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CEP Mentions
Die ZEIT: Right-wing extremist youth groups in Germany
Alexander Ritzmann from the Counter Extremism Project has been researching the phenomenon for years and believes there is a danger that shadow militias could emerge from some of the groups and strike on D-Day. Day X is supposed to be the assumption of power by a right-wing dictator. The historical model for part of the movement is the Sturmabteilung (SA) of the NSDAP. Also Julian M.'s men in Berlin. In October 2024, a DJV member wrote to his leader in a chat that he now wanted to set up his own "subgroup along the lines of the SA".
ARD Tagesschau podcast on Active Clubs with Alexander Ritzmann
Young men meet in trendy sports clubs for fitness training and boxing or practise jiu-jitsu martial arts. According to experts, the so-called "active clubs" are primarily about fun and camaraderie, while also introducing them to right-wing ideologies of violence. Apparently, well-known figures from the right-wing extremist scene are behind this. In this 11KM episode, SWR reporter Florian Barth talks about the new phenomenon of "Active Clubs", in which right-wing activists apparently train for street fighting and a "system overthrow", how right-wing networks are organized and recruited throughout Germany and how security authorities are looking at them.
Analysis
Deutsche Welle: Car ramming attacks: Why do they keep happening?
Pauline Paille, a specialist in international security at research organization, RAND Europe, was involved in a 2022 report for the European Commission exploring ways of preventing car ramming attacks. "It's a bit difficult to understand what the motivations are and if there is an actual pattern, or if it is just a collection of isolated events," Paille told DW. "I don't think this is a threat that is unique to Europe and with regards to the psychology, I think it very much depends on the kind of motivations and political objective that those who attack have." RAND's report investigated how access to vehicles through rental or peer-to-peer schemes, which were utilized by suspects in US attacks, in a New Orleans ramming and a Las Vegas explosion, could be restricted. Raising barriers to rented vehicles could be a useful measure. Enforcing stronger identification requirements, financial deposits and background checks are also options.
Jerusalem Post: Qatar secured better terms for Hamas in Gaza hostage deal sabotage
Qatar sabotaged the ceasefire deal to secure better terms for Hamas, media reported on Sunday, citing senior Israeli officials. If a final deal is not reached in the coming days, Israel is expected to increase pressure in Gaza, according to Israel Hayom. The officials said Qatar’s assistance in ceasefire talks has been hindering the progress, adding that working solely through Egypt would be better. Without Qatari interference, Hamas may have already accepted the recent Egyptian proposal due to a combination of IDF pressure, the halting of humanitarian aid, and diplomatic pressure applied by Egypt and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. According to Ynet, Doha also exerted counter-pressure to reject the proposal, saying there may be a better one for Hamas later on.
United States
Reuters: US military says it will limit disclosing details on strikes in Yemen
The U.S. military said on Sunday it will not reveal specific details about its military strikes in Yemen, citing what it called the need "to preserve operational security" while also saying the strikes had "lethal effects" on Houthi rebels. Republican President Donald Trump ordered the intensification of U.S. strikes on Yemen last month, with his administration saying it will continue assaulting Iran-backed Houthi rebels until they stop attacking Red Sea shipping.
The Guardian: Far-right fight groups endorse ‘youth clubs’ targeting US young men and boys
A national network of American neofascist fight clubs is endorsing youth-oriented offshoots aimed at grooming the next generation of racist activists. So-called “active clubs” have proliferated across the US and are a combination of fitness and mixed martial arts groups that often espouse neo-Nazi and fascist ideologies, openly taking their historical cues from the Third Reich’s obsession with machismo and European soccer hooliganism.
WGBH: Boston area Jewish students reflect on Trump's fight against antisemitism
Meirav Solomon was torn about whether to join Gaza War protests on her campus at Tufts University a year ago. She says never shied from activism but she found herself “with a foot in both camps.” Both her parents are rabbis and she has personal connections to Israelis and Palestinians. She heard antisemitic chants from protesters including friends and felt they “maybe didn’t understand what they were saying.” “I was on campus in an incredibly nuanced and gray situation in which I didn’t really feel like I was a part of anyone’s community,” said Solomon.
Jewish Telegraphic Agency: Over 500 rabbis sign letter rejecting Trump’s antisemitism agenda
Over 550 rabbis and cantors have signed a letter criticizing the Trump administration for “abusing the issue” of antisemitism, joining a growing chorus of opposition from Jewish leaders. The letter, published Monday and titled “A Call to Moral Clarity: Rejecting Antisemitism as a Political Wedge,” was organized by two progressive Jewish groups — the Israel lobby J Street and rabbinic group T’ruah. It follows another letter published last Tuesday by the Jewish refugee aid group HIAS that included the signatures of over 560 Jewish religious leaders. That letter condemned the “immoral use of the law” by the Trump administration, specifically citing the administration’s deportation campaigns.
Bangor Daily News: A Bangor man says he found Easter eggs containing White Supremacist propaganda in park
A Bangor man said he and his family discovered roughly two dozen Easter eggs containing flyers with White Supremacist propaganda at a park on Easter Sunday. Samuel Woodman said he was with his family at Talbot Park on Second Street in Bangor when his son found one of the eggs and brought it to him.
Independent: In reverse of a longtime stance, US says UN Palestinian refugee agency isn't immune from lawsuits
The Trump administration has decided that the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees is not immune from being sued, reversing the U.S. government's longstanding position that the organization was protected from civil liability. The Justice Department revealed its new stance in a letter it filed in federal court in New York on Thursday as part of a lawsuit that aims to hold the agency, known as UNRWA, accountable for the Oct. 7, 2023, deadly attack on Israel by Hamas. The change in position underscores the hardened perspective toward the agency under the Trump administration following allegations by Israel that some of the agency staff was involved in the Hamas rampage.
Austria
EURACTIV: Austrian far right triples result in Vienna election
Austria’s far-right Freedom Party continued its march against the country’s political establishment in Vienna’s municipal election on Sunday, nearly tripling its result to finish a strong second behind the ruling Social Democrats. The result signals that the appeal of the far right, which ran a relentless campaign hammering the governing parties over their migration policies, remains stronger than ever, even in a cosmopolitan city such as Vienna.
France
Reuters: French authorities arrest at least 25 suspects behind prison attacks
At least 25 suspects were arrested on Monday on terrorism charges related to a spate of attacks against French prisons earlier this month, France's national anti-terrorism prosecutor's office (PNAT) said. An initial 22 people were arrested early in the morning, with three detained later, PNAT said.
Reuters: French mosque murder suspect detained in Italy
A man has been arrested in Italy on suspicion of stabbing a man to death while the victim was praying inside a mosque in southern France, French authorities said on Monday. The public prosecutor of the southern city of Ales in the Gard region, where the attack took place on Friday, Abdelkrim Grini told BFM TV on Monday: "I can confirm that the alleged perpetrator did indeed go to an Italian police station, near Florence, last night at around 11-11.30 pm."
France 24: France is 'no place' for racism and hate, says Macron after murder of Muslim in mosque
There can never be a place for racism and hate in France, President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday after the brutal stabbing to death of a Muslim in a mosque in the south of the country. "Racism and hatred based on religion can have no place in France. Freedom of worship cannot be violated," Macron wrote on X in his first comments on Friday's killing, extending his support to "our fellow Muslim citizens".
Reuters: Bardella, France's National Rally president, set to run in 2027 if Le Pen cannot
Jordan Bardella plans to be the French far-right National Rally's presidential candidate in 2027 if the party's leader Marine Le Pen remains barred from running, he told Le Parisien newspaper. Le Pen, 56, who has run for president three times and was a front-runner for the election, was barred from seeking public office for five years after a court found her and some members of her party guilty in March of misappropriation of funds.
Germany
Deutsche Welle: Thousands stage populist protests, counter-rallies
Several thousand people rallied across Germany on Saturday in protests organized by the new alliance Together for Germany, with some facing counter-demonstrations, arrests and scuffles with police. The populist movement is in favor of stricter nationwide border controls and an end to financial and military support for Ukraine, with security agencies warning that the protests could be hijacked by extremists. Police said some 1,100 people gathered in Weimar, in Thuringia, a bastion of the far-right Alternative for Germany. Right-wing speakers included a far-right extremist known regionally. Germany's domestic security agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, had warned ahead of Saturday's planned actions that extremists could try to steer the rally in line with their own agenda. Some 850 people turned out in response to a call for counter-demonstrations by the Weimar Citizens' Alliance Against the Right.
Deutsche Welle: Germany: Most charges dropped in far-right Sylt video probe
Most charges have been dropped after an investigation into last year's scandal over alleged racist chanting at a bar on the northern German island of Sylt, prosecutors in Flensburg said Monday. Several guests at the Pony Bar in Kampen allegedly sang "Germany to the Germans — foreigners out!" in the Pony Bar in Kampen last May, which led to an investigation on suspicion of incitement to hatred.
Romania
Barron’s: Romania Far Right Rides TikTok Wave In Election Re-run
With 1.3 million followers, a Donald Trump-supporting far-right candidate is riding a wave of popularity on TikTok ahead of the rerun of Romania's presidential election in which he is expected to win Sunday's first round. Authorities are keen to avoid a repeat of the uproar that followed the constitutional court's annulment of last year's vote results, after claims of Russian interference. Authorities also reported a mass social media campaign in favour of far-right candidate Calin Georgescu, who won the first round.
Russia
Reuters: Putin declares 3-day May ceasefire to mark 80 years since World War Two victory
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday declared a three-day ceasefire in the war with Ukraine next month to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union and its allies in World War Two. The Kremlin said the 72-hour ceasefire would run from the start of May 8 to the end of May 10, and Russia called on Ukraine to join it as well.
Sweden
Reuters: Three teens convicted in Sweden over shooting attack on Israeli defence firm
Three teenagers were convicted in Sweden on Monday of being involved in a shooting attack on an office of Israeli defence contractor Elbit Systems (ESLT.TA), opens new tab in Gothenburg last year. A fourth boy, who was accused of actually carrying out the attack by opening fire at the entrance to the building in October, was 13 at the time - too young for him to stand trial under Swedish law.
United Kingdom
The Guardian: Revealed: online campaign urged far right to attack China’s opponents in UK
Working with the anti-racism group Hope Not Hate, the Guardian found more than 150 posts from 29 accounts on three days in August 2024 that sought to draw the attention of anti-immigrant groups and the far right to Lau and other Hong Kong exiles. Cybersecurity experts who have reviewed the posts say they exhibited some similarities to a major online influence operation that a Chinese security agency is suspected of orchestrating.
Independent: Neo-Nazis celebrate Adolf Hitler’s birthday with racist flags and swastika cake at ‘appalled’ pub
Neo-Nazis arrived at a pub in Greater Manchester to celebrate Adolf Hitler’s birthday with flags and a cake decorated with a swastika. Members of the north west branch of the far-right British Movement gathered at the Duke of Edinburgh pub in Oldham on Saturday 23 April. The venue was reportedly unaware of the party and contacted the police the following day. The pub’s operator, Craft Union Pubs, said it was “absolutely appalled” by the event.
Israel
Reuters: Hamas open to long Gaza truce but not to disarming, an official says
Hamas is open to a years-long truce with Israel in Gaza but is not willing to lay down its arms, an official said on Saturday, as leaders of the Palestinian Islamist militant group met mediators in Cairo for ceasefire talks. Sources close to the talks told Reuters Hamas hoped to build support among mediators for its offer, adding the group might agree to a five to seven-year truce in return for ending the war, allowing for the rebuilding of Gaza, the freeing of Palestinians jailed by Israel and the release of all hostages. "The idea of a truce or its duration is not rejected by us, and we are ready to discuss it within the framework of negotiations. We are open to any serious proposals to end the war," said Taher Al-Nono, the media adviser for the Hamas leadership, in the first clear signal that the group was open to a longer-term truce. However, Nono ruled out a core Israeli demand that Hamas lay down its arms. Israel wants to see Gaza demilitarised.
Reuters: Gaza ceasefire talks make some progress, Qatari PM says
Qatar's prime minister said on Sunday that efforts to reach a new ceasefire in Gaza have made some progress but an agreement between Israel and Hamas to end the war remains elusive. "We have seen on Thursday a bit of progress compared to other meetings yet we need to find an answer for the ultimate question: how to end this war. That's the key point of the entire negotiations," said Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who also serves as foreign minister.
Associated Press: Israel says it has intercepted a missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels
Yemen’s Houthi rebels launched a missile early Sunday toward Israel, which the Israeli military said it shot down as U.S. strikes in the Houthi-held capital of Sanaa killed two people. Sirens sounded in parts of Israel around the Dead Sea. The military said “the missile was intercepted prior to crossing into Israeli territory.” Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree claimed the attack, saying the rebels targeted Israel’s Nevatim air base with what he identified as a hypersonic missile.
Reuters: Israel flattens Rafah ruins; Gazans fear plan to herd them there
Israel's army is flattening the remaining ruins of the city of Rafah on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip, residents say, in what they fear is a part of a plan to herd the population into confinement in a giant camp on the barren ground. No food or medical supplies have reached the 2.3 million residents of the Gaza Strip in nearly two months, since Israel imposed what has since become its longest ever total blockade of the territory, following the collapse of a six-week ceasefire.
Times of Israel: Hamas chiefs’ correspondence shows how Israel misjudged results of May 2021 clash
Newly released Hamas documents found in Gaza show that Israel seriously misunderstood the impact of its 2021 operation in Gaza, which the terror group viewed as a victory that encouraged it to launch the October 7 massacre over two years later, Hebrew media reported. At the time, Operation Guardian of the Walls was painted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as an “extraordinary success,” and he vowed to implement a much tougher stance against the terror group’s rocket fire. But Channel 12 news on Saturday revealed letters exchanged by Hamas’s then-Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar and the terror group’s leader at the time, Ismail Haniyeh, showing that the two men considered the 11-day conflict a defeat for Israel.
I24News: East Jerusalem residents arrested, accused of trying to join Islamic State
Two residents of east Jerusalem are set to be indicted, according to the plaintiff's public statement on Sunday. The two, aged 34 and 19, are suspected of being supporters of the Islamic State who had made contact with representatives of the terrorist organization abroad with the intention of joining the organization's ranks.
Lebanon
Reuters: Israel says it strikes Hezbollah missiles in southern Beirut
The Israeli army said on Sunday it struck a southern Beirut building being used to store precision missiles belonging to Hezbollah. The attack was a further test of a fragile ceasefire between Israel and the Iranian-backed militant group. A huge plume of smoke billowed from the building, Reuters live footage showed, almost an hour after the Israeli army issued an evacuation order to residents of the Hadath neighbourhood. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that Hezbollah's precision missiles "posed a significant threat to the State of Israel". There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah. The latest strike adds to strains on the U.S.-brokered ceasefire that ended last year's devastating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called on the United States and France, as guarantors of the ceasefire agreement struck in November, to compel Israel to stop its attacks.
Naharnet: Aoun stresses decision to monopolize arms already taken
Limiting weapons to the hand of the Lebanese state is “a decision that has been taken and it is unacceptable to return to the rhetoric of war,” President Joseph Aoun reiterated on Monday. “Israeli withdrawal from the five hills represents a necessity to continue the deployment of the army to the border, so that the state alone becomes in charge of border security,” Aoun added, in a meeting in Baabda with a delegation from the French senate.
Naharnet: Geagea and Bassil call for Hezbollah disarmament
The leaders of the two biggest Christian parties have both called for the state's monopoly on weapons after Hezbollah was left badly weakened by more than a year of hostilities with Israel. "We've been missing a real state for 35 years," Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, a harsh critic of Hezbollah, said Saturday, calling for the state to have monopoly on arms and to be the sole decision maker in the country. "We cannot build a real state without the state's monopoly on arms," Geagea said, claiming that the occupation is the result of Hezbollah's arms.
Syria
Reuters: Syria's Sharaa rejects Kurdish demands for decentralization
Syria's Islamist leaders said on Sunday that Kurdish demands for the country to adopt a decentralised system of government in a post-Assad political order posed a threat to national unity. "We clearly reject any attempt to impose a partition or create separatist cantons under the terms of federalism or self-autonomy without a national consensus," Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa's office said in a statement.
I24News: Syria says won't join Abraham Accords, as 'Israel is occupying' territory
After Syria expressed interest in joining the Abraham Accords to US lawmakers last week, the Syrian channel Syria TV reported Sunday night that the Syrian government had written a letter to the US refused to join other country in normalizing relations with Israel, claiming that Israel is occupying its lands. Sources told the Syrian channel that the government noted that the Abraham Accords are with "countries whose lands Israel does not occupy, and therefore Syria cannot be a part of them."
Financial Times: Syria’s defence ministry opens applications for Assad-era troops
Syria’s defence ministry has opened applications for Assad-era soldiers to enlist in the army, reaching across former enemy lines in an attempt to bolster security and strengthen their hold on the country. The ministry said it had set up an online application for “defectors from the former regime . . . who wish to return to duty”. The 16-part questionnaire asks for biographical details, information about where they served, speciality and “date of desertion”.
Iran International: Israel says it intercepted Iranian planes sent to aid Syria's Assad
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the air force diverted Iranian aircraft carrying troops to help former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad amid the country’s revolution last year. “They had to rescue Assad,” Netanyahu said, adding that Iran wanted to send “one or two airborne divisions” to help the Syrian leader.
I24News: Turkey allowing Hamas, PIJ to take up military positions in Syria – sources
Turkey is allowing Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad to take up military positions in Syria, although it is not arming them, Arab and Western sources told i24NEWS on Monday.
Iran
Reuters: Death toll from blast at Iran's Bandar Abbas port rises to 40
The death toll from a powerful explosion at Iran's biggest port of Bandar Abbas has risen to at least 40, with more than 1,200 people injured, state media reported on Sunday, as firefighters worked to fully extinguish the fire. Saturday's blast took place in the Shahid Rajaee section of the port, Iran's biggest container hub, shattering windows for several kilometres around, tearing metal strips off shipping containers and badly damaging goods inside, state media said. The incident occurred as Iran held a third round of nuclear talks with the United States in Oman. Fires kept breaking out in different parts of the affected area as of Sunday night, according to state media, with helicopters and fire fighters continuing efforts to extinguish them. Chemicals at the port were suspected to have fuelled the explosion, but the exact cause was not clear and Iran's Defence Ministry denied international media reports that the blast may be linked to the mishandling of solid fuel used for missiles.
France 24: Iran's Khamenei orders probe into port blast that killed 40, injured 1000
Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei ordered an investigation Sunday into the causes of a major blast at a strategic southern port that killed at least 40 people and injured more than 1,000. The deadly blast occurred as Iran began a third round of nuclear talks with the United States in Oman.
Times of Israel: Iranian MP accuses Israel of involvement in port blast, as fires continue to smolder
The death toll from the powerful explosion that rocked Iran’s biggest port of Bandar Abbas has risen to at least 40, with over 1,000 injured, state media reported on Sunday. Though authorities are still working to determine the cause of the blast, an Iranian parliament member claimed that Israel was responsible, saying that explosive devices were planted in the shipping containers that caused it. “Israel was involved in the explosion,” MP Mohammad Siraj told the Rokna news agency on Sunday. “It was not accidental. Clear evidence points to Israeli involvement.”
Iraq
Arab Weekly: Iraq arrests ISIS suspect for inciting New Orleans attack
Iraqi authorities have arrested a suspected member of the Islamic State group for inciting a January truck-ramming attack that killed 14 people in the US city of New Orleans, Iraq’s judiciary said on Sunday. The city in the southern state of Louisiana was plunged into a panic early on New Year’s Day when a US army veteran, who the FBI said had pledged loyalty to ISIS, ploughed a pickup truck into revellers in the crowded French Quarter, famed for its nightlife.
Yemen
Reuters: Suspected U.S. airstrike hits Yemen migrant centre; Houthi TV says 68 killed
Corpses covered in dust and debris were scattered in the wreckage of a detention centre for African migrants in Yemen, after what Houthi-controlled television described on Monday as a U.S. airstrike that killed 68 people. The attack was one of the deadliest so far in six weeks of intensified U.S. airstrikes against the Houthis, an Iran-aligned group that controls northern Yemen and has struck shipping in the Red Sea in what it says is solidarity with the Palestinians.
France 24: US military hits over 800 targets in Yemen since March, hundreds of Houthi rebels killed
The US military said Sunday it has struck more than 800 Houthi targets in Yemen since mid-March, killing hundreds of fighters, including leaders. Near-daily air raids under "Operation Rough Rider" aim to halt attacks on Red Sea shipping and restore US "deterrence", officials said.
India
Times of India: Al-Qaeda operatives among 1,024 illegal Bangladeshis arrested in Gujarat
In the wake of the recent terror attack in Kashmir, Gujarat Police launched a massive operation targeting illegal Bangladeshi residents across the state. In a single night, Ahmedabad Police arrested 890 illegal Bangladeshis, while Surat Police apprehended 134. State authorities confirmed that among those detained, four individuals had links to criminal activities, with two suspected of being operatives in Al-Qaeda sleeper cells.
Washington Post: Indian military says Pakistani troops fired at positions along the border in disputed Kashmir
Pakistani soldiers fired at Indian posts along the highly militarized frontier in disputed Kashmir for a second consecutive night, the Indian military said Saturday, as tensions flared between the nuclear-armed rivals following a deadly attack on tourists last week. India described the massacre, in which gunmen killed 26 people, most of them Indian tourists , as a “terror attack” and accused Pakistan of backing it.
Pakistan
Associated Press: Pakistani troops kill 54 militants attempting to sneak into Pakistan from Afghanistan
Pakistani security forces overnight killed 54 militants who attempted to cross into the country from Afghanistan, the military said Sunday, marking one of the deadliest such killings in recent years. The military said in a statement that intelligence reports indicated that the killed militants were “Khwarij” — a phrase the government uses for the Pakistani Taliban.
Economic Times: You have acted like ISIS: Asaduddin Owaisi slams Pakistan over Pahalgam attack
Amid rising tensions, Asaduddin Owaisi criticized Pakistan's ceasefire violations after the Pahalgam attack. He stated Pakistan is far behind India and its budget is less than India's military budget. Owaisi accused Pakistan of training terrorists and likened their actions to ISIS. India increased security and withdrew advisors from Islamabad following the Pahalgam attack
Niger
Defense Post: Niger Says Jihadists Kill 12 Soldiers Near Mali Border
Niger’s army said Saturday jihadists killed 12 of its soldiers in the west of the country near the Malian border. An anti-terrorism unit was “attacked in a cowardly fashion by terrorist elements concealed by civilian camps” on Friday, and 12 of its members “made the ultimate sacrifice,” it said. The attackers struck about 10 km (six miles) north of Sakoira, near Tillaberi, a large city in western Niger.
Somalia
Hiiraan: Mortar attack targets Halane Base Camp in Mogadishu; casualties unconfirmed
Several mortar shells were fired toward the heavily fortified Halane Base Camp in Mogadishu on Monday, which houses United Nations offices, African Union personnel, and Western diplomatic missions. Some of the mortar rounds reportedly landed in and around the camp, but the number of casualties has not yet been confirmed. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Business Daily: Court rejects seizure of ex-Somalia diplomat’s assets on terror links
The High Court has dismissed an application by the State to seize a Sh110 million apartment and Sh8.6 million cash from a former Somalia government diplomat, Gibriel Cusman Moxamed, over suspected links to a terrorist in Yemen.
Australia
Sydney Morning Herald: Neo-Nazis quietly forming a political party to try to get around the law
The prominent neo-Nazi group that disrupted Anzac Day commemorations is recruiting members to form a new political party, as part of a plan to exploit loopholes in recent anti-vilification laws – and run candidates in the next federal election. White supremacist leader Thomas Sewell is under strict bail conditions barring him from contacting other members of his neo-Nazi National Socialist Network, which has seen its websites and social media channels taken down after Sewell and other members were arrested over an Australia Day rally in Adelaide.
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