“Israeli forces pressed their offensive against Hamas in northern Gaza on
Monday, battling militants around a hospital where thousands of patients and
displaced people have been sheltering for weeks, and where despite the fighting
health officials managed to evacuate some of the wounded. A medical worker
inside the facility and the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said a shell
struck the second floor of the Indonesian Hospital, killing 12 people. Both
blamed Israel, which denied shelling the hospital, saying its troops returned
fire on militants who targeted them from inside the 3.5-acre (1.4 hectare)
compound. The Israeli offensive came as 28 premature babies evacuated from Gaza
City’s Shifa Hospital by the World Health Organization were transported to
Egypt on Monday. Three others were transferred to an Emirati-run hospital in
Rafah in southern Gaza, the Red Crescent said. More than 250 critically ill or
wounded patients remain stranded at the Shifa compound, which Israeli forces
stormed days ago. Gaza’s hospitals play a prominent role in the battle of
narratives over the war’s brutal toll on Palestinian civilians, thousands of
whom have been killed or buried in rubble since the conflict was sparked by
Hamas’ Oct. 7 rampage into southern Israel. In the wake of the assault, Israeli
leaders vowed to eradicate Hamas, destroy its ability to rule Gaza and uproot
its militant infrastructure.”











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Eye on Extremism



November 21, 2023



Associated Press: Israel Battles Hamas Near Another Gaza Hospital Sheltering
Thousands
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“Israeli forces pressed their offensive against Hamas in northern Gaza on
Monday, battling militants around a hospital where thousands of patients and
displaced people have been sheltering for weeks, and where despite the fighting
health officials managed to evacuate some of the wounded. A medical worker
inside the facility and the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said a shell
struck the second floor of the Indonesian Hospital, killing 12 people. Both
blamed Israel, which denied shelling the hospital, saying its troops returned
fire on militants who targeted them from inside the 3.5-acre (1.4 hectare)
compound. The Israeli offensive came as 28 premature babies evacuated from Gaza
City’s Shifa Hospital by the World Health Organization were transported to
Egypt on Monday. Three others were transferred to an Emirati-run hospital in
Rafah in southern Gaza, the Red Crescent said. More than 250 critically ill or
wounded patients remain stranded at the Shifa compound, which Israeli forces
stormed days ago. Gaza’s hospitals play a prominent role in the battle of
narratives over the war’s brutal toll on Palestinian civilians, thousands of
whom have been killed or buried in rubble since the conflict was sparked by
Hamas’ Oct. 7 rampage into southern Israel. In the wake of the assault, Israeli
leaders vowed to eradicate Hamas, destroy its ability to rule Gaza and uproot
its militant infrastructure.”



CBS: Escalating Violence In Gaza Increasing Chatter Of Possible Terror Attack
In New York, Intelligence Report Says
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“CBS News learned Monday of increased threats of a possible terror attack in
New York City as a direct result of the escalating violence in the Middle East.
Gov. Kathy Hochul is already taking action to beef up security and increase
staffing of the Joint Terrorism Task Force following a new threat assessment by
the New York State Intelligence Center that violence in Gaza is driving chatter
about targets in New York. "I am working hard at the state level with the
control I have. I'll be talking about this tomorrow, about exactly what we're
doing, and how many online threats we've uncovered, how many have been
investigated, what the outcome is," said Hochul. The governor spoke about new
steps she'll be taking to deal with online threats and radicalization, even as
CBS News obtained a new threat assessment which points to "an increasing terror
threat to NYS." The intelligence center warned that the spread of antisemitic
and anti-Palestinian rhetoric on social media is fueling an increase in hate
crimes targeting Jews, Muslims and Arabs. "The expansion of Israeli operations
against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and increase in civilian casualties raises the
likelihood that violent extremist threat actors will seek to conduct attacks
against targets in the West, with New York State being a focus. Terrorist
messaging has placed focus on attacking 'soft targets' such as protests, group
gatherings, and other public events," the report said.”



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CEP Mentions



Focus On Western Islamism: Jewish Security Chiefs Endorse Qatar?
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“…A recent press release from Counter Extremism Project (CEP) CEO Ambassador
Mark D. Wallace and CEP president Frances F. Townsend calls on “all lobbying
and public relations firms to cease working with or representing the Government
of Qatar until it detains the Hamas leadership responsible for the October 7
massacre in Israel and remands them into U.S., Israeli, or appropriate third
party-custody.””



Syria



Task and Purpose: US Missions Against ISIS Up In Iraq And Syria, Body Count
Down <[link removed]>



U.S. troops and partner forces have conducted 387 operations against the
Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria so far in 2023, far more than they did in
all of 2022, according to U.S. Central Command, or CENTCOM. But while the tempo
of operations is up, far fewer suspected ISIS fighters have been killed during
those missions than last year. Through October, CENTCOM says U.S. and partner
forces have killed 101 suspected fighters in these operations – 78 were killed
in Iraq and 23 in Syria. By comparison, U.S. troops and partner forces killed
at least 686 suspected ISIS fighters in 2022 – 220 in Iraq, 466 in Syria. While
fewer ISIS fighters have been killed this year in Iraq and Syria, U.S. troops
and partner forces have captured more suspected ISIS operatives than in 2022,
according to CENTCOM.



Yemen



Reuters: Yemen's Houthis Release Video Footage Showing Armed Men Seizing
'Israeli-Linked Ship'
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“Yemen's Houthis released video footage on Monday showing armed men dropping
from a helicopter and seizing a cargo ship in the southern Red Sea. The footage
was released by the movement's TV channel Al Masirah a day after the ship was
hijacked by the Iran-backed group, who said the ship was linked to Israel.
Israel, however, says the seized ship was British-owned and Japanese-operated.”



Lebanon



Reuters: Two Reporters, Third Person Killed In Rocket Strike Near
Lebanon-Israel Border - State Media
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“Two journalists working for a Lebanon-based TV channel and a third person
were killed by a rocket strike near Lebanon's border with Israel on Tuesday,
the Lebanese state news agency reported The agency said the incident took place
near the town of Tir Harfa, about a mile from the Israeli frontier. Lebanon's
Al Mayadeen TV, which the two killed reporters were working for, said Israel
had carried out the attack and deliberately targeted the journalists. Israel's
military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Fighting between
Israel and Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah broke out after Hezbollah's
Palestinian ally Hamas launched an attack on Israel on Oct. 7. The border
violence has escalated, raising Western fears of a widening war in the Middle
East that could draw in both the United States and Iran. It is the worst
violence at the border since Israel and Hezbollah fought a war in 2006 and has
so far killed more than 70 Hezbollah fighters, 13 Lebanese civilians, seven
Israeli troops and three Israeli civilians.”



Middle East



Bloomberg: Hamas Says Gaza Hostage Talks Progress, Could Yield ‘Truce’
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“Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh said his group is close to reaching a “truce
agreement” in talks with Qatar and Israel, rare public comments that suggest
discussions over freeing some hostages held by the militant group are
progressing. “The movement delivered its response to the brothers in Qatar and
the mediators, and we are close to reaching a truce agreement,” Haniyeh said in
a statement on Telegram. His comments come after US President Joe Biden said
Monday that Israel and Hamas are closing in on a deal to free a group of
hostages taken when the group stormed Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200
people. “I believe so,” Biden said when asked if a deal was near. He added that
he wasn’t prepared to offer details. Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s leader in the Gaza
Strip, has agreed in principle for more than 50 women and children to be
released, Axios reported earlier. In return, Israel would pause its military
attacks for a specified time each day and release some Palestinians in Israeli
jails. Qatar, which hosts some of Hamas’s political leaders, is helping broker
the talks between the group, a designated terrorist organization by the US and
European Union, and Israel.”



Associated Press: Israeli Troops Battle Militants Across North Gaza, Which Has
Been Without Power Or Water For Weeks
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“Israeli troops battled Palestinian militants in an urban refugee camp and
outside a nearby hospital Tuesday as the army expanded operations across
northern Gaza, where residents have been without electricity or reliable access
to water, food or other basics for weeks. The front line of the war, now in its
seventh week, shifted to the Jabaliya refugee camp, a dense warren of concrete
buildings near Gaza City that houses families displaced in the 1948 war
surrounding Israel’s creation. Israel has bombarded the area for weeks, and the
military said Hamas fighters have regrouped there and in other eastern
districts after being pushed out of much of Gaza City. Fighting has also
intensified outside the nearby Indonesian Hospital, where Palestinian health
officials said a strike killed 12 people Monday. They said Tuesday that
hundreds of patients and displaced people are trapped inside with dwindling
supplies after some 200 were evacuated the day before. Senior Hamas officials,
meanwhile, said they were close to reaching a deal through international
mediators to release some of the estimated 240 people taken hostage by the
group in its Oct. 7 attack into Israel that triggered the war. But the talks
have repeatedly stalled and past predictions of a breakthrough have proven
premature.”



Associated Press: With The World’s Eyes On Gaza, Attacks Are On The Rise In
The West Bank, Which Faces Its Own War
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“When Israeli warplanes swooped over the Gaza Strip following Hamas militants’
deadly attack on southern Israel, Palestinians say a different kind of war took
hold in the occupied West Bank. Overnight, the territory was closed off. Towns
were raided, curfews imposed, teenagers arrested, detainees beaten, and
villages stormed by Jewish vigilantes. With the world’s attention on Gaza and
the humanitarian crisis there, the violence of war has also erupted in the West
Bank. Israeli settler attacks have surged at an unprecedented rate, according
to the United Nations. The escalation has spread fear, deepened despair, and
robbed Palestinians of their livelihoods, their homes and, in some cases, their
lives. “Our lives are hell,” said Sabri Boum, a 52-year-old farmer who
fortified his windows with metal grills last week to protect his children from
settlers he said threw stun grenades in Qaryout, a northern village. “It’s like
I’m in a prison.” In six weeks, settlers have killed nine Palestinians, said
Palestinian health authorities. They’ve destroyed 3,000-plus olive trees during
the crucial harvest season, said Palestinian Authority official Ghassan
Daghlas, wiping out what for some were inheritances passed through generations.
And they’ve harassed herding communities, forcing over 900 people to abandon 15
hamlets they long called home, the U.N. said.”



Germany



Reuters: Germany Arrests Suspected Antisemite Who Threatened Killings -Police
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“German police have arrested an 18-year-old man on suspicion of planning
violence endangering the state after he threatened to kill people in online
posts and posted right-wing extremist and antisemitic content, officials said
on Monday. Police in the western state of Hesse searched the apartment of the
suspect last Wednesday and seized computers, arms and ammunition, the State
Office of Criminal Investigation and the public prosecutor's office in
Frankfurt said in a statement. The suspect hadrepeatedly published posts online
in which he threatened to kill people for political reasons, it said. Several
months of investigation had revealed the suspect's "consolidated violent,
anti-Semitic and right-wing extremist attitude" according to the Hesse state
authorities. Germany has stepped up vigilance for any indication of antisemitic
violence in the wake of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by militants from Gaza's
ruling Islamist group Hamas. Since the deadly incursion, followed by Israel's
devastating siege and invasion of Gaza, Germany has witnessed a series of
protests in support of Gaza's Palestinians, at some of which antisemitic
slogans were heard, as well as Israel.”



Technology



ABC: 'Really Worried': Meta Decision Allowing 2020 Election-Denial Ads Risks
Distrust, Extremism, Experts Say
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“Less than a year out from the next presidential election, former President
Donald Trump and some Republican allies continue to falsely deny the results of
the previous one. Three in 10 adults believe that President Joe Biden only won
the 2020 contest because of election fraud, a Monmouth poll in June found. More
than two-thirds of Republicans espouse the debunked claim, the survey showed.
Despite the persistence of such falsehoods, political advertisements featuring
incorrect assertions about widespread voter fraud in the 2020 contest will be
permitted on Instagram and Facebook, a Meta content policy show Meta, the
parent company that controls the platforms, made a policy change allowing
political advertisers to say past elections were fraudulently conducted but
prohibiting ads that question the validity of future or ongoing elections, the
policy says. The Wall Street Journal first reported the policy change. The move
raises concerns about the spread of false election-denial ads on Instagram and
Facebook that could erode the public's trust in U.S. democracy, some
researchers who examine misinformation and disinformation told ABC News, noting
that election-denial ads could also help fuel violent extremism like that on
Jan. 6, 2021.”



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