CEP WEEKLY ROUNDUP

News and Updates from the Counter Extremism Project

CEP Policy and Program Updates

Updated Resources, Analysis Following Attack in Nice, France
On the evening of July 14, Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, a Tunisian resident of France, drove a 19-ton cargo truck into crowds celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, France, killing 84 people and injuring more than 300. CEP released an updated version of its comprehensive report, France: Extremism and Counter-Extremism and CEP President Fran Townsend was interviewed on CBS News This Morning and CNBC about the attack. CEP’s efforts to prod Twitter into removing pro-ISIS accounts celebrating the attack was also featured on CNBC.
CEP Publishes New Resources, Analysis After ISIS Killings in Bangladesh
When Bangladeshi security forces stormed the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on July 2 following a 12-hour siege, they found a grisly scene; 20 hostages hacked and stabbed to death. Following the attack, CEP issued its report, Bangladesh: Extremism and Counter-Extremism.
New Technology to Combat Extremism Online Continues to Move Forward
CEP’s June 17 announcement of new technology to quickly and accurately identify and eliminate extremist content on Internet and social media platforms, continues to generate intense interest in America and overseas. To operationalize this new technology to combat extremism, CEP proposes a National Office for Reporting Extremism (NORex), which will house a comprehensive database of extremist content. The technology was developed with CEP Senior Advisor Dr. Hany Farid, a computer science professor at Dartmouth College. Dr. Farid worked previously with Microsoft to develop PhotoDNA, a robust hashing software that can automatically detect and eliminate photos of child exploitation online.
Al-Qaeda in Syria Attempts to Rebrand Itself
On July 28, Nusra Front leader Abu Muhammad al-Golani formally announced that his group is breaking ties with Al-Qaeda and changing its name to the Levantine Conquest Front. The move is widely believed to be part of an effort to be perceived as an acceptable partner for other rebel groups, and to reduce attacks from the U.S. and Russia. See CEP resources on the Nusra Front and al-Golani.
CEP Europe
Policy Briefing: Jihadist Radicalisation in Schools, Universities, Prisons and Mosques – What Challenges for Europe?
Schools, universities, prisons, and mosques in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa are increasingly important spaces for jihadist radicalization and recruitment. On June 28, CEP Brussels hosted a policy briefing in cooperation with the European Policy Centre (EPC) to address efforts by communities and countries to build resilience to the threat of radicalization, and to encourage critical thinking among vulnerable youth. Speakers included Imam Muhammad Manwar Ali, Rodrigo Ballester, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, and Rupert Sutton, director of student rights in the U.K.
Policy Briefing: How Can We Best Tackle Radicalisation and Radical Preachers?
On June 28, CEP Brussels organized a policy briefing featuring Sheikh Abu Muntasir, founder and Chief Executive of the Muslim educational charity JIMAS in Suffolk, U.K. A former jihadist, Abu Muntasir recruited and trained fighters and even fought in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bosnia, Chechnya, Kashmir, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka. He spoke about the threat of extremism and radical preaching for Muslim communities.
CEP Research and Analysis
CEP Op-ed Published Huffington Post
“Hamas and ISIS: The Ties That Bind,” an op-ed by CEP Research Analyst Josh Lipowsky that probes behind the scenes ties between Hamas and ISIS, was published in the Huffington Post on July 19. Lipowsky points out that both groups trace their ideological roots to the Muslim Brotherhood. And while ISIS’s leadership in Syria has publicly questioned Hamas’s religious purity, Lipowsky details the many ways that Hamas and Sinai Province, ISIS’s affiliate in Egypt, have quietly been collaborating behind the scenes against Egypt.
CounterPoint Blog: Turkish Caliphate on the Rise
Coups are never a good thing, especially in countries that purport to be democracies like Turkey. In this blog, CEP Research Analyst Supna Zaidi Peery describes why the July 15 coup attempt will be particularly bad for the future of democracy and free speech in that country. Peery details the autocratic tendencies of President Recep Tyyip Erdogan before the coup and notes how he has used the failed military takeover as an excuse to double down on his enemies, including the press, minorities and retired religious leader Fetahullah Gulen, who lives in the U.S. Peery says that “it appears democracy’s retreat globally has reached Turkey, which will only empower extremists further in the region.”
CounterPoint Blog: EU Commission, Tech Companies Agree to Code of Conduct for Hate Speech
Recent terror attacks across Europe and the use of social media platforms by terrorist groups to radicalize and recruit new members has provided more urgency to tackling online hate speech, which encourages violence and extremism. In this blog, the CEP Brussels Staff describes a Code of Conduct agreement between the European Commission and companies like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Microsoft that includes a series of commitments to combat the spread of illegal hate speech online in Europe. Companies signing the code promise to review the majority of valid notifications for removal of illegal hate speech in less than 24 hours and remove or disable access to such content, if necessary. While welcoming this formal adoption of our proposed measures, CEP will continue to closely monitor implementation on the part of technology companies and the EU Commission to ensure they do not become empty words, but represent a decisive step forward in the fight against online extremism.
Tweet of the Week

CEP extensively monitors Twitter and other social media sites and frequently features a revealing tweet in the Weekly Roundup. During the ISIS inspired attack in Nice, France, CEP repeatedly called on Twitter to take down accounts that celebrated the massacre.