Topic
Terrorism & Radicalism
Countering Global Terrorism and Exposing the Islamist Ideology.
Terrorism and its underlying Islamist ideology pose a civilizational challenge to the West and Europe in particular. Beyond the immediate security threat of mass casualty attacks, the worldview inspiring terrorism constitutes also a major obstacle to the integration of immigrant communities.
A successful counter-terrorism strategy is therefore not only a matter of improving police and intelligence work, as important as those tasks are, but also requires an effective counter-radicalization strategy.
To defeat terrorism and its underlying worldview we can’t though focus only on violent extremism but must also tackle those groups that may officially reject violence and yet still propagate goals and values that are incompatible with our liberal democracies. It is their views and ideas that lead to the creation of parallel societies, thus undermining social cohesion, and prepare the ideological groundwork for the jihadis.
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Media
Two Americans in Paris: A Debate on Race, Identity, and the Fight Against Radical Islam
The American press has been accused of grossly misrepresenting the French political reality, including the concept of laïcité and President Macron’s campaign against radical Islam. Watch this spirited debate on race, identity, and the fight against radical Islam with James McAuley, Paris correspondent for The Washington Post, and Thomas Chatterton Williams, Paris-based contributing writer at the New York Times Magazine, moderated by AJC’s Simone Rodan-Benzaquen.
Europe Must Fight Political Islam
Islamist radicalism and violent extremism are on the rise in Western societies, as the deadly attacks recently in Vienna and the beheading of a French teacher chillingly reminded us. Writing in Europe’s best-selling newspaper BILD, AJC Europe Director Simone Rodan-Benzaquen and AJC Berlin Director Remko Leemhuis urge governments to cut ties with Islamist groups propagating anti-Western ideologies, like those linked to Iran’s regime or the Muslim Brotherhood: “We must set our sights on the organizations of political Islam, which are not violent themselves but create the climate for such murders.”
Mapping Hezbollah’s Global Terror and Crime Network
AJC hosted Matthew Levitt, Director of the Washington Institute's Counter Terrorism and Intelligence Program, for a one-hour webinar on his recently launched Hezbollah Worldwide Activity Map, the largest database of open-source information about Hezbollah's worldwide illicit activities. Hosted on the Washington Institute’s website, the interactive map highlights the operations of Iran’s proxy in France and in Europe, including Hezbollah’s role in money laundering, drug trafficking, support of other terrorist organizations, and organized crime.
France’s Fight Against Islamist Extremism
The horrific beheading of the French teacher Samuel Paty at the hands of one of his students, a recently radicalized Islamist of Chechen descent, sent shock waves across France and the entire world. In conversation with AJC Europe Director Simone Rodan-Benzaquen, journalist and former Charlie Hebdo columnist Caroline Fourest discusses France’s fight against extremism, the country’s challenges integrating parts of the Muslim population, and its efforts through public school education to preserve laïcité and Western values, including freedom of speech.
France’s Hezbollah Problem
With Lebanon’s future at stake, France holds the key to making a difference. Writing in the French weekly Le Point, AJC’s Simone Rodan-Benzaquen and Anne-Sophie Sebban-Bécache write from Paris that President Macron’s efforts will fail unless the government finally gets real on Hezbollah: “By considering Hezbollah as a legitimate interlocutor in the process — engaging its representatives in Lebanon — France is perpetuating the problems. Unless Macron addresses the issue of Hezbollah, nothing will change.”
Hezbollah Has Moved Large Stockpiles of Explosives in Europe
More and more European countries are declaring all of Hezbollah a terrorist organization. AJC discussed this trend with Ambassador Nathan Sales, U.S. State Department Coordinator for Counterterrorism, Sajid Javid MP, who as Home Secretary initiated the UK ban on Hezbollah, and Hans-Georg Engelke, German State Secretary at the Interior Ministry. On the AJC program, Ambassador Sales revealed that Hezbollah moved large amounts of ammonium nitrate through Europe, the same explosive compound it used in the 2012 suicide bombing in Bulgaria.
AJC Welcomes EU Parliament Condemnation of Palestinian Incitement in Textbooks
Brussels, 14 May 2020 – The AJC Transatlantic Institute applauded the European Parliament for condemning the Palestinian Authority’s failure to act against incitement in text books, insisting that educators receiving EU-funds abide by UNESCO standards against hate, and calling on the EU’s...
AJC Joins Lawmakers’ Call to Ban Terror-Supporting Events in the EU Parliament
Brussels, 15 October 2019 – The AJC Transatlantic Institute joins a cross-party group of Members of the European Parliament in condemning far-left lawmaker Miguel Urban for hosting in Parliament Ines...
Counterpoint | Episode 1
Hosted by Daniel Schwammenthal, director of the AJC Transatlantic Institute, MEP Monika Hohlmeier, co-author of the report for the Special Committee on Terrorism, and Björn Stritzel, investigative journalist at the BILD newspaper, discussed the findings of the EU Parliament’s Special Committee...
Back to the Future: A New Clash of Civilisations?
"We have to take a hard look at the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn, who seems to be equally comfortable with hardcore anti-Zionists as he is with Holocaust deniers," said Daniel Schwammenthal on the panel “Back to the Future: A New Clash of Civilisations?” of the European Strategy and Policy Analysis System’s (ESPAS) conference. The event was hosted by the European Commission’s in-house think tank, the European Political Strategy Centre (EPSC).