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Editors: Ilan Berman and Charlotte Krausz
HOW QATAR HAS KEPT HAMAS ALIVE
According to The Times of Israel, documents recently seized by the IDF in Gaza have laid bare an alliance that many have long suspected: a longstanding and coordinated partnership between Hamas and the Gulf state of Qatar. Specifically, the paper details, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh described Qatari funds as being the group's "main artery" in a 2019 internal communication. Haniyeh's description was apt; financial transfers from Doha to the group reportedly totaled millions of dollars each month.
Beyond financial support, the seized documents also suggest an active Qatari role in the Islamist group's military and diplomatic activities. This reportedly includes Qatari facilitation of training for Hamas operatives, sponsorship of a Hamas delegation's travel to Tehran, and joint efforts aimed at undermining the Trump administration's 2020 two-state solution plan. Qatar, for its part, has called the documents a fabrication and an attempt to derail ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas to end the current Gaza war. (The Times of Israel, June 9, 2025)
JNIM EXPANDING IN WEST AFRICA
With the ongoing insurgency in the Sahel, Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) has now become the most well-armed Islamist militia in West Africa. JNIM commands an estimated 6,000 fighters and has spread throughout Burkina Faso, Mali, and northern Benin. The group, an al-Qaeda affiliate, has committed atrocities, targeted government institutions, and seeks to impose a strict Salafi interpretation of Islamic law. Worryingly, it is now growing largely unimpeded as a result of the retraction of most U.S. forces from the region. (Washington Post, June 8, 2025)
SYRIA'S PRAGMATIC TURN
Since unexpectedly ousting longtime Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad from power late last year, the new government of one-time jihadist Ahmed al-Sharaa has struck a decidedly pragmatic stance on both foreign and domestic affairs. Part of that new approach has involved distancing itself from radical Palestinian factions of all ideological stripes. The latest such move is the official decision, last month, to expel Talal Naji, the long-time leader of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC). Other Palestinian factions, including Fatah al-Intifada, the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front, and the Palestinian Liberation Front, have likewise been expelled or allowed to depart the country.
Al-Sharaa's choices are already paying political dividends. Amid these steps, as well as new movement toward potential normalization with neighboring Israel, the Trump administration in late June officially lifted the remaining sanctions leveled by the U.S. government on the Syrian state. (The New Arab, June 23, 2025; New York Times, June 30, 2025)
PRAGUE MOBILIZES AGAINST ONLINE RADICALIZATION
Between February and June of this year, authorities in the Czech Republic detained five teenagers suspected of having been radicalized online by the Islamic State. The majority of the suspects were under 18 years of age. Nevertheless, at least some are already known to Czech law enforcement; back in January 2024, two of them had been detained for trying to set fire to a synagogue in Brno.
The arrests are part of a larger law enforcement crackdown intended to counteract the growing threat of online radicalization on the continent. Czech authorities reportedly worked with their counterparts in Austria to carry out a total of seven raids, during which a variety of weapons were seized. Czech officials have termed the phenomenon of online youth radicalization a "very dangerous trend." (EuroNews, June 25, 2025)
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