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Hamas drone maker killed in Malaysia
A Palestinian engineer whom Hamas claimed worked for them, was shot and killed by unknown assailants in Malaysia where he taught. Hamas, the terrorist organization that exercises complete political and military control over the Gaza Strip blamed Israel for killing Fadi al-Batsh, who was described by the terrorist group’s leader, Ismail Haniyeh, as a member of Hamas with “an honorable reputation in science.”
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2015 Paris attack mastermind sentenced in Belgium
Salah Abdeslam, the mastermind of the 13 November 2015 Paris terrorist attacks, has been found guilty of attempted terrorist murder in a separate trial in Brussels, and sentenced to twenty years in prison. The Brussels trial revolved around the 15 March 2016 shootout in Brussels, which capped a 5-month search for Abdeslam. Abdeslam is to stand trial in France for his involvement in the attacks in Paris.
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U.S. immigrant vetting system is already extreme enough: Study
In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. has tightened the vetting of immigrants and foreign travelers. The post-9/11 system has worked: From 2002 to 2016, the vetting system failed and permitted the entry of 1 radicalized terrorist for every 29 million visa or status approvals. Only 1 of the 13 post-9/11 vetting failures resulted in a deadly attack in the United States. Thus, the rate for deadly terrorists was 1 for every 379 million visa or status approvals from 2002 through 2016. During this same period, the chance of an American being killed in an attack committed by a terrorist who entered as a result of a vetting failure was 1 in 328 million per year.
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Basque militant group ETA apologizes to terrorism victims
The Basque militant group ETA, which had conducted a four-decade campaign of violence and terrorism for the creation of an independent Basque state (the Basque region straddles the Spanish-French border), apologized to the victims of its violence. Over 800 people were killed by ETA during the conflict which officially ended in 2011. Victims of the group’s violence have rejected the apology.
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Testing technology to alert federal agents to potential terrorist threats
The face of terrorism in the United States has changed dramatically following 9/11. According to a report by the New America Foundation, every jihadist who has conducted a lethal attack inside the United States since 2001 has come from inside the country, already having established citizenship or legal residency. DARPA has launched an ambitious new program called Modeling Adversarial Activity (MAA) which aims to transform the way national security organizations identify emerging threats.
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Bundestag rejects AfD recruit on suspicion of terrorism
The staff of the German Bundestag have denied an entry card to a German soldier recruited by an opposition far-right parliamentarian. The soldier was suspected of being a member of a right-wing, nationalist network within the German military plotting to kill politicians supporting liberal immigration policies – and then blame Muslim immigrants for the killings.
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Following destruction of Hamas terror tunnel, Israel reveals secret of underground defense
Following the discovery and destruction of the longest and deepest terror tunnel extending into Israeli territory, over the weekend, the IDF revealed a new “laboratory,” where it employs advanced technology to detect tunnels.
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IDF: Iranian drone shot down over Israeli airspace in February was armed with explosives
The Israeli military said that the Iranian drone that entered into Israeli airspace in February was armed with explosives and demonstrated “an Iranian intent to carry out an attack” inside Israel. According Air Force Chief of Staff Brigadier General Tomer Bar, the drone was an advanced model and had a signature that Israel had not previously encountered.
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Islamic State schooled children as soldiers – how can their ‘education’ be undone?
There is a fundamental difference between IS’s use of child soldiers and the practice elsewhere. IS hasn’t just recruited child soldiers. It systematically militarized the education systems of captured Iraqi and Syrian territory to turn the region’s children into ideological timebombs. The regular processes of identifying child combatants, disarming and reintegrating them into their communities through rehabilitation and reconciliation are all necessary. But they are vastly insufficient in this instance.
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Israel’s Labor Party cuts ties with U.K. Labor leader Corbyn over “hostility” toward Jews
Israel’s Labor Party announced on Tuesday that it had cut all formal ties with the leader of the British Labor Party, Jeremy Corbyn, over his “hostility” towards the Jewish community, Reuters reported. Corbyn is facing allegations of turning a blind eye to rampant anti-Semitism and has failed to take adequate actions to combat rising anti-Jewish sentiments in his party.
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Labor and anti-Semitism: these are the roots of the problem on the left
The current crisis in the Labor party has exposed some profound fault lines on the left, with considerable evidence of mounting anti-Semitism inside the party. The far right was the most radical in its enthusiasm to solve the “Jewish Question” through the Holocaust, but the notion that there is such a question has been shared by some on the left, too. There has always been, on the left, a view of the world which projects all the problems of society (at the national or international level) onto Jews. It’s a view which not only fails to grasp the threat posed by anti-Semitism but condones and colludes with it. It’s a view that others (sadly) on the left need to challenge.
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German company defies U.S., continues sending Iran parts used in Syria chemical attacks
A German company involved in Syrian chemical attacks has defied a warning from the United States and continues trading with Iran. A Syrian photographer had found parts made by German company Krempel in Iranian-produced chemical rockets that were used in chemical warfare against Syrian civilians in January and February.
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Qatar continuing to back extremist preachers and anti-Semitic incitement
In preparation for the Qatari Emir’s visit this week to Washington, the White House last week thanked the monarch for his country’s “continuing commitment” to countering extremism. However, in the last year Qatar’s government has actually continued to use its prominent platforms to promote strident anti-Semitic preachers.
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Increasing number of far-right extremism cases in German military
An increase in suspected far-right incidents within the German army, the Bundeswehr, has prompted the opposition Left party to demand commanders “dry out the brown sump.” Over 400 cases are currently under investigation. Germany’s Bundeswehr currently has 180,000 active-duty solders, including 61, 000 in its army ranks, 28,000 in its air force, and some 16,000 in its navy.
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The ISIS Files: How the caliphate was run
Through five trips to Iraq, a team of journalists from the New York Times uncovered a trove of Islamic State documents that explain how the group took control of Iraq and Syria. Taken together, the documents show how ISIS, for a short period of time, established its own government, or caliphate.
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More headlines
The long view
Patriots’ Day: How Far-Right Groups Hijack History and Patriotic Symbols to Advance Their Cause, According to an Expert on Extremism
By Art Jipson
Extremist groups have attempted to change the meaning of freedom and liberty embedded in Patriots’ Day — a commemoration of the battles of Lexington and Concord – to serve their far-right rhetoric, recruitment, and radicalization. Understanding how patriotic symbols can be exploited offers important insights into how historical narratives may be manipulated, potentially leading to harmful consequences in American society.
Luigi Mangione and the Making of a ‘Terrorist’
Discretion is crucial to the American tradition of criminal law, Jacob Ware and Ania Zolyniak write, noting that “lawmakers enact broader statutes to empower prosecutors to pursue justice while entrusting that they will stay within the confines of their authority and screen out the inevitable “absurd” cases that may arise.” Discretion is also vital to maintaining the legitimacy of the legal system. In the prosecution’s case against Luigi Mangione, they charge, “That discretion was abused.”
“Tulsi Gabbard as US Intelligence Chief Would Undermine Efforts Against the Spread of Chemical and Biological Weapons”: Expert
The Senate, along party lines, last week confirmed Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National intelligence. One expert on biological and chemical weapons says that Gabbard’s “longstanding history of parroting Russian propaganda talking points, unfounded claims about Syria’s use of chemical weapons, and conspiracy theories all in efforts to undermine the quality of the community she now leads” make her confirmation a “national security malpractice.”