Ilyas Zarhoni
Founder, CEAPIRE
2024
Ilyas Zarhoni is the founder of CEAPIRE. He started his career as a teacher of Islamic religion in secondary education. During his studies, Ilyas delved into various traditional Islamic sciences and extremist ideologies such as Salafi-jihadism and the extreme right. Ilyas also specialized in the world of propaganda channels, recruiters, recruitment techniques and conspiracy theories. He was also active in different mosques and socio-cultural youth organizations, where he managed to build a large network. He was soon confronted with several young people who were swayed with the ideology and propaganda of IS and Al Qaeda. This lead to the founding of CEAPIRE. Today Ilyas takes on the role of general supervisor.
To me, Eradicate Hate was the most important gathering of 2021 for those of us who work on issues related to domestic extremism and organized hate. The Summit uniquely combined a variety of perspectives, including experts, civil society representatives, politicians and policymakers, and the families and loved ones of victims. Eradicate Hate has the important mission of standing against the rising tide of hate and extremism in our society, and it’s an honor to be able to support this mission.
