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A group that did not exist online or anywhere else before March 9, 2026, has suddenly claimed responsibility for a string of low-tech arson and attempted bombings at synagogues and US banks across Belgium, the Netherlands, France, and the UK.

Mainstream outlets like FT and counter-terrorism analysts are rushing to label Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia (HAYI, or "Ashab al-Yamin") as an Iranian intelligence "hybrid warfare" front. But a closer look raises serious red flags: the group's amateurish execution, suspiciously perfect timing amid the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, and a pattern that seems tailor-made to stoke the antisemitism narrative and justify further crackdowns on Tehran and its proxies.

The first claim surfaced on March 9 via Telegram channels tied to Iraqi pro-Iranian militias. Two days later, HAYI took credit for firebombing a synagogue in Liège, Belgium. Subsequent claims included attacks on a Rotterdam synagogue (March 13), a Jewish school in Amsterdam (March 14), a site linked to Bank of New York Mellon in Amsterdam (March 16), Hatzola Jewish ambulances in London's Golders Green (March 23), and a foiled plot outside Bank of America in Paris (March 28). An attempted synagogue strike in Heemstede, Netherlands, was also stopped on March 20. Some other claims, including an alleged Greece attack - appear to be outright disinformation.

European police have rounded up suspects aged 14-23. In the Netherlands, at least 10 arrests. France charged four, including minors. In the UK, three young men (two Brits aged 19–20 and a 17-year-old dual national) were charged with the London ambulance arson, with a fourth arrest. 

Orthodox Jewish communities in London and elsewhere have their own ambulances operated by Hatzola (also spelled Hatzolah or Hatzalah), a private volunteer-run, community-funded emergency medical service.

French prosecutors revealed one teen claimed he was recruited on Snapchat, offered €500–€1,000, and initially told the "bomb" was revenge on a cheating girlfriend - before being instructed to film it for the cause. Many suspects were released on bail.

The "group" that wasn't there yesterday

Researchers at the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT) note HAYI had "no known references, neither online nor offline" before March 9. Its statements contain linguistic quirks, misspellings, and inconsistencies. Claims were amplified almost immediately by channels linked to IRGC-aligned militias—yet the operation relies on disposable online recruits for pocket-change jobs. Julian Lanchès at ICCT called it unusual and suggested an Iranian intelligence project for deniability.

Doubts regarding the authenticity of HAYI are, however, not only raised by the appearance of its Telegram channel and the likely falsely claimed attack in Greece, but also by inconsistencies within the claim material itself. For example, the videos contain noticeable linguistic errors. Further, the Arabic inscription beneath the group’s logo, which closely resembles the flag of Hezbollah and other pro-Axis groups, except for featuring a Soviet SVD sniper rifle instead of the more typical AK-style imagery, includes multiple mistakes, including the misspelling of the word “Islamic.”

Skeptics aren't buying it. The Grayzone's Wyatt Reed highlighted glaring questions: Why aren't these "Iranian" operatives hitting targets in countries most aggressively involved in the war on Iran? Why the focus on symbolic Jewish and U.S. bank sites with minimal actual damage and zero casualties? Why do some communiqués contain phrasing that reads like it was generated with odd Israeli terminology quirks (e.g., references to "the Land of Israel")? And why were multiple suspects quickly released on bail while the "terror campaign" narrative rolls on?

MintPress News investigative piece by David Miller goes further, arguing HAYI looks like a fabricated "fake Iranian terror group" invented precisely to accelerate efforts to proscribe the IRGC as a terrorist organization across Europe - long a goal of pro-Israel lobbying networks amid the Iran war.

Cui bono? The timing is impeccable

The wave of attacks kicked off right as U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran intensified in late February 2026. Jewish communities were already on edge from post-October 7, 2023, tensions. UK groups like the Community Security Trust linked the London incident to rising antisemitism. Dutch officials openly probed "Iranian involvement." U.S. banks in Paris told staff to work from home. All of it feeds a story that Iran is exporting chaos. 

Who’s behind the bombings in Jewish areas in Europe? @wyattreed13 says major questions remain about “Ashab Al-Yamin”:

Why aren’t they targeting countries most involved in the Iran war?

Why are suspects being released on bail?

And why do they seem to communicate like Israelis? pic.twitter.com/LS1eNGlHyr

— The Grayzone (@TheGrayzoneNews) March 30, 2026

Iran's London embassy flatly denied involvement, calling the claims "unfounded" and reaffirming non-interference. But in the current climate, denials are dismissed as standard procedure.

Online discourse is split  - with some X posts and independent commentary (including from figures who faced backlash) have pointed to Mossad-style operations, citing historical precedents and the fact that the attacks generate maximum narrative value with minimum real risk. A UK mayor in Bath resigned after sharing posts suggesting the Hatzola ambulance arson was staged.

Even some mainstream analysts admit the group operates like a hastily assembled brand.

To analyse the activities of HAYI, we examined its digital footprint, including the first public mentions of the attacks online and the initial dissemination of the corresponding claim videos. This analysis was conducted using the OSINT tools XNetwork and TGStat, which were queried using Arabic-language keywords. In addition, an AI-based detection tool was employed, which indicated that all claim videos were likely genuine recordings. 

There are no known references, neither online nor offline, to HAYI prior to 9 March, when a post of the group was circulated in a Telegram channel seemingly affiliated with the Iraqi pro-Iranian militia Liwa Zulfiqar. In this post, HAYI announced “the start of its military operations against US and Israeli interests around the world,” although it made no reference to the attack against the synagogue in Liège that occurred on the same day. This would suggest that HAYI is a new group, established for the purpose of this bombing campaign. -Julian Lanchès, ICCT

Recruitment teens via Snapchat and Telegram for one-off gigs isn't exactly what hardened jihadists do - is it?

If the group known as "Ashab al-Yamin" isn't a Mossad front group, it's worst larp I've ever seen.

— Quinlan Forrest (@quinforr) March 31, 2026

Hybrid warfare... or hybrid narrative?

Pro-Iran voices and anti-war skeptics argue this fits a familiar playbook: manufacture or exaggerate a threat, amplify it through friendly think-tanks (some with clear ideological alignments), then use the panic to justify expanded surveillance, sanctions, military posture, and silencing dissent on Gaza or Iran policy. The low-body-count, property-only focus maximizes fear without crossing into "existential terror" that might backfire.

Whether HAYI is a sloppy Iranian cutout using disposable locals, a pure astroturf job, or something more orchestrated to serve specific agendas remains under investigation. Meanwhile the story has already succeeded in sowing anxiety, polarizing communities, and providing fresh ammunition for those pushing Europe deeper into the Iran conflict.

Submitted by Thomas Kolbe

Politics has established a new routine. Right at 12 noon, prices at German gas stations now rise day after day.

The government’s pricing decree, a hastily assembled mechanism, acts like an accelerant in an already dramatically strained fuel supply situation. Anyone with rudimentary economic understanding already knew that this form of price regulation would amount to political posturing with fatal consequences.

The market is reacting as expected. Gas station operators anticipate general price increases and indirectly coordinate their pricing behavior. If everyone is only allowed to raise prices once per day, that shot will be fired deliberately — better too high than too low. After that, it becomes a waiting game, observing how competitors react. If the next move can only be a price reduction, the risk can be solved in simple game-theoretical terms: prices are simply kept high as long as competitors do not move.

This creates a cartel-like situation that avoids the risk of rapid price cuts and the resulting loss of individual margins.

Market dynamics thus turn into generalized tactical hesitation. At the same time, political leadership is marked by a striking lack of direction in the face of real scarcity and a rapidly worsening supply situation. Hormuz is exposing the limits of political emergency measures.

The measures taken so far by the German government to curb rising prices are classic political camouflage — a well-rehearsed play for the public. The fundamental question of how to deal with energy imports is not being seriously addressed. Europe must import 60 percent of its energy to meet demand. And the stubborn stance toward Russia, Europe’s most important supplier of energy and raw materials, will likely prove to be the most fatal mistake of European policy — quite an achievement, given that it is already riddled with misjudgments and ideologically driven, erratic decisions.

It is also significant that Brussels’ CO2 regime has severely damaged Europe’s refining capacity. Europe no longer has the infrastructure required to rapidly activate refining capacity in an emergency and close the widening gap in oil and gas supply, regardless of where new raw materials might be sourced.

EU policy is knowingly and deliberately escalating the current situation. This finding applies in particular to jet fuel imports. Europe’s aviation sector imports around 40 percent of its jet fuel from the Persian Gulf, making the current situation effectively unsolvable.

Since the beginning of the war, the price of jet fuel has roughly doubled, from $800 to $1,800 per ton.

The fact that the United States is taking its time to bring the Strait of Hormuz under military control is putting enormous pressure on European airlines. Scandinavian carrier SAS has already canceled 1,000 flights in April. Lufthansa is also considering grounding parts of its fleet.

Airlines that have hedged their fuel purchases may be able to cushion price increases somewhat — Lufthansa among them — but this does nothing to address the physical shortage of available jet fuel. Europe is on the verge of a massive jet fuel shortfall.

On April 9, the last tanker carrying jet fuel from the Persian Gulf will reach Rotterdam; existing reserves are likely to sustain European flight operations for three to four weeks. What happens afterward remains completely uncertain.

Given the destruction of refining capacity and related infrastructure in the name of the Green Deal, European policymakers find their hands effectively tied. The Hormuz crisis is likely to erupt with full force. If there is no rapid resolution to the Iran conflict, a loss of 40% of available jet fuel simply cannot be compensated.

Brussels could activate one of its favorite instruments and, by means of an EU emergency regulation — similar to the early days of the Ukraine conflict — enforce rationing measures for private jets and long-haul flights. The immediate release of idle commercial refining reserves, particularly in the major port regions of Rotterdam, Antwerp, and Amsterdam, would also be an option. Purchasing expensive jet fuel in North America with heavy subsidies might provide a short-term alternative to prevent a collapse in air traffic.

No matter how the acute fuel shortage in Europe develops in the coming weeks: the damage has already been done. The structural damage caused by European policy in its obsessive fight against CO2 is now becoming visible in its full dramatic depth. Refining capacity cannot be restored overnight, and the world is now engaged in an intensified competition for the remaining circulating fuel supplies.

That prices will continue to rise for the time being is inevitable; the campaign of degrowth ideologues against individual mobility, air travel, and combustion engines is experiencing an unexpected moment of triumph. 

For civilization as a whole, this is a catastrophe — for individuals who have made themselves comfortable in the subsidized world of idle ideologues, it is indeed a victory. Yet it is unmistakably a Pyrrhic victory.

* * * 

About the author: Thomas Kolbe is a German graduate economist. For over 25 years, he has worked as a journalist and media producer for clients from various industries and business associations. As a publicist, he focuses on economic processes and observes geopolitical events from the perspective of the capital markets. His publications follow a philosophy that focuses on the individual and their right to self-determination

Global perceptions of the United States are shifting.

Data from the Munich Security Conference shows a clear decline in trust across advanced and emerging economies.

This visualization, created by Visual Capitalist's Julia Wendling, in partnership with Inigo, provides visual context to these shifting perceptions and highlights where sentiment is changing fastest. These shifts reflect a broader reassessment of alliances in a more uncertain world.

Declining Trust Across Allies

Among traditional allies, the drop in trust is sharp. Canada records the steepest decline at -52%. Italy follows at -21%. France stands at -17%.

Germany and Japan also show meaningful declines at -15% and -16%. The United Kingdom is down -13%. These are not isolated moves. They point to weakening confidence across long-standing partnerships.

Policy uncertainty is one key driver. Shifting trade positions and tariff threats have strained economic relationships. Rhetoric around territorial expansion has also raised concerns, including proposals to annex Greenland and suggestions that Canada could become the 51st state.

At the same time, security concerns are rising across Europe. A January 2026 Eurobarometer poll shows 43% of respondents in France and 32% in Germany support higher defense spending. This suggests allies are preparing for a more uncertain security environment.

Emerging Economies Reflect Similar Trends

The pattern extends beyond Western allies. Brazil and South Africa both decline by more than -20%. India and China show smaller but still negative shifts at -10% and -9%.

This suggests a broad reset in global sentiment. It is not driven by one region alone. Strategic uncertainty is rising across markets.

A Rocky Road Ahead

The data points to a more fragmented global landscape. Trust in the United States is declining across multiple regions. At the same time, countries are preparing for greater uncertainty.

Rising defense support in Europe reinforces this shift. Public sentiment is signaling change. Global alliances may be entering a new phase.

The New York Times confirmed that U.S. Special Forces operators were behind the recovery of the second crew member from the downed F-15E fighter jet, locating and extracting the weapons systems officer in a daring overnight mission deep inside Iranian territory.

Confirmed presence of Seal Team 6 in pilot rescue op moved the "US forces entering Iran" market to 100%.

Per NYT: "Navy SEAL Team 6 commandos extracted the officer in a massive operation that involved hundreds of special operations troops and other military personnel." https://t.co/szkJUBbP5s pic.twitter.com/W05LYaRDBv

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) April 5, 2026

The pilot had been recovered earlier, while the second airman remained hidden from Iranian forces for days as Special Forces operators raced to reach his position before Iranian forces did.

Around 200 soldiers from special operations units participated in the operation, Trump told Axios.

Trump said the Iranian military shot down the F-15 using a shoulder-fired missile. "They got lucky."

Speaking to Axios an hour after confirming the rescue, Trump said that "thousands of these savages were hunting him down," using that loaded term to refer to members of the Iranian military.

"Even the population was looking for him. They offered people a bonus if they captured him."

The officer hid in a crevice in the mountain, Trump said, and the U.S. managed to spot him with its technology.

Trump said that the U.S. military had "beeping information" about the officer's location.

But after a radio message, officials suspected he might be in Iranian captivity and the Iranians were "sending false signals" to try to lure U.S. forces into a trap.

One of the key devices that appears to have helped the survival and recovery of both pilots was Boeing’s Combat Survivor Evader Locator, or CSEL, a secure communications device that can transmit encrypted location and status bursts without exposing their position to enemy forces.

CSEL is a combat search-and-rescue survival radio system used by downed aircrew. Its purpose is to help rescue forces quickly and securely locate, authenticate, and communicate with a survivor without allowing enemy forces to triangulate the survivor’s position.

Israeli-based Ynetnews provided more context on how critical CSEL was to the survival of both aircrew members and how important it was for location and extraction operations:

To evade Iran’s advanced electronic warfare systems, reportedly supplied by China and Russia, the device uses techniques such as ultra-short burst transmissions and rapid frequency hopping.

These signals appear as random background noise to enemy intercept systems, making them extremely difficult to detect or trace.

The CSEL system relies on military communication satellites to relay data from hostile territory to command centers in the United States and other global bases.

The successful extraction of both the pilot and weapons systems officer deep behind enemy lines offered a rare look into the U.S. military’s doctrine for recovering isolated personnel during combat, otherwise known as Combat Search and Rescue, or CSAR.

Spotted flying at low level over western Iran this morning; a C-295W from the USAF’s 427th Special Operations Squadron, a clandestine unit that reportedly specializes in infiltration and exfiltration into enemy territory. pic.twitter.com/4UfAFj7AQb

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) April 5, 2026

How long until a U.S. studio makes a sequel to the 2001 action-war film "Behind Enemy Lines"?

Next year? 

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Authored by Jerry Zhu via The Epoch Times,

An Australian-led study has found children and teenagers who spend more time on social media are more likely to experience depression, self-harm, substance use, and lower achievement later in life.

Published in JAMA Pediatrics, the systematic review examined data from 153 studies consisting of over 350,000 children and adolescents aged between 2 and 19 years, for up to two decades.

“The strongest pattern we saw was between social media use and later problematic media use, suggesting early patterns of engagement may become more entrenched and difficult to manage over time,” said Sam Teague, a senior research fellow at James Cook University.

The study focused on longitudinal research, which follows participants over time and offers stronger insight into how behaviours and outcomes develop.

Teague said previous research in the field often relied on snapshots collected at a single point in time, making it harder to determine whether social media use preceded negative outcomes.

However, she stressed the findings do not prove social media causes harm.

Instead, the results show consistent links between higher use and a range of developmental outcomes, including cognitive, social-emotional, physical health, and motor development.

Amy Orben, a professor at the Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit at the University of Cambridge, said the relationship may be more complex.

“It may be that children who are already struggling spend more time on social media, rather than social media being the cause of their difficulties,” Orben said.

“Similarly, some personality traits or life circumstances might make certain children both more likely to use social media heavily and more likely to experience poorer developmental outcomes.”

Adolescents Identified as Most Vulnerable

Teague said one possible explanation is that time spent online may displace activities linked to better mental health.

“Time spent on digital media [could] displace time that would otherwise be spent on things that are linked to improved mental health, like exercise and connecting with family and peers in real life,” Teague told The Epoch Times in an email.

She also contrasted the interactive nature of social media with traditional media.

“Unique to digital media over traditional media, is its interactive nature, whereby children and teens are encouraged to keep engaging with content through addictive features like auto-play and auto-scroll,” she said.

Adolescents in particular were identified as more vulnerable to the effects of social media.

“Early adolescence is when identity formation and peer relationships become key developmental systems for young people,” she said.

She added that social media can magnify these pressures through constant external feedback and large social comparison.

“Action is needed at the policy and platform level most to make our online environments, that are designed largely for adults, appropriate for children,” she said.

“Addictive design features particularly need attention, like auto-play and auto-scroll, as well as exposure to harmful content.”

Social Media Companies Taken to Court Over Claims of Addictive Design

The new research comes as plaintiffs won a landmark social media addiction case in the United States.

The civil trial in Los Angeles centres on a 20-year-old woman who alleges major tech companies designed their platforms to be addictive, contributing to mental health issues.

Defendants include Instagram and YouTube, while cases involving Snapchat and TikTok have been settled privately.

Lawyers for the plaintiff argue she became addicted to social media as a minor, leading to depression, body dysmorphia, and suicidal thoughts.

YouTube’s legal team has rejected the claims, arguing the platform is not addictive, and is comparable to video services such as Netflix, where users can stop scrolling at anytime.

On Feb. 18, Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg told the court the company had long since abandoned goals of “increasing time spent on apps,” instead focusing on engaging users through “creating value.”

The Catholic Church is America’s largest Christian group - but it doesn’t have the most churches.

Drawing on data from the U.S. Religion Census, compiled by Julie Peasley via Visual Capitalist, this visualization compares the country’s biggest Christian denominations by two measures: adherents and congregations.

The comparison highlights a key divide in how these groups are structured. Catholics lead by membership, while the Southern Baptist Convention leads by church count. Non-denominational churches also rank near the top on both measures, reflecting how the composition of American Christianity has shifted over time.

The Largest Christian Denominations in America

Here’s a closer look at how America’s largest Christian groups stack up:

What Are “Adherents” and “Congregations”?

Two metrics drive this comparison:

• Adherents: the total number of people affiliated with a religious group.

• Congregations: the number of individual places of worship.

Together, they show both the size of each group and how widely it is distributed.

America’s Largest Christian Group Has Fewer Congregations

The Catholic Church has 61.9 million adherents—more than any other group—but only about 19,400 congregations.

By contrast, the Southern Baptist Convention has 51,400 churches, the most in the dataset, despite having far fewer members. Non-denominational churches also combine a large membership base with a wide church network.

The result is a clear tradeoff: some groups concentrate members into fewer congregations, while others are spread across a much larger number of churches.

The Rise of Non-Denominational Christianity

Non-denominational Christian churches have emerged as one of the largest groups in the country. Their growth reflects broader shifts in religious identity, as many Americans move away from traditional denominational labels.

According to broader research from Pew, religious affiliation in the U.S. has remained relatively stable in recent years, but the composition within Christianity continues to evolve. Non-denominational and evangelical traditions have gained prominence, especially in fast-growing regions.

A Diverse Religious Landscape

Beyond the largest groups, the U.S. is home to a wide array of smaller denominations, from Lutheran and Methodist branches to Adventist and Episcopal churches. Each contributes to a highly fragmented but vibrant religious ecosystem.

Geography helps shape these patterns. In this map of U.S. religion, Baptist and evangelical churches are heavily concentrated in the South, whereas Catholic strongholds align with areas shaped by European and Latin American immigration.

To see how Christianity compares on a global scale, check out Ranked: Countries With the Greatest Number of Christians on the Voronoi app.

Authored by Dylan Morgan via The Epoch Times,

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday issued an executive order banning state officials from using insider knowledge to profit, or assist another person in profiting, on prediction markets, effective immediately.

The governor’s office said there have been mounting reports of individuals in the federal government with access to sensitive government information placing well-timed bets ahead of major Trump administration actions. These reports are currently allegations and have yet to be verified.

“Public service should not be a get-rich-quick scheme. At a time when Trump’s Washington is riddled with ethical failures and insider profiteering, California is drawing a bright line: If you serve the public as a political appointee, you serve the public—period,” Newsom said.

“We’re not going to tolerate this kind of corruption in California.”

Prediction markets are platforms that allow users to bet on real-world events, including government decisions, political events, sports, pop culture, and everything in between.

The governor’s office said that, in one example, six suspected insiders made $1.2 million betting on a U.S. strike against Iran from accounts funded only days before the strike and bet only hours before it occurred.

The governor’s office also said another person has made nearly $1 million from a 93 percent win rate on bets related to Iran and Israel.

In a separate incident, an individual made more than $400,000 betting on the U.S. military capturing former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro just hours before that occurred, according to the governor’s office.

Kalshi, one of the largest prediction market platforms, said on X in response to Newsom’s order that it already enforces insider trading violations and that these examples by the governor’s office took place on a separate, unregulated prediction market.

“Insider trading violates our rules, and we enforce them when we catch insiders,“ Kalshi said in a statement.

“Government employees should be aware that trading on federally regulated markets using material non-public information violates the law.”

Last week, on March 23, a bipartisan pair of senators went after the gambling side of prediction markets. Sens. John Curtis (R-Utah) and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) introduced legislation aimed at banning sports betting through these platforms.

Curtis said in a statement that the measure is needed to protect state authority over gambling laws. He said the rapid expansion of these platforms exposes young people to gambling-like products that should fall under state, not federal, oversight. The legislation, he said, is intended to reaffirm states’ rights, protect consumers, and keep speculative financial products out of areas traditionally regulated as gambling.

Kalshi opposes the bill. Its spokesperson Elisabeth Diana told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement that banning sports-related prediction markets would backfire by pushing users to unregulated offshore platforms.

“It’s clear this bill is motivated by casino interests that are threatened by competition,” she said.

“They’re more worried about protecting their monopolies than protecting consumers.”

Diana said regulated prediction markets are a fairer alternative to traditional gambling because they don’t disadvantage successful users, and that competition—not protection of existing industries—should determine their future.