News: Europe – Page 7 – Eye on Islamism

Fake video of threat to Olympic Games appears to be from Russia, researchers say Microsoft’s Threat Analysis Center, which reviewed the video at NBC News’ request, said it appears to have come from a known Russian disinformation group.

July 23, 2024 Brandy Zadrozny

(NBC) A video spreading on X and Telegram of a man purporting to be a Hamas fighter threatening the Olympics in Paris is part of a Russian-linked disinformation campaign meant to disrupt the event, according to researchers at Microsoft. On Telegram, Hamas […]

German court rules in migration case that there’s no general danger now to all civilians in Syria

July 23, 2024 Unlisted Author

(AP) A German court has ruled that there is no longer a general danger to all civilians from the long-running conflict in Syria, rejecting a claim to protected status by a Syrian man who had been convicted in Austria for involvement in […]

How Anjem Choudary was convicted of directing terrorist organisation

July 23, 2024 Dominic Casciani, Daniel Sandford and Steve Swann

(BBC) The extremist preacher Anjem Choudary has been found guilty of directing a terrorist organisation. Choudary, one of the most important radicalisers in the UK, was caught in an international undercover investigation into his long-banned organisation. Officers in the US and Canada […]

School serves ‘halal only’ lunches as local council faces demands for urgent answers A mother was left bemused after her daughter’s secondary school refused to provide non-halal meat options

July 23, 2024 Jack Walters

(GB News) A local council is being quizzed by a leading Conservative politician after a secondary school started offering “halal only” lunches. Welsh Tory leader Andrew RT Davies approached the Vale of Glamorgan Council after a constituent flagged Cowbridge Comprehensive School only […]

Anjem Choudary facing life in jail after being found guilty of directing terrorism During a lecture Choudary gave, he boasted he had been labelled 'the number one radicaliser in Britain,' adding: 'That is a badge of honour for me. It's a medallion on my chest. What do you want to call me? An extremist? Fanatic? All of these.'

July 23, 2024 Duncan Gardham

(Sky News) Anjem Choudary, the notorious Islamist preacher, is facing life in jail after he was found guilty of directing a terrorist organisation following an unprecedented joint investigation by MI5, Scotland Yard, the New York Police Department, and Canadian police. Choudary, 57, […]

France probed migrant communities to fight ISIS-K threat to Olympics

July 23, 2024 Gabriel Stargardter

(Reuters) French security services have been probing migrant communities from former Soviet republics in an effort to safeguard the Olympics from the ISIS-K militant group, the interior minister said, confirming a Reuters report published last week. Gérald Darmanin, interviewed in a Le […]

Harrow GP who led banned Islamist group has work suspension overturned Lawyers for Dr Wahid Shaida, former UK head of Hizb ut-Tahrir, called the decision by NHS England a 'significant triumph'

July 22, 2024 Michelle Rosenberg

(Jewish News) The NHS has overturned the suspension of a Harrow GP who headed the UK branch of recently banned Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, leaving him free to resume his practice as a GP. Dr Wahid Shaida, who also uses the name […]

France to give 24-hour protection to Israeli Olympics team amid Gaza tensions

July 22, 2024 John Irish and Tassilo Hummel

(Reuters) Israeli athletes will receive 24-hour protection during the Paris Olympics, France’s interior minister said, after a far-left lawmaker said Israel’s delegation was not welcome and called for protests against their participation. The Games begin on Friday amid pronounced security concerns and […]

Euro 2024 ‘Isis terror plot’ foiled just hours before England-Spain final in police raid German police had raised the alarm over an 'immediate threat from the Islamist spectrum'

July 21, 2024 James Saunders

(GB News) A suspected Isis terror plot at the Euro 2024 final was scuppered thanks to a series of police raids in Germany mere hours before kick-off, it has emerged. Authorities descended on a set of addresses just outside Berlin after fears […]

‘We will repeat Munich 1972’: Israeli Olympic athletes threatened ahead of Paris Games Though Israeli security officials say threats generated by bots and are not of real concern, country’s Olympic Committee remains on alert

July 21, 2024 Unlisted Author

(Times of Israel) Israel’s Olympic athletes have been receiving threatening messages by email and phone in the last week, according to Hebrew media reports over the weekend. The first messages were sent to 15 athletes’ emails, and were signed by an entity […]

French police arrest knife-wielding assailant on terrorism charges

July 19, 2024 Dominique Vidalon

(Reuters) French police arrested on Friday a man on terrorism charges accused of trying to murder a taxi driver with a knife while expressing support for Palestinian militant group Hamas, a source at the terrorism prosecutor’s office said. France is on its […]

Is Islamist radicalization returning to the Western Balkans? The recent crossbow attack on a Serbian police officer guarding the Israeli Embassy in Belgrade has stoked fears that the Israel-Hamas war could trigger a wave of radicalization in the region. Are these fears justified?

July 19, 2024 Claudia Mende

(Deutsche Welle) The Islam practiced in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Sandzak region in southwestern Serbia is considered open-minded and tolerant. For centuries, Sunni Muslims have lived their own form of a European Islam here alongside Christians and Jews. Since the 1990s, however, this […]

Islamic threats against Parisian Catholic church A wooden statue of the Virgin Mary was found stabbed in the throat, with explicit Islamist graffiti.

July 19, 2024 Hélène de Lauzun

(European Conservative) Desecrations of Catholic places of worship in France have increased exponentially in recent months. Most recently, a church in Paris was vandalised using acts of extreme violence. The vandalism occurred on the night of Sunday, July 14th, at the church […]

Jordan summons Dutch ambassador over ‘racist’ Wilders social media post

July 19, 2024 Unlisted Author

(NL Times) Jordan has summoned the Dutch ambassador on Thursday to explain a “racist” post by PVV leader Geert Wilders on X earlier in the evening. Wilders wrote that Jordan is “the only real” Palestinian state, responding to the news that the […]

France races to head off ISIS-K threat to Paris Olympics

July 19, 2024 Gabriel Stargardter and Juliette Jabkhiro

(Reuters) Tajik journalist Temur Varki received a disquieting call from Paris police in late March, days after Islamic State militants from his homeland allegedly carried out a massacre in Moscow. The two officers questioned him about France’s tiny community of immigrants from […]

PFLP-affiliated NGO leader ‘extremist hate preacher’ may be kicked out of Belgium 'The asylum procedure is for those fleeing war or unjust persecution. There is no place for people who pose a danger to society,' said Belgian immigration minister.

July 18, 2024 Michael Starr

(Jerusalem Post) A leader in an NGO affiliated with a Palestinian terrorist group may have his refuge[e] status in Belgium revoked over his extremist activism, the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network said in a statement on Tuesday. Samidoun Europe coordinator Mohammed Khatib […]

Paris Olympics faces twin terror threats of ISIS and teenage extremists Games will feature vast security operation to keep 15 million visitors safe as radicalisation spreads, not least though short viral videos

July 18, 2024 Tariq Tahir

(National-UAE) Paris is facing the threat of terrorist attacks during the Olympics from a branch of ISIS resurgent in Afghanistan as well as teenagers radicalised on social media, experts have told the National. A major security operation is under way in France […]

Algerian to face trial in Switzerland for ties to Islamic State

July 18, 2024 Unlisted Author

(Swiss Info) A 51-year-old Algerian man has been charged by the Swiss Federal Prosecutor’s Office for involvement in the banned terrorist group Islamic State. He is suspected of having planned an attack in Europe, particularly in France. The Algerian national came to […]

Spain and Germany arrest 4 people for supplying Hezbollah with parts for drones used against Israel

July 18, 2024 Unlisted Author

(AP) Three people were arrested in Spain and one more in Germany on suspicion of belonging to a network that supplied the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah with parts to build kamikaze drones that would have been used in attacks in northern Israel, […]

Four times more migrant children arrive in Greece in 2024: charity

July 17, 2024 Unlisted Author

(AFP) More than 6,400 migrant children have entered Greece so far this year, more than four times the figure over the same period last year, the charity Save the Children said Wednesday. One in four came without a family member, a figure […]

Spain denies citizenship to Moroccan over ‘Islamist proselytizing’

July 17, 2024 Latifa Babas

(Yabiladi) Spanish courts have denied citizenship to a Moroccan national, upholding a 2022 decision by the Interior Ministry. A Spanish police investigation accused the Moroccan of “Islamist proselytizing” among unaccompanied minors in a reception center, according to El Confidencial Digital. The accused […]

Belgium will not host Israel game over security fears

July 16, 2024 Unlisted Author

(BBC) Belgium will not host their Nations League match against Israel on 6 September over security concerns, the Belgian Football Federation (RBFA) has announced. The municipal government of Brussels said last month the “very high-risk” Nations League game would not be played […]

Mother jailed for hiding son’s terror chats

July 16, 2024 Rachel Russell

(BBC) A mother who failed to inform police about her son’s links to a man planning a terror attack has been jailed for three years. Biomedical scientist Nabeela Anjum, 49, of Upland Road, Roundhay, Leeds, was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court on […]

Amnesty International slams French hijab sports ban ahead of Olympics

July 16, 2024 Unlisted Author

(Arab News) Amnesty International has accused France of breaking international human rights law by enforcing a ban on women competing at this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris wearing headscarves. In a report on the ban published on Tuesday, Amnesty also accused the […]

East Londoner who ‘disguised himself as a librarian’ while urging TikTok followers to kill Jewish people jailed for 4 years

July 15, 2024 Kit Heren

(LBC) A man who claimed he was an “online librarian” while encouraging followers to attack and kill Jewish people has been jailed for four years. Hamza Alam, 22, from Romford, described himself as “merely an online librarian” to avoid being caught, according […]

German authorities arrest a Lebanese man accused of procuring drone components for Hezbollah

July 15, 2024 Unlisted Author

(AP) A Lebanese man accused of being a member of the Hezbollah militant group and procuring drone components that were to be exported for use in attacks against Israel has been arrested in Germany, prosecutors said Monday. The suspect, identified only as […]

German lay judge challenges a headscarf ban in court A German Muslim woman has been barred from working as a lay judge because she wears a headscarf which was alleged to be in violation of the requirement of neutrality. The matter is now before the constitutional court.

July 13, 2024 Marcel Fürstenau

(Deutsche Welle) In 2015, Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court ruled against a general headscarf ban for teachers, saying that such a ban was incompatible with the freedom of religion guaranteed in the German Constitution. Nine years later, the same court is again addressing […]

New Muslim group ‘supported by Labour’ aims to challenge MCB’s leadership Former army imam among prominent figures involved in new network which seeks to engage with Keir Starmer's government and 'influence public policy'

July 12, 2024 Areeb Ullah and Simon Hooper

(Middle East Eye) The Labour Party is supporting the creation of a new Muslim leadership group intended to become the primary point of engagement between Keir Starmer’s government and Muslim communities in the UK, Middle East Eye can exclusively reveal. A draft […]

Mainz wrong to sack El Ghazi over Gaza comments, court rules Bundesliga club Mainz sacked Anwar El Ghazi after the player issued a pair of social media posts on the war in Gaza. A German labor court has sided with the player, ordering the club to reimburse his lost income.

July 12, 2024 Unlisted Author

(Deutsche Welle) Football club Mainz 05 did not have good reason to sack Dutch footballer Anwar El Ghazi for his comments about the war in Gaza, Mainz’s labor court ruled on Friday. The court found that El Ghazi’s comments on social media […]

Case dropped: Deputy PM not prosecuted for saying Jew hatred is part of Muslim culture

July 12, 2024 Unlisted Author

(NL Times) The group insult case against Deputy Prime Minister Mona Keijzer has been dropped, the lawyer representing the complainants told NU.nl. She won’t be prosecuted for saying that “hatred of Jews is almost part of the culture” in countries where Islam […]

Lone wolf threat is main concern for Paris Olympics: official The Summer Olympics begin July 26.

July 12, 2024 Luke Barr and Jack Date

(ABC) The lone wolf offender is the main threat concern for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, according to a senior Diplomatic Security official who spoke with ABC News. The Diplomatic Security Service is the law enforcement arm of the U.S. State […]

Police suspect woman repatriated from al-Hol of trafficking own children Investigators believe the mother took several of her children to the war-torn region in 2014, but only two have since returned from the al-Hol refugee camp via a repatriation programme.

July 11, 2024 Unlisted Author

(Yle) Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) suspects a Finnish woman of aggravated human trafficking of her own children after she brought them to the ISIS “caliphate” in the region of Syria and northern Iraq in 2014. Detective Inspector Jan Aarnisalo, who […]

Europe’s Jews face ‘rising tide of anti-Semitism’ amid Gaza war: EU agency

July 11, 2024 Unlisted Author

(AFP) Europe’s Jewish community is facing a “rising tide of anti-Semitism,” with the conflict in the Middle East “eroding” progress made in the fight against it, a European Union rights watchdog said Thursday. “The spillover effect of the conflict in the Middle […]

Geert Wilders to ‘Post’: Mass immigration, lack of integration cause antisemitism In his first interview with Israeli media since his coalition's formation, Geert Wilders spoke to the Jerusalem Post about his support for Israel.

July 10, 2024 Michael Starr

(Jerusalem Post) To stop rising antisemitism in the Netherlands and Europe political leaders must put an end to open border mass immigration and reverse the cultural relativist failure to foster integration, Dutch Party for Freedom founder and leader Geert Wilders told the […]

Survey finds some UK mosques could be more inclusive

July 10, 2024 Unlisted Author

(ITV) The results of a survey into UK mosques [have] found worshippers want more inclusive spaces for women and children. Although many mosques already have separate spaces for their female worshippers, the Open My Mosque report found there are a significant number […]

Netherlands extradites woman linked to Madrid shooting of politician Alejo Vidal-Quadras

July 10, 2024 Unlisted Author

(NL Times) Authorities in the Netherlands will extradite 27-year-old Chahinez K., who is suspected of involvement in an attempt to assassinate Spanish politician Alejo Vidal-Quadras. The Den Bosch woman was the first of three people arrested in the Netherlands in connection with […]

Jonathan Ashworth calls on new Leicester South MP to explain ‘dealings’ with man charged with terror offences Majid Novsarka — also known as Majid Freeman and facing allegations of encouragement of terrorism and supporting a proscribed organisation — has been a vocal supporter of new MP Shockat Adam.

July 10, 2024 Jennifer Scott

(Sky News) A former senior Labour MP has called on the man who took his seat to “provide a full account of all his dealings” with one of his vocal supporters who is now facing terrorism charges. Leicestershire Police confirmed on Wednesday […]

Man charged with terror offences

July 10, 2024 Asha Patel

(BBC) A man from Leicester has been charged with terror offences. Majid Novsarka, also known as Majid Freeman, has been charged with encouragement of terrorism and supporting a proscribed organisation, Leicestershire Police said. The charges follow a warrant being carried out in […]

Starmer accused of ‘awful response’ on Labour’s relationship with British Muslims

July 9, 2024 Shehab Khan

(ITV) Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been accused of giving “an awful response” when asked about the Labour Party’s relationship with British Muslims. In a recent interview, Starmer was questioned about general election results showing the declining support of Labour by British […]

Senate chair cuts off discussion about asylum minister’s controversial past statements

July 9, 2024 Unlisted Author

(NL Times) A debate in the Eerste Kamer, the Dutch Senate, was cut short by the chair when the topic of controversial past statements made by Asylum and Migration Minister Marjolein Faber were brought up by Senator Farah Karimi. The Senate was […]

Preacher Anjem Choudary says he performed marriage for Woolwich killer Choudary is accused of directing a banned terrorist group after his release from jail for encouraging support for ISIS.

July 9, 2024 Duncan Gardham

(Sky News) Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary has told a court he performed a marriage ceremony for one of the Woolwich killers. Choudary is accused of directing a banned terrorist group called al Muhajiroun after his release from jail for encouraging support for […]

Former councillor exposed by JN for questioning extent of Hamas crimes now an MP Ayoub Khan won the Birmingham Perry [Barr] seat as independent candidate, having been previously exposed by Jewish News for questioning Hamas crimes on Oct 7 in Tik Tok posts

July 9, 2024 Lee Harpin

(Jewish News) A former Liberal Democrat councillor, previously exposed by Jewish News for questioning the extent of crimes committed by Hamas on October 7, has been elected as an independent MP. Ayoub Khan took the Birmingham Perry [Barr] seat at last week’s […]

Teenager who called Jews on a train ‘baby killers’ found guilty of racial harassment Ilham Ahmed fined for abusing passengers who were returning from a march against antisemitism on a Thameslink train

July 7, 2024 Michelle Rosenberg

(Jewish News) An 18-year-old has been found guilty of racially harassing Jewish train passengers on their way home from a march against antisemitism in central London last November. As reported by Jewish News, Ilham Ahmed, from Hendon, was filmed on a Thameslink […]

France foils two terror plots targeting Paris Olympics with threat level ‘extremely high’ ahead of election

July 6, 2024 Danielle De Wolfe

(LBC) French police have foiled two separate terror plots targeting this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris, the government said. France’s interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, said that police in Paris had carried out “several arrests” linked to two separate plots. It comes ahead […]

New MP who said election win was ‘for Gaza’ is brother of Islamist group founder Exclusive: Shockat Adam, who defeated former Labour shadow minister Jon Ashworth in Leicester South, is brother of Ismail Patel, who 'saluted' Hamas' attacks on 7 October

July 6, 2024 Lee Harpin

(Jewish News) A newly elected MP who dedicated his victory to “the people of Gaza” is the brother of the founder of the hardline Islamist group Friends of Al Aqsa, it can be revealed. Shockat Adam was the surprise winner in Leicester […]

Morocco, Spain collaborate to arrest 8 terror suspects Morocco frequently called for a shared responsibility to address security threats, particularly terrorism.

July 5, 2024 Safaa Kasraoui

(Morocco World News) Morocco’s security services and the Spanish Civil Guard announced on Friday arresting a group of eight terror suspects in a joint operation. The joint operation between the Spanish Civil Guard Intelligence Service and Morocco’s General Directorate of Territorial Surveillance […]

Belgrade crossbow attacker swore allegiance to Islamic State leader, video indicates

July 5, 2024 Unlisted Author

(Radio Free Europe) A man who wounded a policeman in front of the Israeli Embassy in Belgrade with a crossbow on June 29 had sworn allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State (IS) terror group, according to a video seen on […]

Pro-Gaza candidates capture seats from Labour as Muslim heartlands revolt Keir Starmer's party suffers startling loss of support in once-safe constituencies despite national landslide win

July 5, 2024 Tim Stickings

(National-UAE) Pro-Palestinian candidates scored shock wins in the UK general election, as Britain’s new Labour government suffered a startling loss of support in heavily Muslim areas. Independent candidate Shockat Adam declared “this is for Gaza” as he unseated Labour front-bencher Jonathan Ashworth […]

Woman jailed for taking girl for FGM loses appeal

July 4, 2024 Jess Warren

(BBC) A woman jailed after handing over a three-year-old British girl for female genital mutilation (FGM) during a trip to Kenya has lost a Court of Appeal bid to reduce her sentence. Amina Noor, from Harrow, north-west London, was jailed for seven […]

Greece arrests 7 over arson attacks on synagogue, Israeli-owned hotel

July 4, 2024 Renee Maltezou and Yannis Souliotis

(Reuters) Greece’s anti-terrorism police have arrested seven people over arson attacks against an Israeli-owned hotel and a synagogue in central Athens this year, police said in a statement on Thursday. A 25-year-old Greek woman, two Iranians aged 46 and 36 and an […]