Email from Counter Extremism Project (CEP) How the U.S. and the Arab World Teamed Up to Seal the Gaza Deal Eye on Extremism October 15, 2025   Top Stories The Hill: US military warns Hamas to end violence after executions video The U.S. military is warning Hamas to stop violence in the wake of a reported video showing eight people being killed in Gaza. “We strongly urge Hamas to immediately suspend violence and shooting at innocent Palestinian civilians in Gaza – in both Hamas-held parts of Gaza and those secured by the IDF behind the Yellow Line,” Adm. Brad Cooper, who heads U.S. Central Command, said in a statement posted to the social platform X Wednesday morning. New York Times: How the U.S. and the Arab World Teamed Up to Seal the Gaza Deal The Egyptian intelligence chief was briefing a roomful of negotiators on the state of play in the Gaza cease-fire talks when the prime minister of Qatar quietly slipped a handwritten note to Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff. The note urged the two Americans to push the Israelis to compromise. It was the morning of Wednesday, Oct. 8. Mr. Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, and Mr. Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, had just arrived on a private plane in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, for what they hoped would be a breakthrough, at last, in the negotiations to bring an eventual end to Israel’s two-year war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.   REGISTER FOR UPCOMING WEBINAR: Linkages Between Antisemitic Key Actors and Organized Crime. This is the second webinar of a three-part series on how antisemitism is strategically exploited by extremist groups, a project supported by the Federal Foreign Office of Germany. This webinar will shed light on the convergence between extremist actors espousing antisemitic ideologies and organized criminal networks. RSVP here.   CEP Mentions Homeland Security Today: Hamas Conducts Public Executions Amid Internal Power Struggle in Gaza In an interview with WELT, terrorism expert and Senior Director of the Counter Extremism Project Hans-Jakob Schindler warned that the second phase of the ceasefire in the Gaza war is the biggest hurdle. Without the planned Arab-led stabilization force to provide security, the power vacuum will – and already is – generate ISIS-style violence and humanitarian concerns. The situation presents risks of prolonged instability, civilian casualties, and potential exploitation by extremist elements, with implications for regional security and U.S. diplomatic initiatives. Phoenix: Between skepticism and hope—Will Trump's peace deal for the Middle East hold? CEP Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler on the phoenix runde talk show to discuss Gaza and the ceasefire deal. ZDF: frontal – das Magazin on 14 October 2025 CEP Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler interviewed regarding Hamas in Gaza. [Starts at 5:34] NTV: “Hamas will settle scores” Videos allegedly show Hamas executing collaborators. [CEP Senior Director] Security expert Hans-Jakob Schindler is not surprised by the images. He provides an overview of the terrorist organization's financial flows and explains what the situation in Gaza could mean for the future of the alliance. Analysis CTC Sentinel: Hamas Plots in Europe: A Shift Toward External Operations? Hamas has never carried out a successful terrorist attack outside of Israel, the West Bank, or Gaza—but not for lack of plotting. Over the years, the group came close to carrying out attacks abroad several times, but these were either thwarted or aborted before execution. Now, recent criminal cases in Germany and Denmark reveal that Hamas set in motion contingency planning for possible attacks in Europe several years before the October 7 massacre, including stashing small arms in weapons caches in multiple European countries. In the context of planning for the October 7 attacks, Hamas planned to make these weapons available to operatives in Europe, according to German authorities. GNET: Light of Darkness: An Analysis of ISKP’s Digital Handbook The digital bulletin, Light of Darkness, was originally conceived as a supplementary component to Voice of Khurasan and has gradually consolidated its status as an independent and specialised publication produced under the auspices of the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP). Its principal objective is not the dissemination of propaganda directed at external audiences. Instead, it prioritises the internal dissemination of specialised technological guidance. This guidance is intended to assist members and sympathisers in circumventing online surveillance mechanisms. Foreign Affairs: The Autumn of the Ayatollahs - What Kind of Change Is Coming to Iran? For the first time in nearly four decades, Iran is on the cusp of a change of leadership—and maybe even of regime. As Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s reign nears its end, a 12-day war in June laid bare the fragility of the system he built. Israel battered Iranian cities and military installations, paving the way for the United States to drop 14 bunker-busting bombs on Iranian nuclear sites. The war exposed the enormous gulf between Tehran’s ideological bluster and the limited capabilities of a regime that has lost much of its regional power, no longer controls its skies, and exercises diminished control over its streets. At the war’s conclusion, the 86-year-old Khamenei emerged from hiding to declare victory in a raspy voice—a spectacle meant to project strength that instead underscored the regime’s frailty. United States Times of Israel: Trump: If Hamas doesn’t uphold vow to disarm, ‘we will disarm them, perhaps violently’ US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Hamas has told his top aides that it will disarm, and that the terror group could be dealt with “violently” if it refuses to do so. He also pressed the Palestinian terror group to follow through with its release of all the dead hostages still being held in the Strip. “I spoke to Hamas, and I said, ‘You’re going to disarm, right?’ ‘Yes, sir. We’re going to disarm.’ — That’s what they told me. They will disarm or we will disarm them,” Trump told reporters at the White House. He later clarified that this message, rather than in a direct conversation between the president and Hamas officials, was passed along via his “people,” apparently referring to US special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Fox News: Parents of 2 US citizens demand return of their sons’ bodies and all deceased hostages held by Hamas in Gaza Two Americans were still among the deceased hostages held by Hamas on Wednesday, as the Palestinian terror group failed to meet the terms of President Donald Trump’s peace plan. Nineteen-year-old U.S.-Israeli dual citizen Itay Chen was initially believed to have been kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, while serving along the Gaza border, but was later declared dead by the IDF. His body is still held by Hamas in Gaza. Politico: ‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat Leaders of Young Republican groups throughout the country worried what would happen if their Telegram chat ever got leaked, but they kept typing anyway. They referred to Black people as monkeys and “the watermelon people” and mused about putting their political opponents in gas chambers. They talked about raping their enemies and driving them to suicide and lauded Republicans who they believed support slavery. Washington Post: More U.S. Jews shield identity in public amid antisemitism fears, Post poll finds U.S. Jews increasingly say they are hiding their identities in a country where they believe they continue to face significant antisemitism and where slightly less than 1 in 5 feel very safe, a Washington Post poll finds. The nation’s 6 million Jewish adults also are skeptical of President Donald Trump’s campaign to fight antisemitism on college campuses, with nearly two-thirds suggesting he is conducting it for other reasons, according to the poll. Jews widely disapprove of Trump’s performance overall, the results show. Germany ARD: Mannheim driver on a rampage - Driven by the psyche? The investigators also found previous incidents that point to an extreme right-wing attitude. A previous conviction from 2019 of 30 daily rates of 20 euros because S. wrote the slogan "Sieg Heil from Germany" on Facebook under a picture of Hitler, and the possible contact with the far-right "Ring Bund", a neo-Nazi association, also concerned the investigators. In 2020, crimes relating to the purchase and possession of firearms and weapons of war were committed in Bavaria in connection with the group. Three men were convicted for this, at least one of whom S. is said to have known. However, there is no indication in the verdict of the Munich Regional Court that S. was involved in their crimes, but the results of the investigation are more solid, according to which S. is said to have searched for the so-called "devil's song" "SS marches in enemy territory" on a music streaming service on the day of the crime. ARD: How the new AfD youth is positioning itself However, a youth organization is important for the AfD, especially because many people under 30 vote for it. The JA has been very active on social media and has managed to engage young people at an early stage. In this respect, a new organization for everyone between the ages of 14 and 36 is already in the starting blocks: "Generation Germany" is to be founded at the end of November in Giessen, Hesse, under the motto "Time for your future". The working title "Patriotic Youth" has long been under discussion, but the name "Generation Germany" has now been agreed upon, according to party circles. However, it still has to be agreed at the founding meeting in Giessen, as do the logo and the colors to be used. In order to attract new members, the AfD has written to all party members under the age of 36 over the past few months and asked about their interest in the new youth organization. More than 1,500 are said to have responded. Israel Jerusalem Post: Hamas must disarm or 'all hell breaks loose,' Netanyahu tells CBS Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the demands from him and US President Donald Trump are "very clear" that Hamas must disarm and demilitarize or "all hell breaks loose," in a Tuesday interview with CBS Mornings co-host Tony Dokoupil. "We agreed to give peace a chance," he said, commenting that now that the 20 remaining living hostages have been returned, disarmament and demilitarization must come next. "First, Hamas has to give up its arms, and second, you want to make sure that there are no weapons factories inside Gaza. There's no smuggling of weapons into Gaza. That's demilitarization," the prime minister said. Times of Israel: Israel won’t reopen Rafah crossing, will limit aid, to press Hamas for remaining slain hostages Israel on Tuesday decided not to reopen the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt the next day, as required by the ceasefire deal, accusing Hamas of failing to stand by its commitment to return the bodies of all dead hostages still held by Palestinian terrorists in the Strip. Israel said it would also reduce the amount of aid flowing into Gaza as part of the sanctions against the terror group. The moves followed assessments by Israeli defense officials that Hamas has not made significant efforts to return the remaining bodies of the hostages, and amid rising anger among their families, with the main group representing them demanding that the ceasefire agreement’s implementation be halted until their loved ones are returned. Gaza Strip Times of Israel: Hamas said to kill over 30 Gazans, publicly execute 7, as it reasserts its grip on Strip Hamas gunmen tightened their grip in Gaza on Monday and Tuesday, sources in the Strip said, including carrying out public executions. Hamas has killed at least 33 people since a ceasefire took effect on Friday in a crackdown on groups that have tested its grip, sources in the strip said, having apparently got a US nod to temporarily police the shattered enclave. In a stark assertion of the group’s return, fighters executed several men they accused of collaborating with Israeli forces. In one video circulated late on Monday, Hamas fighters dragged seven men into a circle of people in Gaza City, forced them to their knees and shot them from behind. A Hamas source confirmed the authenticity of the video. Times of Israel: PA condemns Hamas executions as ‘heinous crimes’; Trump shrugs off crackdown The Palestinian Authority on Tuesday night condemned recent Hamas summary executions of Palestinians in Gaza as “heinous crimes” and urged a return of “legitimate” Palestinian leadership to stem the chaos roiling the Strip amid the ceasefire with Israel. While the PA strongly denounced the executions, US President Donald Trump appeared to downplay the terror group’s crackdown, saying the killings “didn’t bother me much.” On Sunday, returning to the US from Israel and Egypt, he told reporters he had approved Hamas playing a temporary policing role in Gaza. CBS News: Israel-Hamas peace deal may hinge on return of all Israeli hostage remains, but is that possible? Israel appeared on Wednesday to be restricting the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza in response to what it says is Hamas' delay in handing over the remains of 21 other hostages still believed to be in the Palestinian territory. Some people fear that may not be possible. An Israeli security official told CBS News on Wednesday that, "contrary to reports, the Rafah Crossing did not open today," referring to the key portal to Gaza from Egypt, where tons of aid has been stockpiled ready for delivery for weeks. Syria Reuters: Assad government secretly moved mass grave to cover up killings The Assad government carried out a two-year clandestine operation to truck thousands of bodies from one of Syria’s largest known mass graves to a secret location more than an hour away in the remote desert, a Reuters investigation has found. The conspiracy by President Bashar al-Assad’s military to excavate the mass grave in Qutayfah and create an enormous second mass grave in the desert outside the town of Dhumair has not been previously reported. To uncover the location of the Dhumair grave site and detail the vast operation, Reuters spoke to 13 people with direct knowledge of the two-year effort to move the bodies, reviewed documents produced by officials involved, and analyzed hundreds of satellite images of both grave sites taken over the course of several years. Yemen Reuters: How the Houthis rule in Yemen: prisons, a personality cult, and pilfered food aid Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi paramilitary has been lionized at pro-Palestinian protests around the world and on social media for its missile strikes on Israel over the Gaza war. In May, even U.S. President Donald Trump lauded the Houthis’ grit. “We hit them very hard,” Trump said, in announcing the group had agreed to stop attacking ships in the Red Sea following weeks of U.S. strikes on them. “They had a great capacity to withstand punishment … You can say there’s a lot of bravery there.” Afghanistan BBC News: Afghan Taliban and Pakistan agree short truce after deadly clashes Pakistan and Afghanistan's Taliban government say they have agreed a temporary ceasefire after fresh border clashes and reported Pakistani air strikes on Kabul and Kandahar. Both sides claimed the other requested the 48-hour ceasefire, which Pakistan said took effect from 13:00 GMT on Wednesday. Earlier a Taliban spokesman said 12 civilians had been killed and more than 100 wounded by Pakistani firing. Both sides claimed the other suffered heavy casualties. None of the deaths could be independently confirmed. National Geographic: Trapped inside the Taliban's Afghanistan When Iranian photographer Hashem Shakeri returned to Kabul in August 2022, it had been less than a year since his first visit to Afghanistan’s capital. And it was less than a year since the Taliban, driven out two decades prior by a U.S.-led invasion, had seized control of Afghanistan. He found himself standing in what already felt like a different country. “The sheer depth of this darkness, the uncertainty, and the inversion of everything was deeply unsettling to me,” he recalls. Africa Business Insider: U.S. report lists parts of Africa as global terrorist safe havens amid rising insecurity The US Country Reports on Terrorism paints a sobering picture of how fragile states, prolonged insurgencies, and shifting regional alliances have allowed extremist networks to thrive, even as African governments intensify military campaigns and strengthen international partnerships to stem the tide of terrorism. In the report, the U.S. Department of State identified several regions across Africa, including the Sahel, northern Mozambique, Somalia, Sudan, and the Lake Chad Basin, as terrorist safe havens, pointing to weak governance, instability, and prolonged insecurity as key enablers of violent extremism. Africa Defense Forum: Analyst: West Africa a Potential ‘Powder Keg’ Due to Spreading Sahel Terrorism marked increase in attacks by armed groups and terrorists on military bases and civilians across the central Sahel have occurred since the beginning of 2025 when Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger left the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which offered counterterrorism support. The three junta-led countries formed a defense force through their Alliance of Sahel States, but terror attacks by the al-Qaida-affiliated Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), the Islamic State in the Sahel Province and their numerous splinter organizations have continued. The groups now also target border regions between Benin, Niger, Nigeria and Togo. Burkina Faso All Africa: Burkina Faso Detains Aid Workers As Humanitarian Crisis Deepens Human Rights Watch has called on the government of Burkina Faso to immediately drop "baseless" charges brought against several aid workers who were detained by security forces on allegations of spying and treason. The head of a Netherlands-based non-governmental organization operating in the West African country and several of his staff were arrested in Ouagadougou between July and August 2025, but the authorities only made public their detention in October. Nigeria Small Wars Journal: ISWAP’s Strategic Resurgence in Nigeria Signals Emerging Trends in Insurgents’ Sophistication and Limited Statehood The security situation in northeastern Nigeria and the Lake Chad Basin significantly deteriorated in the first half of 2025. This is primarily owed to the renewed strategic vigor of the dreadful Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), a splinter of the infamous Boko Haram terrorist network, and a Salafi-jihadist militant group and administrative division of the Islamic State. For over a decade now, the northeastern region of Nigeria, and by extension, the Lake Chad Basin, has been the epicenter of transnational terrorism, resulting in thousands of fatalities, the destruction of millions of dollars’ worth of property and livelihood, and the displacement of millions of people now experiencing unimaginable human insecurities in the region. 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. 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