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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Chapter 2: How are Iranian-linked groups recruiting spies for anti-Semitic attacks?
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Chapter 3: What specific incidents of arson attacks have occurred in Europe?
To see how HP helps businesses work securely and productively, visit hp.com forward slash classified. The Restless Classified listeners also benefit from 10% off HP business technology with code T-R-I-C-10. Well, hello and welcome to a very special bonus episode of The Rest is Classified.
Gordon Carrera is not with me today, which is, you know, it could be good or bad, depending on your persuasion, but he is off. And instead, I am joined by the award-winning CNN international correspondent, Jamana Karadja, who for more than two decades has been reporting extensively from countries all across the Middle East and North Africa and has been integral
to the amazing CNN coverage that is coming out of that region. And she is here today with us to discuss in particular her latest investigation into whether Ron Link groups are recruiting individuals, sometimes through social media, to carry out arson attacks against mostly Jewish communities across Europe.
I think we're also going to have a really interesting and wide-ranging conversation about what's going on in the region now and kind of how Iranian intelligence is conducting operations in the midst of this conflict. So, Giovanna, thank you so much for being here and welcome to The Rest Is Classified. It's great to be here with you, David.
Jamal, maybe first, you have spearheaded this really fascinating investigation into how these Iranian intelligence-linked groups are recruiting people across Europe in an attempt to conduct a range of horrific attacks. Could you just tell us a bit about this investigation, what you found as you dug into this?
Well, you know, David, back in March, that's when we started seeing these arson attacks targeting mostly Jewish sites, Jewish organizations, synagogues in different parts of Europe. I think the one that grabbed everyone's attention was that massive attack in the predominantly Jewish area of Golders Green in North London that targeted the volunteer ambulance service, the Hitzola.
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Chapter 4: Who are the suspects involved in these attacks?
I mean, those pictures at that time shocked so many in London. That was at the end of March, and that was the first attack that took place in the UK. And it was claimed by a group that we'd never heard of before, Harekat Ashab al-Yameen al-Islamiyah, known as HAYI. And this is a group that emerged just a few days after the war in Iran began.
And we started looking and it had claimed several attacks in Belgium, the Netherlands, France. And then you had that first attack in the UK and then several others that followed the following week. And we started hearing from different security experts. and British authorities as well, that they were investigating and looking into Iran's links to this group that appeared only really online.
Their claims of responsibility, propaganda videos, would pop up on telegram channels that are run by the Iranian-backed Shia groups in Iraq.
Chapter 5: What methods are being used to recruit young individuals for these operations?
And so, you know, all everything was, you know, pointing towards Iran being involved in these attacks and that this group, as some experts were telling us, appears to be a front for the IRGC. And that's really how we started digging into what is going on. Who is this group? How are they operating in the UK or Europe?
And, you know, when you look at the suspects, David, in most of these arson attacks that Most of them seem to be young teenagers in a lot of these cases. And the question was, how are they being recruited, right? And that's how we started really digging into it.
How are they being recruited? Because it does seem, I guess, on the face of it that... With some of these suspects, there wouldn't be this ideological impulse that's drawing them into it. But as you've dug into it, I mean, what is the motivation or what are the motivations for people getting involved in this?
So we're still waiting to hear from the British authorities and others in Europe about how these young people are being recruited. But they have been looking into whether they're using criminal proxies to hire them. Are they using gangs?
Chapter 6: How does the Iranian intelligence connect to these groups?
This is a tactic that we've seen the Iranian intelligence use in the past in places like Sweden and Germany. That is one possibility there. The other one is online recruitment. That's how we started really digging into these online channels and how easy it is to recruit young people these days. It literally is one click away.
And we heard from one of the suspects in the UK, a 17-year-old who targeted the Kenton Synagogue in Northwest London, that firebomb attack. The 17-year-old in a statement said he had no idea that this was a synagogue. that he has nothing against the Jewish people. So that, of course, raised questions. What are these kids being told that they're doing?
Did he not Google the address before he did it? Did he just... I don't know, do you buy it? I guess is maybe the question, like, or do you think that's part of the defense?
I mean, it's very difficult to get into because of, you know, the regulations in the UK and what was said in court. But I can tell you this, we went to the synagogue. it's hard to miss what it was, right? You can see the Hebrew writing outside. You can see a big menorah as well outside. So it's clearly a synagogue.
And then in the case of another 17-year-old in Belgium, we spoke with his lawyer who described, you know, the situation with this kid. She said he was used as cannon fodder, that they're getting paid to carry out these attacks, not really understanding what it is that they're doing and who they're doing it for.
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Chapter 7: What is the impact of anti-Western sentiment in the Middle East?
And you just look at it, this model, it's quite a powerful tool, whether it is the Iranians, because we can't confirm that it's the Iranians behind it, but we've heard authorities in the different countries saying that this is really what they're looking into. Whoever is behind this, it's cheap, It's easy.
It has a devastating impact on the communities that are being targeted when it comes to the Jewish community, especially when we've spoken with people. And then it also gives them that incredible kind of plausible deniability where you have these different layers of who's doing the recruitment, how they're doing the recruitment, who is filming this, who's posting these videos.
You've got several layers to whoever is ordering this at the end.
I wanted to ask you about that because I know you can't confirm it, but given your own analysis and the security experts you've spoken to, what's the best, I guess, hypothesis for how this ladders up to Iran? How does it actually connect up into the IRGC, let's say?
So let's look at this case with these arson attacks with Harekat Ashab al-Yami, online group We've not seen it before, just popped up days after Iran is under pressure, Israel and the US are attacking Iran, and all of a sudden you have these attacks taking place in Western capitals.
And it looks like quite a powerful threat or message because at the beginning, right, up until a stabbing attack that was claimed by Ashab al-Yameen, no one really got hurt in these arson attacks that were taking place late at night. It was a message and a very powerful one that this war doesn't necessarily have to stay contained in this region.
You started looking into the group and its links, and we had reporting that no one else had a source that is close to Kata'ib Hezbollah the most powerful of Iranian-backed Iraqi Shia militias, paramilitary groups, a source close to Kitab Hezbollah told us that the groups, Harakat Ashab al-Yamin and Kitab Hezbollah are linked, and that some members of Hayy are Iraqi.
And at the same time as well, we started looking into these different telegram groups where these claims were first appearing.
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Chapter 8: How are Jordanian citizens reacting to the conflict in Iran?
Two days before the first attack happened, this was, I think, on the 9th of March, a message comes up on one of these groups that is linked to Qatab Hezbollah, and it says, coming soon in Arabic. So you could see all these, you know, links to Iran. But I think the most significant thing was this recent arrest in the U.S., or it actually happened outside the U.S., of an Iraqi,
individual who, according to some media reports, was arrested in Turkey. And he was taken to New York and he appeared in court. He was charged. And this guy is a leader in Qatar of Hezbollah that U.S. prosecutors say
Coordinated or inspired 18 attacks, including those attacks that we've been talking about, and plots as well, targeting Jewish targets in the U.S., in New York, in L.A., and Arizona. And this guy, you know, there are photos of him with Qasem Soleimani from the old days, right? So, I mean, you look at all these, you know, different threads.
And I think up until that announcement came from the US recently, there was a lot of speculation. And then you see those links very clear there. And according to US prosecutors, they say that the way they got him was he was trying to recruit people A person he thought was a member of the cartel to carry out attacks in the U.S. and offering to pay them in crypto.
But that person was an undercover FBI agent.
Interesting.
And that's how they managed to get him, right? So I think that made that link between Iraqi militias, Iran, the IRGC, of course, as it pretty much backs and controls very much the Iraqi paramilitary groups. It was very, very clear when we saw that.
You know, it's interesting on the cartel front. I believe... that there was an attempt, I think it might have actually been linked to the attempt to, this was 12, 13 years ago, to try to kill the Saudi ambassador to the US in Washington.
And I believe that the Iranians in that instance had also attempted to use someone linked to a cartel to either conduct the assassination or to help smuggle something across the border. So there's definitely some connection there. I'm curious, In your investigation, you actually interacted to some degree with this group on the Telegram channel that they operate.
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