CEP Roundup: News And Updates From Counter Extremism Project

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CEP Roundup: News And Updates From Counter Extremism Project
By: Counter Extremism Project - 12-18-20
Re: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ta...BmrddpSFFgTfdC

CEP Roundup

Resources And Updates From The Counter Extremism Project

Islamist Extremism

CEP-EPC Report Calls for Pan-EU Policy for Return of Foreign Terrorist Fighters
On November 9, CEP and the European Policy Centre (EPC) held a webinar and launched their collaborative publication, Marching home? Why repatriating foreign terrorist fighters is a pan-European priority. The report examines the multiple challenges of repatriating foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) and the varying approaches taken by France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden and Kosovo towards hundreds of their citizens who joined ISIS and are now languishing in overcrowded, insecure and dangerous prisons and refugee camps in Syria and Iraq. The report’s authors, CEP Senior Advisor Ian Acheson and EPC Senior Policy Analyst Amanda Paul, point out the national security, legal and moral implications of governments’ ‘bunker mentality’ approach and lay out a concrete set of recommendations for an operational response to FTFs that ensures public safety, accountability through the criminal justice system, and rehabilitation. Media coverage: The Times, Daily Express, Euractiv.

Wave Of Terror Attacks In Austria And France Rock Europe

Major European cities experienced a wave of devastating terrorist attacks in October and November, highlighting the continuing threat extremists pose to Europe. On November 2 in Vienna, Austria, a 21-year-old Austrian-North Macedonian dual citizen, Kujtim Fejzulai, attacked the city’s popular nightlife area with an automatic rifle, a handgun, and a machete, killing four and wounding 23. Fejzulai was killed by police. The Vienna attack came on the heels of a grisly October 29 knife attack that killed three at the Notre Dame Basilica in Nice, France. The attack came one day after ISIS released a video titled, “Defend him [Prophet Muhammad] by striking [their] heads,” on Telegram and 13 days after French middle school teacher Samuel Paty, 47, was killed in Paris after showing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad as part of a lesson on free speech. Media coverage: AFP, The National, WTOP, TVA Nouvelles, L’Orient Le Jour, The National.

Gradualists to Jihadists – Islamist Narratives in the West

Individuals and groups adhering to militant Islamism, a political ideology underpinned by a strict and literalist interpretation of religion, have claimed tens of thousands of lives around the world. This paper considers the four main narratives consistently deployed by both “non-violent” and violent Islamist (Jihadist) movements: (1) Enmity for the West, (2) An Islamic State, (3) War on Islam, and (4) Communities Under Siege. While accepting the religious underpinnings of Islamist and Jihadist ideology, Gradualists to Jihadists – Islamist Narratives in the West, argues that these narratives are inherently political and that Islamism should be treated in a policy sense as a political ideology like any other. Study author, CEP London-Based Advisor Liam Duffy, also notes that because the narratives are commonly used by both violent and non-violent Islamist groups, the language of jihadists has entered the mainstream and been introduced to much wider audiences than would otherwise be possible, presenting a radicalization risk. Duffy presented his findings during a webinar on December 10. He also facilitated a webinar on December 14 to further discuss Islamist movements in Europe with Sir John Jenkins, former U.K. ambassador to Syria, Iraq, Libya, and Saudi Arabia who led the U.K. government review into the Muslim Brotherhood, and Caroline Fourest, French commentator, writer, director, and former Charlie Hebdo columnist.

CEE Activities of the Muslim Brotherhood: Czech Republic, Poland, and Serbia

The presence of the Muslim Brotherhood in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) has for a long time remained an understudied issue due to a lack of available open data. CEP, in partnership with GLOBSEC, is contributing to a wider understanding of the Muslim Brotherhood’s organizational structures and activities in the CEE region and has been mapping its efforts in a selection of countries. In the first report, CEE activities of the Muslim Brotherhood: Mapping the Ikhwan’s presence in the region, the authors presented the cases of five countries in the CEE region, each representing a different landscape in which the movement could operate. The second report, Activities of the Muslim Brotherhood: Czech Republic, Poland, Serbia, focused on the specific characteristics of these three countries and was launched with a webinar on September 23.

Ambassador Mark D. Wallace: “France’s problem with Islamist extremism must be fought on the ground and online”

CEP CEO Ambassador Mark D. Wallace observes that the power of online platforms to radicalize and incite violence makes it difficult for governments to enact measures to prevent attacks like the tragic murder of French schoolteacher Samuel Paty on October 16 in a suburb of Paris: “The internet has become the home of today’s Islamists. It is easy, it targets people in their homes and can reach millions within minutes. Online platforms are misused by propagandists to target those most vulnerable to extremist messaging.”

Ian Acheson: “Are we any closer to stopping the next Usman Khan?”

Professor Ian Acheson, a CEP senior advisor, announced on November 27 that in association with the University of Staffordshire, CEP will carry out a year-long study into the phenomenon of ‘disguised compliance,’ or ‘deception’ in terrorist offenders: “We need better ways, systems and people to authenticate the motives of dangerous, sophisticated and charismatic terrorists on either side of the prison walls. We can’t always be right – but I believe passionately that we can be much better.” Media coverage: Scienmag, EurekAlert, 7th Space, Keep the Faith.

Hans-Jakob Schindler, Radoslaw Sikorski, Lucinda Creighton: “Time for EU to get real on Hezbollah”

CEP Senior Director Hans-Jakob Schindler, Polish MEP and former Foreign Affairs Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, and CEP Senior Advisor and former Irish Deputy Foreign Minister Lucinda Creighton urge the European Union (EU) to re-calibrate its foreign policy approach in the region by strengthening the U.N. mandate in a way that will bring real stability to Lebanon by curbing Hezbollah: “…neither the EU's foreign policy, nor the UNIFIL mandate, are in line with the current state of affairs, as Hezbollah, the Iran-backed terrorist group which presents itself as a political party, continues to exploit Lebanon for its own nefarious purposes and insert itself into the political sphere. According to Western intelligence agencies, Iran funds Hezbollah to the tune of $200m to $300m [€168-€252] per year in cash outlays alone, and provides an arsenal of weapons and logistical services valued at more than $700m.”

U.S.-Designated Terrorist Extradited From Jamaica To New York

In August, U.S.-Specially Designated Global Terrorist and Islamist propagandist Abdullah al-Faisal was extradited to New York from Jamaica to face charges of supporting terrorism by conspiring to recruit followers and fighters for ISIS. The radical cleric is considered one of the most influential terrorists in the world. Faisal’s lectures, website, and videos influenced attacks at The Ohio State University in 2016 and in Garland, Texas, in 2015, among others. In its report, Abdullah al-Faisal’s Ties to Extremists, CEP documented a total of 52 extremists linked to Faisal. As a popular cleric among jihadists, Faisal amassed thousands of followers on a variety of social media websites, promoting murder, violence against women, and condoning the use of chemical weapons on non-believers. Media coverage: Fox News.

Liam Duffy: “When will the Yazidis get justice?”

CEP Advisor Liam Duffy argues that six long years after ISIS murdered and enslaved members of the Yazidi religious minority, the suffering is far from over: “Nearly 250,000 Yazidis languish in IDP camps and many women and children are still unaccounted for. In perhaps the cruelest twist, long after the group’s territorial defeat some women and children are still stuck living among their tormentors in the camps of Northern Syria.”

ISIS Redux: The Central Syria Insurgency

In May, CEP introduced “ISIS Redux: The Central Syria Insurgency,” a monthly report detailing the major attacks that define the resurgence of ISIS in central Syria. Each update is accompanied by an interactive map indicating the exact location and nature of major encounters by ISIS or Syrian forces. For example, the November report noted that ISIS carried out at least 30 confirmed attacks during the month, killing at least 58 pro-Assad regime fighters. October’s update can be read here, September’s update can be read here, August’s update can be read here, July’s update can be read here, June’s update can be read here, May’s update can be read here, and April’s here.

Far-Right Extremism

Resource: CEP Report Examines Transnational Violent Extreme Right-Wing (XRW) Movement

In November 2020, CEP released its report, Violent Right-Wing Extremism – Transnational Connectivity, Definitions, Incidents, Structures and Countermeasures, which was commissioned by the German Federal Foreign Office. The report is also available in German. It focuses on the rise and metastasis of the violent extreme right-wing (XRW) threat and analyzes its growing transnational connectivity between 2015-2020. The study centers on the transnational connections of the violent XRW milieus in six countries: Finland, France, Germany, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States. The movement is not structurally unified in one hierarchical structure but embraces a “divided we stand” approach. Its members include individuals, groups, organizations, and networks, as well as political parties.

Resource: Vehicles as Weapons of Terror

Vehicle attacks have been associated with Islamist terrorism, used as a tactic by groups such as ISIS, al-Qaeda, and Hamas. Since 2016, however, vehicular attacks against protesters have also risen. Authorities recorded at least 50 vehicular rammings against protesters between May and June 2020. Officials classified at least 18 of those as deliberate attacks. In its updated resource, Vehicles as Weapons of Terror, CEP examined a sample of 23 vehicular attacks against protesters since 2016, which wounded at least 72 and killed at least two. While many of these intentional attacks appear attributable to those subscribing to far-right ideologies, some were also perpetrated by those on the left against right-wing protesters.

The Nordic Resistance Movement’s Activities, Strategies, and Tactics

On October 30, CEP held a webinar that probed the transnational connectivity of violent right-wing extremism in several European countries and the United States. Ongoing research demonstrated that the Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM) is one of the key actors that is often highly regarded by other members of this movement. The NRM is also one of the most transnationally networked organizations, whose members travel frequently within Scandinavia and beyond. In the summer of 2016, two NRM members traveled to Russia to train in camps run by the U.S. designated Russian Imperial Movement. Following the paramilitary training, the two NRM members carried out a string of bomb attacks on refugee centers in Sweden in January 2017.

Ukraine Deports Americans Encouraging Neo-Nazi Terror Attacks

In October, Ukraine deported two American citizens who had belonged to the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division (AWD) for attempting to establish a local AWD branch and trying to join a far-right Ukrainian military unit to “gain combat experience.” The AWD reportedly disbanded earlier in 2020, though former members reorganized as National Socialist Order (NSO) in order to “build an Aryan, National Socialist world by any means necessary.” AWD gained national prominence after some of its members attacked counter-protesters at the August 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Police also suspect individual AWD members to be the perpetrators of multiple murders throughout 2017 and 2018. Media coverage: Buzzfeed News.