“The United States on Wednesday sanctioned a group of 10 Hamas members and the
Palestinian militant organization’s financial network across Gaza, Sudan,
Turkey, Algeria and Qatar in response to the surprise attack on Israel that
left more than 1,000 people dead or kidnapped. Targeted for sanctions by the
Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control are members who manage a
Hamas investment portfolio, a Qatar-based financial facilitator with close ties
to the Iranian regime, a Hamas commander and a Gaza-based virtual currency
exchange. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the U.S. “is taking swift and
decisive action to target Hamas’s financiers and facilitators following its
brutal and unconscionable massacre of Israeli civilians, including children.”
“The U.S. Treasury has a long history of effectively disrupting terror finance
and we will not hesitate to use our tools against Hamas,” she said in an
emailed statement. The sanctions are financial penalties meant to block access
to funds held in the U.S. and to prevent the people and entities from doing
business with American people and firms. Secretary of State Antony Blinken
noted that the sanctions are “directed at Hamas terrorists and their support
network, not Palestinians.”











<[link removed]>
<[link removed]>



Eye on Extremism



October 19, 2023



Associated Press: The US Sanctions 10 Hamas Members And Its Financial Network
Over The Surprise Israel Attack
<[link removed]>



“The United States on Wednesday sanctioned a group of 10 Hamas members and the
Palestinian militant organization’s financial network across Gaza, Sudan,
Turkey, Algeria and Qatar in response to the surprise attack on Israel that
left more than 1,000 people dead or kidnapped. Targeted for sanctions by the
Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control are members who manage a
Hamas investment portfolio, a Qatar-based financial facilitator with close ties
to the Iranian regime, a Hamas commander and a Gaza-based virtual currency
exchange. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the U.S. “is taking swift and
decisive action to target Hamas’s financiers and facilitators following its
brutal and unconscionable massacre of Israeli civilians, including children.”
“The U.S. Treasury has a long history of effectively disrupting terror finance
and we will not hesitate to use our tools against Hamas,” she said in an
emailed statement. The sanctions are financial penalties meant to block access
to funds held in the U.S. and to prevent the people and entities from doing
business with American people and firms. Secretary of State Antony Blinken
noted that the sanctions are “directed at Hamas terrorists and their support
network, not Palestinians.”



Wall Street Journal: U.S., Experts Say Evidence Suggests Palestinian
Militants’ Rocket Hit Gaza Hospital
<[link removed]>



“Israel, the U.S. government and independent security experts said Wednesday
the preliminary evidence for a deadly explosion at a Gaza hospital compound
pointed to a local militant group, casting doubt on Palestinian claims that an
Israeli airstrike was responsible. Independent analysts poring over publicly
available images of Tuesday’s explosion at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza and
its aftermath say the blast site doesn’t bear the hallmarks of a strike with a
bomb or missile of the types usually used by Israel. The amount of damage also
appears inconsistent with the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry’s assertion
that 471 people were killed, experts said. “We have none of the indicators of
an airstrike—none,” said Michael Knights of the Washington Institute for Near
East Policy, an expert on military and security issues. The U.S. has collected
“high confidence” signals intelligence indicating that the blast at the
hospital in Gaza was caused by the militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad,
U.S. officials said, buttressing Israel’s contention that it wasn’t responsible
for the blast. A video verified by The Wall Street Journal recorded a shrieking
sound and the explosion that followed.”



<[link removed]>

Listen to the Fighting Terror Podcast

Fighting Terror is a podcast that brings together counterterrorism experts and
practitioners from Europe, the United States, and beyond to address different
approaches to combating terrorism in our society. Our frank discussions cover
the lifecycle of terrorism from propaganda and recruitment, to financing,
action, and failure. Listenhere
<[link removed]>
or wherever you get your podcasts.




United States



The New York Times: The U.S. Vetoes A Security Council Resolution On The
Israel-Hamas Conflict.
<[link removed]>



“The United Nations Security Council displayed deep divisions on Wednesday
when it failed to pass a resolution on the Israel-Hamas war as the humanitarian
situation in Gaza deteriorated and the conflict risked spreading to the region.
The resolution had the support of the majority of the Council members and had
been expected to be adopted. The U.S. veto generated criticism of American
double standards and accusations that the United States, which had criticized
Russia for paralyzing the Council on the war in Ukraine, was impeding the work
of the Council. But the American ambassador said the U.S. couldn’t support the
resolution without a mention of Israel’s right to self-defense. Brazil, which
holds the rotating presidency of the Council this month, had put forth the
resolution, which called for humanitarian access and protection of civilians in
Gaza, the immediate release of Israeli hostages and condemned Hamas’s terrorist
attack on Israel. The ambassador from the United Arab Emirates, Lana Zaki
Nusseibeh, said the resolution may not have been perfect but that it clearly
stated “basic principles” that the Council “is obliged to reinforce and
uphold.””



Reuters: Biden Vows Aid For Gaza, Israel As Protests Rock Middle East
<[link removed]>



“U.S. President Joe Biden pledged to help Israel and the Palestinians during
a lightning visit on Wednesday, but a deadly hospital blast that he ascribed to
an errant rocket fired by Gaza militants derailed talks to prevent the war
spreading. Raising fears of wider instability, protesters staged anti-Israeli
demonstrations around the Middle East over the fireball that engulfed the Gaza
Strip's Al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital late on Tuesday, which Palestinian officials
said killed 471 people. They blamed what they said was an Israeli air strike,
while Israel said it was caused by a failed rocket launch by the Islamic Jihad
militant group, which denied responsibility. Biden promised more aid to Israel
at the end of his impromptu one-day visit to the country, which is bombarding
Gaza to try to root out militants from its ruling Hamas group after they killed
1,400 Israelis in a cross-border assault on Oct. 7. He said of the hospital
blast: "Based on the information we have seen today, it appears the result of
an errant rocket fired by a terrorist group in Gaza." In Washington, the White
House National Security Council echoed Biden, saying the U.S. assessment was
based on analysis of overhead imagery, intercepts and open source information.”



Iraq



Associated Press: Troops Hurt After Three Drones Attack US Bases In Iraq As
Tensions Flare After Gaza Hospital Blast
<[link removed]>



“Coalition forces were slightly injured in Iraq in a spate of drone attacks
over the last 24 hours at U.S. bases in Iraq as regional tensions flare
following the deadly explosion at a hospital in Gaza. Two drones targeted the
al Asad airbase in western Iraq used by U.S. forces and one drone targeted a
base in northern Iraq, a U.S. official told The Associated Press. U.S. forces
intercepted all three, destroying two but only damaging the third, which led to
minor injuries among coalition forces at the western base, according to a
statement Wednesday by U.S. Central Command. The U.S. official were not
authorized to speak publicly on the attacks and spoke on the condition of
anonymity. “In this moment of heightened alert, we are vigilantly monitoring
the situation in Iraq and the region. U.S. forces will defend U.S. and
coalition forces against any threat,” Central Command said in the release.
Iranian-backed militias in Iraq have threatened to attack U.S. facilities there
because of American support for Israel. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an
umbrella group of Iranian-backed militias, issued a statement afterward
claiming responsibility for the two attacks and saying it “heralds more
operations” against the “American occupation.””



Afghanistan



Voice Of America: Taliban Leaders Conspicuously Silent On Israel-Hamas War In
Gaza
<[link removed]>



“Amid heightened tensions in the Middle East, the Taliban's supreme leader,
Hibatullah Akhundzada, has been notably quiet on the war between Israel and
Hamas in Gaza — in sharp contrast to the fervent, daily anti-Israel comments
from neighboring Iran. While Akhundzada has no public-facing digital accounts,
his edicts and statements often reverberate across the Taliban's online
platforms via other channels. Akhundzada’s second in command, Mullah Mohammad
Hassan, and his trio of deputies have also been reticent. The only senior
Taliban official who has broken the silence so far is Sirajuddin Haqqani, the
acting interior minister, who remains on the United States’ most-wanted list
with a $10 million reward offered for information leading to his arrest. “We do
not interfere in others’ internal affairs,” Haqqani said in terse remarks at an
event last week, “but we have faith-based sympathy with Muslims.” Last week,
Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s chief spokesperson, issued a statement in
condemnation of Israel’s besieging of Gaza while calling on the international
community to address the crisis. “Official messaging from the Taliban has been
comparable to what we've seen from other Muslim countries, with expressions of
solidarity and support for the Palestinians,” Michael Kugelman, an expert at
the Wilson Center, told VOA.”



Middle East



Wall Street Journal: Map Shows Labyrinth Of Tunnels Made By Hamas Under Gaza
Identified By Israel
<[link removed]>



“As part of its campaign to eradicate Hamas from Gaza, Israel has targeted
strikes against a network of tunnels underneath the enclave that are used by
the militant group to transport weapons and people without detection by Israeli
air surveillance. The map above shows tunnels as they have been identified by
the Israel Defence Forces running underneath Gaza City and other locations in
the Palestinian enclave. Tunnel construction varies, but the more sophisticated
ones are reinforced with concrete and are high enough for a man of average
height to stand up in. They often include power and communication lines. One
tunnel found by the Israeli military two months before a 2014 clash with Hamas
had a 165-foot-deep entry shaft and stretched about 2 miles underground before
emerging above the ground at the Ein HaShlosha kibbutz in Israel. Its arched
concrete roof was about five feet high. Telephone and electric wires, along
with rails for ferrying goods, ran its length. The dense labyrinth under Gaza
City is an important military asset for Hamas, giving militants places to hide
and move between houses undetected. Hamas also has cross-border tunnels which
it used in the 2006 abduction of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was released
five years later in exchange for the release of more than 1,000 Palestinian and
Arab prisoners.”



Associated Press: Israel Will Let Egypt Deliver Some Aid To Gaza, As Doctors
Struggle To Treat Hospital Blast Victims
<[link removed]>



“Israel said Wednesday that it will allow Egypt to deliver limited
humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. The first crack in a punishing 10-day siege
on the territory came one day after a blast at a hospital killed hundreds and
put immense strain on Gaza’s struggling medical system. The announcement to
allow water, food and other supplies happened as fury over the blast at Gaza
City’s al-Ahli Hospital spread across the Middle East, and as U.S. President
Joe Biden visited Israel in hopes of preventing a wider conflict in the region.
There were conflicting claims of who was behind the explosion on Tuesday night,
but protests flared quickly as many Arab leaders said Israel was responsible.
Hamas officials in Gaza blamed an Israeli airstrike, saying hundreds were
killed. Israel denied it was involved and released a flurry of video, audio and
other information that it said showed the blast was instead due to a rocket
misfire by Islamic Jihad, another militant group operating in Gaza. Islamic
Jihad dismissed that claim. The Associated Press has not independently verified
any of the claims or evidence. Israel shut off all supplies to Gaza soon after
Hamas militants rampaged across communities in southern Israel on Oct. 7. As
supplies run out, many families in Gaza have cut down to one meal a day and
have been left to drink dirty water.”



Europe



ABC: Europol Director Says Islamist Terrorism Remains The Biggest Terror
Threat To Western Europe
<[link removed]>



“With two deadly acts of terrorism confirmed in Western Europe in the last
six days, the European Union's top law enforcement official said she is worried
about what might happen in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel and Israel's
military response. "I am concerned," executive director of Europol Catherine De
Bolle told ABC News. "With our latest report on terrorism and the status in the
European Union, we see that a lot of youngsters, in fact, are influenced and
recruited through internet. We see a lot of lone actors that believe that they
have to go and commit a terrorist attack because they want to belong to a
bigger family." On Oct. 13 in northern France, a man who was under surveillance
since the summer by French security services stabbed a teacher to death at his
former high school and wounded three other people over Islamic radicalization,
authorities said. Just three days later in Brussels, authorities claim a gunman
who killed two Swedish soccer fans on Oct. 16 was likely inspired by ISIS,
according to U.S. officials briefed on the situation told ABC News.”



Associated Press: Italy Suspends Open Border With Slovenia, Citing Increased
Terror Threat As Mideast Violence Spikes
<[link removed]>



“Italy on Wednesday announced it will suspend an open-border agreement with
neighboring Slovenia, citing an increased threat of terrorism in Europe due to
violence in the Middle East. Premier Giorgia Meloni’s far-right-led government
said authorities in the northeastern border region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia had
identified 16,000 people so far this year who had entered Italy illegally
across the Slovenian border, the last stop on the Balkan route that some
migrants take to enter western Europe. That is in addition to the 140,000
migrant arrivals in Italy by sea, an increase of 85% over 2022. The government
said in a statement that the Interior Ministry’s anti-terrorism committee was
looking into the situation, which “confirms the necessity of” reinforcing
Italy’s border. Italy said it would resume border controls starting Oct. 21 for
10 days. Italy and Slovenia are among 27 countries that belong to the Schengen
area, the world’s largest free travel zone.”



The Counter Extremism Project depends on the generosity of its supporters. If
you value what we do, please consider making a donation.

DONATE NOW
<[link removed]>
 




Click here to unsubscribe.
<[link removed]>