The man accused of being the ringleader of a group planning to attack the UFC Freedom 250 White House event last weekend is an illegal immigrant from Mexico. 
Abraham Alvarez, who the Justice Department said was “responsible for planning, organizing, and directing the planned attack,” overstayed his visa after being brought into the country as a child. He was first granted deportation relief under former President Barack Obama in 2014, Fox News <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/white-house-ufc-terror-plot-ringleader-mexican-illegal-immigrant-dhs-confirms">reported</a> Thursday. 
Alvarez came on a B2 visa, according to the Department of Homeland Security. A B2 visa typically is given for tourism or medical reasons and the one issued to Alvarez expired in 2001.
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&#8220;This illegal alien from Mexico should never have been allowed in our country,&#8221; DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis told Fox News. &#8220;He was the ringleader of a failed terror attack targeting UFC Freedom 250 at the White House.&#8221;
&#8220;He will face justice and swiftly be removed from our country,&#8221; she added of Alvarez.
The alleged plot would have involved using explosive drones to cause panic at the UFC event before snipers opened fire. Alavarez has been charged with conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States.
Alvarez wanted to target President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and trillionaire Elon Musk, according to the criminal complaint from the FBI. Neither Musk nor Netanyahu were at the event.
The FBI said that Alvarez went by the moniker &#8220;Shepherd&#8221; in a group chat where the attack was planned.
&#8220;This is the best action I see. Position your teams in the purple dots (counter sniper and drones) Long range (circled area) (great shot) Easy out into the river,&#8221; Shepherd posted on June 10 alongside maps of the D.C. area, according to the FBI.
Tycen Proper, a 19-year-old charged in the attack, allegedly identified “Shepherd” as “the primary individual involved with planning” and “directly stated that Shepherd was the leader of the group and described him as aggressive in tactical planning.”
“From his home here in Nebraska, Alvarez allegedly directed and recruited others across the country to conduct a horrific attack against government officials in a mass casualty event. Our team worked around the clock to locate and apprehend Alvarez, take him into custody, and collect crucial evidence,” said FBI special agent Eugene Kowel on Tuesday. 
This is a breaking story. Refresh for updates.

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Illegal Immigrant Masterminded UFC White House Drone Attack Plot, DHS Says

Department of Homeland Security

Illegal Immigration

Terrorism

White House

Law enforcement officials discovered the alleged plot to attack the UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House over the weekend after a concerned mother called police, according to an FBI criminal complaint.
Officers showed up at the home of 19-year-old Tycen Proper on the evening of June 10 after they received a phone call about a “disturbance” from his mother. Proper would later tell investigators that he and multiple others planned to stage a terror attack involving the exploding drones and sniper rifles, FBI Task Force Officer Christopher Betts said in a criminal complaint. 
Proper and four other men have been arrested for their involvement in the alleged plot which appeared to be motivated in part by the government’s handling of the Epstein files. The complaint said that Proper’s mother told police she was “concerned about her son” due “to his recent conduct, including firearms purchases and communicating with certain individuals online.”
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After officers arrived at the home, they spoke with Proper and his parents. His father told police that he “had recently met random people online and had been planning &#8216;recons&#8217; with these individuals.”
In a later interview with the FBI, Proper’s mother claimed that he had “recently begun interacting with a group online that was comprised of individuals who claimed to be ex-military and Christian-based. She didn&#8217;t know the name of the group, but they expressed ultra-religious and anti-government sentiments, specifically citing grievances about government corruption, the handling of the Epstein files, data centers taking up all the water in communities, and other government actions.” 
Proper’s mother also said “she observed him recently engaged in physical training” and “researching and mapping locations in the area just northwest of Washington, D.C.” 
“She stated that she also observed additional images and maps being sent to him from unknown individuals through texts and Discord messages, and she would overhear PROPER talking to these individuals verbally on his phone,” the complaint said. 
The FBI said that the plot aimed to target the wealthy and Republican politicians who the plotters accused of being compromised by Israel, including Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Senator Jim Justice (R-WV), Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Rep. Carol Miller (R-WV), and Rep. Riley Moore (R-WV). 
“The members of that group stated that they wanted to protect the United States, which they believed was headed in the wrong direction,” the FBI complaint said. “Members of that group believed that the United States needed to be torn down so that it could be rebuilt.”

UFC White House Plot

The Disturbing Call That Unraveled The UFC White House Terror Plot

Federal immigration agents captured the leader of two foreign terrorist organizations, who is accused of holding his own wife hostage after a chaotic car chase.
Felipe Linares De Oliveira Dell Aquilla, who goes by the moniker “Don,” led Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents on a chase through Mooresville, North Carolina, on June 5 before he crashed into stopped traffic and took off on foot, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2026/06/15/ice-arrests-illegal-alien-commander-foreign-terrorist-organization-who-held-his-own" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Monday.
The agents eventually caught up to Aquilla, who was swiftly taken into custody. Aquilla, who hails from Brazil and is in the United States <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-ice-arrests-over-100-illegal-immigrants-in-weeklong-operation?author=Jennie+Taer&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=EXCLUSIVE%3A+ICE+Arrests+Over+100+Illegal+Immigrants+In+Weeklong+Operation">illegally</a>, is wanted in his home country for criminal association and extortion charges.
Aquilla previously served as the commander of two U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations, Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and Comando Vermelho (CV), according to DHS. The State Department <a href="https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2026/05/terrorist-designation-of-comando-vermelho-and-primeiro-comando-da-capital" target="_blank" rel="noopener">classifies</a> the groups as &#8220;two of the most violent criminal organizations in Brazil,&#8221; saying they&#8217;ve &#8220;orchestrated brutal attacks against Brazilian police officers, public officials, and civilians.&#8221;
Law enforcement intelligence indicated that Aquilla was holding his own wife hostage as he was preparing to flee to Mexico, DHS said. During an interview with authorities, Aquilla&#8217;s wife confirmed that she had been held against her will.
Agents found numerous cell phones, laptops, money, and a 9mm handgun while searching Aquilla&#8217;s car.
“This arrest demonstrates the unwavering commitment of HSI to protect our communities from dangerous international criminals,&#8221; Mark M. Zito, Special Agent in Charge of HSI in North and South Carolina, said in a statement. &#8220;By removing a known leader of violent foreign terrorist organizations—wanted for serious crimes including criminal association and extortion—we have prevented further harm to innocent people here and abroad.&#8221;
&#8220;Our agents, working alongside dedicated state and local law enforcement partners, acted swiftly and decisively to ensure this individual will no longer threaten the safety of our neighborhoods. HSI will continue to pursue those who endanger our communities and bring them to justice,&#8221; Zito added.
Aquilla snuck across the border at an unknown time when he entered the United States.
The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/illegal-immigrant-on-the-run-after-ramming-car-into-ice-agent?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Jennie+Taer&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=Illegal+Immigrant+On+The+Run+After+Ramming+Car+Into+ICE+Agent">illegal immigrant</a> faces state felony charges of fleeing to elude arrest. Federal authorities are also hoping to hit him with federal charges of alien in possession of a firearm and kidnapping.
ICE has lodged a detainer with the county jail holding Aquilla, asking them to eventually hand him over for deportation proceedings.

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ICE Captures Wanted Terrorist Leader After Wild Car Chase

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

America is staring down its most dangerous terror threat in history — and Democrats just made the feds&#8217; job a whole lot harder.
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Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin dropped a jaw-dropper Sunday, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zi13krdjRTw">telling</a> Fox News host Shannon Bream that the terrorism threat level is &#8220;the highest it&#8217;s ever been&#8221; — even as Congress let a critical surveillance tool quietly die on the vine last week.
Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which lets the CIA, NSA, and FBI monitor foreign terror suspects overseas without a warrant, lapsed Friday after 19 Republicans and virtually every Democrat voted to kill a temporary extension. The Senate tried its own fixes, which also failed.
The timing couldn&#8217;t be worse.
&#8220;When I say we arrest terrorists every single week, I&#8217;m not exaggerating,&#8221; Mullin told Bream. &#8220;Those aren&#8217;t the individuals that are coming across our border. Those are individuals that are still inside this country.&#8221;
Inside the country — and now, with 702 gone, the feds have to wade through bureaucratic red tape to track them. What used to take hours may now take days.
That&#8217;s while 78 World Cup matches unfold across 11 American cities over 38 days — essentially 78 consecutive Super Bowls, as Mullin noted — alongside the America 250 anniversary celebrations happening nationwide. &#8220;Not all have the resources,&#8221; Mullin warned, noting that local law enforcement is already being asked to carry a heavier load.
So why did Democrats <a href="https://www.ntd.com/terrorism-threat-level-highest-its-ever-been-amid-fisa-lapse-dhs-secretary_1152375.html?utm_source=ntdmorning&amp;src_src=ntddailynoe&amp;utm_campaign=ntd-2026-06-15&amp;src_cmp=ntd-2026-06-15&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;est=3CUiWf%2BCwKZEF20dd7EP2enuMb0208NPJQpcdRbbOFUBQf2A6reG2vd1EYwucRCMokKagzvt">torpedo the extension</a>? One reason was that they didn&#8217;t like who Trump tapped as Acting Director of National Intelligence. Bill Pulte — head of a federal housing agency — was appointed as a placeholder after Tulsi Gabbard stepped down to care for her husband, who has been diagnosed with a rare cancer. Democrats declared Pulte a &#8220;nonstarter&#8221; and let the spy authority expire as their countermove.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said flatly: &#8220;Pulte has to go.&#8221; House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) accused Trump of tossing &#8220;a hand grenade&#8221; into the negotiations.
Mullin wasn&#8217;t buying the outrage.
&#8220;When we really want to talk about the Democrats&#8217; credibility on keeping America safe, come on, let&#8217;s laugh,&#8221; he fired back.
&#8220;They had zero credibility. They&#8217;re more interested in protecting criminals and illegals on our streets than law-abiding citizens,&#8221; Mullin added.
Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) have already warned the administration to brace for &#8220;a potential significant gap in foreign intelligence collection.&#8221; Trump has nominated Jay Clayton — former SEC chairman and current U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York — as permanent DNI head, but that confirmation fight is still to come.
Meanwhile, the terrorists that Mullin says the feds are arresting every week aren&#8217;t waiting around for Congress to get its act together.
Highest threat level ever. Biggest public events in a generation. And the Democrats just switched off the surveillance light.
Sleep tight.
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President Trump Signs The Secure America Act

Mullin: Terror Threat ‘Highest It’s Ever Been’ As Dems Pull The Plug On Spy Powers

Democrats

FISA

Markwayne Mullin

Trump Administration

WASHINGTON— The United States denied entry to a Somali World Cup referee because he associated with &#8220;suspected members of terror organizations,&#8221; The Daily Wire can first report.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said on Monday that Omar Artan had been denied entry after he arrived at Miami International Airport from Istanbul on Saturday.  Artan was set to officiate matches for the FIFA World Cup 2026.
A senior administration official told The Daily Wire on Tuesday evening that he was seeking admission to the United States, but, upon further inspection, Customs and Border Patrol discovered  &#8220;derogatory information,&#8221; including his &#8220;association with suspected members of terror organizations.&#8221;
That information made him ineligible for admission to the United States under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
&#8220;The traveler was refused admission and given immigration forms that provide the section of law used to complete an expedited removal under 8235 of the INA,&#8221; the senior administration official told The Daily Wire. &#8220;President Trump&#8217;s administration will not allow any security threat to enter our country &#8211; full stop.&#8221;
<div id="attachment_1112871" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-somali-referee-denied-entry-into-usa-for-associating-with-terror-organizations/colombia-v-france-third-place-fifa-u-20-world-cup-chile-2025" rel="attachment wp-att-1112871"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1112871" class="wp-image-1112871 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/GettyImages-2241875573.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/GettyImages-2241875573.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/GettyImages-2241875573-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/GettyImages-2241875573-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/GettyImages-2241875573-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>Referee Omar Artan holds the match ball during the FIFA U-20 World Cup Chile 2025 third place match between Colombia and France at Estadio Nacional Julio Martínez Prádanos on October 18, 2025 in Santiago, Chile. (Photo by Buda Mendes &#8211; FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)</div>
On Monday, FIFA released a statement on Artan&#8217;s behalf and confirmed that Artan would not be able to train or officiate at the World Cup.
“Despite the circumstances, I am in a positive mood and I am focused on the next challenges in my refereeing career,” the Somali <a href="https://apnews.com/article/world-cup-somali-referee-7ec4113dc4c0baec3e952ad00c741038">referee said in the statement.</a> “I would like to thank FIFA and (the African federation) for all their support and I promise to keep my refereeing levels up as I concentrate on the future. I want to thank the football family for their messages and wish my colleagues all the best success during the World Cup and I look forward to joining them again in future competitions.”
CBP explained earlier on Monday that Artan was &#8220;determined to be inadmissible due to vetting concerns and was denied entry&#8221; during routine processing, to which all those entering the United States, including coaches, staff, and athletes, are subject.
“Admissibility determinations are made on a case-by-case basis using law enforcement, national security, and immigration information available at the time of inspection,” CBP noted. “CBP officers have the authority to question travelers, conduct inspections, and determine admissibility consistent with U.S. law.”

Gabon vs Ivory Coast Group F –  2025 Africa Cup Of Nations

EXCLUSIVE: Somali World Cup Ref Denied Entry Into USA For Terror Ties

Customs and Border Protection (CPB)

Soccer

World Cup

Three United States citizens accused of helping fund ISIS attacks on American servicemembers were arrested on Friday morning by federal authorities. 
According to the <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/three-arrested-kansas-and-california-charged-plot-support-isis">Department of Justice</a>, FBI agents arrested 21-year-old Bisaam Ghafoor of Leawood, Kansas, 21-year-old Elias Shamsaldeen of Porterville, California, and 25-year-old Bereen Dzayee of Lakeside, California.
The three men conspired from at least February 2025 through June 2026 to support the designated terror group, according to a criminal complaint filed in the District of Kansas.
The men communicated through Discord chats, voice calls, and other messaging platforms, where they pledged allegiance to ISIS and promoted violence on the group&#8217;s behalf, according to the Department of Justice. 
According to the complaint, the men repeatedly spoke about violence against Americans and U.S. military personnel. 
Prosecutors say Ghafoor remarked that it would be “sick” to have his name written on a drone used in an attack on Americans, while Dzayee suggested drone strikes should target U.S. Special Forces. Shamsaldeen expressed a desire to stab a U.S. servicemember, and Ghafoor said he had long wanted to behead a female soldier before adding, “I wish I could kill 300,000,000 Americans.”
Federal authorities accuse the three men of collectively providing over $2,000 to a person they understood to be a member of ISIS and trying to develop a cryptocurrency scheme to buy RPGs and drones to enable the designated terror organization to attack U.S. servicemembers. 
According to prosecutors, Ghafoor’s name was inscribed on a rocket-propelled grenade that was purportedly intended for use in an overseas attack targeting U.S. servicemembers. Investigators also say that Shamsaldeen helped finance the purchase of drones that were intended to be used in attacks against American troops deployed abroad.
The defendants also expressed a desire to travel outside the United States to fight and die on behalf of ISIS, according to authorities.
The three men were charged with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.
“This administration has put terrorists, cartels, and gangs on notice,” <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/three-arrested-kansas-and-california-charged-plot-support-isis">said</a> Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “Today’s arrest of three individuals who allegedly conspired to provide material support to ISIS makes clear our commitment to taking down terrorist networks — anywhere. Thanks to the vigilance of the FBI, their alleged scheme was dismantled and further acts of violence against U.S. service members were prevented.”
FBI Director Kash Patel said the suspects “swore allegiance to ISIS, plotted multiple attacks, and even targeted U.S. service members.”
“The success of this op shows once again this FBI&#8217;s continued record of stopping terrorist attacks before they happen,” Patel said.
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg said the defendants wished to betray their country.
“According to the complaint, these defendants conspired to support ISIS, a ruthless terrorist organization, with the intent, among other things, to fund plans to kill American servicemembers abroad,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg. “Thanks to the work of the FBI, their plans to betray their country in the gravest way lies in ruin. Instead, these defendants will face justice in our courts.”
The investigation was conducted by FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces in Kansas City, San Diego, and Sacramento, with assistance from FBI field offices in Richmond and Newark.

ISIS

3 Americans Arrested In ISIS Case That Authorities Say Was A Betrayal Of America

Department of Justice

kash patel

The House struck comments made by Ohio Republican Rep. Max Miller after he blasted Michigan Democrat Rep. Rashida Tlaib on the House floor Wednesday as someone who &#8220;advocates for terrorists on a daily basis&#8221; — but a look at Tlaib&#8217;s decade-long record suggests Miller&#8217;s got the receipts to back up every word.
Miller unloaded on Tlaib during debate, telling her directly: &#8220;Hezbollah is a terrorist organization, gentle lady from Michigan, and its members are butchers that you like to hang out with to a certain extent.&#8221;
When Tlaib erupted in anger, Miller didn&#8217;t flinch.
&#8220;Oh, I&#8217;m sorry. Are we getting a little emotional?&#8221; he shot back.
After the chairman asked him to suspend, Tlaib erupted again — and Miller doubled down: &#8220;I certainly believe you advocate for them, yes. You advocate for terrorists on a daily basis. You advocate for a terrorist regime every single day.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
A chaotic exchange grinds House floor debate on Lebanon war powers to a halt.
Max Miller says of Rashida Tlaib: &quot;Hezbollah is a terrorist organization &#8230; and its members are butchers that you like to hang out with to a certain extent.&quot;
Tlaib moves to take down his words. &quot;Are… <a href="https://t.co/KDQ7qHGsFo">pic.twitter.com/KDQ7qHGsFo</a>
&mdash; Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) <a href="https://x.com/AndrewSolender/status/2062297800386195563?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 3, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Tlaib immediately demanded Miller&#8217;s words be stricken from the record, calling them &#8220;a direct attack on my character.&#8221; The House struck the comments after Miller refused to voluntarily retract his remarks, Axios <a href="https://x.com/AndrewSolender/status/2062310787314524349">reported</a>.
&#8220;Such remarks impugn the patriotism and loyalty of a member of the House, which is not in order,&#8221; said California Republican Rep. Jay Obernolte, who was presiding over the House. &#8220;Without objection, the offending words are stricken from the record.&#8221;
The House itself has already weighed in on Tlaib&#8217;s record. In November 2023, the chamber voted 234–188 to censure her, with 22 Democrats crossing the aisle to support the rebuke. The resolution cited a years-long pattern of anti-Israel rhetoric, her <a href="https://d12t4t5x3vyizu.cloudfront.net/maxmiller.house.gov/uploads/2023/11/MILLOH_024_xml5.pdf">promotion</a> of the &#8220;from the river to the sea&#8221; slogan — a Hamas rallying cry calling for Israel&#8217;s destruction — and her inflammatory statement the day after the October 7 massacre, in which she called Israel an apartheid state and suggested the U.S. cut off support for its closest Middle East ally.
That was far from an isolated incident. She once said on the ‘‘Skullduggery” podcast, “There’s always kind of a calming feeling, I always tell folks, when I think of the Holocaust and the tragedy of the Holocaust.&#8221;
In 2021, Tlaib <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/democrat-rashida-tlaib-speaks-at-fringe-rally-where-activists-call-for-the-elimination-of-israel">spoke at a rally</a> outside the State Department where activists chanted for the elimination of Israel — even as Palestinian terrorists were firing hundreds of rockets into Israeli cities. In 2020, she <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rashida-tlaib-expresses-support-for-palestinian-terrorist-who-tried-to-kill-israeli-soldiers">boosted</a> defenders of Ahmad Erekat, a man Israeli police say drove his car into a border checkpoint in a deliberate terrorist attack. In February 2024, she was the sole member of the entire House — Democrat or Republican — to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rashida-tlaib-votes-present-on-resolution-condemning-hamas-rape">refuse</a> to vote yes on a resolution condemning Hamas&#8217;s use of rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war, voting &#8220;present&#8221; instead.
She was also a member of a private Facebook group whose members <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rashida-tlaib-is-a-member-of-facebook-group-that-praised-hamas-after-its-attack-on-israel-report">glorified</a> Hamas in the immediate aftermath of October 7, posting photos of Hamas fighters posing with elderly hostages and celebrating the slaughter of Israeli soldiers as &#8220;achievements.&#8221; The group&#8217;s founder — one of Tlaib&#8217;s key fundraisers — has posted videos questioning the Holocaust and calling Jews &#8220;satanic.&#8221;
Miller called Tlaib a terrorist advocate on the House floor. The House censured her. Her own colleagues slammed her. Her own Facebook group cheered Hamas.
Strike his words? They&#8217;re the most documented words spoken in Congress all week.

Rashida Tlaib

House Strikes Rep’s ‘Terrorist’ Jab At Rashida Tlaib — But Her Own Record Tells The Story

Congress

Michigan

Republicans

WASHINGTON — The State Department is gathering European partners in an aggressive push to combat spikes in far-left terrorism around the world, The Daily Wire can first report.
American representatives will attend a law enforcement workshop in Europe this week focused on far-left terrorism, State Department officials told The Daily Wire, engaging other countries that are also grappling with the issue. The technical workshop will bring together officials from multiple European countries that have also seen increases in politically motivated violence tied to anarchist and far-left groups.
&#8220;We&#8217;re going to talk about what this threat stream looks like,&#8221; explained a State Department official, &#8220;what kind of targets that it&#8217;s engaging in, what kind of recent acts they&#8217;ve engaged in, what the tools are that we have to address this.&#8221;
A higher-level conference on the issue will be held in Washington, D.C. later this summer and will include officials from Europe, East Asia, and the Western Hemisphere.
The move comes as officials acknowledge a sharp increase in far-left terrorist incidents in the United States and Europe since 2016, particularly in France, Germany, Greece, and Italy.
In France, far-left anarchists <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/attack-train-system-highlights-broad-array-security-threats-paris-olym-rcna163921" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sabotaged a high-speed rail</a> in 2024 before the opening of the Olympic Games, and in 2026, beat a 23-year-old man, Quentin Deranque, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/21/world/quentin-deranque-death-france-intl">to death for his political beliefs</a>. Italy <a href="https://eucrim.eu/news/europol-te-sat-2025/">faced 18 terrorist attacks</a> from far-left militants in 2024, and in 2026, two such left-wing anarchists <a href="https://www.euractiv.com/news/italian-anarchists-blow-themselves-up-while-making-bomb/">blew themselves up</a> on the outskirts of Rome while making a bomb.
In Germany, the number of far-left actors <a href="https://www.bundestag.de/presse/hib/kurzmeldungen-920554">grew</a> from 10,300 in 2021 to 36,500 in 2022 — and a January 2026 Berlin <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/07/europe/berlin-power-outage-intl">power grid attack</a> by left-wing activists caused a five-day outage for more than 100,000 residents.
In Greece, more than 80% of violent events by radical organizations involved far-left and anarchist groups, <a href="https://acleddata.com/brief/radical-group-violence-rise-eu-acled-insight">according to the ACLED</a> (Armed Conflict Location &amp; Event Data), and more than 20 far-left individuals <a href="https://www.ekathimerini.com/news/1230319/16-arrested-over-far-right-assault-on-police-in-athens/">were arrested in 2024 for attacks</a>, including targeting police.
<div id="attachment_1103391" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-state-department-organizing-global-push-against-far-left-terror/anti-government-protest-in-turin" rel="attachment wp-att-1103391"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1103391" class="wp-image-1103391 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/GettyImages-2258719645-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/GettyImages-2258719645-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/GettyImages-2258719645-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/GettyImages-2258719645-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/GettyImages-2258719645.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>Clashes with police and protesters, including numerous anarchists and far-left activists from across Italy and abroad, in Turin, Italy, on January 31, 2026. (Photo by Andrea Carrubba/Anadolu via Getty Images)</div>
Notably, since the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists, officials have noticed an &#8220;increased convergence&#8221; between these far-left groups and those participating in antisemitic violence, a State Department official shared. While they are very concerned about groups like Salafi jihadist terrorist groups, Al-Qaeda, and ISIS, they are also aware of the &#8220;new and emerging threats&#8221; presented by far-left groups and actors — and how all these groups cross over.
&#8220;A lot of these pro-Hamas, very violent groups that are operating in all of our respective countries, that these different groups are starting to converge with what you could call your far-left terrorist groups or anarchist groups, right, that engage in these kinds of terrorist violent acts.&#8221;
The State Department&#8217;s Counterterrorism operating system needs updates to address the reality of these threats, officials said, noting that the Department risks creating blind spots by ignoring these emerging trends.
&#8220;America First means protecting our country, people, and way of life—we are leveraging counterterrorism tools and global partnerships to deter this threat before it metastasizes,&#8221; the State Department official said.
On the home front, the State has already taken steps to dismantle both transnational far-left and anarchist terrorism by using visa restrictions to target individuals and designations against the Antifa aligned groups, Antifa Ost (Germany), Informal Anarchist Federation (Italy), Armed Proletarian Justice (Greece), and Revolutionary Class Self-Defense (Greece).
All of this is specifically targeting violent activity that meets the definition of terrorism, including assassinations, kidnappings, violent threats against U.S. facilities and law enforcement, attacks on critical infrastructure, military personnel, and civilians.
&#8220;Because our focus is international, we&#8217;ve been meeting with a lot of our partners to build a body of knowledge, so that we can better understand what this problem set looks like in their backyards, where there are transnational links, and then we&#8217;re also able to explore some best practices and other types of concerns,&#8221; explained the State Department official.
This specific workshop will be tailored towards far-left terrorism as a phenomenon, whether they engage in violent, terrorist, and criminal acts, particularly given that this area has become a blind spot for some law enforcement. As they take note of the rise in attacks, particularly those targeting critical infrastructure, U.S. partners are noticing that they lack the tools to address them properly.

Gemini_Generated_Image_5i7urp5i7urp5i7u

EXCLUSIVE: State Department Organizing Global Push Against Far-Left Terror

Antifa

Marco Rubio

State Department

This piece is part of MI x DW, a collaboration that brings Daily Wire readers exclusive commentary and research from the Manhattan Institute’s world-class team of scholars.
***
Last month, two Americans were killed in a foreign state’s counterterrorism operation. If Lyle Prijoles, 40, and Kai Dana-Rene Sorem, 26, had been part of a group of jihadi terrorists in the Middle East, their deaths would likely have generated national headlines. But they were in the Philippines, fighting for the New People’s Army (NPA), a decades-old Maoist insurgent group that serves as the armed wing of the <a href="https://www.dni.gov/nctc/terrorist_groups/cpp.html">Communist Party of the Philippines</a> (CPP).
The two appear to have died fighting: many Western reports of the incident explicitly note that Prijoles’s and Sorem’s deaths occurred in a “<a href="https://sfstandard.com/2026/05/06/bay-area-activist-shot-death-philippines-family-wants-answers">firefight</a>,” implying an exchange of fire between both sides. Nor were they fighting on the side of good: both the CPP and NPA <a href="https://www.state.gov/foreign-terrorist-organizations">are designated</a> foreign terrorist organizations by the State Department.
How did two Americans die in a gun battle on behalf of Filipino Communist terrorists? The incident shows how Americans can become <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/article/calla-walsh-unity-of-fields-political-violence">mixed up</a> with terrorist organizations. Such entanglements begin not just overseas but also within political organizing environments in the United States, including college campuses and diaspora advocacy networks. Both the U.S. government and higher education institutions should scrutinize these networks more closely — before more American lives are lost.
Prijoles and Sorem’s radicalization began with two left-wing activist groups: Anakbayan-USA and Bayan-USA. Both operate within segments of the Filipino-American community in the U.S.
The Philippine government has <a href="https://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php/articles/1142763?">long argued</a> that such groups are fronts for the CPP. Through these groups, Filipino Communist influence has extended into segments of the American <a href="https://x.com/thestustustudio/status/1779631853688803684">anti-imperialist</a> and <a href="https://x.com/thestustustudio/status/1989851260229668955">abolitionist</a> organizing space. The party and its aligned networks have also been visible in the anti-Israel protest movement, according to a <a href="https://centerforsecuritypolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Kyle-Shideler-Filipino-Communists-V4.pdf">report</a> by the Center for Security Policy.
Prijoles appears to have been radicalized at San Francisco State University sometime around 2004, eventually <a href="https://reimaginerpe.org/node/2688?qt-join_give_subscribe=1">serving as</a> chair of SFSU’s chapter of the League of Filipino Students. After his death, his wife <a href="https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/san-francisco-community-honors-graduate-student-killed-in-the-philippines">told a local news outlet</a> that “his passion for the community grew while he was a student at SF State.” Prijoles <a href="https://www.ktvu.com/news/hayward-human-rights-activist-among-19-shot-killed-philippines">made several trips</a> to the Philippines after 2006, and <a href="https://ichrpus.wordpress.com/2026/04/24/justice-for-the-negros-19-justice-for-lyle-prijoles">was a leader</a> in the U.S. chapter of the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines.
This activity made him a natural fit for Anakbayan. In 2012, Anakbayan-USA held its Founding Congress; Prijoles <a href="https://anakbayannj.org/2012/05/30/filipino-youth-and-students-hold-founding-congress-of-anakbayan-usa-in-the-midst-of-anti-nato-protests-in-chicago">was elected</a> “<a href="https://anakbayannj.org/2012/05/30/filipino-youth-and-students-hold-founding-congress-of-anakbayan-usa-in-the-midst-of-anti-nato-protests-in-chicago">Solidarity Officer</a>.” After that, his organizing work took on an increasingly <a href="https://sfstandard.com/2026/05/06/bay-area-activist-shot-death-philippines-family-wants-answers">international character</a>, and he grew more and more active on the ground in the Philippines.
Sorem’s radicalization pathway appears to have been shaped by a broader search for political and personal identity, particularly through Filipino diaspora organizing. He served as a <a href="https://housedemocrats.wa.gov/representative-green-with-page-kai-sorem">legislative page</a> for the Democratic Party in Washington State. Like Prijoles, Sorem’s activism was motivated by his Filipino identity. His sibling, PJ Sorem, <a href="https://youtu.be/ni0CUiPq3_0?si=p-brR9ZExx-H5HXH&amp;t=1108">said</a> that this led him to become politically active and organize in the Philippines.
Sorem’s political involvement took a more radical turn in 2020, when he was a student at Central Washington University. According to an <a href="https://www.anakbayanusa.com/statements/hustisya-para-kay-kai-sorem">Anakbayan memorial</a>, Sorem “witnessed state violence and repression through the killing of George Floyd and saw parallels in [Philippines President Rodrigo] Duterte’s war on drugs and the poor.” This apparently inspired Sorem, who <a href="https://www.malayamovement.com/statements/justiceforkai">identified as a trans woman</a>, to see “a future for her people in the National Democratic movement.” Soon after, Sorem launched Anakbayan South Seattle.
Over time, Sorem delved into anti-imperialist politics, including attendance at “<a href="https://iexaminer.org/seattle-activist-kai-sorem-killed-by-philippine-military">international leftist summits</a>” and expanded organizing work. Sorem traveled to the Philippines in 2025 as part of a <a href="https://www.malayamovement.com/statements/justiceforkai">U.S. exposure trip</a> and, by 2026, was living in the Philippines and organizing full-time.
Sorem was a significant figure in the Seattle-Tacoma Filipino activist community. The <a href="https://www.malayamovement.com/statements/justiceforkai">Tacoma chapter of the Malaya Movement</a> praised Sorem’s community role and called for justice after his death. The Seattle chapter of <a href="https://www.gabrielausa.org/">GABRIELA USA</a>, an organization “fighting for the rights of Filipina women and LGBTQGNC [gender non-conforming] people,” also praised Sorem’s local involvement. Sorem’s sibling PJ is a <a href="https://youtu.be/qg6IUcnchVI?si=6DX5jJvmg5Za30ko&amp;t=866">member</a> of this organization’s Seattle branch.
Prijoles and Sorem were not outlier cases but part of a nation- and globe-spanning network of Filipino groups. While they present to the world as focused on mundane ethnic affinity, many of these groups encourage their members into radicalization.
A central ideological principle within these groups is advocacy of “National Democracy.” That refers to a <a href="https://www.marxists.org/history/philippines/index.htm">Marxist-Leninist conception</a> of a people’s democracy led by a Communist vanguard. Though these organizations primarily focus on issues in the Philippines, they also participate in broader international coordination through umbrella formations such as the <a href="https://peoplesstruggle.org/en">International League of Peoples’ Struggles</a>.
The ILPS was founded in 2001 by Jose Maria Sison, founder of the CPP, and several allied international activists. It is widely characterized as part of the broader Maoist-oriented National Democratic movement associated with the CPP. Despite the CPP’s and NPA’s designations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, the ILPS umbrella group has continued to operate in the United States with little scrutiny. It has more than <a href="https://www.ilps.us/general">350 organizations worldwide</a> folded into its network, <a href="https://www.workers.org/2012/us/ilps_0531">including</a> Anakbayan and Bayan.
Before his death in 2022, Sison maintained regular virtual contact with groups like Anakbayan, Bayan, and ILPS. He frequently <a href="https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/854766/cpp-founding-chairman-joma-sison-passes-away/story">appeared</a> at conferences and delivered digital messages — <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGKfWEbv1xg">including</a> to Anakbayan’s Founding Congress. In turn, these groups have continued to <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DXHp0Tqk2ct">invoke</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C3N2C1wgrHu">commemorate</a>, and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DUg3mhxkve3">align themselves</a> with his legacy.
Many of these groups have deep tendrils in American universities; some college professors even display these affiliations on their official faculty pages. At San Francisco State University, where Prijoles was radicalized, Irene Faye Duller’s <a href="https://aas.sfsu.edu/duller-irene-faye">faculty profile</a> references her role as Bayan-USA’s Northern California Regional Coordinator and her work with ILPS. Joy Sales of California State University, Los Angeles describes her work as “<a href="https://alumni.grinnell.edu/awards/2023-alumni-award-profiles-joy-sales">community-engaged scholar</a>” and <a href="https://alumni.grinnell.edu/awards/2023-alumni-award-profiles-joy-sales">references</a> involvement with Anakbayan, among other groups. CVs for University of Washington faculty member <a href="https://aes.washington.edu/sites/aes/files/documents/cv/2024-01/BONUS%20R.%20C.V.%202024.pdf">Rick Bonus</a> and <a href="https://profiles.rice.edu/sites/g/files/bxs3881/files/2022-08/ASMW%20-%20Curriculum%20Vitae%202022.pdf">Alden Sajor Marte-Wood</a>, now at <a href="https://www.vassar.edu/faculty/amartewood">Vassar</a>, advertise roles as advisers or faculty sponsors for Anakbayan student chapters.
Nor is campus activism restricted to professors. The Georgia chapter of the <a href="https://revolutionarystudentsunion.wordpress.com/about-rsu">Revolutionary Student Union</a>, a “socialist mass organization of revolutionary students in the United States,” held a May Day rally in which participants waved an NPA flag and burned an American flag. Commenting on the incident, Center for Security Policy analyst Kyle Shideler <a href="https://x.com/ShidelerK/status/2051477091405770965">observed</a>, “Obviously if they were to display public support for ISIS or Al Qaeda the response would be swift.”
Prijoles and Sorem’s deaths were the tragic results of two Americans going down the radicalization rabbit hole. What started as innocent interest in their national origins ended in their deaths amid a hail of bullets.
Yet almost no one is taking the networks that radicalized them seriously, Shideler warns. Their deaths should be the trigger for U.S. intelligence, law enforcement, and higher education officials to investigate the influence of a designated foreign terror organization on America’s campuses and elsewhere — before more lives are lost.
***
This is republished with permission from the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal. The original can be found <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/article/philippines-communist-party-lyle-prijoles-kai-dana-rene-sorem">here</a>.
<a href="https://www.city-journal.org/person/stu-smith">Stu Smith</a> is an investigative analyst with City Journal. Follow him on X <a href="https://x.com/thestustustudio">@TheStuStuStudio</a>.

PHILIPPINES-POLITICS-COMMUNIST-PEACETALKS

Inside The Filipino Communists Recruiting Americans For Death Missions

Communism

foreign affairs

MI x DW

Radicalization

President Donald Trump announced early Saturday morning that American forces had eliminated a top ISIS official in Africa, a major blow to the radical Islamic terror group.
&#8220;Tonight, at my direction, brave American forces and the Armed Forces of Nigeria flawlessly executed a meticulously planned and very complex mission to eliminate the most active terrorist in the world from the battlefield,&#8221; Trump wrote on Truth Social. &#8220;Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, second in command of ISIS globally, thought he could hide in Africa, but little did he know we had sources who kept us informed on what he was doing.&#8221;
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<a href="https://t.co/qco7EDL923">pic.twitter.com/qco7EDL923</a>
— Department of War 🇺🇸 (@DeptofWar) <a href="https://twitter.com/DeptofWar/status/2055491592107049334?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 16, 2026</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;He will no longer terrorize the people of Africa, or help plan operations to target Americans,&#8221; Trump added. &#8220;With his removal, ISIS’s global operation is greatly diminished.&#8221;
The United States <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/06/16/2023-12870/designation-of-abdallah-makki-muslih-al-rufayi-and-abu-bakr-ibn-muhammad-ibn-ali-al-mainuki-as">named</a> Minuki a &#8220;specially designated global terrorist&#8221; in 2023. A Nigerian native, the Nigerian government says he was likely recently elevated to the number two leadership spot in ISIS. According to U.S. Africa Command, Minuki &#8220;provided strategic guidance to the ISIS global network on media and financial operations as well as the development and manufacturing of weapons, explosives, and drones.&#8221;
&#8220;Al-Minuki was the most active terrorist in the world and has a significant history of involvement in planning attacks and directing hostage taking,&#8221; AFRICOM added.
Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu confirmed the raid in a post on X.
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Overnight, Nigeria and the United States recorded a significant example of effective collaboration in the fight against terrorism.
Our determined Nigerian Armed Forces, working closely with the Armed Forces of the United States, conducted a daring joint operation that dealt a…
— Bola Ahmed Tinubu (@officialABAT) <a href="https://twitter.com/officialABAT/status/2055542303721132368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 16, 2026</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Nigeria appreciates this partnership with the United States in advancing our shared security objectives,&#8221; Tinubu wrote. &#8220;I extend my sincere gratitude to President Trump for his leadership and unwavering support in this effort.&#8221;
AFRICOM said other ISIS leaders were <a href="https://www.africom.mil/pressrelease/36568">killed</a> in the raid, while no American troops were harmed.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Last night&#8217;s operation targeted a significant presence of ISIS fighters in Northeastern Nigeria eliminating multiple high value individuals including Abu-Bilal al-Minuki. <a href="https://t.co/lNj4AMSITH">pic.twitter.com/lNj4AMSITH</a>
— U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) (@USAfricaCommand) <a href="https://twitter.com/USAfricaCommand/status/2055614134851424487?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 16, 2026</a></blockquote>
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“This operation underscores the exceptional value of the U.S.-Nigeria partnership and was made possible through the cooperation and coordination of our forces in recent months,&#8221; Air Force General Dagvin Anderson, commander of U.S. Africa Command, said in a statement. &#8220;Make no mistake, our two nations will relentlessly pursue and neutralize terrorist threats and are committed to protecting our people and interests.”
Nigeria has battled a rise in radical Islamic terrorism in recent years, with groups like ISIS and Boko Haram targeting the country&#8217;s Christian population in particular. Boko Haram <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dozens-killed-in-christian-communities-in-lead-up-to-easter?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Dozens+Feared+Dead+After+Christians+Targeted+In+Holy+Week+Massacre">killed</a> as many as 27 Nigerian Christians during Holy Week this year.

Kashmiri Protesters hold ISIS flags while making gestures

Trump Reveals Strike On ‘The Most Active Terrorist In The World’

Donald Trump

Nigeria

U.S. Military

Hamas relies on two strategies to wage its war of annihilation against Israel: heinous brutality and PR from sympathetic Westerners. It tries to make Israelis’ lives hell in hopes that the Jews will simply give up on living in their ancestral homeland, and then maximizes Palestinians’ suffering — real and imagined — so the West will force Israel to stop fighting the terrorists bent on its destruction. Re-arm and repeat.
On those criteria, the State-designated foreign terrorist organization (FTO) had a good week last week. New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof preempted a painstakingly researched report on the unfathomably cruel barbarism Hamas inflicted on Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023, by publishing an essay on Israel’s “systematic sexual violence…widely practiced as part of an organized state policy” against Palestinians. If Israel does indeed train dogs to rape Palestinian prisoners, then perhaps it’s fair to conclude, as Kristof did, that “The horrific abuse inflicted on Israeli women on Oct. 7 now happens to Palestinians day after day.”
Such a conclusion does exceptional PR for Hamas. Drawing an explicit moral equivalency between Hamas and Israel, it is designed to cause Americans to abandon their support for the Jewish state, a crucial stratagem for the terrorist group in its long war of attrition.
Perhaps that’s not a coincidence. At least two of Kristof’s sources for the essay appear to be Hamas-affiliated. If so, Kristof has likely committed a serious federal crime.
American anti-terrorism laws are designed to be extremely broad. Congress passed the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 to prohibit the provision of “material support” to designated FTOs. Material support includes many things, including money, personnel, and in-kind benefits known as “services.”
Our material-support laws can even criminalize some behavior you might expect to be protected by the First Amendment. In the famous 2010 case, Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, the Supreme Court ruled that even providing legal advice to a designated FTO could be prosecuted — even if the advice only helped the terrorist group engage in legitimate, non-criminal activity. A 6-3 Court reiterated Congress’s finding that terrorist groups “are so tainted by their criminal conduct that any contribution to such an organization facilitates that conduct.”
The Court took pains to emphasize that “independent advocacy” for a cause is protected freedom of speech, but not all speech necessarily counts as independent: “a person of ordinary intelligence would understand the term ‘service’ to cover advocacy performed in coordination with, or at the direction of, a foreign terrorist organization.” Such advocacy could be criminally prosecuted.
That appears to describe exactly what Kristof did. His advocacy clearly provides an important service to Hamas — a crucial part of its criminal enterprise, even if the service itself would not be a crime if done independently. That much is clear from Kristof’s reliance on a group called Euro-Med, which provided the quote about Israel’s “state policy” of authorizing “sexual violence” and other grotesque details Kristof retells as fact.
Kristof calls Euro-Med “critical of Israel.” That understates it a bit. Euro-Med has been the source of a host of conspiracy theories about Israel, including the accusation that Israel has been <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/investigation-must-be-opened-israels-potential-use-banned-thermal-weapons-which-cause-victims-bodies-melt-or-evaporate-enar">vaporizing</a> Palestinians and digging up graves to <a href="https://euromedmonitor.org/en/article/5982/Int%25E2%2580%2599l-committee-must-investigate-Israel%25E2%2580%2599s-holding-of-dead-bodies-in-Gaza%25E2%2580%258B">harvest</a> Palestinian organs. If that seems like the kind of Big Lie straight out of Hamas’s playbook — and the kind that could start a rumor about Israel training dogs to rape prisoners — that’s no coincidence.
Euro-Med’s current and former chairmen have been <a href="https://nbctf.mod.gov.il/he/Announcements/Documents/%25D7%2599%25D7%259C%25D7%25A7%25D7%2595%25D7%2598%2520%25D7%2594%25D7%25A4%25D7%25A8%25D7%25A1%25D7%2595%25D7%259E%25D7%2599%25D7%259D%25206719%2520-%2520%25D7%25A2%25D7%259E%25D7%2595%25D7%2593%25202234.pdf">listed</a> as Hamas operatives for over a decade. Its founder, Ramy Abdu, has been a regular panelist at Hamas events, often appearing alongside senior Hamas leaders, including Osama Hamdan. Abdu’s brother-in-law was a known Hamas operative; his brother was recently arrested in Italy for funneling money to Hamas.
The repeated uncritical quotations of Euro-Med are suspicious enough. But the kicker is the first-named source in Kristof’s piece. Sami al-Sai claims he was sexually assaulted by Israeli prison guards after he was detained in 2024. What Kristof does not mention is that al-Sai was detained <a href="https://cpj.org/data/people/sami-al-sai/">for being a member of Hamas</a>. Al-Sai has <a href="https://x.com/HonestReporting/status/2054300908637557231?s=20">admitted</a> that he has done projects on Hamas’s behalf. Even other Palestinian groups have accused him of serving as a recruiter for the terrorist group. Not giving readers a sense of al-Sai’s background, which is quite relevant to his reliability, reflects poorly on Kristof’s journalism. But more so, meeting with a member of Hamas before advocating on his, and by extension, his organization’s behalf could be prosecuted as a criminal offense.
To be clear, Kristof does not admit to working together with Euro-Med in any way, so it would be difficult to prove material support for terrorism through Euro-Med on the basis of the existing public record. Further investigation could turn up evidence of closer collaboration. But Kristof’s meetings with al-Sai and subsequent advocacy that explicitly and repeatedly draw moral equivalencies between Hamas and Israel in a way that advances Hamas’s interests may be enough to warrant a material support prosecution. Whether Kristof’s essay constitutes a crime may come down to whether al-Sai is a member or representative of Hamas. The public record suggests there may be enough evidence to convince a jury.
To many Americans, this suggestion will seem like a massive First Amendment violation. How can an essay constitute a crime? The answer is that the First Amendment does not do what so many Americans think it does. It does not protect all expressive conduct, or even all journalism. Significant national security concerns, such as starving terrorist groups of all support, can outweigh protections for speech. Indeed, a hypothetical prosecution of Kristof is not far off from what Holder contemplates. And as the Department of Justice under President Donald Trump has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/us/don-lemon-plea-minnesota-church-protest-case.html">made clear</a>, no one gets a free pass to commit illegal activities by claiming journalist immunity.
Aiding the world’s most heinous organizations is illegal, no matter what prestigious institution you work for, or whether your aid came in the form of words. You can engage in independent advocacy, but as soon as you start meeting with apparent members of terrorist groups, you have invited legal trouble. Whether that trouble comes in the form of a criminal indictment remains to be seen — but if it does, no one should be terribly surprised.   
***
Tal Fortgang is a legal policy fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

The New York Times

Is The New York Times Employing A Terrorist Sympathizer?

Hamas

Journalism

Nick Kristof

WASHINGTON — The new White House Counter Terrorism Strategy promises &#8220;rapid identification and neutralization of violent secular political groups,&#8221; including those subscribing to transgender ideology, The Daily Wire has learned.
The long-awaited report was published Wednesday afternoon and examines threats of terrorism to the United States from all angles. It also includes a strong threat from President Donald Trump to any adversary who plans to hurt Americans: “We Will Find You and We Will Kill You.”
During a call with reporters on Wednesday, Sebastian Gorka, the senior director for counterterrorism at the White House National Security Council, slammed previous administrations for ignoring or underplaying real threats while weaponizing agencies against Americans, especially Americans of faith.
&#8220;As real threats were ignored or underplayed, Americans have witnessed the politically motivated killings of Christians and conservatives increasingly committed by violent Left-wing extremists, including the assassination of my friend Charlie Kirk by a radical who espoused extremist transgender ideologies,&#8221; the counterterrorism senior director said. 
The Trump White House is taking that threat very seriously, he noted, and, in addition to the threats posed by cartels and by Jihadist groups, it is specifically focused on &#8220;violent secular political groups.&#8221;
&#8220;In addition to cartels and Islamist terror groups, our national counterterrorism activities will prioritize the rapid identification and neutralization of violent secular political groups whose ideology is anti-American, radically pro-gender, or anarchist, such as Antifa,&#8221; Gorka explained. &#8221; We will use all the tools constitutionally available to us to map them at home, identify their membership, map their ties to international organizations like Antifa, and use law enforcement tools to cripple them operationally before they can maim or kill the innocent.&#8221; 
The Trump administration will do the same with state sponsors of groups and governments who are undertaking lethal plots on U.S. soil or against Americans anywhere, he added.
Gorka told The Daily Wire on Wednesday that the United States is seeing a &#8220;resurgence of violent Left-wing ideologies.&#8221; 
&#8220;This is familiar to anyone who&#8217;s studied modern terrorism,&#8221; he noted. &#8220;The age of modern terrorism actually begins in the 1920s with the anarchist movement in Russia. Over time it has morphed. It has developed.&#8221;
The National Counter Terrorism senior director pointed to the slew of violence that trans-identifying individuals have committed against Christians in recent years.
&#8220;Sadly,&#8221; he said, &#8220;if you look at the manifestos of individuals who have undertaken successful attacks on the innocent, the justifications for the likes of Audrey Hale, the Covenant School shooter, if you look at Tyler Robinson &#8230; the assassin of Charlie Kirk, if you look at Robin or Robert Westman, the murderer of the little children at the Annunciation Catholic School last year, we see an ideology that ostensibly began by preaching tolerance, being used by specific actors to wage violence against the most innocent little children at Catholic schools, at churches.&#8221; 
&#8220;This is a threat we will take very seriously, whether you are Right-wing inspired or Left-wing inspired,&#8221; Gorka emphasized. &#8220;The point at which you advocate for violence or use violence yourself for political purposes means you are actually undertaking terrorism and we will not permit that to happen on the United States.&#8221; 
Charlie Kirk’s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-last-questions-charlie-kirk-answered-were-about-a-trans-gun-ban-that-initiative-is-stalled">last conversation before he was assassinated centered</a> on the disturbing rise in transgender violence: he was addressing the question of whether or not the Justice Department should ban guns for people who identify as transgender. Authorities said that he was killed by Tyler Robinson, who was charged with shooting Kirk in the neck.
Robinson lived with his “transgender partner,” a male named Lance Twiggs, who identifies as a transgender woman.
Weeks before Kirk&#8217;s death, on August 27, 2025, trans-identifying shooter Robert Westman <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/what-we-know-about-the-trans-identifying-gunman-who-slaughtered-catholic-school-children" target="_blank" rel="noopener">killed Catholic school children</a> before taking his own life. And Westman’s attack came just two years after another trans-identifying killer targeted Christian school children in Nashville.
&#8220;It is the great irony of the modern age that we have a political side of the aisle that preaches acceptance and tolerance while at the same time cheering the death of people like my friend Charlie Kirk or assassination attempts against my boss President Trump,&#8221; Gorka said on Wednesday. 
&#8220;We will not permit politically motivated violence in the United States from either side of the aisle, but the sad truth is the Left has far more politically motivated assassinations or attempted assassinations to its credit in recent years, not the Right.&#8221;

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