While the investigation is still ongoing, some details about the suspect have been released. Authorities say Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a U.S. Army veteran, was behind the assault in which a truck was driven into a dense crowd in New Orleans' French Quarter a few hours after midnight, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens more. Jabbar, who died in a shoot-out with police, had pledged loyalty to the Islamic State group in online videos posted on Dec. 31, according to the FBI. It represents the first major assault on an American city by an individual purportedly influenced by the Islamic State group, or one of its affiliates, since a 2017 truck assault in New York City that killed eight. The New Orleans attack, like that earlier incident, underscores an important point: While the Islamic State group's territorial caliphate ' the area in Syria and Iraq in which it assumed both political and religious authority and sought to enforce its interpretation of Islamic law ' has been dismantled, the group's ability to inspire acts of terror on U.S. soil through online propaganda and ideological influence remains alarmingly potent....

France is famously strict on enforcing what it calls 'laicite': keeping religion out of the public sphere. Yet more than 7,500 private schools receive government funding, and most are Catholic. In a country where about 1 in 10 people are Muslim, just three Muslim high schools receive state support ' or did. In December 2023, local authorities of the French Ministry of the Interior confirmed a decision to revoke state funding from Lycee Averroes, France's largest and most acclaimed private Muslim high school. Authorities cited 'serious breaches of the fundamental principles of the Republic,' raised concerns over certain texts in religious education classes, and accused administrators of opaque financial management, among various alleged infractions. Lycee Averroes, located in the suburbs of Lille, opened in 2003 and was granted state funding in 2008. In 2013, it was named the best high school in France, according to the Parisien newspaper's rankings, and has consistently ranked among the region's best in recent years. Teachers and administrators pride themselves on being dedicated to both French Republican and Islamic values. As our research has shown, the school often goes above and beyond to teach civic values such as equality and laicite....

In the aftermath of Hamas' bloody raid into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, many Israelis and people around the world equated the newly ultraviolent and audacious Palestinian militant organization with the world's deadliest terrorist group, ISIS ' the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for example, linked the two groups directly on Oct. 25, 2023, stating: 'Hamas is ISIS and ISIS is Hamas.' President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made similar comparisons. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Hamas killing families 'brings to mind the worst of ISIS.' There are plenty of reasons for Israel to want the world to think Hamas is ISIS ' including the hope of marshaling the sort of overseas support that led to the 2014 creation of the 86-member Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. In fighting between 2014 and 2019, the coalition reclaimed all the territory the Islamic State group had seized in Iraq and Syria. And it is true that the Oct. 7 attack displayed tactics that are remarkably similar to those of the Islamic State group. But as a scholar of ISIS specifically, and Middle Eastern militants in general, I am inclined to agree with those who say the comparison between the two terrorist groups overlooks their underlying differences. The similarities are on the surface, in methods and tactics ' but their goals and ideologies remain vastly different....

On Nov. 14, President Sally Kornbluth launched Standing Together Against Hate (STAH), a community-driven initiative coordinated by Chancellor Melissa Nobles. The initiative will support efforts led by MIT faculty, staff, students, and the administration to come together, MIT-style, to use our problem-solving skills to address antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of hate. Chancellor Nobles spoke with MIT News about the early efforts she is seeing ' both at the grassroots level and institutionally ' in support of this effort. Hateful actions, whatever the motivation, cannot be addressed by leadership alone. Instead, dealing effectively with hate will involve all of us, fostering innovative, collaborative, MIT-specific offerings embedded in our day-to-day lives. Senior leadership can offer strategic cultivation and support along the way. For example, members of Academic Council, which includes MIT's senior leaders and the chair of the faculty, will be undertaking training on antisemitism as well as Islamophobia in the coming semester. Our DEI staff, many of whom have already had such training, will also be taking a refresher program....