• Can Hamas Really Be Completely “Eliminated”?

    By Cathrin Schaer

    The short answer, military analysts say, is “no.” The long answer is more complex. Israel’s campaign may degrade the group’s capabilities but defeating its ideology is likely impossible without a political solution.

  • Israelis and Palestinians Warring Over a Homeland Is Far from Unique

    By Monica Duffy Toft

    Seen from the perspective of territorial conflict, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is far from unique. Ultimately, the tragedy of deep attachment to a homeland territory lies in the fact that while it can create a sense of belonging for one group, it too often comes at the expense of another.

  • Preventing Armed Insurrection: Firearms in Political Spaces Threaten Public Health, Safety, and Democracy

    A new report by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health examines the increased threat of armed insurrection to both public health and the functioning of democracy. The report highlights recommendations and policies to help prevent political violence.

  • Holocaust Comparisons Are Overused – but in the Case of Hamas’s Oct. 7 Attack on Israel, Such Comparisons May Reflect More Than Just the Emotional Response of a Traumatized People

    By Avinoam Patt and Liat Steir-Livny

    The horrors of Oct. 7 echo the brutal tactics Nazis used during the Holocaust, including not only murder but cruel humiliation of the victims. The testimonies of Oct. 7 survivors reveal the torture of parents and children, sometimes in front of each other, including rape and sexual violence and mutiliation, mocking and lingering in the murder process as the terrorists relished – and recorded — the atrocities they committed. Hamas also shares the Nazi ideological commitment to the annihilation of the Jews. But Oct. 7 is not the same as the Holocaust.

  • Anti-Semitism on U.S. College Campuses

    A new survey asked students whether they have experienced any adverse academic, social, or other consequences as a direct result of 10/7 and its aftermath, as well as their opinions about their university’s response to the Hamas attacks on Israel and the resulting conflict. The results were sobering.

  • How Cryptocurrency Fueled Hamas' Terror Attack on Israel

    By Kristie Pladson

    A crackdown on cryptocurrency accounts linked to Hamas has reignited scrutiny of digital assets after the terrorist group attacked Israel. Criminal and terrorist organizations use crypto to bypass laws and sanctions.

  • Terrorist Use of Cryptocurrencies

    Are terrorist groups currently using cryptocurrencies to support their activities? If not, why? What properties of new and potential future cryptocurrencies would make them more viable for terrorist use?

  • The Road to October 7: Hamas’ Long Game, Clarified

    By Devorah Margolin and Matthew Levitt

    When Hamas took over the Gaza Strip by force of arms in 2007, it faced an ideological crisis. It could focus on governing Gaza and addressing the needs of the Palestinian people, or it could use the Gaza Strip as a springboard from which to attack Israel. Even then, Hamas understood these two goals were mutually exclusive. And while some anticipated Hamas would moderate, or at least be co-opted by the demands of governing, it did not. Instead, Hamas invested in efforts to radicalize society and build the militant infrastructure necessary to someday launch the kind of attack that in its view could contribute to the destruction of Israel. The road from Hamas’ 2007 takeover of Gaza to the October 2023 massacre offers insights about the organization and its goals.

  • Labeling Hamas as a Terrorist Organization

    Since October 7, 2023, top news sources have published thousands of reports, articles, and stories covering the Israel and Hamas conflict. These sources vary in the terminology they use to describe Hamas, which affects how audiences view the conflict. Different news organizations use different terms to describe Hamas, and the use of these terms and descriptors can be misleading and inaccurate.

  • German Domestic Intelligence: Heightened Terror Risk

    By Richard Connor

    Germany’s domestic intelligence agency says the danger of a terror attack in the country is “higher than it has been for a long time.” It cited the October 7 Hamas attacks and the subsequent Israel-Hamas war as factors.

  • Global Shipping Rattled After Houthis Seize Israeli Vessels

    By Jo Harper

    Since Houthis seized a ship owned by an Israeli businessman last week in the Red Sea, global shipping has been taking stock of potentially rising risks.

  • The Path to Peace in Gaza Lies in Defeating Hamas

    By Justin Bassi

    Israel cannot continue living with a Hamas-controlled Gaza. The untenability of having Hamas on Israel’s border has long been clear. However, to dismantle and disarm the group was always going to involve grievous civilian bloodshed and the inflaming of anti-Israeli opinion—a prohibitive proposition for Israel prior to 7 October. Yet now Israel finds itself facing this task anyway, which is a reminder to the world that tolerating the intolerable—even grudgingly, because the alternatives are too difficult—is never sustainable in the long term. This was demonstrated on 7 October.

  • Gaza War: How Representative Is Hamas of Ordinary Palestinians?

    By Christoph Bluth

    The catastrophic Hamas attack on October 7, which has led to the deaths of so many Palestinian civilians in Gaza in Israel’s response to the Hamas attack, has eliminated any pretense of legitimacy that Hamas may ever have had in the eyes of most of the world. Indeed, the days of Hamas may be over. But this will only increase the urgency of finding a long-term solution for Palestine, something that seems further away than ever.

  • Regional Security Analysts Say Africa at Risk of Drone Terrorism

    By Timothy Obiezu

    African terrorist groups are using global affiliations to acquire and modify drones for their own needs. Though the drones are not yet being used to launch attacks, the growing use of drones by terrorist groups is only a question of time, and analysts worry that in the long run, they could change the balance of power with governments.

  • Hamas Isn’t the First Military Group to Hide Behind Civilians as a Way to Wage War

    By Benjamin Jensen

    Using places and things civilians need, like hospitals, as a means to fight a war is considered a weapon of the weak. It is a way to use another side’s values against it. I think it is clear that Hamas has – in this war and historically – tried to embed themselves and weapons in places civilians live or visit, in order to make it more difficult for the Israelis to target them. But using civilians to further a military advantage is not a new phenomenon.