• European far-right groups eschew violence to broaden appeal

    More than seventy years after the defeat of Nazi Germany, ethno-nationalist and white supremacist movements in Europe continue to thrive. They include far-right political parties, neo-Nazi movements, and apolitical protest groups. These groups’ outward rejection of violence expands the reach of their message, and  can increase the potential for radicalization.

  • How we built a tool that detects the strength of Islamophobic hate speech on Twitter

    In a landmark move, a group of MPs recently published a working definition of the term Islamophobia. They defined it as “rooted in racism,” and as “a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” In our latest working paper, we wanted to better understand the prevalence and severity of such Islamophobic hate speech on social media. Such speech harms targeted victims, creates a sense of fear among Muslim communities, and contravenes fundamental principles of fairness. But we faced a key challenge: while extremely harmful, Islamophobic hate speech is actually quite rare.

  • Manchester, U.K. knife attacks treated as an act of terrorism

    Manchester, U.K. police said Tuesday they are treating the New Year’s Eve stabbing of three people as a terrorist incident. Greater Manchester Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said two people suffered “very serious” injuries in the attack and remain in the hospital receiving treatment. A police sergeant who was stabbed in the shoulder has been released.

  • 2018 death toll in Syria lowest since 2011

    About 20,000 people were killed this year in Syria’s civil war — a record low in a conflict that has already claimed half a million lives. The largest death toll was 76,000 in 2014. The recent announcement of U.S. troop withdrawal from Syria has raised fears that violence could flare up again in 2019.

  • Terrorism lawsuits threaten lawful speech: 2018 in review

    One of the most important principles underpinning the Internet is that if you say something illegal, you should be held responsible for it—not the owners of the site or service where you said it. That principle has seen many threats this year—not just in federal legislation, but also in a string of civil lawsuits intended to pin liability on online platforms for allegedly providing material support to terrorists.

  • Charlie Hebdo attack suspect deported to France, charged

    A fugitive jihadist has been deported from Djibouti to France in connection with the deadly 2015 attack on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, French authorities said. The Paris prosecutor’s office said Peter Cherif was expelled to France after his recent arrest in Djibouti, and was immediately taken into custody and charged upon his arrival on 23 December at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle Airport.

  • Israeli Drone Dome helps Gatwick airport to avoid shutdown

    Drone Dome, from Israeli defense company Rafael, pinpoints a suspicious drone and jams the radio frequencies used by its operator to control it, rendering the UAV unable to move. The British military had purchased the system a few months ago, and used it during the drone sightings at London’s Gatwick Airport.

  • Local chapters pressuring national Women’s March over anti-Semitism

    As the Women’s March prepares to march again on 19 January, the organization’s national leadership is under intense pressure from local branches over allegations of anti-Semitism against co-chairs Tamika Mallory, Linda Sarsour and Carmen Perez.

  • Documenting hate in America: What ProPublica found in 2018

    Swastikas drawn on the office of a Jewish Ivy League professor. Latinos harassed for speaking Spanish in public. Hijab-wearing women targeted in road rage incidents. Neo-Nazis bragging online about a murder. These are just some of the incidents that ProPublica and its partners have reported in their second year of Documenting Hate, a collaborative project investigating hate with more than 160 newsrooms around the country.

  • Islamic State greater draw for U.S.-born recruits than al Qaeda

    ISIS has been more successful than its predecessor organization, al Qaeda, in drawing Americans to its cause. Whereas al-Qaeda was more reliant on preexisting connections to the region or Islam, an ISIL candidate recruit is more likely to be younger, less educated, and a U.S.-born citizen.

  • Does terrorism work? We studied 90 groups to get the answer

    Do terror attacks actually work? Terrorist groups may occasionally achieve a limited goal, but when it comes to accomplishing broader strategic goals, terrorists usually fail. Terrorists can threaten modern nation-states into offering minor concessions, such as giving up a small piece of territory, forcing the resignation of a leader or promising to return to the negotiating table, but nation-states are too militarily and economically strong to be overthrown by terrorists, or to surrender their own aims that they see as vital to national security.

  • Women’s March leaders accused of making anti-Semitic remarks at first organizational meeting

    During the first meeting of the Women’s March in November 2016, leaders of the organization endorsed virulent anti-Semitic tropes, claiming that Jews were “leaders of the American slave trade” and “bore a special collective responsibility as exploiters of black and brown people,” Tablet Magazine reported on Monday. The comments about Jews were made by two of the leaders of the Women’s March, Tamika Mallory and Carmen Perez, and were allegedly informed by the teachings of anti-Semitic hate preacher Louis Farrakhan, including his book The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews.

  • Search underway for suspect in Strasbourg Christmas market attack

    The French police has launched a manhunt for a criminal suspected of opening fire on a Christmas market in Strasbourg on Tuesday evening, killing two people and injuring more than a dozen others. The authorities regard the attack as an act of terrorism. The famous Strasbourg Christmas market has been the target of terrorists in the past.

  • Strasbourg attack suspect has criminal past in Germany

    Cherif Chekatt, 29, the suspect in the Tuesday’s Strasbourg terror attack, has a criminal record in France, Germany, and Switzerland, and spent time in German and French jails. French investigators say the suspect was radicalized in prison and was on a watch list.

  • Deaths from terrorism fell for the third consecutive year, after peaking in 2014

    The Global Terrorism Index 2018, just released by the Institute for Economic & Peace (IEP), shows the total number of deaths decreased by 27 percent in 2017, with the largest falls occurring in Iraq and Syria. A drop in fatalities was also reflected in country scores with 94 countries improving, compared to 46 that deteriorated. Alongside the fall in terrorism, the global economic impact of terrorism has also dropped, decreasing by 42 percent to $52 billion in 2017.