“Israel's defence minister said on Sunday that Israel would not accept Hamas
continuing to rule Gaza at any stage during the process to wind down the war,
and that it was examining alternatives to the Islamist group. "While we conduct
our important military actions, the defence establishment is simultaneously
assessing a governing alternative to Hamas," Yoav Gallant said in a statement.
"We will isolate areas (in Gaza), remove Hamas operatives from these areas and
introduce forces that will enable an alternative government to form – an
alternative that threatens Hamas," Gallant said. He did not elaborate on the
possible alternatives. Iran-backed Hamas, which is sworn to Israel's
destruction, has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007, a year after it won
parliamentary elections and following a brief civil war with security forces
from the Western-backed Palestinian Authority.”











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Eye on Extremism



June 3, 2024



Reuters: Israel Assessing Alternatives To Hamas Rule In Gaza, Defence Minister
Says
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“Israel's defence minister said on Sunday that Israel would not accept Hamas
continuing to rule Gaza at any stage during the process to wind down the war,
and that it was examining alternatives to the Islamist group. "While we conduct
our important military actions, the defence establishment is simultaneously
assessing a governing alternative to Hamas," Yoav Gallant said in a statement.
"We will isolate areas (in Gaza), remove Hamas operatives from these areas and
introduce forces that will enable an alternative government to form – an
alternative that threatens Hamas," Gallant said. He did not elaborate on the
possible alternatives. Iran-backed Hamas, which is sworn to Israel's
destruction, has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007, a year after it won
parliamentary elections and following a brief civil war with security forces
from the Western-backed Palestinian Authority.”



Associated Press: Yemen’s Houthis Sentence 44 To Death On Charges Of
Collaboration With A Saudi-Led Coalition
<[link removed]>



“A court run by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Saturday sentenced 44 people to
death, including a businessman working with aid groups, on spying charges, a
defense lawyer said. The 44 were among 49 people who were detained by the
Iran-backed rebels and accused of “collaborating with the enemy,” a reference
to the Saudi-led coalition that has been at war with the Houthis since 2015,
lawyer Abdel-Majeed Sabra said. Four were given prison sentences, Sabra said.
Sixteen were sentenced to death in absentia, while 28 were brought before the
Specialized Criminal Court in the capital Sanaa, Sabra said. Among those
sentenced to death was Adnan al-Harazi, CEO of Prodigy Systems, a Sanaa-based
company that developed systems to help humanitarian groups register and verify
the distribution of aid to those in need in the war-stricken country.”




CEP Expert Analysis

* ISIS Redux: The Central Syria Insurgency in March 2024
<[link removed]>
* CEP Report: Central Syria’s ISIS Insurgency In 2023
<[link removed]>
* CEP Statement Calling For U.S. Sanctions Against Qatar, DIMDEX Conference,
And Al Thani Royal Family
<[link removed]>
* Extremist Content Online: The Base Calls For Members of Other White
Supremacist Groups to Join
<[link removed]>
* CEP Webinar: Cruel And Unusual Punishment – How The Houthis Target Women,
Journalists And Religious Minorities
<[link removed]>



CEP Mentions



Kreiszeitung.De: Knife Attack In Mannheim – “We Have To Expect That This Could
Happen More Often” <[link removed]>



“...The fact that Stürzenberger was on Mannheim's market square with his
information stand was probably no coincidence, says extremism expert Hans-Jakob
Schindler from the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), who comes from
Kaiserslautern: "There is a large Turkish Muslim community in Mannheim and
Ludwigshafen. An event and an information stand by Pax Europa in this
particular place could be seen as a deliberate provocation." He can imagine
that the association deliberately wanted to accept unpleasant scenes and
possible arguments with passers-by in order to create appropriate images and
create a mood on the Internet. "Of course, that in no way justifies a knife
attack," said Schindler in an interview with this editorial team.”



Conservative Home: Ian Acheson: The Confession Of Mountbatten’s Assassin Is
Dublin’s Chance To Walk The Walk On Troubles Justice
<[link removed]>



“Do you know where you were on 27 August 1979? I do. I was sitting in a car
having just visited Northern Ireland’s only safari park as a holiday treat. The
news came out of the blue cloudless sky into our radio: Earl Mountbatten’s
boat, the Shadow V, had been blown up in the water off the county Sligo village
of Mullaghmore. What I didn’t know in that day of horrific bloodshed, which
concluded with the murder of 18 British soldiers in Warrenpoint, was that
someone I knew and whose house I had played in as a small boy, Paul Maxwell,
had been killed too. The IRA claimed responsibility for what they called an
‘operation’ against ‘occupation.’ It’s worth dwelling on this description for a
moment.”



The National: How Europe's Far Right Divided Over Anti-Migrant Message As It
Seeks EU Election Gains
<[link removed]>



“...The AfD’s woes – also including spying claims against a Krah aide and a
police raid on number-two candidate Petr Bystron – mean its campaign is “pretty
much collapsing”, said Hans-Jakob Schindler of the Counter Extremism Project.
The usual far-right strategy is to “point out the inefficiencies of the system,
link that to what they call an uncontrolled immigration problem, and
essentially undermine trust in the established institutions”, he told The
National. “That would have worked, but unfortunately [candidate] number one and
number two have been suspended, so they’re not talking much about anything at
this point.” The AfD devotes the second chapter of its manifesto to calling
fundamentalist Islam a “danger to Europe” and saying a “romanticised idea of
migration” ignores anti-Semitism spread by Muslims.”



Frankfurter Rundschau: Knife Attack In Mannheim - "Must Expect That This Could
Happen Even More Often"
<[link removed]>



“The fact that Stürzenberger was now on the Mannheim marketplace with his
information stand is probably no coincidence, says extremism expert Hans-Jakob
Schindler from the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), who comes from
Kaiserslautern: "There is a large Turkish Muslim community in Mannheim and
Ludwigshafen. An event and an information stand of Pax Europa in this place of
all places should also be understood as a deliberate provocation." He could
imagine that the association wanted to consciously accept unpleasant scenes and
possible quarrels with passers-by in order to create appropriate images and
create a mood on the Internet. "Of course, this does not justify a knife attack
in any way," says Schindler in conversation with this editorial office.”



United States



BBC: US Expects Israel Will Accept Gaza Ceasefire Plan If Hamas Does
<[link removed]>



“The US has "every expectation" Israel will accept a ceasefire proposal that
would begin with a six-week cessation of hostilities in Gaza if Hamas takes the
deal, a senior White House official has said. The three-part plan unveiled by
President Joe Biden last week would also see a "surge" of humanitarian aid, as
well as an exchange of some hostages for Palestinian prisoners before a
permanent end to the war. The proposal, however, has encountered vocal
opposition from some members of Israel's government. The negotiations come as
fighting continues in Rafah, which came under intense Israeli airstrikes over
the weekend. According to the UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees,
all 36 of its shelters in the Rafah area are empty after residents were forced
to flee. Another 1.7 million people are estimated to be displaced in Khan
Younis and parts of central Gaza.”



Syria



Associated Press: Israeli Airstrikes Near City Of Aleppo Kill Several People,
Syrian State Media Say
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“Israeli airstrikes around the Syrian city of Aleppo killed several people
early Monday, Syrian state media reported. The state-run SANA news agency gave
no specific toll. It said the strikes were around the southeastern edge of
Aleppo. “The aggression led to a number of martyrs and some material losses,”
SANA said. Israel did not immediately acknowledge the strikes and rarely does
when it comes to Syria. Syria and Israel have been at war since Israel’s
founding in 1948. Syria’s President Bashar Assad has been backed by Iran in his
country’s yearslong war, and Israeli strikes previously have targeted Iranian
positions and equipment. The strikes also come while Israel is fighting Hamas
in the Gaza Strip. Israel separately has been striking targets in Lebanon as
well as Hezbollah continues its cross-border fire into the country.”



Iran



Associated Press: Iran’s Acting Top Diplomat Visits Lebanon In The First
Official Visit Since His Predecessor’s Death
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“Iran’s acting foreign minister arrived in Lebanon Monday, his first official
diplomatic visit since his predecessor died in a helicopter crash last month.
Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported that Ali Bagheri Kani would visit
Lebanon and then Syria “to meet with the two countries’ officials as well as
the officials of the resistance front to discuss ways to counter (Israel).”
Iran backs a number of armed factions in the region, of which Lebanese Shiite
militant group Hezbollah is widely seen as the most powerful. Hezbollah would
be Tehran’s first line of defense in case of a direct conflict between Iran and
Israel. Bagheri Kani’s predecessor, Hossein Amirabdollahian, a hard-liner close
to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, died in a helicopter crash on May 19
in a mountainous area near Iran’s border with Azerbaijan, along with Iranian
President Ebrahim Raisi and a delegation of other officials.”



Afghanistan



Voice Of America: Taliban Accuse Pakistan Of Sowing ‘Distrust' Between
Afghanistan, China
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“The Taliban government Friday dismissed the findings of a Pakistan probe
that attributed a recent fatal attack against Chinese workers in the country to
militants operating from Afghanistan. Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s chief
spokesman, told an Afghan television station that his country had nothing to do
with the March 26 attack on Chinese nationals in northwestern Pakistan,
insisting it was an internal issue for the neighboring country to address. “The
report published by Pakistan is an attempt to damage the trust between
Afghanistan and China. We have repeatedly denied this report as illogical,”
Mujahid told TOLO TV in his audio remarks. The response came a day after a
Pakistani delegation visited Kabul on Thursday and shared with Taliban
counterparts the results of Islamabad’s investigation into the killings of five
Chinese nationals, along with their local driver, in a suicide car bombing. The
victims were working on a China-funded hydropower project in northwestern
Pakistan.”



Associated Press: River Ferry Sinks In Afghanistan, Killing At Least 20
<[link removed]>



“At least 20 people were killed when a boat sank while crossing a river in
eastern Afghanistan Saturday morning, a Taliban official said. Quraishi Badlon,
provincial director of the information and culture department in Nangarhar
province, said that the boat sank while crossing a river in Mohmand Dara
district, killing 20 people including women and children. Badlon said that the
boat was carrying 25 people, according to village residents, of whom five
survived. So far five bodies have been retrieved including a man, a woman, two
boys and a girl, said the Nangarhar health department in a statement. It added
that a medical team and ambulances were sent to the area. The officials didn’t
provide details on the cause of the accident and said that rescuers are still
searching for other bodies. Residents of the area frequently use locally made
boats to travel between villages and local markets.”



Yemen



CBS: Yemen's Houthis Threaten Escalation After American Strike Using
5,000-Pound Bunker-Buster Bomb
<[link removed]>



“Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis on Friday threatened to escalate attacks on Red
Sea shipping after overnight strikes by the United States and Britain that the
rebels said killed 16 people. Three officials told CBS News national security
correspondent David Martin on Friday that the U.S. used a 5,000-pound
bunker-buster bomb as part of the joint strike against Houthi targets. The
GBU-72 bomb was dropped by a U.S. Air Force jet in an effort to destroy an
underground Houthi facility. One official said the bomb hit the target, but it
wasn't yet clear if it had been destroyed or if there were any civilian
casualties. The Houthis, who control much of Yemen, said 16 people were killed
and 40 more wounded, including an unspecified number of civilians, but there
was no independent confirmation of those numbers.”



Associated Press: Houthi Rebels Say At Least 16 Killed And 42 Others Wounded
In Joint US-British Airstrikes In Yemen
<[link removed]>



“Joint British-U.S. airstrikes targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels killed at
least 16 people and wounded 42 others, the rebels said Friday, the highest
publicly acknowledged death toll from the multiple rounds of strikes carried
out over the rebels’ attacks on shipping. Three U.S. officials, speaking on
condition of anonymity to describe a then-ongoing attack, described the strikes
Thursday as hitting a wide range of underground facilities, missile launchers,
command and control sites, a Houthi vessel and other facilities. They called it
a response to a recent surge in attacks by the Iran-backed militia group on
ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden over the Israel-Hamas war. The U.S.
F/A-18 fighter jets involved in the strikes took off from the USS Dwight D.
Eisenhower aircraft carrier in the Red Sea, officials said. Other U.S. warships
in the region also participated.”



Lebanon



Associated Press: Two Lebanese Shepherds Killed Amid Ongoing Escalation Along
Lebanon-Israel Border
<[link removed]>



“Two Lebanese shepherds were killed in an Israeli strike that hit their house
in the town of Houla near the Lebanon-Israel border on Sunday, state media
reported. Lebanon’s National News agency said the men were civilians who used
to sell sheep milk to neighboring villages. Lebanese Agriculture Minister Abbas
Hajj Hassan said in a statement that a separate Israeli strike Sunday morning
had damaged his ministry’s office in the town of Bint Jbeil, as well as the
city’s commercial market and local government headquarters. Also Sunday, the
Lebanese militant group Hezbollah claimed a drone attack on an Israeli military
facility in the Golan Heights. It said the strike had hit a radar system for
Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system, as well as forces operating it. The
Israeli military did not confirm damage to the radar system but said that two
drones “were identified falling in open areas” and “as a result of one of them,
a fire broke out adjacent to Katzrin in the Golan Heights and was extinguished
shortly afterward.” It said no injuries were reported.”



Associated Press: Hezbollah Fighters Shoot Down An Israeli Drone In Lebanon
And Fire Rockets At An Israeli Base
<[link removed]>



“The militant Hezbollah group said it shot down an Israeli drone over
southern Lebanon and fired rockets at an Israeli military base on Saturday,
hours after Israeli drone strikes killed at least one person and wounded
several others. Hezbollah said in a statement that its fighters struck the
Hermes 900 Kochav drone, saying such aircraft have been targeting militants and
civilian homes. The exchange of fire along the Lebanon-Israel border has been
intensifying over the past weeks with Israel’s military push on Gaza’s southern
city of Rafah. The Israeli military said a surface-to-air missile was fired
toward a drone operating in Lebanese airspace, adding that it was hit and fell
in Lebanese territory. “The incident is under review,” the military said. The
Hermes 900 Kochav is a medium altitude and long endurance drone that can carry
four anti-tank guided missiles.”



Middle East



Times: Condemnations Mount Over Israeli Proposal To Label U.N. Aid Agency A
Terrorist Group
<[link removed]>



“Qatar and Saudi Arabia on Sunday condemned an Israeli parliamentary bill
that seeks to label UNRWA, the main provider of aid for Palestinians in Gaza, a
terrorist group, joining a growing number of nations opposed to the proposal.
The bill, which passed a preliminary vote in parliament last week, is the
product of increasingly tense relations between Israel and the United Nations
agency for Palestinian refugees. Israel has accused the agency of militant
links, claiming that hundreds of its employees are members of militant groups,
including some who allegedly participated in the Oct. 7 attacks on southern
Israel. Those allegations led to a freeze in funding by many donors to the
agency at a time when Gaza has been buckling under a humanitarian crisis
triggered by the war. UNRWA says it took swift action against those accused and
an independent review of the agency’s neutrality found that Israel did not
raise previously concerns about the workers and did not provide evidence
backing its claims.””



Associated Press: The Latest | Israeli Strikes In Central Gaza Kill At Least
11 As The US Pushes A Cease-Fire Plan
<[link removed]>



“Palestinian health officials said Israeli strikes killed 11 people overnight
into Monday, including a woman and three children, in central Gaza. A strike on
a home in the built-up Bureij refugee camp late Sunday killed four people,
including the three children. The second strike, early Monday, killed seven
people, including a woman, in the Nuseirat refugee camp. Earlier Monday, the
Israeli military said that the body of a man presumed to be a hostage was found
in a community near the Gaza border that Hamas militants attacked on Oct. 7.
U.S. President Joe Biden said Friday that Israel has offered Hamas a
three-phase cease-fire and hostage release deal, declaring it was time to end
the fighting in Gaza and that Hamas is “no longer capable” of carrying out
another large-scale attack on Israel. Israel is expanding its offensive in the
southern Gaza city of Rafah, once the main hub of humanitarian aid operations.”



Egypt



Reuters: Egypt Demands Israel Withdraws From Rafah Crossing For It To Operate
Again, Sources Say
<[link removed]>



“Officials from the United States, Israel and Egypt ended a meeting in Cairo
on Sunday with Egypt sticking to its position that Israel must withdraw from
the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing for it to operate again, two
Egyptian security sources said. Israel seized the crossing on the Gaza side in
May during its offensive in the city of Rafah along the enclave's southern
edge, angering Egypt which said it would stop cooperating with Israel on the
crucial artery for aid into the strip and evacuations out of it. The Egyptian
security sources said Sunday's meeting was positive despite there being no
agreement on reopening of the crossing. Egypt's delegation at the meeting said
it would be open to European monitors at the border to oversee its operation by
Palestinian authorities if Palestinian authorities agreed to resume work.
Israeli and U.S. officials said they would work quickly to remove the obstacles
to the operation of the crossing, the Egyptian sources said."



Nigeria



Associated Press: Soldiers Among 11 Killed By Separatist Militants In
Southeast Nigeria
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“Militants enforcing a separatist lockdown in Nigeria’s southeastern region
attacked security forces deployed to restore order, killing five soldiers and
six civilians during a shootout, the Nigerian military said Friday. The
soldiers were attacked on Thursday at a checkpoint in Abia state’s Aba town
where the separatists were enforcing a lockdown to commemorate the short-lived
Republic of Biafra which, in 1967, fought and lost a deadly civil war to become
independent from Nigeria, defense spokesman Maj. Gen. Edward Buba said in a
statement. The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) separatist group often uses
lockdowns to push for the creation of an independent country in the southeast,
decades after the war that killed at least one million people. Hundreds have
been killed in recent years in such violent lockdowns and other attacks blamed
on the group, which claims its secessionist campaign is peaceful.”



Argentina



Associated Press: President Milei’s Surprising Devotion To Judaism And Israel
Provokes Tension In Argentina And Beyond
<[link removed]>



“At the base of the sacred Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City, President
Javier Milei of Argentina appeared to be in a spiritual trance. With head and
hands pressed against the ancient stone, he prayed with the Orthodox rabbi who
introduced him to Judaism three years ago. Although born and raised Roman
Catholic, Milei has increasingly shown public interest in Judaism and even
expressed intentions to convert. Stepping back from the wall, Milei broke down.
He hugged Rabbi Shimon Axel Wahnish close, sobbing onto his shoulder. “In that
moment, I felt proud that we have such determined leader, with such deep
spiritual values,” Wahnish told The Associated Press in a recent interview,
recalling their state trip to Israel in February. For many Argentines, that
pride was fraught with peril.”



France



Associated Press: France Files Preliminary Terrorism Charges Against Teenager
Accused Of Plan To Attack Olympic Fans
<[link removed]>



“French authorities on Friday raised preliminary terrorism charges against an
18-year-old accused of a plot targeting spectators attending soccer games at
the upcoming Paris Olympics. The interior minister said it was the first such
thwarted plot targeting the Games, which start in eight weeks as France is on
its highest threat alert level. The man is accused of planning a ‘’violent
action’’ on behalf of the Islamic State group’s jihadist ideology, the national
counterterrorism prosecutor’s office said in a statement Friday. The man, who
was not identified, is behind held in custody pending further investigation.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said in a statement that members of the
General Directorate of Internal Security arrested an 18-year-old man from
Chechnya on May 22 on suspicion of being behind a plan to attack soccer events
that will be held in the southern city of Saint-Etienne.”



Technology



The Atlantic: The MAGA Internet Calls For War
<[link removed]>



“After a jury found Donald Trump guilty of 34 felony charges yesterday,
Bronze Age Pervert, the alter ego of the edgelord influencer Costin Alamariu,
retweeted one of his own posts from March. It is a movie clip depicting a scene
of armed men storming buildings and gunning people down. In the text
accompanying the post, Bronze Age Pervert jokes that the clip is real footage
of a “well-planned neutralization operation” that will take place after Trump
wins his reelection campaign. The MAGA faithful are once again on the internet
threatening violence. Lots of Republicans, of course, responded to Trump’s
felony verdict with simple outrage rather than calls for a “neutralization
operation.” But more extreme language has appeared all across the right-wing
posting ecosystem.”



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