#Antisemitism & #Islamism Are Sisters &
the #West Refuses to Admit It

Why are those who speak for #peace, reform & #coexistence in Arab world treated as traitors —
while #extremists are tolerated or excused?

Why does West look away when Arab dissidents name the problem?
With the brave Dalia Ziada

The Disgrace of Tariq Ramadan The Islamist grandson of Hasan al-Banna convinced many Western liberals that he was a moderate because he promised to bridge a divide many feared could not be crossed.

The disgrace of Tariq Ramadan:
The Islamist grandson of Hasan al-Banna convinced many Western liberals that he was a moderate because he promised to bridge a divide many feared could not be crossed. quillette.com/2026/04/01/t... #Islamism #patriarchy

Iran was and remains a heartbreaker. Where else is the civic spirit so enduring, and so unyieldingly denied? Time and again, the Islamic Republic proved itself implacable before even the most rudimentary of its subjects' desires. It valued neither their lives nor any legitimacy that their consent could confer on the state. It refused them the dignity of small freedoms that might have cost the system nothing. And it would not even afford them a stake in prosperity: Over the course of the first two decades of the 21st century, a largely middle-class country was driven to penury, not only because of international sanctions, but because of the voracious corruption of the IRGC, which Khamenei allowed and encouraged as a means of hoarding power.

Someday in Tehran: The heartbreak of hoping for a democratic Iran www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202... By Laura Secor #Islamism #authoritarianism #IranWar

By delaying their entry into the current war, the Houthis are in a position to maximize the pain they can inflict on the global economy. Iran's partial closure of the Strait of Hormuz and attacks on Gulf energy infrastructure had already elevated energy costs, disrupted supply chains, and contributed to inflationary pressures worldwide. Closing the Bab al-Mandab would pile on economic pressure when markets can least afford it, further incentivizing the United States to end the conflict. The strait still carries approximately 5 percent of seaborne oil trade, and analysts estimate that disrupting it could add $20 per barrel to oil prices. Houthi attacks could also disrupt Saudi Arabia's wartime strategy of using the East-West Pipeline to bypass Hormuz and export more oil (approximately five million barrels per day) through the Red Sea port of Yanbu. The group could even decide to attack critical infrastructure inside Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates directly. Notably, Houthi military actions so far have been carefully calibrated. Firing at Israel is the lowest rung on the escalatory ladder-it shows Houthi supporters and allies that the group has not abandoned the fight while likely avoiding drawing in the United States. It also avoids risking a potential understanding with Saudi Arabia to end Yemen's civil war on terms favorable to the Houthis-something the group has been working on for years. The Houthis already calculated that Israel would eventually attack them again anyway, so striking now does not substantially raise their military risks-though it certainly invites Israel to speed up the timeline.

The Houthis join the war: Why did the group strike now, what might they do next, and how could it affect the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran? www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analy... #Islamism #Houthis #IranWar #IranProxies

Why Islamists and progressives have so much in common A shared loathing of the West is the bedrock of this unholy alliance.

#Islamism is far more modern than most people realise.
The #antisemitism of #Hamas and the #Sharia-diktats of the #Iranian #ayatollahs have little to do with the #Koran or the #Hadiths.
We must understand #political #Islam if we want to defeat it.

An Unholy Alliance: Islam & Progressives Will Topple The West.

Michael Youssef about complexities of #political #Islam &

its impact on the #West & 'unholy alliance' between

#Islamism & #progressivism will end in #betrayal,

threatens to destroy the West.

An Ireland-based Palestinian journalist who has contributed to outlets including The Guardian, Al Jazeera, Drop Site, Middle East Eye, The New Arab and The Electronic Intifada shared posts on his Instagram story encouraging violence against an Irish pro-Israel commentator, Druze Israeli politicians and Israelis generally. Abubaker Abed had been based in Gaza and was evacuated during the war, ending up in Ireland. He began his career as a soccer reporter and commentator before shifting to focus on the war when it began in October 2023. Press TV, an Iran state-backed media outlet, named him "Journalist of the Year" last year. According to screenshots of Abed's Instagram stories shared by others on X, he called for violence against Israelis and against Rachel Moiselle, a popular pro-Israel Irish commentator, in response to Israel's passage this week of a death penalty law for Palestinian terrorists. The screenshots are no longer active on Abed's account and could not be independently verified by Jewish Insider. Abed did not respond to a request for comment. "We need a woman in Ireland to shut this sellout's mouth," Abed posted, sharing a screenshot of a post by Moiselle - despite Moiselle, in the post, expressing full-throated opposition to the death penalty law.

Abed also called for executions of Druze Israeli Knesset members who voted for the death penalty bill, saying, "Weed out the traitors. Execute them wherever they are." And, sharing a video of Israel's far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, celebrating the law's passage - an action that garnered criticism from many Israeli and pro-Israel observers - Abed called for Israelis to be hunted down and murdered globally. "Wiping out Israel off the planet is not enough revenge. Israelis mustn't feel safe anymore," he said. "Haunt them and go after them where they go. These terrorist parasites must be removed from our planet." Moiselle said she fears for her safety after the post. "I have purposefully never interacted with or commented on this Hamas-affiliated Palestinian journalist based in Dublin, as it is quite clear he is dangerous," Moiselle said on X. "I have now been subjected to a very explicit post by him inciting violence against me. It is very strange that I have received this due to a post I made unequivocally condemning Israel's death penalty bill." She said that the post about her is a sign of "how toxic and dangerous the anti-Israel climate has become in this country" and of why she doesn't feel safe in Ireland and plans to move by the end of the year.

Ireland-based Palestinian journalist Abubaker Abed shared posts on his Instagram story encouraging violence against Irish pro-Israel commentator @rachelmoiselle.bsky.social , Druze Israeli politicians and Israelis generally. archive.ph/WsHUp #Islamism #antisemitism #Ireland

We Are In Trouble Ambulances set alight, conspiracy theories run riot, antizionists take over a party and feminism explodes

I am not interested in people using party politics, kicking my community between them. I want to hear solutions. I need to know that Islamic extremism is being taken seriously. We all need to know this.
By @nicolelampert.bsky.social #antisemitism #Islamism #conspriracism

Britain’s Islamo-left is on the march With ‘anti-fascists’ like these, who needs fascists?

#Islamism is the biggest #terror #threat we face by a mile.

This movement #hates #Jews, hates #women, hates #gay people, hates #freedom.

Any ‘anti-fascist’ worth his salt would be agitating #against them, not #marching #with them...

The so called #Anti-fascists are the real #fascists now.

What yesterday's demo - with its festival-style branding, dance stage and tote-bag-swinging attendees to match - reveals is that the deranged brand of 'anti-fascism' that has curdled in recent decades has gone mainstream among the time-rich middle classes. An anti-fascism that thinks the British people peacefully, democratically agitating for national sovereignty, less migration and more clout is a terrifying echo of the 1930s, all while ignoring religious extremists blowing up kids at pop concerts and stabbing Jews at synagogues.

Britain’s Islamo-left is on the march: You might think that any self-respecting anti-fascist wouldn’t want to be seen dead with these ayatollah fanboys, apologists for an anti-Semitic dictator with messianic designs on the world. But you would be wrong www.spiked-online.com/2026/03/29/b... #Islamism

#Islamism is the biggest #terror #threat we face by a mile.

This movement hates #Jews, hates #women, hates #gay people, hates #freedom.

Any ‘ #anti-fascist’ worth his salt would be agitating #against them,
not marching #with them....

Earlier this month, two Iranian men were charged with spying for Tehran after allegedly "conducting hostile surveillance" of the Israeli embassy and Britain's oldest synagogue, Westminster magistrates' court was told. There have long been warnings about the threat posed by Iranian agents in Britain. Tehran's intelligence services have repeatedly targeted Jewish people, Israelis and Iranian dissidents, frequently using criminal proxies. "From an Iranian perspective, London is a permissive environment," Jonathan Hackett, a former American intelligence operator and expert in Iran's covert operations, told The Telegraph.

An Iranian spy recruitment ring is operating openly in London, ministers have been warned.
Tehran is exploiting Britain’s “permissive environment” as a base for its Western intelligence-gathering and propaganda campaigns… archive.ph/L4B73 #Islamism #espionage

Zack Polanski is facing rebellion from his OWN family as they fear being forced to leave UK if Green Party leader becomes Prime Minister www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article... #antisemitism #Islamism #TheGreenParty

The meeting is not an isolated incident but part of a sustained pattern of Turkish engagement with Hamas leadership. Ankara has hosted officials from the widely designated terrorist group since 2011 and has repeatedly positioned itself as a mediator in Gaza negotiations. Turkish intelligence officials maintain direct channels with Hamas to facilitate ceasefire talks, reinforcing Turkey's role as an intermediary between the group and Western-backed diplomatic efforts. Turkey's relationship with Hamas extends beyond mediation. Ankara has refused to designate Hamas as a terrorist organization and has provided political legitimacy by hosting its senior leadership and allowing the group to operate networks from Turkish soil. Israeli and Western officials have long alleged that Hamas operatives have used Turkey as a base for recruitment, financing, and operational coordination. Kalin's March 22 meeting reflects a disparity in Turkey's relationship with Hamas. Publicly, Turkey has presented itself as a diplomatic broker seeking a ceasefire. Privately, its continued high-level engagement with Hamas, particularly through intelligence channels, signals an enduring political alignment and a willingness to preserve the group as a relevant actor in postwar Gaza.

Ibrahim Kalin, head of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT), hosted senior leaders of Hamas in Istanbul on March 22, underscoring Ankara’s continued engagement with the Islamist group amid ongoing regional conflict. www.fdd.org/analysis/202... #Islamism #Turkey #Hamas

According to the plan's timeline, the first stage, consisting of 15 days, would see the NCAG take security and administrative control of Gaza and begin preparatory steps for weapons collection. In the second stage, days 16-40, Israel would remove all heavy weapons from areas under its control, including heavy artillery and tanks, and an international security force would be deployed. The third stage, from days 31-90, would be the most intensive: Hamas would give all its heavy weapons and military equipment to NCAG, and "will allow the destruction of all tunnels, explosives, and military infrastructure" In the fourth stage, from day 91-250, NAG's police forces would collect and register all remaining weapons including guns and rifles. Israeli forces would begin to withdraw in stages. The fifth stage is described as "final verification" of disarmament, and would see "Israeli forces withdraw completely from Gaza except for a presence in a security perimeter, and the start of comprehensive reconstruction efforts."

#Hamas would be required to allow the destruction of its vast #Gaza tunnel network as it lays down its arms in stages over eight months under a disarmament plan presented to the militants by U.S. President Donald Trump's"Board of Peace". www.reuters.com/world/middle... #Islamism #IranProxies

Nuclear policy has also been a subject of private discussion in ruling circles, said the two sources, adding that there was divergence between harder line elements including the Guards and those in the political hierarchy over the wisdom of such a move. To be sure, Iranian officials have threatened in the past to reconsider membership of the NPT as a negotiating tactic during more than two decades of talks with the West over Iran's nuclear programme without ever having done so. The more public debate may represent just such a tactic. It is also far from clear how quickly Iran might be able to push for a bomb after suffering weeks of' air strikes on its nuclear, ballistic and other scientific facilities and after a shorter air campaign by Israel and the United States last year. Israel had repeatedly warned over many years that Iran was only months away from being able to make a nuclear bomb, citing intelligence reports, Tehran's enrichment of uranium needed for a warhead almost to weapons grade, and its ballistics programme.

The debate among Iranian hardliners over whether Tehran should seek a nuclear bomb in defiance of an escalating U.S.-Israeli attack is getting louder, more public and more insistent… www.reuters.com/business/med... #IranWar #Islamism #nuclearweapons

The danger to the Iranian people cannot be overstated. Confronted not only with external conflict but also with a population that has repeatedly taken to the streets in defiance, the regime is determined to settle scores with its domestic critics and extinguish any internal challenge to its rule. Its willingness to inflict violence upon its own people has been demonstrated time and again over the past 47 years. But never has it been more intense than during the nationwide protests in January, when security forces gunned down thousands in the streets over a matter of days. Now facing an existential threat, the regime is angry and armed and sees enemies all around. The warning signs are unmistakable. Armed Basij patrol neighborhoods. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has sent text messages to citizens warning that "a blow even stronger than that of January 8" awaits those who protest. Hundreds of arrests have taken place across the country since the current conflict began, according to research by the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI). The detained include not only January protesters tracked down by the authorities but also activists, students, members of religious and ethnic minorities, and ordinary citizens. Sources inside Iran report checkpoints in Tehran, Mashhad and other cities, where security forces stop individuals, confiscate their phones and search for "suspicious" content. Iranian judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejehi has made the regime's position explicit: "Individuals who collaborate with the enemy in any manner are considered part of the enemy's forces and will be dealt with accordingly." In practice, the regime defines "collaboration" so broadly as to encompass any form of dissent - activists, lawyers defending political prisoners, doctors who treated wounded protesters, members of religious or ethnic minorities, or simply individuals whose private messages or social media posts run afoul of the state.

For many, the outcome is grimly predictable: They will be arrested, most likely tortured and quickly tried without independent lawyers or due process in special revolutionary courts by handpicked hard-line judges. Many will face espionage or national security charges, which can carry the death penalty. In this environment, the risk of mass arbitrary detention is acute. Even more alarming is the prospect of mass executions, especially as those arrested face a high likelihood of forced "confessions" extracted under torture. Hundreds of such confessions were broadcast over state TV after the January protests. Those detained during that unrest are especially vulnerable, as demonstrated by the March 19 public hanging of Saleh Mohammadi, 19, Saeed Davoudi, 21, and Mehdi Ghasemi (age unknown), who faced torture and trials without due process. Of the more than 53,000 individuals arrested, CHRI believes tens of thousands may still be in custody. They are at grave risk of fast-tracked prosecutions that result in death sentences. A significant number were forcibly disappeared and continue to be held incommunicado with no information provided to their families, greatly increasing their risk of torture and extrajudicial killing. The threat of retaliatory violence extends to the hundreds of political prisoners already behind bars. Their families have been left in the dark about their condition, and the Islamic Republic has a history of deadly retribution against political prisoners during periods of crisis. There is well-founded concern that those already on death row could be executed in secret. Such fears are not without precedent. In the years following the 1979 revolution, the new clerical regime was only able to consolidate its power through violent purges of perceived rivals - monarchists, Kurdish groups, leftists and even former Islamist allies. Amnesty has estimated that at least 5,447 people were executed; some prominent historians believe the number was far higher.

One Iranian woman whose husband was imprisoned and executed in 1982 recently told CHRI: "During 1982 and 1983, political prisoners were executed secretly, particularly in smaller cities. The families had no information about their loved ones. This is something we are seeing again today, families are kept in complete ignorance about the fate of prisoners, while government officials threaten to execute opponents." A second wave of mass killings followed in 1988. As Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini agreed to a ceasefire after the devastating Iran-Iraq war, the regime unleashed a wave of retaliatory killings against political prisoners, executing an estimated 4,500 to 5,000, many of whom had already been tried and were serving sentences. Because the executions were carried out secretly and the bodies buried in unmarked graves, the true scale may never be known. The parallels to today are alarming. With armed agents roaming the streets, arrests mounting, tens of thousands behind bars, an internet shutdown to obscure the regime's actions, and executions already underway, the Islamic Republic appears poised to pick up where the security forces left off in January. The international community should not allow this to happen. It should demand that detainees and political prisoners be released and make clear that any further violence against civilians will carry severe consequences that cannot be offset by concessions elsewhere.

Iran is already ramping up its next war.: The bombs are still falling, and the Islamic Republic’s future is uncertain, but one thing is already clear: The Iranian regime is preparing for its next war — against its own citizens. archive.ph/BFMQb #IranWar #Islamism

Vahidi may now finally be in a position to implement this plan. This does not mean that the IRG is taking power from the clerics. Rather, it would be the clergy's armed extension, shaped by the same ideological training and loyal to the same system. What Vahidi represents is not the end of theocracy, but its further militarisation: a shift from clerical guardianship to a system in which clerical rule is increasingly enforced, managed, and maintained by men in uniform. Far from undermining Mojtaba, Vahidi appears to be one of the figures best positioned to maintain his rule during wartime. Unlike Ghalibat, who carries political baggage and many rivals within the system, Vahidi has greater credibility across the IRGC and broader acceptance within the security establishment. This makes him far more significant than public speculation suggests. He is not just another commander. He may be the person holding the system together while others seek visible faces in Tehran. That is why halting the war now would be a serious mistake. The short-term costs of continuing the campaign are real, but the long-term cost of allowing this regime to survive in its current form could be much greater. A system preserved by Mojtaba Khamenei and Ahmad Vahidi would not become more cautious or pragmatic; it would become harsher, more militarised, and more dangerous. It would resemble an Islamist North Korea. So the question is no longer whether the Islamic Republic can survive this war, but what kind of regime will remain if it does - and that should concern everyone.

There is a sinister new power in Iran, and it’s not who the West thinks: Ahmad Vahidi is the key cog in the regime’s chain of command. He is also wanted by Interpol in connection with terrorist attacks archive.ph/Q6TdL By
Kasra Aarabi and Saeid Golkar #Islamism #IranWar

"It seems essential to me that the major religions come to agree upon the importance of adopting a basic, universal, set of ethics."
-Dalai Lama

#DalaiLama #religions #religion #ethics #universal #universalethics #ethic #buddhism #christianism #islamism

Authorities are investigating Iran's suspected involvement in a string of terrorist attacks in Europe that have targeted Jewish sites in response to the war in the Middle East, security officials say. They suspect Iranian agents recruited individuals online to carry out the assaults, and set up a bogus terror group to claim responsibility for attacks on Jewish schools, synagogues and companies linked to Israel. A group called the Islamic Movement of the Righteous Companions has claimed to be behind most of the attacks. European intelligence officials say the group wasn't on their radar before this month. Using a fictitious group gives Iran plausible deniability while amplifying confusion, said Julian Lanchès of the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism. "It's an effective model," he said. "We can likely expect more attacks." Videos of these incidents were posted and amplified on pro-Iranian regime social-media channels and in at least one case an attack was announced in advance, according to investigators and counterterrorism experts. In a March 16 message, the group urged people in the European Union to distance themselves "immediately from all American and Zionist interests and everything connected to them." Iran's security services have long recruited organized-crime figures and petty criminals to carry out attacks. Now officials suspect they are leveraging this network and branding the latest wave of attacks under a new banner, Harakat al-Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, to sow chaos in the Jewish community.

While officials haven't formally attributed the attacks to Iran, multiple governments suspect its involvement. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the most powerful power broker in Iran, issued a statement after the U.S. and Israel killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, saying their adversaries "will no longer be safe anywhere in the world, not even in their own homes." The apparent model mirrors tactics used by Russia, which has orchestrated sabotage attacks across Europe since invading Ukraine, often using unwitting recruits hired via social media. Since the U.S. and Israel launched their campaign against Iran, nearly a dozen attacks on Jewish sites have been carried out or attempted across Western Europe. Although no one has been killed, officials fear that it is only a matter of time. On March 23, the group claimed responsibility for torching a car in the Jewish district of the Belgian city of Antwerp and ambulances belonging to a Jewish emergency service in London. Earlier this month, two synagogues and a Jewish school in Belgium and the Netherlands were firebombed, prompting Belgian authorities to deploy the army to protect Jewish sites. Dutch authorities said on March 22 they had foiled an attack on a synagogue in Heemstede, where multiple explosive devices were discovered. Belgian investigators are examining whether the incidents on their soil were directed by Iran and whether dormant cells were activated.

Israel has been providing intelligence to its European partners to help prevent Iran-backed terrorist attacks since the start of the war, according to Israeli and European officials. In recent years, the Quds Force-the external arm of Iran's IRGC—has recruited proxies among organized-crime groups and Shia Muslim communities in Europe, including motorcycle gangs and migrants from Afghanistan and Syria, officials said. Over the past year, Iran has pre-positioned arms and ammunition for proxy cells in countries including Germany and Austria, as well as along migrant routes in the Balkans, several European and U.S. officials said. In recent raids, authorities arrested several Hamas and Hezbollah members, and in one case, operatives were found with an automatic rifle, eight pistols and more than 600 rounds of ammunition. Some of these cells may have been activated following last month's strikes, two officials said. Individuals linked to Iran-including members of Palestinian and Lebanese militias, as well as European-born criminals and refugees from the Middle East-have been arrested carrying addresses and photographs of Israeli targets and European Jews working with Israeli clients. Iran-linked plots have also been foiled beyond Europe, pointing to a broader campaign. On March 6, authorities in Azerbaijan said they had disrupted an IRGC-linked conspiracy targeting a pipeline supplying oil to Israel, the Israeli Embassy, a Jewish community leader and a synagogue. Days later, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates announced the arrest of Iranian-backed operatives plotting attacks.

#Iran suspected of directing attacks in Europe, creating bogus group to claim responsibility: Tehran could be targeting Jews in Europe in response to the campaign by the U.S. and Israel, officials say archive.ph/h6YPK #Islamism #terrorism

Ultimately the "Zionism is Racism" motion is about far more than its title suggests. It is clear in my mind that the motion, as per its supporting notes, calls on the Green Party to support existing armed Palestinian groups such as Hamas and their allies in destroying Israel and setting up a single Palestinian state. Implied in the motion's logic is that freedom, for Palestinians at least, is just a lot more dead Jews away. Green members are rarely short of criticisms and objections to Israel's actions. I have plenty myself. But whatever we individually or collectively think is wrong, as we vote on this motion we have to decide: is this alternative right? As a debating question, "Is Zionism racism?" has huge scope for dancing around the issue. As a proposal, vague in the motion itself but clear in the supporting notes, "Should the Green Party support Hamas and its allies in an armed overthrow of Israel?" does not.

Does the @greenparty.org.uk support Hamas’s aims? We’ll find out this weekend.
Is the party poised to endorse Hamas' armed struggle against Israel, asks a recently joined member ahead of this weekend’s conference www.jewishnews.co.uk/does-the-gre... #antisemitism #Islamism #terrorism #GreenParty

Exposing the #Qatar Lobby:

#Chama #Mechtaly organised the first-ever #Abraham #Accords #Deradicalisation Summit,
where she contributed to shaping cultural frameworks for regional #integration in the wake of normalisation agreements.

#Islamism #Censorship the #West

Exposing the #Qatar Lobby: #Chama #Mechtalyon,

Moroccan-American artist, activist & policy advisor, about

intersection of cultural preservation, #deradicalisation &

#Middle #Eastern diplomacy.

#Islamism, #Censorship & the #West.

Iran has long employed terrorism as a tool of foreign policy, not only to export the revolution abroad by supporting like-minded proxy groups in the Middle East but also to strike fear in the regime's perceived enemies, including Iranian dissidents, Israelis and Jews, diplomats from Europe, the Gulf states, and the United States. But Tehran has typically been careful about how, when, and where to employ terrorism to achieve these goals. It favored operations for which it could assert reasonable deniability, hoping to avert retaliation in the form of sanctions, diplomatic isolation, or reprisal attacks. Iranian plotters practiced strategic patience and did not act on every opportunity that presented itself. Today, however, the regime feels its revolutionary project to be under existential threat by the United States and Israel. The assassination of Khamenei and other senior officials, along with open discussion in Washington and Jerusalem of regime change, has convinced Tehran that it should go to any length possible to stop the war-including by bringing it home to the United States. With its leadership badly damaged and its security establishment humiliated by deep Israeli and U.S. intelligence infiltration, Iran sees little downside in greenlighting a wide variety of attacks, from small scale plots to potential mass-casualty events, with little regard for potential repercussions. It is likely wagering that the American public and its politicians lack the stomach to withstand civilian losses, and that, should it successfully carry out a mass casualty event, the political cost of continuing the war will become prohibitive for the Trump administration.

Will Iran turn to terrorism?
With nothing to lose, #Iran may go to unprecedented lengths to carry out attacks, particularly against soft targets, as it plans for more sophisticated attacks against harder targets... archive.ph/gDLe7 By @mattlevitt.bsky.social #Islamism #terrorism

Iran's leadership could never claim it was not warned about Israeli infiltration. "All officials of the Islamic Republic should fear for their lives," Ali Younesi, Iran's intelligence minister from 2000-2005, said in June 2021. Mr Younesi identified the structural problem in Tehran: competing intelligence agencies focused on the surveillance of domestic critics and fighting each other for bureaucratic advantage, instead of working together against foreign agents. "Instead of fighting infiltration, new organisations fought to control insiders," he said. "The field was opened for infiltration by world intelligence services, and today we have the right to be worried about everywhere and every incident." His recommendation was to consolidate intelligence functions, end inter-agency rivalry, prioritise foreign counter-intelligence over domestic surveillance, and remove corrupt or incompetent personnel. But the leadership did not listen. Implementing Mr Younesi's reforms would have required admitting to decades of security failures, which could have destabilised agencies during a period of heightened external threats. Iran chose institutional stability over operational effectiveness and paid the price with its leaders' lives. The pattern of ignoring warnings about Israeli infiltration dated to the mid-2000s, when a series of nuclear scientists began dying under suspicious circumstances. When Ardeshir Hosseinpour, a nuclear physicist, died in 2007, officials initially claimed his death was caused by gas poisoning.

Iran’s top officials underestimated Mossad’s reach – and paid the price: Tehran’s factional security agencies ignored the warnings while Israeli intelligence used traffic cameras to track targets archive.ph/kc5Kz By Akhtar Makoii #IranWar #Islamism #espionage

"They've thrown themselves into what they call the 'Last Battle,'" says Mr. Blanford. "They are not going to defeat Israel. They can inflict damage and harm on Israel, but I think this is being led by the Iranians. If the Iranians are able to get something out of this, even at the expense of their Lebanese ally, then so be it." Political-military divide Iran appears to have bypassed Hezbollah's political leadership, including Mr. Qassem, and has gone straight to commanders to open the second front, says Mr. Blanford. "I think the political leadership didn't want to get into this fight, because they could see that it was potentially existential," he says. In the first week of battle, Hezbollah's military leaders delivered an open letter to fighters, extolling the virtues of jihad and martyrdom. "Hezbollah will definitely be weakened, because they are being degraded every day - even though they are hitting the Israelis - and they are expending ordnance that I don't think they can replenish," says Mr. Blanford. "Then you may come to a crunch moment, where the Hezbollah as we know it may change [and] can no longer play the same deterrence role on behalf of the Iranians as before.... That's why they see this as the last fight."

"They've thrown themselves into what they call the 'Last Battle,'" says Mr. Blanford. "They are not going to defeat Israel. They can inflict damage and harm on Israel, but I think this is being led by the Iranians. If the Iranians are able to get something out of this, even at the expense of their Lebanese ally, then so be it." Political-military divide Iran appears to have bypassed Hezbollah's political leadership, including Mr. Qassem, and has gone straight to commanders to open the second front, says Mr. Blanford. "I think the political leadership didn't want to get into this fight, because they could see that it was potentially existential," he says. In the first week of battle, Hezbollah's military leaders delivered an open letter to fighters, extolling the virtues of jihad and martyrdom. "Hezbollah will definitely be weakened, because they are being degraded every day - even though they are hitting the Israelis - and they are expending ordnance that I don't think they can replenish," says Mr. Blanford. "Then you may come to a crunch moment, where the Hezbollah as we know it may change [and] can no longer play the same deterrence role on behalf of the Iranians as before.... That's why they see this as the last fight."

Why Hezbollah fighters are embracing an unpopular and costly war with Israel www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle... By Scott Peterson #IranWar #IranProxies #Islamism #Hezbollah

The AMIA attack did not occur in a vacuum. Working alongside Israeli and American intelligence, Argentine investigators quickly identified connections between the bombing and the 1992 embassy attack: both operations had employed the same networks and state sponsors and had the same strategic logic. But translating that intelligence into legal accountability would prove far harder than identifying the perpetrators. The investigation that followed spanned decades and implicated senior Iranian officials including a future president and commander-in-chief of the IRGC. It ultimately exposed not just the reach of Iran's proxy infrastructure but the corruption and institutional failure within Argentina itself that both allowed the attack to happen and would cause miscarriages of justice for years afterward. The investigation would go on to become one of the most consequential judicial failures in Argentine history. Within days of the AMIA bombing, investigators had traced the vehicle used, a Renault Trafic van packed with explosives, to Carlos Telleldín, a small-time car dealer with connections to Argentina's criminal underworld and to networks of corrupt police. His arrest appeared to confirm a theory that had been circulating within Argentine intelligence: that in addition to the Iranian masterminds and Hezbollah operatives who had ordered and executed the attack, there existed a local facilitator network, possibly including members of the Buenos Aires provincial police, who had helped source the vehicle and provided logistical cover.

The decades of institutional failure that defined Argentina's response to the AMIA bombing reached an inflection point with the 2023 inauguration of President Javier Milei. Whereas Kirchner was willing to accommodate Tehran, Milei has anchored Argentina firmly within a Western-Israeli security axis, designating Hamas, Hezbollah, and the IRGC's Quds Force as terrorist organisations and joining the Combined Maritime Forces to combat Iranian-backed threats in international waters. In April 2024, Argentina's Federal Court of Criminal Cassation, the country's highest criminal court, formally declared the AMIA attack a crime against humanity and attributed responsibility to senior Iranian officials and to Hezbollah, thus lending the weight of the country's highest criminal tribunal to what investigators had argued for thirty years. In 2025, Milei's government used newly passed legislation to authorise the trial in absentia of ten Iranian and Lebanese suspects-among them former intelligence minister Ali Fallahian and Ahmad Vahidi, the former Quds Force commander who directed the unit responsible for planning the AMIA operation and who has been subject to an Interpol red notice since 2007. On 28 February 2026, US and Israeli strikes killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and decapitated much of Iran's senior military leadership, including IRGC commander Mohammad Pakpour. Vahidi, who is wanted for the murders of 85 people in Buenos Aires, now commands the IRGC.

#Iran has never confined its interference in other countries to the Middle East, nor have its activities been restricted to attacks on Israel. Long before the horrors of 7 Oct. 2023, #Argentina had already become a target of the Islamic Republic. quillette.com/2026/03/20/b... #Islamism #terrorism

Let us be clear from the outset: there is nothing intellectually rigorous about romanticizing death. There is nothing analytical about repackaging ideological slogans as strategic theory. And there is certainly nothing scholarly about presenting a militia's narrative as though it were an objective reading of political reality. What is often described as "strategic martyrdom" is, in fact, a convenient myth - one that serves the interests of the very actors it claims to explain. It is a narrative designed to obscure failure, justify endless cycles of violence, and sanctify leadership structures that are otherwise incapable of delivering tangible political outcomes. It is not strategy. It is post-facto rationalization. The claim that assassination strengthens such systems by transforming leaders into symbols is not new. It is one of the oldest tropes in the ideological playbook of revolutionary movements. But what its proponents ignore is that symbolism is not a substitute for governance, nor is it a measure of strategic success. States and societies do not survive on myth alone. They require institutions, accountability, and, above all, the capacity to improve the lives of their citizens. Iran and its network of militias - including Hezbollah - have consistently failed on these fronts. Their reliance on martyrdom narratives is not evidence of strength; it is evidence of structural weakness. When a political system must continually resort to death as a source of legitimacy, it reveals not resilience but bankruptcy. More troubling, however, is the intellectual sleight of hand embedded in this argument. Martyrdom is framed as a "value-strategic rationality," as though it were a coherent alternative to conventional political logic. In reality, this framing serves one purpose: to excuse behavior that would otherwise be recognized as reckless, destructive, and ultimately self-defeating.

Iran and its network of militias - including Hezbollah - have consistently failed on these fronts. Their reliance on martyrdom narratives is not evidence of strength; it is evidence of structural weakness. When a political system must continually resort to death as a source of legitimacy, it reveals not resilience but bankruptcy. More troubling, however, is the intellectual sleight of hand embedded in this argument. Martyrdom is framed as a "value-strategic rationality," as though it were a coherent alternative to conventional political logic. In reality, this framing serves one purpose: to excuse behavior that would otherwise be recognized as reckless, destructive, and ultimately self-defeating. By this logic, every loss becomes a victory, every failure a form of success. It is a worldview in which reality itself is subordinated to narrative. And it is precisely this kind of thinking that has kept entire societies trapped in cycles of violence, unable to break free from the illusion that suffering is synonymous with strength. But this is not merely an abstract academic debate. There are real consequences to this kind of intellectual cover. For years, a network of commentators and analysts has acted as intermediaries between militant organizations & broader audiences, providing the language, the framing, and the selective data that allow these groups to be rebranded as "resistance movements" rather than what they are: armed, unaccountable actors operating outside the framework of the state. This is not scholarship. It is advocacy. And it is part of a broader ecosystem in which certain voices - often presented as authoritative experts - have built careers on explaining away the actions of groups like Hezbollah & the IRGC, while dismissing or ignoring the very real damage they inflict on the societies they claim to defend. The result is a deeply distorted picture, one in which militias are romanticized, their critics delegitimized, & their victims rendered invisible.

This is where the concept of "strategic martyrdom" becomes particularly insidious. It transforms human loss into political capital, allowing leaderships to externalize the costs of their decisions onto populations that have little say in the matter. It is a mechanism of control, not empowerment. And it is sustained, in no small part, by those who lend it intellectual legitimacy. There is, of course, a certain irony in all of this. While proponents of such frameworks often criticize the supposed irrationality of conventional strategies, they simultaneously advance a logic that rejects empirical evaluation altogether. If every outcome - no matter how disastrous - can be reinterpreted as a form of victory, then the concept of strategy itself becomes meaningless. This is not analysis. It is theology masquerading as political science. At its core, the problem is not simply that this argument is wrong. It is dangerous. It perpetuates a worldview in which violence is self-justifying, accountability is absent, and the line between analysis and propaganda is deliberately blurred. Lebanon - and the region more broadly - cannot afford this kind of intellectual indulgence any longer. The stakes are too high, the costs too real, and the consequences too devastating. What is needed is not another theory that glorifies death, but a clear-eyed recognition of the political realities that have brought us to this point. That means calling things by their name, rejecting the language of romanticized resistance, and challenging those who continue to provide cover for systems that thrive on perpetual conflict. Anything less is not scholarship. It is complicity.

The fantasy of ‘strategic martyrdom’ and the industry of apologism: There is nothing intellectually rigorous about romanticizing death. There is nothing analytical about repackaging ideological slogans as strategic theory. english.alarabiya.net/views/2026/0... #Islamism #StrategicMartyrdom

Although the Islamic State is unlikely to restore its territorial caliphate, it is well positioned to expand as a diffuse insurgency. Rather than attempting to govern, it will likely rely on mobile cells operating across Syria and conducting terrorist attacks, ambushes, and assassinations. In Syria's northeast, contested control, local tensions, and overstretched forces, compounded by the mass escapes from al-Hol, are creating a rare opening for the group to rebuild networks and recruit fighters. All this is unfolding amid a widening regional war that risks further straining the fragile security environment. If Iran enters a prolonged period of instability, Iraq is likely to absorb the first-order shock, potentially reopening long-standing vulnerabilities in its western provinces that have historically served as terrain for Sunni insurgent mobilization. Meanwhile, Israel is escalating its military campaign across Lebanon, raising spillover risks that Syria is poorly positioned to absorb. Regional ruptures have repeatedly acted as accelerants for jihadist movements, from the invasion of Iraq to the Syrian civil war, and this conflict risks reproducing that dynamic.

Washington's priority should be preventing Syria's transition from sliding back into renewed conflict, because stabilization is the only durable foundation for containment. That requires sustained pressure on Damascus to move beyond coercive consolidation toward genuinely inclusive governance, including a workable degree of decentralization to strengthen local security. Washington played an instrumental role in providing al Sharaa with international legitimacy. It still retains enough leverage to ensure the ceasefire in the northeast is respected and to press for accountability inside the security forces, including curbing sectarian incitement and sidelining the most extreme elements rather than absorbing them. That means maintaining Syria's State Sponsor of Terrorism designation and advancing measures such as the proposed Save the Kurds Act to reimpose targeted sanctions in response to violations. Without enforceable conditions, Syria risks a transition that either fractures, allowing the Islamic State to expand its operating space, or consolidates into an exclusionary Islamist order. Either way, the consequences will not be confined to Syria.

Islamic State containment is collapsing in Syria: Although the Islamic State is unlikely to restore its territorial caliphate, it is well positioned to expand as a diffuse insurgency. warontherocks.com/2026/03/isla... By Kelly Kassis #Islamism #Jihadism #terrorism