“The C.I.A. director, William J. Burns, met in Warsaw on Monday with Israeli
and Qatari officials for talks aimed at restarting hostage and prisoner
exchanges, according to U.S. officials. Under a weeklong truce between Israel
and Hamas last month, 105 hostages were freed in exchange for the release of
240 Palestinians from Israeli jails before negotiations broke down and the war
resumed on Dec. 1. Since then, American officials have pushed various proposals
aimed at continued humanitarian releases or other exchanges. Pressure for
another agreement has mounted in recent days, after the Israeli military said
on Friday that its soldiers had fatally shot three unarmed men who turned out
to have been hostages. Hamas had not released any videos of its hostages since
before the exchanges began. But on Monday it posted one on social media showing
three older men, one of whom pleaded for their release. Resuming talks has been
complicated, with deeper differences over the terms of further exchanges. After
the deal fell apart, a U.S. official said publicly that Hamas “reneged” on an
agreement to release all female hostages. A Hamas official said it considered
some of the remaining female hostages to be soldiers.”











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Eye on Extremism



December 19, 2023



The New York Times: C.I.A. Director Discusses Resuming Hostage And Prisoner
Exchanges Between Israel And Hamas
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“The C.I.A. director, William J. Burns, met in Warsaw on Monday with Israeli
and Qatari officials for talks aimed at restarting hostage and prisoner
exchanges, according to U.S. officials. Under a weeklong truce between Israel
and Hamas last month, 105 hostages were freed in exchange for the release of
240 Palestinians from Israeli jails before negotiations broke down and the war
resumed on Dec. 1. Since then, American officials have pushed various proposals
aimed at continued humanitarian releases or other exchanges. Pressure for
another agreement has mounted in recent days, after the Israeli military said
on Friday that its soldiers had fatally shot three unarmed men who turned out
to have been hostages. Hamas had not released any videos of its hostages since
before the exchanges began. But on Monday it posted one on social media showing
three older men, one of whom pleaded for their release. Resuming talks has been
complicated, with deeper differences over the terms of further exchanges. After
the deal fell apart, a U.S. official said publicly that Hamas “reneged” on an
agreement to release all female hostages. A Hamas official said it considered
some of the remaining female hostages to be soldiers.”



Associated Press: UN Security Council Delays Vote On Resolution Urging
Cessation Of Hostilities In Gaza To Deliver Aid
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“The U.N. Security Council delayed until Tuesday morning a vote on an
Arab-sponsored resolution calling for a halt to hostilities in Gaza to allow
for urgently needed aid deliveries to a massive number of civilians as members
intensified negotiations to try to avoid another veto by the United States. The
council said Monday’s 5 p.m. EST vote would not take place, and diplomats said
negotiations were taking place to get the United States, Israel’s closest ally,
to abstain or vote “yes” on the resolution. A key issue is how to implement and
sustain a desperately needed aid operation. Human Rights Watch accused Israel
earlier Monday of deliberately starving Gaza’s population by blocking the
delivery of water, food and fuel, a method of warfare that it described as a
war crime. The United Nations’ food agency reported on Dec. 14 that 56% of
Gaza’s households were experiencing “severe levels of hunger,” up from 38% two
weeks earlier. The draft on the table Monday morning called for an “urgent and
sustainable cessation of hostilities” for humanitarian access to deliver aid.
But this language is expected to be watered down to a “suspension” of
hostilities or something possibly weaker to satisfy the Americans, the
diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because discussions have
been private.”

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CEP Mentions



The Jewish News Syndicate: The Pro-Hamas Doha Forum
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“The Doha Forum, which was held on Dec. 10-11, markets itself as a “global
platform for dialogue” at which policymakers discuss global challenges like
“energy transition” and “vaccine innovation.” But a sizeable chunk of this
year’s two-day conference, held in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre,
concentrated on Qatar’s real passions: defending Hamas and defaming Israel. On
day one of the forum, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh
said, “Hamas is an integral part of the Palestinian mosaic.” This was restated
in a later panel by Al Sharq Forum president Wadah Khanfar, who declared that
the Palestinians should not “try to please anyone” because Hamas has
popularity, legitimacy and “has to be part of [a Palestinian future].”
Moderator and former Al Jazeera anchor Mehdi Hasan agreed that this “was
clearly true sitting here in the Middle East.” The remainder of the discussion
was spent regurgitating buzzwords demonizing Israel as an “apartheid,”
“racist,” “settler-colonialist project” that needed “decolonizing. Even before
the weekend’s main event, the Doha Youth Forum featured Norman Finkelstein, who
in the past has accused Jews of exploiting the memory of the Holocaust. He
chose not to label Hamas “despicable murderers” because, to him, “this is a
more complex moral question.””



Stern: Terror Expert: “The Risk Of Attacks In Europe Is Higher Than Before
October 7th”
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“Will there soon be Hamas attacks in Germany? How networked is the terrorist
group in the country? How high is the risk at Christmas markets? Expert
Hans-Jakob Schindler on the current threat from Islamists in Europe. It would
have been the first attack by the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas in
Europe: four men have been in custody in Germany and the Netherlands since
Thursday; the federal prosecutor's office in Karlsruhe accuses them of looking
for weapons that were ready for possible attacks on Jewish institutions in
Europe should be. Does Germany have to expect further attack plans in the
future? The extremism expert Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler from the transatlantic
think tank “Counter Extremism Project” has long been warning about possible
risks.”



United States



Bloomberg: Gulf Splits Hinder US Efforts To End Houthi Ship Attacks
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“US efforts to counter Yemen’s Houthi rebels as they attack ships in one of
the world’s most important waterways are hitting a major roadblock because of
disagreements among Washington’s Arab allies, according to people familiar with
the matter. Two of the most crucial actors involved in Yemen’s long-running
civil war, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, support competing
factions against the Houthis and favor differing ways of dealing with them.
Their diverging stances are complicating the US-led attempt to forge a coherent
response to the Iran-backed group, the people said. The militias have targeted
several fuel tankers and cargo ships in support of Hamas in its war against
Israel. They have stepped up the attacks in the past week, roiling shipping
markets and helping push up oil prices. Over the weekend, the US and UK navies
shot down 15 drones launched from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. The US is
mulling military action against the Houthis, perhaps including strikes against
the group’s targets, though it still prefers diplomacy, Bloomberg has reported.
Washington is also working with Western and Arab allies to bolster a maritime
protection force that’s meant to secure ships navigating the Red Sea, through
which nearly 12% of global trade passes.”



Voice Of America: US Airstrike Targets 'High-Ranking' Al-Shabab Commander
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“The Somali government has reported that a high-ranking al-Shabab commander in
the south of the country was targeted in collaboration with the United Sates
military. Somali Information Minister Daud Aweis said in a post that the
operation “aimed to neutralize the terrorist leader in charge for orchestrating
terror attacks.” The Somali government said the strike occurred in the Middle
Jubba region on December 17. The militant commander has not been identified.
The United States military command in Africa, known as AFRICOM, confirmed to
VOA the accuracy of the report of the Somali government. The last time a U.S.
airstrike targeted a senior al-Shabab commander was in May when the head of the
radical militant group’s external operations, Moallim Osman, was injured in the
strike. Osman is accused of overseeing the recruitment of foreign fighters to
Somalia to help with al-Shabab's ongoing battle against the Somali government.
The United States trains an elite Somali unit, donates weapons to the Somali
forces and conducts airstrikes against al-Shabab — which has been fighting the
Somali government and African Union peacekeeping forces for more than
one-and-a-half decades.”



Yemen



Washington Post: BP Suspends Red Sea Shipping Amid Attacks By Yemen’s Houthi
Militants
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“Amid attacks on cargo vessels by anti-Israel militants in Yemen, oil giant BP
has paused all shipments through the Red Sea, a move that pushed up oil prices
Monday and unsettled energy markets. Iran-aligned Houthi militants began
targeting ships along the key route in response to Israel’s war on Hamas, after
the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7. BP’s move — along with similar
decisions by at least seven shipping companies, including the Taiwanese
container shipping line Evergreen and the Belgium-owned tanker fleet Euronav —
came as the United States announced it would build a coalition to address
Houthi attacks in the Red Sea. “This is an international problem and deserves
an international response,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at news
conference during a visit to Israel Monday. The initiative, known as Operation
Prosperity Guardian, is to include Britain, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the
Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain. Austin is set to visit Bahrain after
Israel. “The recent escalation in reckless Houthi attacks originating from
Yemen threatens the free flow of commerce, endangers innocent mariners, and
violates international law,” Austin said in a statement.”



Time: How—And Why—Yemen’s Houthi Rebels Are Poised To Seriously Disrupt The
Global Economy
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“After two months, the crisis in the Middle East is poised to seriously
disrupt the global economy as well as regional stability—thanks to the Houthis,
a rebel Shi’a group in Yemen, and their successful effort to disrupt shipping
through the Red Sea. While attacks by the Houthis on commercial shipping began
on November 19, they escalated last week, with the Yemeni rebels firing
anti-ship ballistic missiles at several passing ships and hitting one (the
first time such a weapon has ever been used successfully). As none of the ships
were bound for Israel or owned by Israeli companies, the attacks signaled the
Houthis were stepping up their efforts to pressure local commerce as a way to
force Israel to suspend its campaign in Gaza. Shipping companies got the
message. Five of the largest shipping firms announced they would redirect their
container ships away from the Bab al Mandab strait, the strategic waterway
through which ships must pass on their way to the Suez Canal and which handles
over 10% of global commerce.



Middle East



Associated Press: Israel Strikes South Gaza And Raids A Hospital In The North
As War Grinds On With Renewed US Support
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“Israeli forces raided one of the last functioning hospitals in Gaza’s north
and bombarded the south with airstrikes that killed at least 28 Palestinians,
pressing ahead with their offensive Tuesday with renewed backing from the
United States, despite rising international alarm. The air and ground war,
launched in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into Israel, has killed nearly
20,000 Palestinians, displaced some 1.9 million, demolished much of northern
Gaza and sparked attacks on U.S. and Israeli targets across the region.
Assaults on ships in the Red Sea by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have led
major shipping companies — as well as the oil and gas giant BP — to suspend
trade through the vital waterway, prompting the U.S. and its allies to launch a
new mission to counter the threat. But after meeting with Israeli officials
Monday, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he was “not here to dictate
timelines or terms.” His remarks signaled that the U.S. would continue
shielding Israel from growing international calls for a cease-fire as the
United Nations Security Council was set to hold another vote Tuesday, and would
keep providing vital military aid for one of the 21st century’s deadliest
military campaigns.”



Bloomberg: Hamas's Cheap, Makeshift Drones Are Outsmarting Israel's High-Tech
Military
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“It wasn’t the eruption of rocket fire from Gaza that rattled soldiers at
Israel’s southern frontier on Oct. 7. It was the unusual hum overhead that they
hadn't heard before. A fleet of drones that are available online for as little
as $6,500 filled the skies above Israel’s $1 billion border fence. They were
rigged to carry explosives and knock out cameras, communications systems and
remote-controlled guns, setting the stage for the unprecedented massacre.
Militaries have been using drones in conflicts for more than two decades.
Israel itself boasts one of the largest armies of unmanned aerial vehicles in
the Middle East. Today, a new generation of cheap, commercially available
systems — like the ones Hamas used in the Oct. 7 attack — is emerging,
challenging some of the world’s most technologically advanced forces. The war
with Hamas is a wakeup call for top-tier militaries about their deadly
potential, according to Heven Drones Chief Executive Officer Bentzion Levinson,
whose company supplies the Israeli army with heavy lifter and hydrogen-powered
drones. “We have these huge drones, these UAVs, we have planes, our technology
is much more advanced,” Levinson said. “What this war did is that we realized
that this is happening in our backyard, both on the defense and the offensive
side.””



Reuters: Jordan Strikes Iran-Linked Drugs Smugglers In Southern Syria - Sources

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“Jordan on Monday launched several aerial raids into its northern neighbour
Syria against hideouts of Iranian-backed drug smugglers in retaliation against
a large-scale smuggling operation, regional intelligence sources said. The army
said it foiled a plot on Monday by dozens of infiltrators from Syria linked to
pro-Iranian militias, who crossed its border with rocket launchers,
anti-personnel mines and explosives. Two regional intelligence and a Western
diplomatic source who track the situation in southern Syria confirmed that
Jordanian war planes had hit the drug-related targets in rare raids inside
Syria since the over a decade-old conflict began. They said the jets bombed the
suspected home of a leading drug dealer in the town of Salkhad in Sweida
province while other strikes hit hideouts in the Deraa province. The two
provinces are in southern Syria along the Jordanian-Syrian border. Ryan Marouf,
editor of the local Suwayda 24 news website, said it was not clear if there
were any casualties from the raids that hit hideouts of leading drug dealers
and several farms. War-torn Syria has become the region's main site for a
multi-billion-dollar drug trade, with Jordan being a key transit route to the
oil-rich Gulf states for a Syrian-made amphetamine known as captagon, Western
anti-narcotics officials and Washington say.”



Australia



Associated Press: Australia Releases A Man Convicted On Terrorism Charges From
Prison Under Strict Conditions
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“A man convicted on terrorism charges whom Australia had wanted to strip of
his citizenship and deport was released into the community on Tuesday under
strict conditions. Algeria-born Muslim cleric Abdul Benbrika was released from
maximum security Barwon Prison outside Melbourne on a supervision order for 12
months following a ruling by Victoria state Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth
Hollingworth. Police had argued for the order to last for three years. Benbrika
must wear an electronic ankle bracelet to track his movements and abide by a
nightly curfew. The 63-year-old was convicted in 2008 of three terrorism
charges related to a plot to cause mass casualties at a public event in
Melbourne. No attack took place. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison and
would have been released in 2020. But his sentence was extended by three years
under a recent law that allows for the continued detention of prisoners
convicted of terrorism offenses if a judge rules that they pose an unacceptable
risk to the community if released. In 2021, Benbrika lost a High Court
challenge to his continued detention in a 5-2 split decision. But he won a High
Court challenge in October to a law that enabled a government minister to strip
him of his Australian citizenship in 2020 over his terrorism convictions.”



Europe



Associated Press: Greek Anti-Terror Squad Investigates After A Bomb Was
Defused Near Riot Police Headquarters
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“Greece’s antiterrorism squad is investigating after the national riot police
headquarters was targeted Monday with a bomb that was defused before it could
explode, as police union members protested increasing violence against officers
in the force. Authorities had been alerted after an anonymous caller warned a
newspaper that the bomb would explode in 45 minutes and described where it had
been planted. That gave bomb disposal experts time to find and defuse the
device. The bomb had been left in a copse near the riot police headquarters
outside the city center and close to a university campus, police said. There
was no claim of responsibility. Such bomb attacks have long been associated
with domestic far-left militants. Many in Greece accuse riot police of
brutality against demonstrators during the myriad protests held by leftwing
groups or students who often attack police, sparking widespread clashes.
Violence is also common during sports events, where fans attack police when not
fighting each other. On Dec. 7, a riot policeman was critically injured by a
flare when fans attacked police outside an Athens arena where a volleyball
match was being played. An 18-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of
firing the flare, which hit the policeman in the leg, severing an artery.”



Technology



Associated Press: European Union Investigating Musk’s X Over Possible Breaches
Of Social Media Law
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“The European Union on Monday made Elon Musk’s online platform X the first
tech company to face an investigation under Europe’s tough new regulations
designed to clean up social media and protect people from toxic online content.
“Today we open formal infringement proceedings against @X” under the Digital
Services Act, European Commissioner Thierry Breton said in a post on the
platform formerly known as Twitter. Musk, in response, questioned whether the
EU would also scrutinize other social media sites. The 27-nation bloc is
ratcheting up the pressure on X after asking the company in October for
information on its handling of hate speech, misinformation and violent
terrorist content related to the Israel-Hamas war. The case presents the first
test for the Digital Services Act, part of a set of pioneering regulations that
the EU has drawn up to rein in the power of tech companies. The European
Commission, the EU’s executive branch, “will now investigate X’s systems and
policies related to certain suspected infringements” of the DSA, spokesman
Johannes Bahrke told a press briefing in Brussels. “It does not prejudge the
outcome of the investigation.”



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