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CEP Mentions
Welt: Hamas raises millions through alleged aid operations in Europe
Several people have been arrested in Italy. They were allegedly collecting donations for humanitarian causes, but the money is believed to have actually gone to Hamas or allied groups. Hans-Jakob Schindler of the Counter Extremism Project has taken a closer look at the case.
Analysis
Jerusalem Post: Between PA and Turkey, Gaza’s peacekeeping future could reshape Israel’s borders
After more than two years of war and diplomatic negotiations, have Israel's choices of who will police Gaza in the near future, other than Hamas, narrowed to either a group of foreign Muslim and European countries, with the involvement of the Palestinian Authority, or Turkey?
United States
Fox News: Trump targets ISIS in Nigeria amid warnings Sahel region is becoming ‘epicenter of terrorism’
President Donald Trump is taking action against Islamic State militants in northwest Nigeria, following through on previous threats and signing off on airstrikes targeting the group on Thursday. While the Christmas strikes zeroed in on ISIS militants, there are a number of violent extremist organizations operating in Africa's Sahel region, where U.S. officials claim they are continuing to grow in influence and strength as violence surges there.
Associated Press: Trump and Netanyahu are to meet in Florida at a crucial moment for the US-backed Gaza ceasefire
President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, as Washington looks to create fresh momentum for a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Gaza that could be in danger of stalling out before a complicated second phase.
Washington Post: The U.S. sank the alleged narco-terrorists’ boat — and let them go
The police arrived at the airport prepared to arrest a drug trafficker — a mariner whose crewmates the U.S. military had just killed. Andrés Fernando Tufiño Chila was one of only two people known to have survived a U.S. strike on a vessel that the Trump administration alleged was smuggling drugs from South America. President Donald Trump had described the Ecuadorian and a fellow survivor of the Oct. 16 strike in the Atlantic Ocean as “terrorists” who would be returned to their countries of origin “for detention and prosecution.”
Forward: A whites-only, no-Jews community says it’s found a legal loophole. A Jewish lawmaker in Pennsylvania wants to close it.
A Jewish Pennsylvania lawmaker has introduced a bill to clarify that housing developments like Return to the Land — a whites-only, no-Jews community in northern Arkansas — are illegal in his state. In June, the Forward broke a story about Return to the Land’s effort to revive segregated housing, with the group screening applicants for race and religion before allowing them to live on its 160-acre property. While several legal experts said that Return to the Land was violating the Fair Housing Act, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin said in August that a preliminary review found that no laws had been broken.
Jerusalem Post: Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens dramatically increased Israel focus in recent months, study finds
Right-wing anti-Israeli media personalities Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens have "significantly increased their focus on Israel" in recent months, a new study that analysed thousands of videos shared on social media using artificial intelligence found. The study, published on Sunday by the Jewish People Policy Institute, found that there was a marked escalation in Carlson and Owens' anti-Israel rhetoric, as well as Owens' "explicit antisemitism."
I24: Mamdani endorsement praised removal of Israeli hostage posters
The endorsement committee backing New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has come under renewed scrutiny following the appointment of a controversial activist. According to the New York Post, one of the committee’s newest members, Alvaro Lopez, previously praised individuals who tore down posters calling for the release of Israeli hostages in the aftermath of the October 7 Hamas attacks.
The J.ca: UPDATE: New Jersey Woman Issues Apology After Antisemitic Tirade Following Minor Crash
Teresa Dunsheath, the Manalapan, New Jersey woman whose antisemitic remarks following a minor traffic collision were widely circulated online, has issued a public apology, saying she deeply regrets her language and accepts responsibility for her words. Dunsheath’s statement, posted on her social media account on December 26, acknowledged that her remarks were “offensive and hurtful” and said she is “committed to learning from this and doing better moving forward.”
Canada
Jerusalem Post: Auschwitz survivor says he feels 'vulnerable' after mezuzah stolen from his Toronto senior home
After mezuzahs were ripped from apartment doors in Toronto for the second time in a month, this time, Nate Leipciger, a Holocaust survivor and victim of the attack, said he felt vulnerable again, more than 80 years after leaving Auschwitz, the International March of the Living said in a press statement on Sunday.
France
Jerusalem Post: France elected to lead International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance in 2027
France has been elected to succeed Argentina as president of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) and is expected to assume the role in 2027, according to Europe and Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noël Barrot and the IHRA.
Germany
DPA: Germany's police chief worries about security effect of AfD in power
The head of Germany's criminal police office warned about the security consequences, should the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) gain control of state governments following elections next year.
Brussels Signal: AfD invited to 2026 Munich Security Conference after two-year hiatus
Members of Germany’s biggest opposition party, the right-wing Alternative for Germany Party (AfD), have been invited to participate in the Munich Security Conference in February 2026, after their exclusion from the key European security gathering for the two years prior.
Italy
Associated Press: Italian authorities arrest 9 for allegedly funding Hamas through charities
Italian authorities arrested nine people linked to three charitable organizations on suspicion of raising millions of euros in funds for the Palestinian militant group Hamas, anti-terrorism prosecutors said in a statement Saturday.
United Kingdom
The Telegraph: Labour refuses to deport Egyptian ‘extremist’
Labour has claimed that an alleged Egyptian extremist cannot be stripped of his British citizenship. Sir Keir Starmer is facing calls to deport Alaa Abd el-Fattah over social media posts in which he called for Zionists to be killed and described British people as “dogs and monkeys”.
Jerusalem Post: 'Frustrations of a young man'; Alaa Abd El-Fattah apologizes for some of his controversial comments
Alaa Abd El-Fattah, the long-imprisoned Egyptian political activist who arrived in the United Kingdom last week, has "unequivocally" apologized for social media statements calling for the killing of Zionists and whites. On Friday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer and other cabinet ministers announced on social media that they were “delighted” that El-Fattah had been brought to the UK and reunited with his family after 12 years in prison. However, his previous comments - such as him considering “killing any colonialists and especially Zionists heroic” - soon circulated online.
Jewish News: Starmer has ‘lost trust of British Jews’ after welcoming Egyptian ‘extremist’ into country
Senior Labour figures have said Keir Starmer has lost the trust of British Jews after he welcomed an Egyptian dissident into the country who had endorsed the killing of “Zionists” and “police” in a multitude of inflammatory social media posts.
Jerusalem Post: UK government 'delighted' to bring activist to Britain who called to kill Zionists and whites
Controversy arose after the British government announced on Friday that a long-imprisoned Egyptian political activist was being brought to the United Kingdom, as his social media history revealed statements supporting the killing of Zionists and whites, as well as denigrating the British people.
GBN: Nigel Farage reports 'extremist' Alaa Abd el-Fattah to counter-terrorism police as old tweets resurface
Nigel Farage has reported activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah to counter-terrorism police over historical social media posts. Mr Abd El-Fattah is now facing calls to be stripped of his UK citizenship and deported after posts from 2010 resurfaced in which he is alleged to have called for violence against Zionists and the police.
Afghanistan
Afghanistan International: Taliban Intelligence Assassinated General Sari In Tehran, Says Former Afghan VP
Yunus Qanuni, a former Afghan vice president, said Taliban intelligence was responsible for the assassination of Ikramuddin Sari, a former Afghan security commander, in Tehran. He added that there is no doubt the group’s intelligence bodies conduct cross-border operations.
Afghanistan International: Former Afghan Soldier Arrested By Taliban After Deportation From Iran
Reliable sources told Afghanistan International that the Taliban have arrested Azimullah Mohammadi, a former soldier in the Afghan army, in Kabul after his deportation from Iran. According to the sources, Mohammadi was deported from Iran about three months ago. An informed source said the arrest took place roughly two weeks ago. The Taliban have not commented on the reported detention.
Afghanistan International: Afghan Resistance Leader Pledges Justice After Tehran Assassination
The leader of the Afghanistan Freedom Front has said the killings of former Afghan military personnel will be pursued at multiple levels and that accountability will be sought for every victim. General Yasin Zia said those responsible would one day be brought before courts by popular forces and punished for their actions.
Amu: Taliban, Pakistan officials strike conciliatory tone amid tensions
Senior Taliban and Pakistani officials exchanged conciliatory remarks this week despite heightened tensions between the two sides over security issues. Taliban Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani thanked Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar for what he described as positive recent statements about Afghanistan, while Dar welcomed a religious ruling by clerics aligned with the Taliban calling for a ban on fighting outside Afghan territory.
Amu: Dostum says Taliban ‘taking their last breaths’
Former vice president Marshal Abdul Rashid Dostum has said that the Taliban are “taking their last breaths” and only understand force, as criticism intensified over the killing of a former police chief in Iran. Speaking during an online memorial gathering for Gen. Ikramuddin Saree on Sunday, Dostum said the Taliban do not understand diplomacy or dialogue and respond only to pressure, describing the group as a “terrorist regime” whose rule he said would not endure.
Afghanistan International: Taliban Publicly Flog Pair In Northern Afghanistan
The Taliban’s Supreme Court said a man and a woman were publicly flogged in the Sayed Khel district of Parwan province on charges of an extramarital relationship. In a statement issued on Monday, the court said each was sentenced to 30 lashes and one year in prison. The punishment was carried out after approval by the the Supreme Court and in the presence of local officials and members of the public.
Amu: Taliban burn musical instruments in eastern Afghanistan
Taliban collected and burned dozens of musical instruments in the eastern province of Nangarhar, saying the move was aimed at enforcing Islamic principles and reforming society. The Taliban governor’s office in Nangarhar province said in a statement that their enforcers from the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice seized 86 musical instruments in the ninth district of Jalalabad city and burned them in the presence of a joint committee.
Gaza Strip/West Bank
Times of Israel: Hamas said set to soon elect new leader, with pro-Iran candidate Hayya likely to win
Hamas is expected to elect a new leader within days or a few weeks, Saudi outlet Asharq reported Saturday, citing sources close to the Palestinian terror group’s leadership. However, the same sources also reportedly “ruled out holding general elections before the war comes to a complete end.”
Israel
Times of Israel: 2025 saw sharp drop in immigration to Israel even as arrivals from Western nations surged
Some 21,900 new immigrants moved to Israel in 2025, the Immigration and Absorption Ministry said Monday, a steep drop of about one third from last year’s numbers as arrivals from Russia dried up. However, aliya (Hebrew for immigration to Israel) from the United States, France, the UK and other Western countries rose sharply, amid skyrocketing antisemitism affecting Jewish communities around the world, including high-profile deadly terror attacks against Jewish targets like the Yom Kippur attack on a Manchester synagogue and this month’s massacre at a Hanukkah event in Sydney, Australia.
Times of Israel: Freed hostage Elkana Bohbot: Hamas made me film mock suicide video
Freed hostage Elkana Bohbot revealed new, harrowing details of his time in captivity in an interview published Monday, including that his Hamas captors filmed a propaganda video in which they made it appear as if he and another hostage were attempting to kill themselves. “They drew blood from our hands and beat us so that we would be injured, to simulate a suicide scene,” Bohbot said in an interview with the Hebrew daily Yedioth Ahronoth, without revealing the names of other hostage that Hamas filmed alongside him. The video he described was never released by the terror group.
Times of Israel: Netanyahu departs for US to meet Trump on Gaza plan, Hezbollah tensions
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took off on Sunday from Ben Gurion Airport headed for Florida, where he is set to meet with US President Donald Trump for talks expected to focus on the future of the Gaza Strip and ongoing threats from Hezbollah and Iran.
Times of Israel: Iranian hacking group claims to seize damning info from phone of PM’s chief of staff
A group of Iranian hackers claimed on Sunday that it had cracked the cellphone of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chief of staff, Tzachi Braverman, and threatened to release information tying him to the Qatargate scandal. The same group claimed last week to have broken into former prime minister Naftali Bennett’s phone.
Times of Israel: Brothers of terrorist who killed 2 in ramming attacks found illegally inside Israel
Israeli security forces continued a large-scale counterterrorism operation in the northern West Bank town of Qabatiya on Saturday, a day after a deadly ramming-stabbing attack in northern Israel that killed two Israelis. A full curfew remained in effect in the town, the IDF said, with movement heavily restricted.
Lebanon
I24: Report: Iran considers removing Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem
Iran is reportedly dissatisfied with the performance of Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem and is preparing to reorganize the group’s leadership, potentially removing him from his position, according to a report by Emirati outlet Erem News citing senior Lebanese diplomatic sources.
Naharnet: Aoun: Army is Lebanon's only savior
President Joseph Aoun on Monday hoped the new year will witness “a new birth of Lebanon, so that it becomes a state of institutions, away from the state of sects.” “History has proven that the Lebanese Army has saved Lebanon many times, and the future will prove that it is Lebanon's only savior, because it is the only institution that works in the country's best interests, free from political, partisan and sectarian considerations,” Aoun told an Army Command delegation that visited him to offer season’s greetings.
Naharnet: Report: Lebanon wants positive Israeli step in order to begin North Litani disarmament
Despite Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s announcement about the readiness to begin arms monopolization north of the Litani River, the Lebanese state has not taken such a decision in the current period, a media report said.
Naharnet: Qassem says Hezbollah's disarmament 'an Israeli-American plan'
Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem has said that moves to disarm the group in Lebanon are an "Israeli-American plan", accusing Israel of failing to abide by a ceasefire agreement sealed last year. Under heavy U.S. pressure and fears of expanded Israeli strikes, the Lebanese military is expected to complete Hezbollah's disarmament south of the Litani River -- located about 30 kilometers from the border with Israel -- by the end of the year.
Syria
Reuters: Three dead in Alawite protests on Syrian coast, local officials say
Three people were killed on Sunday when protests in Syria's Alawite heartland of Latakia spiralled into gunfire and other violence, according to the province's media office. Syria has been rocked by several episodes of sectarian bloodshed since longtime leader Bashar al-Assad, who hails from the Muslim Alawite minority, was ousted by a rebel offensive last year and replaced by a Sunni-led government.
Turkey
Reuters: Three Turkish police, six Islamic State militants killed in clash, amid national crackdown
Three Turkish police officers and six Islamic State militants were killed in a gunfight in northwest Turkey on Monday, the Interior Minister said, a week after more than 100 suspected IS members were detained for planning Christmas and New Year attacks. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said eight police and another security force member were wounded in a raid on a property in the town of Yalova, on the Sea of Marmara coast south of Istanbul. More than 100 addresses were raided nationwide early on Monday.
Daily Sabah: Türkiye vows continued fight against terrorism after deadly Daesh raid
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and several Turkish officials on Monday expressed condolences for police officers killed during a counterterrorism operation targeting the Daesh terrorist group in Türkiye’s northwestern province of Yalova and wished a speedy recovery to those wounded, stressing that Türkiye would continue its fight with determination against all terrorist groups.
Yemen
Jerusalem Post: Israeli presence in Somaliland will be considered a 'military target,' Houthi leader warns
Sayyed Abdulmalik al-Houthi, leader of the Houthis terror group, warned on Sunday that the organization will “consider any Israeli presence in Somaliland as a military target,” the Houthi-run Saba News Agency reported. “We emphasize our firm stand with the brotherly Somali people against Israel, and we will take all possible support measures to assist them,” said al-Houthi, and called the recognition a threat to both Somalia and Yemen.
Reuters: Yemen's Saudi-led coalition warns STC against moves in Hadramout
Yemen's Saudi-led coalition said any military moves by the main southern separatist group STC in the eastern province of Hadramout that undermined de-escalation efforts would be countered to protect civilians, the Saudi state news agency reported on Saturday. The statement from coalition spokesperson General Turki al-Malki followed a request from Rashad al-Alimi, head of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, for the coalition to take immediate measures to protect civilians in Hadramout from "violations committed by armed groups affiliated with the STC".
India
IANS: Al-Qaeda builds Afghan digital command to push Caliphate agenda against India
The ongoing investigations by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) into an Al-Qaeda case have revealed that servers and control centres in Afghanistan had been used extensively for spreading radical ideology. These details cropped up during the interrogation of Zubair Hangargekar, who was arrested for his alleged links with Al-Qaeda. The probe found that he was highly radicalised by the ideology of Al-Qaeda.
Somalia
Newsweek: US Fighter Jets Strike ISIS-Somalia in Christmas Operation
The U.S. carried out fresh airstrikes on ISIS in Somalia on December 25, the U.S. military said, after several days of aerial attacks by American forces on militants in the north of the country.
Al Arabiya English: Somalia’s Al-Shabaab vows to fight any Israeli use of Somaliland
Somalia’s Al-Qaeda-linked militant group Al-Shabaab vowed Saturday to fight any attempt by Israel “to claim or use parts of Somaliland” following its recognition of the breakaway territory. “We will not accept it, and we will fight against it,” Al-Shabaab said in a statement.
Sudan
Reuters: Aid workers find little life in Sudan's al-Fashir after paramilitary takeover
International aid staff who accessed Sudan's al-Fashir for the first time since its takeover by a paramilitary force found the city largely deserted, with a few people sheltering in buildings or under plastic sheets, a senior U.N. official said on Monday. More than 100,000 are estimated to have fled al-Fashir since late October after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces took control there following an 18-month siege that plunged the city into famine.
Australia
Jerusalem Post: NSW Premier doesn't rule out deploying army to protect Sydney’s Jewish community
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns didn't rule out the possibility of deploying the army to Jewish areas to protect the community, he implied in a press conference on Sunday, ABC News reported. During the press conference, the NSW Premier warned the public that Sydney residents could expect to face increased security on the streets.
NBC News: Families of Bondi Beach victims demand more federal action on antisemitism and security failures
Families of victims of the recent Sydney massacre that targeted a Jewish festival released an open letter on Monday calling for more federal action to investigate a rise in antisemitism and the security failures behind Australia’s worst mass shooting in three decades.
Jerusalem Post: Australian rabbis join calls urging Albanese to launch a royal commission on antisemitism
Australian rabbis joined the mounting calls for the Australian federal government to initiate a royal commission on Thursday, further urging Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to ban violent slogans and radical protest marches.
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