in London to the Élysée Palace in Paris. Rarely has the result of a regional election been viewed with such portent for the fate of democracy in Europe.
JTA: An AfD win has panicked some Jews who fear a throwback to Nazi Germany
Munich resident Marian Offman, born in Germany to Holocaust survivors in 1948, is sitting on the proverbial packed suitcase. Offman, his city’s Commissioner for Interfaith Dialogue, is worried about what an AfD leadership would mean for Jews and other minorities.
Reuters: What would Germany’s AfD do in first 100 days if it takes power in Saxony-Anhalt?
The far-right Alternative for Germany's (AfD) Ulrich Siegmund is the most likely next leader of the eastern state parliament in Saxony-Anhalt after a historic election win. The 35-year-old former fragrance salesman has laid out 10 points that he would like to achieve in the first 100 days of office as part of his “Vision 2026” election manifesto.
DPA: Anti-extremist groups seek support after AfD win in Saxony-Anhalt vote
Anti-extremism groups in Saxony-Anhalt are calling for support after the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) won a resounding victory in the election in the eastern German state.
New York Times: German football and the far right: ‘If we see that flag again, we’ll shoot you’
As Stefan R left the stadium of his favourite German football team in the summer of 2019, a powerfully built man dressed in black approached him, grabbing his arm.
Then, at least two other men appeared from behind. He was surrounded.
United Kingdom
BBC: Self-described ‘genocidal racist monster’ jailed after BBC investigation
A former tax worker who described himself as “the ultimate genocidal racist monster” has been jailed for inciting hatred online after he was exposed by a BBC investigation. Thomas Webster was sacked by HMRC and investigated by police after comments he made to an undercover journalist in the BBC programme ‘Unmasked: Extreme Far Right.’
The Guardian: Police used batons and pepper spray on far-right protesters in Portsmouth unrest
Batons and synthetic pepper spray were used to repel hundreds of masked, black-clad vigilantes in Portsmouth on Sunday, it has emerged, as the policing minister said officers had been injured as they repelled organised “aggression.”
British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announces a sweeping sanctions package targeting Israeli settlements in the West Bank as well as a range of other punitive measures, during a speech in the House of Commons featuring Britain’s strongest-ever criticism of the settlement enterprise.
Iran International: UK expands Iran sanctions over nuclear program and hostile activity
Britain said on Tuesday it was expanding sanctions on Iran, targeting key sectors including energy, metals, banking, insurance and shipping as part of efforts to restrict Tehran's nuclear program and other hostile activity.
Iran International: UK sanctions Hezbollah-linked finance group Al-Qard Al-Hassan
Britain is sanctioning Al-Qard Al-Hassan, a financial institution run by Lebanon's Hezbollah, Foreign Minister Ed Miliband said on Tuesday.
Afghanistan
Afghanistan International: US Weapons Left In Afghanistan Will Not Be Returned, Says Taliban
The Taliban Foreign Ministry says US weapons and military equipment left in Afghanistan will not be returned. Ministry spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi told CBS that the equipment now belongs to Afghanistan. Asked about US President Donald Trump’s demand for the return of the military equipment, Balkhi said the Taliban would not negotiate over what he described as state assets.
Afghanistan International: Taliban Targets Another Shia Institution In Kabul, Say Sources
Taliban Justice Ministry forces surrounded the office of Afghanistan’s High Commission of Shias in Kabul on Tuesday. Reliable sources told Afghanistan International that commission members were inside the building. The commission operated under the supervision of the Taliban’s intelligence directorate and had been established on the orders of the Taliban leader.
Afghanistan International: Taliban Must Lift Ban On Female UN Staff, Says Senior UN Official
Jorge Moreira da Silva, a UN under-secretary-general, has urged the Taliban to unconditionally lift restrictions on Afghan female UN staff, one year after they were barred from UN offices.
Afghanistan International: Taliban Forces Clear, Seize Kabul’s Largest Shia Seminary
Forces affiliated with the Taliban’s justice minister forcibly cleared the Khatam-al-Nabiyyin seminary in Kabul on Monday, 7 September.
Gaza Strip/West Bank
Reuters: Two Palestinians killed, Israeli stabbed as West Bank settler violence flares
Violence in the occupied West Bank flared on Monday as Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian during a village raid by settlers from a nearby outpost and killed another Palestinian who entered an outpost and stabbed a settler, officials said.
Police say officers accompanied by the IDF entered the Nablus-area village of Burqa today following a report received Monday evening about arson and assault there.
Fox News: UN agency accused of Hamas ties sees another European nation cut funding
Another European nation has stopped funding the U.N. agency that aids the Palestinians. Finland has followed the U.S. and Sweden in halting donations to the terror-tainted agency.
Iran
Iran International: IRGC says it captured advanced US underwater drone near Hormuz
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Tuesday that its navy had captured an advanced US unmanned underwater vehicle near the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, with Iranian state media identifying the vessel as an Anduril Dive-LD autonomous undersea vehicle.
Iran International: Iranian forces target US drone over Strait of Hormuz - IRGC media
Iranian air defense forces identified and targeted a US drone over the Strait of Hormuz, the IRGC-affiliated Fars news agency reported on Tuesday.
Iran International: Basij commander killed in attack in southeastern Iran
Abdolraouf Eshaqi, commander of the Basij Resistance District in Parud, Rask county, was killed in what Iranian authorities described as a terrorist attack, state media reported on Tuesday.
Deutsche Welle: Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claims missile attack on US aircraft carrier, destroyer
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has said in a statement that it launched “several ballistic missiles” at a US aircraft carrier and Navy destroyer that “harassed Iranian vessels and participated in a naval blockade.”
Deutsche Welle: IRGC says struck US-linked vessels
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said they carried out retaliatory attacks on three US-linked oil tankers passing through routes not authorized by Tehran in the Strait of Hormuz, as well as three other vessels in other areas, Iranian state media reported.
Iraq
Fox News: US-backed effort to disarm Iraq’s Iran-linked militias hits setback, experts say
The Trump administration’s push to compel the new Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi to dismantle pro-Iran terrorist militias is moving forward — even with some setbacks. As Mideast experts are taking a wait-and-see approach tinged with mild optimism, a senior Iraqi official announced in late August that Baghdad will not treat Sept. 30 as a deadline to disarm the pro-Iran groups known as the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), also called the Popular Mobilization Forces.
Israel
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was directly warned by the president of the United Arab Emirates that Hamas was planning a major offensive just days before the militant group attacked on Oct. 7, 2023, according to an Israeli newspaper report.
Lebanon
Fox News: Is the Iran-backed terrorist movement Hezbollah on the ropes in Lebanon?
With Israel’s stunning capture of the strategically valuable Ali al-Taher ridge in south Lebanon on Sunday, a major Hezbollah and Iran stronghold, the campaign to degrade Tehran’s so-called “Axis of Resistance” suffered a severe blow. While the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) triumph is not a death blow, it means that the Iranian-regime-backed Hezbollah terrorist movement lost one of its key offensive bases to plan an invasion of Israel.
Naharnet: House of pro-Hezbollah Sunni MP comes under fire
The house of MP Melhem al-Hujeiri, a member of Hezbollah’s Loyalty to Resistance bloc, came under gunfire at dawn in the northeastern town of Arsal, media reports said.Al-Jadeed television said the house was hit by several gunshots that caused damage.
AFP: Israeli army says will continue to ‘remove threats’ from Hezbollah
Israel’s military said Monday it was committed to the ceasefire but would continue to “remove threats” from Hezbollah, after Lebanese state media reported overnight strikes killed 11 people.
Naharnet: Geagea urges state to ‘take decisive action’ if Hezbollah doesn't disarm
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has noted that “the dawn of sovereignty has undoubtedly broken” in Lebanon, vowing that the LF and its allies “will not allow anyone to obstruct its emergence, whether through bullying the state and the free, sovereign Lebanese, or through appeasement, procrastination, stalling, and patchwork solutions.”
AFP: Israel accuses Hezbollah of repeatedly violating ceasefire agreement
Israel on Monday accused Hezbollah of repeatedly violating a ceasefire agreement in recent days, as Lebanese state media reported 11 killed in overnight Israeli strikes in a southern village.
Saudi Arabia
Associated Press: Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia ignite fires at oil facilities and wound 73 people
The Iranian-backed Houthi rebel group in Yemen launched a wave of attacks on Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, wounding more than 70 people and igniting fires at oil facilities and utilities in the kingdom, authorities said.
Iran International: Saudi foreign minister says Houthis ‘opened a door they cannot handle’
Saudi Arabia will use all available means to defend itself against attacks, Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said on Tuesday, warning Yemen's Houthis against further escalation while keeping the door open to diplomacy.
Pakistan
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: How A Resurgent Al-Qaeda Is Helping Militant Attacks In Pakistan
A quarter-century ago, the United States drove Al-Qaeda out of Afghanistan and into neighboring Pakistan. Dispersed and severely weakened, the terror network regrouped in Pakistan's tribal areas, helped and sheltered by the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a group founded in 2007 and largely made up of young tribesmen influenced by the Afghan Taliban. Now, with the Afghan Taliban back in power in Kabul, the nexus of the TTP and Al-Qaeda is stronger than ever. Al-Qaeda has helped shape the TTP's strategy, propaganda operations, and training capabilities, enabling the TTP to step up attacks against the Pakistani authorities.
Mali
Modern Ghana: Blood In The Gourma: Isis-Sahel Claims Mass Jnim Casualties Near Timbuktu
A fresh round of inter-jihadist warfare has erupted in the Timbuktu region of Mali, with the Islamic State's Sahel affiliate claiming one of its heaviest single-battle tolls against its al-Qaeda-linked rival in years a claim JNIM disputes but does not deny outright.
Mozambique
Associated Press: South African among workers abducted after attack on hunting camp in Mozambique
A South African man was among a group of up to 20 workers abducted in Mozambique during an attack by insurgents on a hunting camp, South Africa’s foreign ministry said Monday.
Australia
There was barely a seat spare in the gallery of the High Court of Australia's largest courtroom this morning, when one of the country's highest-profile neo-Nazi groups began making its case against new federal hate speech laws.
Lawyers for an outlawed neo-Nazi political party have argued anti-hate laws passed after the Bondi terror attack rely on the opinion of a politician and are “authoritarian in nature”. The White Australia party, formerly known as the National Socialist Network (NSN), was designated as an illegal hate group in May after the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation passed on its recommendation to the home affairs minister, Tony Burke.
Technology
Wired: Gen AI Tools Are Now Being Used to Push ‘Slop Jihad’
Over a decade ago, the Islamic State released a disturbing video that depicted its members lowering men locked in a cage into a swimming pool and drowning them. Today, that video has been reproduced as a SpongeBob SquarePants cartoon depicting fish in orange jumpsuits inside the cage, as SpongeBob lowers the cage into the water while Squidward films the scene.
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