New York Times: Gazans Protest Against Hamas and War for a Second Day
Palestinians in Gaza protested against the war for a second straight day on Wednesday and chanted slogans against Hamas, frustrated and angry over the collapse of a cease-fire with Israel that many had hoped would become permanent. The protests were rare shows of dissent against Hamas, the armed group that has ruled Gaza for 17 years with an iron fist and which started a 15-month war by leading the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Wednesday’s protests appeared to spread to more parts of Gaza than on Tuesday, according to video on social media and witnesses. Most of the demonstrations have been small so far. But the main ones on Tuesday and Wednesday in the heavily damaged northern town of Beit Lahiya appear to have drawn hundreds of people, according to witnesses. No crowd numbers could be independently verified, though videos showed significant gatherings.
Reuters: Militants kill 16 on Nigerian army base, military outpost, security sources say
Suspected Islamist fighters launched a coordinated attack on an army base and a military outpost in Nigeria's northeastern Borno State, killing at least 16 people, security sources told Reuters. Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province militants have mainly operated in the northeast of Nigeria, attacking security forces and civilians and killing and displacing tens of thousands of people.
Reuters: Trump administration detains Turkish student at Tufts, revokes visa
U.S. immigration authorities have detained and revoked the visa of a Turkish doctoral student at Tufts University near Boston who had voiced support for Palestinians in Israel's war in Gaza.Rumeysa Ozturk's supporters say her detention, late on Tuesday, is the first known immigration arrest of a Boston-area student engaged in such activism to be carried out by President Donald Trump's administration, which has detained or sought to detain several foreign-born students who are legally in the U.S. and have been involved in pro-Palestinian protests. The actions have been condemned as an assault on free speech, though the Trump administration argues that certain protests are antisemitic and can undermine U.S. foreign policy.
New York Times: U.S. Military Provides Few Details on Daily Strikes in Yemen
The U.S. military has conducted strikes against Houthi militia targets in Yemen daily since March 15, but the Pentagon has not provided details about the attacks since March 17, when it said more than 30 Houthi targets had been hit on the first day. The military’s Central Command posts images on social media of jets conducting missions against the Houthis, an Iranian-backed group, but it has refused to disclose how many targets have been struck so far or to identify the several Houthi commanders it says it has killed. The strikes in Yemen are at the center of a debacle involving Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other senior members of the Trump administration, who discussed sensitive details about the planned mission in a group chat on a messaging app before it began.
Axios: Exclusive: Trump's "pro-Hamas" purge could block foreign students from colleges
The Trump administration is discussing plans to try to block certain colleges from having any foreign students if it decides too many are "pro-Hamas," senior Justice and State Department officials tell Axios.
Reuters: Trump officials target dozens of colleges for antisemitism - even those cleared by probes
When Muhlenberg College learned in January 2024 - as pro-Palestinian protests were sweeping campuses across the United States - that it was under investigation for discriminating against Jewish students, the small liberal arts institution in Pennsylvania took action. The college fired a tenured professor who had been accused of targeting Jewish students, and the U.S. Education Department, satisfied with Muhlenberg’s response to complaints of antisemitism on campus, ended its investigation.
Forward: Campus antisemitism takes center stage at Senate hearing
Jewish officials from a range of backgrounds are set to testify before the Senate this morning on the rise of antisemitism on college campuses. Among them: Rabbi David Saperstein, a prominent voice in the Reform movement and former U.S. Ambassador for International Religious Freedom.
The Times: ‘They call us extremists. We just want to be prepared for catastrophe’
Dressed head to toe in camouflage and armed with assault rifles, shotguns, revolvers and hunting knives, these men are the Virginia Kekoas, a citizen militia training to protect local communities from whatever dangers lurk ahead. The Times was given rare access to observe the training and see how the movement is evolving under President Trump, whose approach to extremism has already proven starkly different to his predecessor’s.
Reuters: What to know of Marine Le Pen’s high-stakes EU funds misuse trial
Marine Le Pen, leader of France's far-right National Rally (RN) party, will on Monday learn her fate in an embezzlement trial that could upend French politics if she is barred from running in the 2027 presidential election. A potentially seismic few days in French politics lie ahead. How did we get here? And what is at stake?
BILD: Interior Minister cancels trip to Syria because of terrorist threat
A spokesperson for the Ministry of the Interior announced: "Due to concrete warnings from the German security authorities about a terrorist threat, Federal Minister of the Interior Faeser has canceled a trip to the Syrian capital Damascus planned for this morning before departure from the Jordanian capital Amman." Faeser had made the decision together with Karner. The statement continued: "The potential threat to the delegation and the security forces deployed was not justifiable." It could not be ruled out that the German and Austrian delegations were at risk. The trip was planned under high security precautions and had not been publicly announced. The program in Damascus was limited to the essential political talks and the delegation was kept as small as possible.
ARD: 20 years of the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin - Giving form to remembrance
For more than ten years, people argued and debated, artistic competitions were organized and symposia held. The question was: should a memorial be erected in Berlin exclusively for the murdered Jews of Europe or for all victims of National Socialism? And if so, what could it look like? The documentation volume on the debate alone comprises more than 1,200 pages. In a rarely successful democratic form, this debate has contributed to the self-enlightenment of society and thus also made it wiser. Every monument has three levels of time: the specific historical period to which it refers, the period in which it was created and the subsequent period that deals with it - and possibly in a different way than was originally intended. The debate itself was already an important part of the monument.
A German court has reportedly sentenced a 29-year-old Germano-Egyptian national to six years in prison for plotting a terrorist attack on German soil. The ruling marks a significant victory in cross-border counterterrorism efforts, as the arrest of the individual is the result of a sophisticated intelligence operation that prevented a potentially devastating attack.
Mirror: 'Right wing extremist' claims he was preparing for a Russian invasion not mosque attack
An alleged white supremacist accused of stockpiling weapons for an attack on a mosque told a court he was actually preparing for a Russian invasion. Brogan Stewart, 25, from Tingley, Wakefield, denied he was preparing for a race war, telling a court: "I thought there were going to be paratroopers dropped, and I got really paranoid about it, so I started wearing a bulletproof vest around the house.
Times of Israel: Netanyahu was warned twice that Qatari cash was funding Hamas military wing
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was warned at least twice before the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, that the terror group’s military chief Muhammad Deif was appropriating funds provided by Qatar to Gaza with the premier’s approval, Hebrew media reported Tuesday. According to near-identical reports by Channel 12 and the Kan public broadcaster, Netanyahu was warned in 2019 by then-Shin Bet chief Nadav Argaman, and again in 2020 by the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate. Channel 12 cited three security sources as confirming both warnings’ existence. Netanyahu’s office, where top staffers are under investigation for alleged ties to Qatar, denied the reports. According to the reports, Argaman warned Netanyahu in mid-2019 — less than a year after the monthly payments from Qatar began — that Deif, whom Israel killed in an airstrike last July, was seizing millions of dollars from the Qatari funds.
Reuters: Israel intercepts two missiles launched by Yemen's Houthis
The Israeli military said on Thursday it had intercepted two missiles launched from Yemen before they crossed into Israeli territory, after sirens sounded in several areas in Israel including Jerusalem. Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis have been launching missiles and drones at Israel in support of Hamas fighters. The United States has been striking Houthi strongholds in Yemen since March 15, with President Donald Trump vowing to hold Iran responsible for any attacks carried out by the group.
Reuters: Hamas spokesperson Qanoua killed in Israeli airstrike, Hamas media say
Hamas spokesperson Abdel-Latif Al-Qanoua has been killed in an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza, Hamas-affiliated media said early on Thursday, the latest group figure to be killed since Israel resumed its operations in the enclave. Al-Qanoua was killed when his tent was targeted in Jabalia, the Hamas-run Al-Aqsa television said. The same strike wounded several people, while separate attacks killed at least six in Gaza City and one in southern Gaza's Khan Younis, medical sources said.
Times of Israel: Hamas claims growing Gaza protests against its rule actually aimed at Israel
Hamas responded Thursday to growing public protests inside Gaza by insisting the demonstrations are directed against Israel and the ongoing war, rather than against the terror group ruling the Strip. Thousands of Gazans have taken to the streets this week in rare displays of public anger against Hamas, chanting for the end of the group’s nearly two-decade rule after it plunged the enclave into war by attacking southern Israel on October 7, taking hundreds of hostages, many of whom it is still holding. Senior Hamas official Basem Naim told the Qatari channel Al-Araby that “demonstrations are expected from people facing extermination, against war and destruction.”
This week’s International Conference on Combating Antisemitism in Jerusalem will draw limited official American involvement, but JNS has learned that Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning a separate, higher-level antisemitism conference. A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department’s Office for the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism told JNS that while they “are unable to attend this month’s conference, our office looks forward to participating in the MFA’s conference in late May.”
Naharnet: Israeli strike kills 3 'Hezbollah' members after night raid kills 'Radwan commander'
Lebanon said Thursday that Israeli strikes killed four people in the country's south, with Israel saying it struck Hezbollah operatives. The strikes were the latest in a series on south Lebanon, despite a November ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah after more than a year of hostilities. An "Israeli enemy strike on a car in Yohmor al-Shaqeef led to the death of three people," said a health ministry statement reported by the National News Agency.
Times of Israel: Israel says senior Hezbollah commander killed in overnight airstrike
Airstrikes overnight killed a senior Hezbollah commander and targeted another group of Hezbollah operatives in southern Lebanon, Israel said Thursday. Israeli fighter jets also reportedly bombed Syria’s Latakia port area overnight, with massive blasts rocking the area, according to Syrian and Lebanese media reports early Thursday.
Naharnet: Qassem says 'no room for normalization or surrender in Lebanon'
Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem said in a speech broadcast in the evening that Hezbollah "will not accept the continued (Israeli) occupation," referring to the ongoing presence of Israeli troops in south Lebanon after a recent war. The Lebanese group initiated cross-border fire with the Israeli military in support of Hamas on October 8, 2023. Hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah dramatically spiraled into all-out conflict last September, and the group remains a target of Israeli air strikes despite a November 27 ceasefire.
Reuters: Exclusive: Syria's sectarian violence reached capital, terrorizing Alawites, residents say
Close to midnight on March 6, as a wave of sectarian killings began in western Syria, masked men stormed the homes of Alawite families in the capital Damascus and detained more than two dozen unarmed men, according to a dozen witnesses. Those taken from the neighbourhood of al-Qadam included a retired teacher, an engineering student and a mechanic, all of them Alawite - the minority sect of toppled leader Bashar al-Assad.
The German and Austrian interior ministers broke off a planned trip to Syria on Thursday because of a possible threat to their delegation, German authorities said. Germany’s Nancy Faeser had planned to visit Damascus with her Austrian counterpart Gerhard Karner, and a German military plane was supposed to fly Faeser’s delegation into Syria from Jordan on Thursday morning.
Deutsche Welle: Renewed Israeli strikes in Syria stoke fear of escalation
Fresh clashes in the southwestern border region between Syria and Israel killed at least six Syrians, Syria's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday. As of now, however, it remains unclear if those killed belonged to an armed group or if they were armed civilians from the Daraa Governorate in southern Syria. According to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), their troops returned fire after being attacked.
The Taliban’s reclusive supreme leader on Thursday issued a message saying Afghanistan had a “golden opportunity” for unity and reconciliation. Hibatullah Akhundzada, who seldom leaves the southern province of Kandahar and is rarely seen in public, urged people to rally behind the country’s security forces whose “hard work and dedication” had brought peace to Afghanistan. The message, issued ahead of the Islamic Eid Al-Fitr festival, did not mention numerous attacks targeting civilians and the Taliban but it did ask people to support the Vice and Virtue Ministry, which last year issued sweeping and repressive laws regulating personal conduct.
Reuters: Turkey detains nearly 1,900 in protests over jailed mayor, rejects international criticism
Turkey said on Thursday it rejected "prejudiced" international statements over the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and protests it triggered, following the detention of nearly 1,900 people since the nationwide demonstrations began eight days ago. Imamoglu, President Tayyip Erdogan's biggest political rival who leads him in some polls, was jailed pending trial for graft on Sunday. His arrest prompted the largest anti-government protests in a decade and led to mass arrests across the country.
Jerusalem Post: Houthis mark 'Steadfastness Day' with claims of strikes on Tel Aviv, US air carrier
The Yemen-based Houthi terrorists claimed a joint missile, UAV, and naval force attack targeting "enemy warships in the Red Sea" led by the US aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, earlier on Wednesday. The confrontation lasted for "several hours," Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree commented. The US military has not reported any clashes or skirmishes between US forces and Houthi terrorists. Notably, Saree also claimed that Houthi terrorists successfully targeted "Israeli military targets" in the Tel Aviv area "with a number of drones" and that "the operation successfully achieved its objectives." He did not qualify when these drone attacks occurred. No attacks have been reported on Wednesday, but several Houthi attempted attacks have occurred over the past week.
New York Times: Signal Leak Bared U.S. Aims in Yemen. But Defeating Houthis Won’t Be Easy.
The bombshell publication of a group chat involving Trump administration officials discussing U.S. battle plans revealed in unusually stark fashion what the Trump administration hopes to achieve with airstrikes this month against the Houthi militia in Yemen. The attacks, some of the chat’s participants said, were meant to deter the Houthis from attacking commercial ships in the Red Sea and reopen shipping lanes to the Suez Canal. “Whether it’s now or several weeks from now, it will have to be the United States that reopens these shipping lanes,” said a participant identified as Michael Waltz, President Trump’s national security adviser. But the high-level hopes expressed in the Signal chat, which became public after The Atlantic’s editor in chief was inadvertently added to it, could collide with reality.
A new American airstrike campaign against Yemen’s Houthi rebels appears more intense and more extensive, as the U.S. moves from solely targeting launch sites to firing at ranking personnel as well as dropping bombs in city neighborhoods, an Associated Press review of the operation shows.
New Arab: Yemen's Houthis say two killed in US strikes
Yemen's Houthi rebels said on Thursday that two people were killed in overnight air strikes near Sanaa that they blamed on the United States. The Houthis' Al-Masirah TV channel reported nearly 20 strikes on Sanaa governorate, both north and south of the capital.
Associated Press: Niger’s junta leader cements his grip on power as he is sworn in as president
Niger’s junta leader, Abdourahamane Tchiani, was sworn in Wednesday as the country’s president for a transition period of five years under a new charter that replaces the West African nation’s constitution. Tchiani, an army veteran, was also elevated to the country’s highest military rank of army general and signed a decree dissolving all political parties, cementing his grip on power since June 2023 when he led soldiers in a coup that deposed the country’s elected government. The move defied attempts by the regional bloc to quicken the return to democracy after a 2023 coup. The five-year “flexible” transition period begins on Wednesday, according to Mahamane Roufai, the secretary general of the government. He was speaking at a ceremony in the capital Niamey, where the new transition charter recommended by a recent national conference was approved.
A bishop from Nigeria's Middle Belt has denounced the mass killing of Christians by Islamist extremists and militant Fulani herdsmen, and appealed for UK government support at an event yesterday (Tuesday, 25th March) in the UK Parliament. Bishop Wilfred Anagbe of Makurdi, who is visiting the UK as a guest of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) together with diocesan pastoral worker Fr Remigius Ihyula, told Westminster parliamentarians that militants had torched his people's homes and forced them to flee to internal displacement persons' (IDP) camps.
Reuters: Sudanese army drives RSF from central Khartoum, witnesses say
The Sudanese army drove its rival Rapid Support Forces from most of Khartoum city, residents said on Wednesday, as the army chief toured the presidential palace and airport, marking a major military gain though the wider war looks far from over. The residents said RSF troops had withdrawn and the army had deployed across the city centre after two years of devastating conflict that is splitting the massive country into rival zones of control with the RSF still deeply embedded in western Sudan. Army chief Abdel Fattah Burhan flew into Khartoum airport, located in the centre of the capital, and toured the presidential palace, his ruling council said in a statement, in a demonstration of the army's control over the area.
The Guardian: Muslim groups reject push for new Islamophobia definition at Australian universities
A coalition of Muslim and Palestinian organisations have rejected a push by universities to adopt a new definition of Islamophobia, arguing it would “shield” the institutions from criticism of their contentious new antisemitism definition, and that a unified standard that rejects all racism is what is needed. Last month, Australia’s universities confirmed they would unilaterally enforce a new definition of antisemitism on campuses after an inquiry recommended higher education providers “closely align” with the contentious International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition.
Following the announcement on 15 January that TikTok would be banned in the United States on 19 January 2025, hundreds of thousands of TikTok users migrated, and continue to migrate, to XiaoHongShu (‘Little Red Book’, or ‘RedNote’). XiaoHongShu is a Chinese app with a format similar to TikTok, which became the #1 most downloaded app [1] on the Appstore, with 700,000 Western users joining in just two days. On 24 January, 4 days after President Trump repealed the short-lived ban, XiaoHongShu remained at #8 on the Appstore, evidencing its enduring popularity even with the return of TikTok.
Infosecurity Magazine: NCA Warns of Sadistic Online “Com” Networks
Online networks of “sadistic” teenaged boys pose a growing physical and cyber-threat to the UK, the country’s National Crime Agency (NCA) has warned. The agency’s newly published National Strategic Assessment claimed that these “Com” networks typically operate on social media and instant messaging platforms and engage in a wide range of criminality, including cyber-attacks, fraud, extremism, serious violence and child sexual abuse.
The National: Surge in Islamophobia against London Mayor Sadiq Khan from Elon Musk's X
Racist and Islamophobic online abuse against Mayor of London Sadiq Khan more than doubled last year, most of it coming from the UK, India and the US. Posts containing mentions of Mr Khan alongside Islamophobic keywords were analysed by the Greater London Authority, rising to 27,830 in 2024. This is more than double the number of posts obtained in the previous year, which had risen to 12,173.
Extremists: Their Words. Their Actions.
Fact:
On October 7, 2023, Hamas invaded southern Israel where, in the space of eight hours, hundreds of armed terrorists perpetrated mass crimes of brutality, rape, and torture against men, women and children. In the biggest attack on Jewish life in a single day since the Holocaust, 1,200 were killed, and 251 were taken hostage into Gaza—where 101 remain. One year on, antisemitic incidents have increased by record numbers.
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