Email from Counter Extremism Project (CEP) 3 arrested in suspected terror plot targeting Belgian PM Bart De Wever Eye on Extremism October 10, 2025   NOTE: Eye on Extremism media monitoring will be suspended on Monday, October 13, in observance of the U.S. federal holiday. It will resume Tuesday, October 14. Top Stories Times of Israel: Gaza ceasefire takes effect as government approves deal to free the hostages Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet voted early Friday morning in favor of a Gaza ceasefire deal that will see hostages freed in exchange for Palestinian security prisoners and a halt to the fighting, despite vocal objections from the premier’s far-right coalition partners. The Israel Defense Forces now will withdraw to new lines inside of the Gaza Strip, 72 hours after which Hamas will release all the hostages. Netanyahu’s office announced the approval of the deal, but did not immediately provide a vote tally, though the agreement was opposed by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, Negev, Galilee and National Resilience Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf and Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party. Politico: 3 arrested in suspected terror plot targeting Belgian PM Bart De Wever Belgian federal authorities have arrested three young suspects in connection with what prosecutors said was an attempted terrorist attack on the country’s politicians, including Prime Minister Bart De Wever. Federal prosecutor Ann Fransen said the suspects — born in 2001, 2002 and 2007 — were detained in Antwerp Thursday morning on suspicion of attempted terrorist murder and participation in the activities of a terrorist group. Two remain in custody and will appear before an investigating judge, while the third has been released. “There are indications that the intention was to carry out a jihadist-inspired terrorist attack targeting politicians,” Fransen said during a press conference. Authorities carried out four house searches with assistance from bomb squads and federal police units. CEP Resources External Non-State Actors As A Source Of Instability In West Africa: Hezbollah And Wagner/Africa Corps Culture of Violence: Terrorism Reaches Its Peak in Burkina Faso A Lawless Space – Alleged ISIS-affiliated Men and Boys from Germany Detained in Northeastern Syria The Role of Antisemitism in the Mobilization to Violence by Extremist and Terrorist Actors CEP Mentions Frankfurter Rundschau: Agreement between Israel and Hamas: Expert speaks of "great development" - but "residual risk remains" Two years after Hamas' terrorist attack on Israel, both sides have reached an agreement to end the conflict. This was first announced by US President Donald Trump on Wednesday. Even if many details are still open: Middle East and terrorism expert Hans-Jakob Schindler speaks of "fantastic news" in an interview with Ippen.Media's Frankfurter Rundschau. However, Schindler also warns that Hamas remains a danger. ARTE TV: Breakthrough in the Gaza war / Motions of no confidence against von der Leyen CEP Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler interviewed regarding Hamas and the ceasefire deal. During the night, US President Donald Trump announced a breakthrough in the Gaza war. Israel and Hamas have agreed to the first phase of a peace plan. Many details are still unclear, such as the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the coastal strip and the release of hostages still held by Hamas. Arte correspondent Uri Schneider reports live from Tel Aviv The Independent: A release of hostages and withdrawal of Israeli troops: What we know about the first phase of Trump’s Gaza peace deal [CEO of the Counter Extremism Project] Mark Wallace, former US ambassador to the UN, told The Independent that the agreement had the potential to be “transformational”. But “the challenges ahead lie in the greatest reconstruction effort certainly since Kuwait, if not the Second World War”. “And, of course, what does the governance look like that is sustainable and peaceful?” he said. Analysis Times of Israel: Gaza deal is stunning achievement for Trump, and for Netanyahu — provided it holds If the deal moves ahead to its second phase, with Hamas replaced by an independent Palestinian governing body and credibly disarmed, this campaign will be remembered as one of Israel’s most complete victories, two years after its most deadly debacle. It was a long, bloody slog that frustrated both those on the left and right, but it will have met Israel’s war aims, and could lead to many more achievements for Israel in the future. Israel’s deterrence will be strengthened, its enemies badly weakened, and its confidence restored. LSE Middle East Centre: ‘Life After Hope’: Integration Experiences of Families Returning from Al-Hol to Iraq Thousands of families of individuals associated with ISIS militants have lived in Al-Hol camp, northeast Syria for many years. Iraq’s repatriation effort represents something unprecedented globally: both in scale, with an estimated 20,000 mostly women and children returned since 2021, and in the extended duration these individuals spent in northeast Syria’s camp system. Iraqi officials consistently state their commitment to returning all remaining Iraqi nationals from Syria within the coming months. But this is no ordinary repatriation. The reality confronting Iraq challenges fundamental assumptions about what ‘return’ means when significant numbers of returnees are children and young mothers with no living memory of life outside camps. United States Times of Israel: Trump: ‘We ended Gaza war,’ the hostages are coming home. ‘After that, we’ll see’ US President Donald Trump declared Thursday that he had succeeded in ending the war in Gaza, while indicating that issues pertaining to the post-war management of the territory still need to be finalized. “Last night, we reached a momentous breakthrough in the Middle East,” Trump said at the beginning of a cabinet meeting in the White House. “We ended the war in Gaza, and on a much bigger basis, created peace… hopefully an everlasting peace in the Middle East.” That framing is not shared by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has insisted that an end to the war can only be declared once Hamas disarms and Gaza has been demilitarized. Reuters: Trump exerted leverage for Gaza deal but tough questions remain With the Gaza war entering its third year, U.S. President Donald Trump has achieved something no other world leader has been able to do: strong-arm Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into the first step of a broader peace deal while persuading other Middle Eastern countries to pressure Hamas. But despite its potentially historic nature, Trump’s rushed deal signed in Egypt on Thursday leaves a host of unresolved issues that could still trip up implementation of the initial phase and impede progress toward the next, analysts say. New York Times: How Jared Kushner, a Self-Described ‘Deal Guy,’ Helped Broker a Gaza Breakthrough Last Friday, when Jared Kushner heard that Hamas would begin talks to release Israeli hostages, he was fielding calls at his mansion, which sits on a man-made island just north of Miami. He jumped into his car and drove the 20 minutes to another mansion — this one owned by the billionaire Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s Middle East peace envoy. In those crucial moments, the Trump administration’s diplomatic power center was not in Washington but in one of the wealthiest enclaves in Florida. Washington Post: Trump administration cuts $40M in D.C. security, anti-terrorism funds The nation’s capital stands to lose more than $40 million in homeland security funding, starving programs aimed at responding to terrorist attacks and other emergencies, after the Trump administration moved to slash federal grant funding by 90 percent for the D.C. region. The dramatic funding cuts, which are being challenged in court, are expected to wallop the D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency and other emergency response agencies in surrounding Virginia and Maryland counties. The agencies rely heavily on federal homeland security grant money to keep law enforcement and first responders prepared for bomb threats, environmental hazards or mass casualty events, such as the plane-helicopter crash in the Potomac River in January that killed all 67 people on board both crafts. WPDE: Meta scrutinized by State AGs: allegedly fails to block violent, terrorist content Several state attorneys general, including Alan Wilson, are demanding accountability from Meta after allegedly allowing Hamas terrorists to upload horrific footage of murders and abductions that happened on the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. The coalition sent a letter on Wednesday expressing their anger and concern over the Meta-owned platforms Facebook and Instagram. Jerusalem Post: Minneapolis synagogue targeted with antisemitic, pro-Hamas graffiti on Oct. 7 anniversary Graffiti targeting “zionists” and praising Hamas was spray-painted on the preschool wing of a Minneapolis synagogue on Tuesday night, the second anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Rabbi Marcia Zimmerman said she was notified by one of Temple Israel’s neighbors about the vandalism. She said her first reaction was outrage and pain. “This does not solve any problem, and blaming American Jews in Minnesota for what’s happening globally is hate speech, it’s antisemitism. It’s nothing different than that,” she said. “It’s not about political differences. It’s about hate.” Canada Toronto Star: ‘Radically antisemitic’ Ontario neo-Nazi pleads guilty to terror charges for making recruitment videos, inspiring global terror attacks A Toronto judge is being urged to imprison a Niagara region man for 20 years after he pleaded guilty Thursday to terrorism offences for producing recruitment videos for a neo-Nazi terrorist group and writing racist manifestos that inspired other terrorists around the world to commit attacks. As his family sat nearby, Matthew Althorpe, 29, stood in the prisoner’s box and pleaded guilty to facilitating terrorist activity, instructing a person to carry out terrorist activity, and willfully promoting hatred against identifiable groups, as he admitted to making videos for the since-disbanded Atomwaffen Division, an international neo-Nazi group listed as a terrorist entity by a number of countries, including Canada in 2021. Germany Deutsche Welle: Cabinet agrees policing amendment to boost drone defense German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's ministers have agreed on an amendment to policing legislation that would boost the federal police's defense capabilities — if passed by parliament. A draft of the revised legislation, as reported by the Reuters news agency, reads: "In order to combat a threat posed by unmanned aerial systems on land, in the air or on water, the federal police may deploy appropriate technical means against the system, its control unit or its control connection if other means of combatting the threat would be futile or otherwise significantly more difficult." In other words: the police will be allowed to destroy drones in the air, water or on land as it sees fit. United Kingdom GB News: Al-Qaeda terrorist could be released by Christmas - while second jihadi could be freed in just weeks An al-Qaeda terrorist could be released from prison in just months as the Jihadi behind a ricin poison attack plot faces parole in December. A second Jihadi, Ibrahim Roger Anderson, is also due to be released in just weeks. Terrorist Kamel Bourgass had also been convicted of stabbing a police officer to death. He first entered Britain in 2000. The Times: Jihad al-Shamie’s mosque ‘previously reported for antisemitism’ A mosque attended by the Manchester synagogue attacker was previously reported to the Charity Commission over a sermon accused of fuelling antisemitism and division. Jihad al-Shamie, 35, from Prestwich, Lancashire, began worshipping at Masjid Sunnah Nelson in 2022. In 2023, Fountains of Knowledge, the charity that opened the mosque in 2021, was reported to the Charity Commission over a sermon in which the imam linked the war in Gaza to the “plotting of the kuffar against Islam”. Kuffar is a derogatory term for non-Muslims. Afghanistan RFE/RL: Afghan Social Media Sites Go Dark One Week After Total Internet Blackout Afghans trying to get online say their access to popular social media sites has slowed to a crawl or it entirely cut off. Taliban leaders have not commented on the restrictions, but press freedom advocates see the slowdown as another blow to Afghans' rights to free speech and freedom of information. Telegraph: Revealed: Taliban sells £40 fake death threats for asylum seekers to UK Fake death threat letters from the Taliban are being used to dupe the Home Office in asylum applications for Afghan migrants. A Telegraph investigation can reveal how corrupt officials in Afghanistan produce government letters threatening to kill asylum seekers. The letters are then used as evidence in asylum applications. New York Times: Taliban Expands Ties with India, While Accusing Pakistan of Bombing Afghanistan India and the Taliban government in Afghanistan announced expanded diplomatic ties on Friday, after the sides held their most high-powered talks in the four years since Taliban forces overran the U.S.-backed republic in Kabul, which New Delhi had supported. India said it will re-establish its embassy in Kabul, but while the move elevates diplomatic relations with India to their highest level in decades, it appeared to fall short of a formal recognition of the Taliban government. Israel Jerusalem Post: What concessions did Israel, Hamas make to reach hostage-ceasefire deal in Gaza? If the current Israel-Hamas deal holds and the war is in fact over, a major key to ending the war was new concessions by both sides and the sequencing of the strategic military issues in dispute. The final sequence to end the war was completely different from both Israeli and Hamas positions at other key points, such as in the summer of 2024 and early 2025, when the war might have ended. Qatar, Turkey, and US President Donald Trump brought new levels of pressure to bear on both sides. A scorecard of concessions and “ties” between the sides shows that both sides are making concessions now that they did not make in prior rounds, though ultimately Israel has more of the upper hand in terms of leverage. Gaza Strip Fox News: Israel-Hamas ceasefire takes effect, IDF begins pulling back in Gaza A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into effect at 12:00 p.m. local time, marking the beginning of the end of the brutal war that has gone on for more than two years. The development also brings the hostages one step closer to returning home. U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said Friday morning that U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed that Israel completed the first phase of the withdrawal and that Hamas' 72-hour window to release the hostages had begun. Reuters: Europeans, Arabs flesh out Gaza transition ideas to weigh on Trump plan The United States' closest European and Arab partners met in Paris on Thursday to work out how to shape Gaza's post-war future, hours after Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire and prisoner-hostage swap proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump. Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas signed an agreement on Thursday to cease fire and free Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, but questions will quickly turn to whether that can now be made into a lasting peace. The Paris meeting, which brought together key European and Arab foreign ministers, was seen as an opportunity to add details on core issues such as an international stabilisation force, post-war governance in Gaza and reconstruction. Times of Israel: Bucking US blueprint, Palestinian Authority still seeks major role in post-war Gaza The Palestinian Authority expects a significant role in post-war Gaza and is banking on Arab support to secure its position despite Israeli objections, even though US President Donald Trump’s plan sidelines it for now, Palestinian officials said Thursday. Gaza’s future governance has moved into focus with a ceasefire due to begin Thursday, the first step in Trump’s bid to end two years of war. The next phase of the deal must tackle thorny issues, including demands that Hamas disarm and end its rule in Gaza. Lebanon Agence France-Presse: Lebanon has arrested 32 people suspected of spying for Israel: judicial official to AFP Lebanon has arrested 32 people in recent months on suspicion of providing Israel with information on Hezbollah that facilitated strikes on the Iran-backed militant group, a judicial official told AFP on Thursday. More than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah including two months of open war saw Israel pummel the group’s arsenal and commanders, and it has kept up strikes since a November truce. Times of Israel: IDF says it seized Hezbollah weapons cache, demolished building in southern Lebanon Israeli troops demolished a building in southern Lebanon’s Ayta ash-Shab where a cache of weapons belonging to the Hezbollah terror group was located, the military says. The IDF says reservists of the 300th “Baram” Regional Brigade scanned the building early this morning following intelligence information that it was being used by Hezbollah. Syria Deutsche Welle: UN official fears Syria could resemble Libya after war Geir Pedersen, the UN special envoy for Syria, recently told the Financial Times newspaper that Syria is on a "knife-edge" and "risks turning into Libya" should promised changes stall. Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa "needs to do what I call a course correction," Pedersen told the FT. The president needs to convince the population that "this is a new beginning" in the aftermath of the dictatorship of Bashar Assad, he said, "not a new autocratic regime." France 24: The Palestine Branch: A den of torture in Assad’s Syria Branch 235, also known as the Palestine Branch, was one of the most notorious prisons run by the Syrian military intelligence services during the Assad era. Located on the outskirts of Damascus, its name, “Far Falastin", in Arabic, was enough to send shivers down the spines of Syrians. The prison’s labyrinthian underground chambers have yet to reveal all their secrets, which are critical for bringing justice and Syria’s future stability. Long War Journal: US kills Al Qaeda-linked ‘attack planner’ in Syria The US military killed a “senior Al-Qaeda affiliated attack planner” in an airstrike in Syria on October 2. The jihadi was a member of Ansar Islam, a terrorist organization that has operated in Iraq and Syria for nearly three decades. US Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted the strike in Syria that killed Muhammad Abd al Wahhab al Ahmad, and described Ansar Islam as “an Al Qaeda affiliated terrorist group.” According to Syrian press reports, Ahmad was killed in Idlib province, the stronghold of the Syrian government, as he traveled in a vehicle. The US military has targeted leaders of Hurras al Din, Al Qaeda’s official branch in Syria, four times before the jihadist group disbanded in late February 2025. Mali RFI: Mali under pressure to end fuel crisis as negotiations with jihadists stall Since early September, the al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) have enforced an embargo on fuel imports to the country, torching fuel tankers almost daily and cutting off key routes to the towns of Kayes and Nioro du Sahel, on the Senegalese border. The army is escorting convoys in an attempt to ensure the flow of goods, one of which arrived in Bamako on Tuesday, 7 October. Indonesia The Star: Indonesia's Densus 88 arrests four Daesh-linked terror suspects in Sumatra Indonesia police’s Densus 88 counterterrorism unit has arrested four suspected members of the Daesh-linked terrorist group Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) in West and North Sumatra. The suspects were detained on Oct 3 and 6 for allegedly spreading propaganda and provocation to carry out acts of terror through social media, according to a Densus 88 statement. CEP Podcasts Unpacking the week's extremism-related anniversaries and news, as well as counter extremism developments and prospects. A deep dive into CEP's research and topics that are relevant to our mission, from our Berlin-based team.   The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) is a nonprofit and non-partisan international policy organization working to combat the growing threat posed by extremist ideologies. CEP depends on the generosity of its supporters. If you value what we do, please consider making a donation. DONATE Were you forwarded this email? Subscribe for yourself here. Counter Extremism Project (CEP) | PO Box 3980 | NEW YORK, NY 10185 US Unsubscribe | Update Profile | Constant Contact Data Notice