Pathway to Terror: From antisemitism to terrorism, the case study of Shehroz Iqbal
2 December 2020
CST is today publishing our latest research briefing entitled ‘Pathway to Terror’, focusing on the case of Shehroz Iqbal who was recently sentenced to eight and a half years in prison for terrorist and unrelated drug offences.
'White Jihad': Jack Renshaw's journey from a far right student to would-be terrorist
13 May 2020
A year ago this week, on 17 May 2019, Jack Renshaw was sentenced to life imprisonment for his attempt to murder a Member of Parliament and a senior police officer in what would have been a shocking act of neo-Nazi terrorism. Renshaw’s path from far right student activist to would-be neo-Nazi terrorist is an example of the danger of hateful extremism, and the power of the violent rhetoric that permeates Britain’s far right. It is also a chilling reminder that hatred of Jews lies at the core of neo-Nazi ideology: while discussing his terror plot with his closest colleagues, Renshaw considered attacking a synagogue.
1st anniversary of the attack on Chabad of Poway Synagogue, California
27 April 2020
Today marks one year since the attack on the Chabad of Poway Synagogue in San Diego County, California. A far right terrorist entered the place of worship during Shabbat and Passover morning prayer services, murdering one person and injuring three.
Tributes for a Jihadist Godfather: from Moazzam Begg to Al Qaeda Central
28 March 2017
Death and martyrdom are key parts of jihadist ideology. It is, therefore, vitally important to note the reactions to the deaths of leading jihadists: whether by actual terrorist groups, or by those British Islamists who push victimhood narratives.
CST supports calls for neo-Nazi National Action group to be proscribed
30 November 2016
CST welcomes the report in The Times that the neo-Nazi organisation National Action may be proscribed by the government. National Action is a viciously antisemitic and racist neo-Nazi group whose violent and hateful rhetoric has already inspired its follows to commit appalling hate crimes. We would support its proscription as a measure to curb its hateful activities.
Anjem Choudary found guilty of inviting support for Islamic State in Syria
17 August 2016
Hate-preacher Anjem Choudary has been found guilty of inviting support and swearing allegiance to Islamic State in Syria (ISIS) alongside Mohammed Mizanur Rahman. Due to the possibility of prejudice in another case, reporting restrictions meant that the verdict has remained confidential for a number of weeks. Choudary faces the possibility of 10 years in prison and the jury took under three days to come to their unanimous decision.
Cold comfort from Anjem Choudary conviction
17 August 2016
Anjem Choudary, Britain’s most notorious Jihadist rabble rouser, has – at long last – been found guilty of “inviting support for a proscribed terrorist organisation”. On the surface, it looks like good news, but look deeper and it is hard to take much comfort. CST has been raising strong concerns about Choudary and his predecessors for over 25 years, warning the authorities that open incitement for Jihadist extremism and terrorism was causing not only antisemitism, but all manner of radicalism that could literally explode against the British public at any time in the future: as it is still doing, both here and across western Europe, fuelled by events in Syria, Iraq and beyond.
CST calls on the Government to ban Hizbollah flags after flags banned in Berlin
28 July 2016
Al-Quds Day, an annual demonstration established in 1979 by Iranian Ayatollah Khomeini, that takes place in cities worldwide, has long been criticised for allowing the flying of Hizbollah flags. In the streets of London demonstrators have chanted “We are all Hizbollah” and each year flags of the organisation, whose military wing is proscribed as a terrorist entity in the United Kingdom, appear on the streets. The flag features an assault rifle, so its meaning could not be more clear.
Babar Ahmad’s “ideal of jihad” is still a problem
16 March 2016
Babar Ahmad is a British jihadi who returned home to the UK last year after being sentenced to 12 and a half years prison in America for terrorism offences. These offences related to a jihadi website called Azzam Publications (named after Abdullah Azzam, the godfather of the first Afghan jihad) that Ahmad set up and ran.
CST’s written evidence for Foreign Affairs Committee inquiry into the fight against ISIL published
16 December 2015
CST has submitted evidence to the Foreign Affairs Committee inquiry into the fight against Islamic State in the Levant (ISIL), otherwise known as ISIS. CST is at the forefront in the fight against antisemitism, and this includes working with the government to support the Jewish community in matters of antisemitism, extremism and terrorism.
The Prime Minister’s speech: counter-extremism in a liberal democracy
21 July 2015
The Prime Minister gave an important speech yesterday to set out the framework, and much of the detail, of the government’s counter-extremism strategy for the next five years. It was a landmark statement in Britain’s efforts to challenge and reduce the appeal of Islamist extremism.
UK Home Office Extremism Strategy
24 March 2015
Home Secretary Theresa May outlined details of the new Home Office extremism strategy yesterday, where she stated that it would aim “to tackle the whole spectrum of extremism, violent and non-violent, ideological and non-ideological, Islamist and neo-Nazi – hate and fear in all their forms.
Jihadist Recruitment Videos Raise Important Questions About Counter-Extremist Policy
25 June 2014
This is cross-posted from the Huffington Post UK. The appearance of three British Muslims in the latest recruitment video for Syrian jihadists raises important questions about counter-extremist policy and the Prevent strategy. Nasser Muthana and Reyaad Khan from Cardiff, and Abdul Rakib Amin from Aberdeen, are just another example of…
Integration, Disadvantage and Extremism
29 May 2014
A new report (pdf) looking at connections between integration and extremism has been published by the Pears Institute for the study of Antisemitism, Birkbeck, University of London; COMPAS, University of Oxford; and the All-Party Parliamentary Group Against Antisemitism. The report includes a chapter by CST's Dave…
Online radicalisation. 'Lone wolves' of all stripes.
10 October 2012
This article, by CST's Mark Gardner, is in the September-October 2012 edition of Hope Not Hate magazine. A shorter version is on the Haaretz website, entitled "Jihad, lone wolves and the terror threats facing Jews today": ------ We already know that Al Qaeda and the extremes of the far right share…