The Extremism Roundup

Militant-Right and Militant-Left Extremism

Activists led by the Palestinian Youth Movement, the U.S. Palestinian Community Network, and other organizations gather to continue their demands for divestment, an arms embargo on Israel, and permanent ceasefires in Gaza, Lebanon, and Yemen, in Detroit, Mich., on October 5, 2024 - Adam J. Dewey/Anadolu via Getty Images

Detroit Conference Features PFLP Terrorist

• Pro-Palestinian group Palestinian Youth Movement announced that its second annual conference, set for August 29-31, 2025, in Detroit, will feature Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) member Wisam Rafeedie and Sana’ Daqqa, widow of convicted PFLP terrorist Walid Daqqa.
• The conference’s promotional materials and last year’s event included praise for terrorists like Daqqa, convicted for the 1984 murder of IDF soldier Moshe Tamam, alongside chants lauding Hezbollah and Houthi attacks, and admiration for figures like Bassel al-Araj and Ghassan Kanafani.
• The organizers claim the event is a broad forum for pro-Palestinian voices, explicitly disclaiming responsibility for participants’ views, despite the agenda’s focus on themes like calls for liberating “every inch of Palestine.” Read More

Hate Crime

Ryan Eustace (L) and Ryley Haddock (R) - via Eyewitness News 3 screenshot

Two Connecticut Men Arrested in Hate Crime Assault

• Ryan Eustace (28) and Ryley Haddock (28) were arrested in Southington, Conn., for assaulting an Indian man and his girlfriend, using racial slurs and 9/11 references.

• Eustace punched the man, used a headlock, and hit the woman; Haddock also assaulted the man, causing a bloody nose, a broken tooth, and cuts.

• Eustace faces hate crime, assault, strangulation, and breach of peace charges ($250,000 bond); Haddock faces hate crime, assault, and breach of peace ($150,000 bond). Both bonded out. Read More

Service Member, Two Others Charged in Bomb Plot, Jewish Religious Buildings Vandalism

• Mohamad Hamad (23), Tayla A. Lubit (24), and Micaiah Collins (22), all Pittsburgh-area residents, face a nine-count superseding indictment for conspiracy, defacing a Jewish religious building with anti-Israel and anti-Zionist graffiti, making false statements to federal authorities, and possessing destructive devices.
• Hamad, a member of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard, allegedly made false statements during interviews for a Top-Secret security clearance, including lying about his loyalty to the U.S. while expressing support for Lebanon, Hezbollah, and Hamas.
• Hamad and Collins are accused of conspiring to manufacture and detonate destructive devices, including pipe bombs, with Hamad building and testing additional devices after an initial detonation.
• Hamad faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, Collins up to 5 years and a $250,000 fine, and Lubit up to 1 year and a $100,000 fine. Read More

School Threats

Around 200 people marched to the Florida Capitol to demand gun reform after a mass shooting occurred on the Florida State University campus on April 23, 2025 - Alicia Devine via Tallahassee Democrat screenshot

Florida State University Shooter

• Phoenix Ikner, a 20-year-old Florida State University student, allegedly opened fire near the Student Union, killing two people—Robert Morales, an FSU employee and high school football coach, and Tiru Chabba, an Aramark vice president—and injuring six others, including five by gunfire and one while fleeing.

• Ikner, stepson of Leon County Sheriff’s Deputy Jessica Ikner, used his stepmother’s former service handgun in the attack. He was shot in the jaw by FSU police, hospitalized with serious injuries, and faces first-degree murder charges.

• Ikner used Nazi imagery in his online gaming profiles, including a drawing of Hitler saying “nein” as his XBOX Live profile photo and the emblem of the white supremacist group Patriot Front. Ikner’s use of Nazi language and symbols, such as referring to himself as “Schutzstaffel” (SS), the Nazi paramilitary group, and searching terms like “scientific racism” and “national confederate flag,” indicating an admiration for Nazi ideology. Read More

Illinois Teen Arrested for School Shooting Threat

• A 14-year-old male student from Franklin Community Unit School District in Morgan County, Ill., was arrested on April 22, 2025, for threatening to carry out a school shooting.
• The juvenile was charged with disorderly conduct and taken into custody without incident after authorities spoke with him and his parents. Read More

Foreign Influence Operations

U.S. Army soldiers - Daniel Karmann/picture alliance via Getty Images

Former Army Intelligence Analyst Sentenced for Selling Military Information to China

• Korbein Schultz, a 25-year-old former U.S. Army intelligence analyst, was sentenced to 84 months in prison on April 23, 2025, for selling sensitive military information to a contact he believed was tied to the Chinese government.

• From May 2022 to March 2024, Schultz transmitted at least 92 sensitive military documents, including data on U.S. lessons from the Ukraine-Russia war, missile systems, and military satellites.

• Schultz pleaded guilty in August 2024 to conspiracy to transmit national defense information, unlawful export of controlled data, and bribery, having accessed restricted databases to obtain the documents. Read More

Qatar and China Pour Billions Into American Universities

• According to a new report by the Network Contagion Research Institute, between 2021 and 2024, U.S. universities received nearly $29 billion in foreign donations, matching the total from the previous 40 years, with Qatar and China as major contributors.

• Many universities fail to fully disclose foreign funding as required by Section 117 of the Higher Education Act, with 54 percent of reportable gifts undisclosed from 2010 to 2016, potentially hiding sources and purposes of funds.

• The influx of funds from authoritarian regimes like Qatar and China is linked to increased antisemitic incidents and anti-American sentiment on campuses, with undisclosed donations correlating to 250 percent more antisemitic incidents from 2015 to 2020.

• A 2025 executive order by President Trump aims to enforce transparency by requiring detailed disclosures of foreign funding, penalizing non-compliant universities, and prioritizing scrutiny of funds from nations like China and Qatar to protect national security. Read More

QUOTABLE
“The people are the only legitimate fountain of power, and it is from them that the constitutional charter, under which the several branches of government hold their power, is derived.”

-- James Madison

NOTE TO OUR READERS: We have pulled out the salient points of the articles in this newsletter to keep you informed and focused on the most relevant, important and timely news in national security and extremism. While our national security experts stand behind the summary bullets and deem them trustworthy, Clarion Project does not endorse all the views expressed in the articles linked.