“Hamas and Israel reached a deal for a ceasefire in Gaza that mediators said
would take effect on Sunday and include a release of hostages held there during
15 months of bloodshed that devastated the Palestinian enclave and inflamed the
Middle East. The complex phased accord outlines a six-week initial ceasefire
with the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, where tens
of thousands have been killed. Hostages taken by militant group Hamas, which
controls Gaza, would be freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by
Israel. At a news conference in Doha, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin
Abdulrahman Al Thani said the ceasefire would take effect on Sunday.
Negotiators are working with Israel and Hamas on steps implementing the deal,
he said. "This deal will halt the fighting in Gaza, surge much-needed
humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, and reunite the hostages with
their families after more than 15 months in captivity," U.S. President Joe
Biden said in Washington.”











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



Eye on Extremism



January 16, 2025



Reuters: Israel, Hamas Reach Ceasefire Deal To End 15 Months Of War In Gaza
<[link removed]>



“Hamas and Israel reached a deal for a ceasefire in Gaza that mediators said
would take effect on Sunday and include a release of hostages held there during
15 months of bloodshed that devastated the Palestinian enclave and inflamed the
Middle East. The complex phased accord outlines a six-week initial ceasefire
with the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, where tens
of thousands have been killed. Hostages taken by militant group Hamas, which
controls Gaza, would be freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by
Israel. At a news conference in Doha, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin
Abdulrahman Al Thani said the ceasefire would take effect on Sunday.
Negotiators are working with Israel and Hamas on steps implementing the deal,
he said. "This deal will halt the fighting in Gaza, surge much-needed
humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, and reunite the hostages with
their families after more than 15 months in captivity," U.S. President Joe
Biden said in Washington.”



The Guardian: Polish PM Accuses Russia Of Planning ‘Acts Of Terrorism’ Around
The World
<[link removed]>



“Russia planned to conduct “acts of terrorism in the air”, Polish prime
minister Donald Tusk said on Wednesday, by plotting a wave of fire bomb attacks
that could have brought down planes mid-flight around the world. Warsaw had
been involved in countering “acts of sabotage” conducted by Russia, Tusk added,
before he referred to incendiary parcel attacks that took place in the UK,
Germany and Poland during the summer. “The latest information can confirm the
validity of fears that Russia was planning acts of terrorism in the air not
only against Poland,” Tusk told a news conference in Warsaw, though he did not
offer more detail or explanation.”



CEP Mentions



DW: Israel, Hamas Reach Ceasefire And Hostage Deal
<[link removed]>



“Qatar's prime minister announces that a Gaza truce deal between Israel and
Hamas has been agreed. Thousands of Gazans reacted to the news with jubilation.
The deal will go into effect as of January 19. Phase 1 of the deal entails 33
hostages being released by Hamas over a six-week period. Israel says some
issues are to be resolved with a vote expected on Thursday. Here are the latest
developments from Israel, Gaza and the wider Middle Eastfrom January 15 into
January 16… While the first phase of the ceasefire deal is not "a problem," the
second one will be "tough," counterterrorism analyst Hans-Jakob Schindler told
DW. "Because when you are in the second phase, you have to think about the
third phase, that is sustainable ceasefire, the rebuilding of the Gaza strip,"
he said.”



The National Interest: Have The Houthis Made A Strategic Blunder?
<[link removed]>



“Yemen’s Houthis may be on a high from their success in keeping Israelis
awake at night with their sporadic missile launches targeting the country’s
center of gravity. Dealing with this threat will present considerable dilemmas
and challenges to Israel. However, Israeli journalists’ defeatism is
overwrought; in fact, less than one year and a half after their grand entrance
onto the international stage, the Houthis strategic options are looking
considerably worse than they were in October 2023. A group like the Houthis,
similar to Hezbollah or Hamas, is synonymous with misrule. Their claim to
legitimacy does not rest on fostering a thriving economy or reflecting the will
of the people through national elections but on their narrative of
“resistance…” Ari Heistein is an advisor to Israeli startups seeking to sell to
the U.S. federal government, a consultant on Yemen-related issues, and a
nonresident fellow at the Counter Extremism Project.”



Metro: Inside The ‘Fight Night’ White Supremacist Groups Preparing For Global
Race War
<[link removed]>



“A hateful white supremacist network with a ‘fight club’ ethos is spreading
across the US and around the world, new research shows. Neo-Nazi Active Clubs
are said to be one of the fastest-growing extreme-right groups in America and
are also present in the UK and Europe. The branches outwardly promote mixed
martial arts (MMA) training and ‘brotherhood’ while preparing members for a
race war against their perceived enemies, according to the Anti-Defamation
League (ADL)… The general ethos for members worldwide is to look and act like
‘regular guys’ and not talk about ‘politics, Jews or history’, according to
research by the Counter Extremism Project, a New York-based policy
organisation.”



Domus: The House Of The Zone Of Interest In Auschwitz Will Soon Be Open For
Visits
<[link removed]>



“Quiet, safe and surrounded by greenery. And a view of a gas chamber. The
house where Rudolf Höss, commandant of the Auschwitz death camp, lived with his
family will soon be open to visitors. The building, located just outside the
camp, was made famous by the Oscar-winning film The Zone of Interest, directed
by Jonathan Glazer. Until now it has been a private home. For the past 42
years, Grazyna Jurczak, now 62, has lived there with her husband, before he
died, and their two children: 'It was a great place to raise the children',
thanks to its proximity to nature and the river, and the absence of chaos. But
after the release of Glazer's film, the decision to sell the house was
reinforced by the streams of people who walked around the building, looking at
it and remembering its connection to the tragedies of the Holocaust.”



Newser: An Infamous Auschwitz Home Will No Longer House Families
<[link removed]>



“... The home in Oswiecim, Poland, was purchased in October by the NY-based
Counter Extremism Project, which plans to open it to the public for the first
time. Counter Extremism Project CEO Mark Wallace says the house and an adjacent
property will ultimately become the newly formed Auschwitz Research Center on
Hate, Extremism, and Radicalization, which will focus on combating modern-day
extremism. "This house has been closed for 80 years. It was out of reach to the
victims and their families. Finally, we can open it to honor survivors and show
that this place of incredible evil is now open to all," Wallace said.”



Polskie Radio: Auschwitz Commandant’s Former House To Open To Visitors
<[link removed]>



“A house once owned by Rudolf Höss, the notorious commandant of the Nazi
German Auschwitz concentration camp, has been purchased by the Counter
Extremism Project (CEP), a US-based non-governmental organisation, and will
soon open to visitors. Located at 88 Legionów Street in the southern Polish
city of Oświęcim, the house sits near the former camp’s perimeter fence. The
property became the focus of public attention after last year’s release of The
Zone of Interest, a British-Polish-American film that depicted the domestic
life of Höss and his family living in the shadow of Auschwitz from 1941 to
1944.”



Il Post: In Auschwitz You Can Visit The House Of The Protagonist Of The "Area
Of Interest"
<[link removed]>



“Last summer, Grazyna Jurczak, a 62-year-old Polish widow, decided to sell
the house where she had lived for more than forty years with her husband and
two children to the non-governmental organization Counter Extremism Project.
Among the reasons that led her to sell it was that for a few months, more and
more people had been wandering around the house: they were visitors to the
Auschwitz concentration camp, a few meters away, and who had seen the film The
Zone of Interest , directed by Jonathan Glazer, released in 2023 and set in her
house.”



Glos 24 Auschwitz: The Auschwitz Commandant's Villa Has Been Sold. It Is Now
Known What Will Be Built There
<[link removed]>



“As reported by Polish Radio, a centre for combating hatred will be
established in the villa of the Auschwitz commandant. The villa where Rudolf
Höß, the first commandant of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp, lived, has been sold
by its private owner to the New York-based foundation Counter Extremism
Project. The building will serve as the Center for the Study of Hate, Extremism
and Radicalization. The facility, located next to the former camp, is to become
a center for education and prevention against hate speech and extremism. Piotr
Cywiński, director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum, emphasized in an interview
with Radio Kraków that this is an innovative idea that can play a key role in
the fight against hate and radicalization. The center will operate
independently of the museum, becoming an important point on the educational
map.”



Noizz: Auschwitz Commandant's House Open To Visitors: It Was Closed For 80
Years
<[link removed]>



“The American non-governmental organization Counter Extremism Project
acquired the house of the commandant of the German Auschwitz-Birkenau camp,
Rudolf Hoess, in the summer. As reported by the New York Times, the property
will be open to visitors on January 27, 2025, on the 80th anniversary of the
liberation of the camp. The director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum, Piotr
Cywiński, does not rule out cooperation with the new institution. The film
"Zero interest" about the Höss family attracted many people interested in the
history of the house to the property in Oświęcim. This convinced its resident,
Grażyna Jurczak, to sell it. The transaction, which amounted to over $120,000,
was finalized in October.”



PAP: Americans Have Bought The House Of The Auschwitz Commandant. They Will
Soon Open It To Visitors
<[link removed]>



“The American non-governmental organization Counter Extremism Project
purchased the house of the commandant of the German Auschwitz-Birkenau camp,
Rudolf Höss, in the summer and will open it to visitors on January 27, the 80th
anniversary of the liberation of the camp, the New York Times reported.
Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum Director Piotr Cywiński did not rule out cooperation
with the new institution. The film "Zone of Interest," which tells the story of
the Höss family, has led to strangers entering the property in Oświęcim,
interested in the history of the house. This has prompted its resident, Grażyna
Jurczak, to sell it. The sale of the house and the adjacent post-war building
was finalized in October. The Counter Extremism Project and Ms. Jurczak have
not disclosed the amount of the transaction, but - as the "NYT" wrote on
Wednesday - it is about more than $120,000.”



TVP Wilno: The Auschwitz Commandant's House Will Soon Be Open To Visitors
<[link removed]>



“The American non-governmental organization Counter Extremism Project
purchased the house of the commandant of the German Auschwitz-Birkenau camp,
Rudolf Höss, in the summer and will open it to visitors on January 27, the 80th
anniversary of the liberation of the camp, The New York Times reported. The
director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum, Piotr Cywiński, did not rule out
cooperation with the new institution. The film “Zero interes,” which tells the
story of the Hoess family, has led to strangers entering the property in
Oświęcim, interested in the history of the house. This has prompted Grażyna
Jurczak, who lives there, to sell it. The sale of the house and the adjacent
post-war building was finalized in October. The Counter Extremism Project and
Ms. Jurczak have not disclosed the amount of the transaction, but as the NYT
writes on Wednesday, it is more than $120,000.”



Chills, By Lauren Wolfe: A Bold Act Of Reclamation
<[link removed]>



“Nearly two years ago, I went to Auschwitz on a press trip. I was in transit
there on Oct. 7, 2023, the day Hamas attacked Israel. If evil can be made
manifest, here it was, both in the flame-tinged past and in the blood-filled
present — and, as we would soon find out, in the future, when Israel would
retaliate by pounding Gaza into oblivion. I read yesterday that the commandant
of Auschwitz’s private villa has been sold to the Counter Extremism Project, a
New York-based nonprofit, and is being turned into a part of the camp visitors
can enter. It’s hard to describe the absurdity of the disconnect of the
beautiful house with a backdrop of the most organized mass murder perpetrated
in the 20th century.”



Frankfurter Rundschau: Authorities Have Long Known The Perpetrators Of The
Magdeburg Attack: “Serious Mistakes Were Made”
<[link removed]>



“Berlin – The attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg on December 20th
shocked Germany. Taleb al-Abdulmohsen drove a car into a crowd, six people died
and more than 300 were injured, some seriously. For months, al-Abdulmohsen had
posted worrying statements on X without anyone intervening. Security circles
have now revealed that Taleb al-Abduhlmosen was known to numerous authorities
in several federal states before the attack… After the attack, terrorism expert
Hans-Jakob Schindler from the Counter Extremism Project also called platform
operators to account for this editorial team. He sharply criticized X because,
given the abundance of questionable content posted by Taleb al-Abdulmohsen,
hardly anyone on the platform seemed to intervene . Individual posts were
reported and deleted by users, but nothing more happened. "Unfortunately,
social media is full of hate and violent fantasies and the situation is
constantly getting worse. X in particular has reduced its content moderation in
recent months, not improved it," said Schindler.”



United States



Associated Press: US Must Not Become Complacent To A Growing Terrorism Threat,
A Counterterrorism Center Official Says
<[link removed]>



“Brett Holmgren got woken up early on New Year’s Day by alerts that a driver
had plowed into a crowd of revelers in New Orleans. The rampage, which killed
14 people, was the deadliest attack on U.S. soil in years and was inspired by
the Islamic State group. The National Counterterrorism Center, which Holmgren
leads, sprang into action to help the FBI run down information on the culprit
from Texas and his plot. It was a rare recent example of a mass attack
motivated by religious extremism to hit the U.S. homeland. But it didn’t occur
in a vacuum, coming at a time when a terror threat that has waxed and waned in
the two decades since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks is decidedly on the rise
around the world.”



Bloomberg: Rubio Signals Trump Is Likely To Return Cuba To Terrorism List
<[link removed]>



“Donald Trump’s nominee to be the top US diplomat signaled that the
president-elect is likely to reverse President Joe Biden’s decision Tuesday to
remove Cuba from a list of state sponsors of terrorism after he takes office
next week. Cuba is “without a question” a sponsor of terrorism, Senator Marco
Rubio, Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, said in response to questions at
his confirmation hearing in Washington on Wednesday. Trump had given Cuba the
designation before the end of his first term in 2021, but Biden reversed it on
Tuesday.”



Syria



NBC News: Questions About Syria And Potential For An ISIS Resurgence Loom For
Trump
<[link removed]>



“At a news conference this month, President-elect Donald Trump bragged, “We
defeated ISIS.” It has been a point of pride for him, and it is true. In the
first year of Trump’s first term, U.S. forces, working with Syrian Kurdish
allies, defeated the Islamic State’s self-proclaimed “caliphate” and liberated
its capital. But the fall of the Assad regime has left Syria at risk of coming
apart under pressure from a variety of terrorist groups, local militias and
Israeli airstrikes. And Syria’s interim leaders, while proclaiming moderate
intentions, have roots in Al Qaeda and another terrorist group, Hayat al Sham
(HTS).”



Turkey



Reuters: Turkey Ready To Support Syria In Managing Islamic State Camps
<[link removed]>



“Turkey is ready to provide support to the new Syrian administration for the
management of Islamic State camps in the country, Turkish Foreign Minister
Hakan Fidan said on Wednesday. "As we have always said, we are also ready to
provide the necessary assistance to the new administration in the management of
DAESH camps and prisons," Fidan said, using the Arabic acronym for Islamic
State. Speaking in Ankara following his meeting with his Syrian counterpart
Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, Fidan also said that Ankara was pleased with the
determination of the new administration in the fight against terror. Shibani
said the extensive presence of U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces in parts of
northern Syria "was no longer justified".”



Middle East



Reuters: Israel Strikes In Gaza Kill At Least 70 After Ceasefire Accord,
Residents Say
<[link removed]>



“Israel airstrikes killed at least 70 people in Gaza overnight on Thursday,
residents and authorities in the enclave said, hours after a ceasefire and
hostage release deal was announced to bring an end to 15 months of war between
Israel and Hamas. The complex ceasefire accord emerged on Wednesday after
mediation by Qatar, Egypt and the U.S. to stop the war that has devastated the
coastal territory and inflamed the Middle East. The deal, scheduled to be
implemented from Sunday, outlines a six-week initial ceasefire with the gradual
withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, where tens of thousands have
been killed.”



Africa



Associated Press: Islamic State-Linked Rebels Kill At Least 10 People In
Eastern Congo
<[link removed]>



“At least 10 people were killed in eastern Congo by extremist rebels linked
to the Islamic State group, a local official said Wednesday. The rebels with
the Allied Democratic Forces, an IS affiliate in the region, attacked the
village of Makoko in the Lubero territory of the North Kivu province on
Wednesday, a provincial member of parliament, David Sikuli, told The Associated
Press. “I call on the Congolese government to allow joint operations by Congo
and Uganda’s army to be expanded in all areas where the ADF are located,”
Sikuli said. There were no Congolese soldiers in the village, only local
fighters known as Wazalendo, who often fight alongside Congolese security
forces, he added.”



Southeast Asia



Voice Of America: India Steps Up Engagement With Taliban
<[link removed]>



“The first high level diplomatic meeting held between India and the Taliban
leadership marked a significant step in rebuilding New Delhi’s influence in
Afghanistan, according to analysts. They say New Delhi’s growing engagement
with the Taliban is prompted by strategic considerations in the Central Asian
country that has important implications for its security and is likely to
deepen amid growing tensions between the Taliban and Pakistan. In the meeting
between Indian foreign secretary Vikram Misri and acting Taliban Foreign
Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, held in Dubai last week, India agreed to consider
engaging in development projects in Afghanistan “in the near future” and
provide more support to the health sector and refugee rehabilitation.”



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]>