CLARION PROJECT 06/17/2021

 

The Extremism Roundup Promoting Civil Discourse and Marginalizing the Extremes A weekly compilation of the most important developments in the struggle against radical ideologies

Islamist & Anti-Muslim Extremism  ED JONES/AFP via Getty Images   INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING Universities’ Gender Studies Departments Side with Hamas Over Israel Gender Studies Departments at 130 colleges and universities across the U.S. have endorsed a call by the Palestinian Feminist Collective for feminists “to join the struggle for Palestinian liberation.”  The statement blames Israel entirely for the conflict and does not condemn Hamas’ acts of terrorism or violations of women’s rights. It stops just short of a direct justification for Hamas’ terrorism and quest to destroy the state of Israel.  The list of Gender Studies Departments and related programs that endorse the call for feminists to ally with antisemitic jihadists can be found here.  LAW ENFORCEMENT Latest Islamist Attacks & Investigations An Islamist from Lansing, Mich. pled guilty to a plot with two co-conspirators to fund the travel of an ISIS supporter to join the terrorist group in Somalia. The Michigan extremist and his two colleagues discussed their own plans to join ISIS overseas. A female supporter of ISIS and Al-Qaeda from Queens, New York was sentenced to 16-and-a-half years for planning a bombing campaign inside the U.S. Law enforcement personnel were her primary target.  The Islamic Circle of North America, one of the biggest Islamist organizations in the U.S., praised anti-American extremist Jamil Al-Amin as a great civil rights leader persecuted by the government. Al-Amin is imprisoned for killing one police officer and wounding another. Prosecutors have stated that he leads a nationwide jihadist movement named “Ummah” from behind bars.  Alt-Right & Alt-Left Extremism Craig Barritt/Getty Images for Audible LAW ENFORCEMENT Latest Alt-Left Attacks & Investigations A newly uncovered speech by Alicia Garza, a co-founder of the Black Lives Matter Global Network, shows her appearing to quote from former Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong. The speech is full of Marxist revolutionary rhetoric and stated her objective as instituting “a new system overall.”  Another BLM co-founder, Patrisse Cullors, has also expressed admiration for Mao Zedong. In Portland, an Antifa supporter was arrested for his involvement in three riots. He directly caused $143,000 in damages to a courthouse and $21,000 in damages to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility. He wore Antifa and Black Lives Matter attire. LAW ENFORCEMENT New Developments in Capitol Attack Investigation In California, four members of the Three Percenters militia group and two of their co-conspirators were indicted. The defendants prepared in advance for violence and were in an encrypted chat with 20 others for “The California Patriots—DC Brigade” to plan for the rally. In Illinois, a Chicago police officer was arrested for entering the Capitol building during the riot. Before the rally, he repeatedly stated his intention to physically arm “commies” at the event. At least 550 arrests are expected to be made for the riot that injured over 150 police officers, 17 of whom remain out of work due to those injuries. The 465 arrests so far have included 18 law enforcement personnel, at least 51 currently or previously served in the U.S. military and at least 67 have been linked to extremist groups.  LAW ENFORCEMENT Latest Alt-Right Attacks & Investigations In Oakland, Calif. new court filings show how a militia called Grizzly Scouts, affiliated with the Boogaloo movement, murdered a police officer and injured another in May 2020. When police found the shooter, he opened fire and another officer was killed and two more were wounded. The terrorists hoped the attack would be blamed on Black Lives Matter or Antifa and ignite a civil war. In Massachusetts, an antisemitic terrorist was convicted of having tried to detonate a firebomb outside of a Jewish nursing home in April 2020. The attempted bombing happened shortly after a member of a white supremacist group made an online post about targeting the facility on that day. Prosecutors believe that person was the bomber. An elementary school teacher in Massachusetts was fired after it was discovered that he uses a pseudonym to write white supremacist articles online. In one article from 2017, he boasted of using his classroom to promote his ideology to students.  In Thornton, Texas an Alt-Right cult named Rood of Iron Ministries bought a 40-acre compound where “patriots” can prepare for war with the “deep state.” The group holds church services where worship is performed with AR-15s. Its leader supported the January 6 Capitol attack.  In Oregon, the state House voted to expel State Rep. Mike Nearman from the body after he was arrested for assisting rioters who stormed the state Capitol building, some of whom attacked police officers and journalists.  In Idaho, 91 violent fugitives and gang members were arrested during a two-week operation. The figure includes 43 members of the Aryan Knights, a white supremacist prison gang. Members of two Hispanic street gangs were also rounded up.  In Europe, the person who slapped the President of France was found to be an extremist who possessed Hitler’s "Mein Kampf" in his home. In Germany, an elite police unit was disbanded and 18 officers were suspended when their involvement in neo-Nazi chats was discovered. In Italy, a group of 12 neo-Nazis were stopped from bombing a NATO facility. Hostile Foreign Influence Operations STRINGER/AFP via Getty Images INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING Lawmakers Raise Concern About State Department Appointee’s Ties to Iran A group of Republican members of the House have asked the State Department to temporarily suspend the security clearance of Ariane Tabatabai, who was appointed as a senior adviser to the Office of the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. She is currently involved in the negotiations between the Biden Administration and Iran. The lawmakers pointed out that Tabatabai’s father is close to Iranian President Rouhani and that some of her statements seem to reflect her family’s affinity for the regime. The Republicans are asking for a review of her potential national security risk and eligibility for a security clearance. LAW ENFORCEMENT Latest Investigations Into Hostile Foreign Influence Operations The FBI is investigating the Coordinating Council of Russian Compatriots of the U.S. The former chairman of the group says that in 2014 the Russian embassy “organized a Fifth Column from the people who are ready to work with the embassy.” Online footage shows the group holding a “Russian military patriotic camp” for children near Sacramento that included firearms education. A federal grand jury indicted a Malaysian businessman for using campaign donations to try to illegally influence the Trump Administration and Justice Department on behalf of the Communist Chinese regime. He also tried to influence the Obama Administration in 2012 by donating to Obama’s Super-PAC while hiding the foreign origin of the money. The Iranian regime has increased its disinformation operations, targeting social media users in the U.S. Iran responded to Israel’s targeting of Hamas by using “troll farms” to promote antisemitic themes, including amplifying tweets that said, “Hitler was right” and “kill all Jews.”   Other Ideological Extremism Stephen Maturen/Getty Images   INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING Major QAnon Account Promotes Antisemitism A popular QAnon account on Telegram with over 300,000 followers is trying to move adherents “into a far more anti-Jewish direction, posting crude caricatures of Jewish people and pushing discredited antisemitic conspiracy theories,” according to the author of a forthcoming book about the QAnon movement. The account built a massive following by pretending to be Ezra Cohen-Watnick, a former senior National Security Council official under the Trump Administration. A recent poll found that about 14 percent of Americans can be considered to be “QAnon believers” because they believe that the U.S. government, media and economy are “controlled by a group of Satan-worshipping pedophiles who run a global sex trafficking operation.” The same percentage believes “true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country.”   THINK TANK Study: “Large Majority” of Mass Shooters Have Untreated Psychiatric Disorders A new Stanford University medical study determined that a strong majority of mass shooters suffer from brain illnesses that were not treated. Of 35 mass shooters who survived their attacks, 28 had untreated psychiatric disorders. All 20 shooters who died on the crime scene had untreated disorders. “Despite the tragically high frequency of mass shooting events, there has been almost no medical research on the nature and incidence of brain illness among the perpetrators of these crimes,” the authors write.  The study does not dispute that ideology is a key motive for many of the mass shootings. Ideology can play a decisive role in determining how an individual responds to psychiatric disorders and violent inclinations. QUOTABLE “There is always the danger that those who think alike should gravitate together into ‘coteries’ where they will henceforth encounter opposition only in the emasculated form of rumor that the outsiders say thus and thus.  The absent are easily refuted, complacent dogmatism thrives, and differences of opinion are embittered by group hostility. Each group hears not the best, but the worst, that the other groups can say.” -C.S. Lewis, “God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics”       NOTE TO OUR READERS: We have pulled out the salient points of the articles in this newsletter to keep you informed and focused on the most relevant, important and timely news in national security and extremism. While our national security experts stand behind the summary bullets and deem them trustworthy, Clarion Project does not endorse all the views expressed in the articles linked.

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