Iran Says Cooperation With UN Nuclear Inspectors to Continue
'Cooperation with @iaeaorg will be channeled through Iran's Supreme National Security Council for obvious safety and security reasons,' Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on X. He was responding to a post by the German Foreign Office that criticized a law passed in Tehran last week that said cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency had been suspended.
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New York Post
44 minutes ago
- New York Post
Ex-‘Squad' Rep. Jamaal Bowman could become NYC schools chancellor under Zohran Mamdani: sources
Someone sound the (fire) alarm. Former 'Squad' Rep. Jamaal Bowman could land on the short list to be the city's next schools chancellor if his pal Zohran Mamdani is elected mayor, sources told The Post. A source close to United Federation Teachers said the former middle school principal's name is already circulating within the Mamdani camp as a potential candidate to head the nation's largest public school system with more than 900,000 students in 1,596 schools. Advertisement 3 Ex-'Squad' Rep. Jamaal Bowman, a former Bronx middle school principal and lefty soulmate of Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, could land on a short list to be the next New York City schools chancellor. Courtesy of the Mamdani Campaign Bowman — who infamously pulled a fire alarm in a congressional office building and delayed a key House vote — was voted out of office by Democrats in party primary last year. He sidestepped whether he was interested in the role, saying he was focusing on helping Mamdani win the general election for mayor. Advertisement 'I am not thinking about any of that. I want to help my brother get elected,' Bowman, 44, said of Mamdani. 'I am exceptional in compartmentalizing. Right now, I want to help Zohran win the general election.' Bowman endorsed Mamdani in May, one of the few black leaders to do so. The Mamdani campaign had no immediate comment. Advertisement Bowman lost his Democratic primary re-election bid last year to former Westchester County Executive George Latimer in the 16th House District that takes in parts of Westchester and The Bronx, in large part because of voters' disgust over his anti-Israel positions and a series of missteps that even riled members of his own party. 3 Bowman was voted out of office in last year's primary after he infamously pulled a fire alarm in a congressional office building. Instagram/@zohrankmamdani He accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza and belatedly apologized for denying the horrific rapes of Israeli women during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas that killed an estimated 1,200 people — including 33 Americans. The left-leaning 'Squad' representative had pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count for falsely pulling the fire alarm in the Cannon House Office Building in September 2023 ahead of a vote to avert a partial government shutdown, and agreed to pay a $1,000 fine. Advertisement The House of Representatives later voted to censure Bowman for the fire alarm fiasco. He also was forced to apologize after it was revealed that he espoused conspiracy theories about the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks while serving as a school principal of Cornerstone Academy for Social Action in the Bronx in 2014.. One Jewish leader denounced the possibility of Bowman being considered for the top leadership post. 3 Bowman said his goal is to help Mamdani win the general election for mayor in November. Courtesy of the Mamdani Campaign 'We wouldn't accept the appointment of a racist. Why would we consider a person who has expressed hateful rhetoric against the Jewish people?' said Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, executive vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis. Even some of Bowman's views on education have been considered controversial. In 2015, then principal of Cornerstone Academy, Bowman called standardized testing of students racist or the modern version of slavery, The Post reported at the time. 'Public school high-stakes standardized testing is a form of modern-day slavery, and it is designed to continue the proliferation of inequality,' Bowman said in a blog entry titled 'The Tyranny of Standardized Testing.' Advertisement Every morning, the NY POSTcast offers a deep dive into the headlines with the Post's signature mix of politics, business, pop culture, true crime and everything in between. Subscribe here! 'America was born of horror for black people and that horror continues today for brown and poor people as well,' he went on. 'Slavery, Jim Crow, redlining, crack cocaine and now standardized testing were all sanctioned by the American government. All designed to destroy the mind, body and soul of black and brown people.' Bowman also once put a fugitive convicted cop killer — Joanne Chesimard aka Assata Shakur — on his Bronx middle school's 'Wall of Honor.' Shakur was convicted with two others in the execution-style slaying of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster in 1973 before she escaped jail and fled to Cuba. Advertisement Mamdani, who supports the boycott divestment and sanctions movement against Israel, and has refused to denounce the violent slogan 'globalize the intifada,' have said he and his team are conducting outreach to Jewish leaders and vowed to fight antisemitism as mayor. Mamdani, 33, won a crowded Democratic Party primary last week to earn the party line in November. He's considered the frontrunner in the deeply blue Big Apple, but will still face several candidates on the general election ballot, including Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa. Current Mayor Eric Adams is running as an independent after foregoing the Democratic Party primary, while former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and lawyer Jim Walden will also appear on the ballot.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Actions, not words: The three European countries that came to Israel's aid after Oct. 7
Editor's Notes: With the exception of the United States, every Western ally refused to sell Israel ammunition. Only three unexpected partners filled the gap: Hungary, Serbia, and the Czech Republic. A senior Israeli defense official confided to me this week that, while Jerusalem enjoyed a brief wave of diplomatic sympathy when Hamas launched its attacks in October 2023, that solidarity did not translate into hard support on the battlefield. With the lone exception of the United States, every Western ally, Germany and Italy among them, refused to sell Israel ammunition or other critical material. Ultimately, only three unexpected partners filled the gap: Hungary, Serbia, and the Czech Republic. 'Israel's greatest allies imposed an arms embargo on Israel,' the official said, his frustration only partly concealed. 'Apart from the Americans, no one would supply us with equipment for offensive operations, or even sell us the parts to produce it ourselves, except Hungary, Serbia, and the Czech Republic.' That verdict has sharpened a long-running debate inside the Defense Ministry: Israel, the official argued, must double down on its own defense-industrial base so that future wars are not fought with ammunition that hinges on foreign political whims. Nowhere was the policy gulf clearer than in Belgrade. Serbia's state exporter, Yugoimport SDPR, dramatically expanded deliveries after October 2023. Balkan media tracked a flurry of cargo flights linking Serbian airfields and Israeli bases: in July 2024 alone, roughly €7.3 million in weapons and ammunition departed for Israel. By year's end, that figure climbed to about €23.1 million, and Serbian officials ultimately tallied €42.3 million in 2024 exports, up from just €1.4 million the previous year. Most of those shipments were 155 mm artillery shells, the workhorses of modern land warfare. Photographs showed rows of green-painted pallets pushed into the bellies of Israeli transport aircraft, watched over by air force crews in both countries. Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vučić, even acknowledged the surge, telling local reporters that Belgrade had 'accelerated deliveries' to help Israel replenish dwindling stocks. I spoke about those figures with The Jerusalem Post's news editor, Alex Winston, who had just returned from Belgrade. When Winston pressed Vučić on the criticism he faced in the European Union for arming Israel, the Serbian leader was blunt: 'I am the only one in Europe today dealing in military munitions with Israel, and that is why I am often criticized by colleagues.' Investigative outlets have indeed tried to turn up the heat. Serbian watchdog KRIK joined Germany's Bild in alleging irregularities in the deals, though none of the claims have been proved. Vučić, meanwhile, shifted course again this summer: by June 2025, he promised to halt further ammunition transfers and redirect remaining stockpiles to the Serbian army. If Belgrade supplied the shells, Budapest mainly offered rhetoric. Hungarian defense firms have cooperated with Israel before, with joint drone programs and about €15 million in exports between 2014 and 2022. Still, there is no evidence of fresh deliveries since the Gaza war began. Hungarian officials I contacted refused to discuss the matter, speaking only in general terms about their country's 'substantial support' for Israel. That support has been highly visible. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán welcomed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Budapest on April 3, 2025, praising Israel as 'an anchor in the Middle East.' Days later, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó announced that Hungary would leave the International Criminal Court over the arrest warrant issued for Netanyahu, proof, Orbán said, that the court had become 'political.' Yet enthusiasm in parliament has not translated into crates of bullets or barrels. Hungary's defense start-up N7 Defence Zrt. chases global markets, but none of its catalog appears to have reached the IDF during this war. For Jerusalem, Budapest's friendship is real, just not kinetic. Prague's aid was concrete, if limited. Within days of the October 2023 attacks, Czech industry rushed about 3,000 ballistic armor plates and vests to Israel. The export paperwork was fast-tracked, customs checks waived, and the gear arrived on IDF bases while rockets were still falling. The contractor behind the shipment, STV Group, later confirmed it could provide more if asked; so far, Israel has not requested additional batches. Other Czech defense houses stayed on the sidelines. The engine maker PBS Velká Bíteš and others maintained ongoing joint ventures with Israel, but those projects serve Czech modernization, not Israeli consumption. Civil-society voices steered the opposite direction: in February 2024, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Israeli embassy in Prague, waving 'Ceasefire Now' banners and accusing their government of complicity. Amnesty International's Czech branch joined similar calls to suspend arms sales, though their statements cited no specific deliveries beyond the initial body armor. The three Central European outliers stand in stark contrast to the broader Western policy since October 2023. Lacking a UN Security Council embargo, each government has improvised its own red lines: Canada froze new export permits on January 8, 2024, 'until we can verify end-use compliance,' the foreign ministry said. Spain not only halted licenses in October 2023 but also canceled a €285 million anti-tank missile contract, a move it later publicized under domestic pressure. Belgium's Walloon region quietly suspended two gunpowder licenses in February 2024 after lobbying by NGOs. In the Netherlands, the Hague Court of Appeal ordered a stop to F-35 parts exports on February 12, 2024; the government appealed, leaving the flow in legal limbo. The UK survived a similar legal challenge when the High Court ruled on June 30, 2025, that exports could continue, even if parts ended up in Gaza. For Israeli planners, the message is alarming: political sentiment, no matter how sympathetic it may sound, can close a supply pipeline overnight. That reality explains the urgency in the Defense Ministry to expand domestic production lines for everything from 155 mm shells to precision-guided rockets. Israel's defense industry is hardly starting from scratch. The country boasts world-class firms in unmanned systems, missile defense, and cybersecurity. But the Gaza war has exposed a softer underbelly: bulk ammunition and basic ordnance are still procured abroad, often from allies now wary of newspaper photographs showing their serial numbers littering Rafah's streets. The official who briefed me stressed that Israel must insulate itself from that vulnerability. 'We can no longer assume our friends will keep the warehouses open,' he said. 'We need a national shell foundry, a national propellant plant, and we need them yesterday.' Serbia's sudden generosity, Hungary's loud diplomacy, and the Czech Republic's lone airlift may have bridged the immediate gap. Yet those channels are already closing. The United States remains the indispensable partner, but Washington's support, too, has always carried political conditions, from congressional oversight to battlefield usage tracking. Should another front erupt, Israel would again be forced to weigh its operational tempo against the risk of running short on shells. War keeps its own ledger. For journalists, that ledger is usually measured in shells and flight hours; for diplomats, in licenses signed or withheld. But for anyone who believes character is tested under pressure, the true account reads more like the old proverb: 'Show me who your friends are, and I'll tell you who you are.' When Israeli towns burned and most of Europe invoked legal footnotes, it was Serbia loading pallets of 155 mm rounds, the Czech Republic rushing armor plates, and Hungary wielding its vetoes and withdrawals on Israel's behalf. They are not the continent's largest economies, nor its loudest powers, yet they stepped up when it counted, an act that deserves more than a footnote. Jerusalem should express its gratitude plainly, thank them publicly, and weave those gestures into deeper industrial and diplomatic ties. At the same time, the lesson at home is equally clear: Self-reliance is the first shield; reliable partners are the second. In the next crisis, Israel will need both, and it now knows exactly which capitals to call first.
Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
Saudi defense minister secretly meets with Trump to discuss Iran de-escalation, Israel: sources
Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman secretly met with President Donald Trump and other key officials in the White House on Thursday to discuss de-escalation efforts with Iran, multiple sources confirmed with Fox News. Khalid, also known as KBS, is the younger brother of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Multiple sources told Fox News Channel's chief political anchor Bret Baier about the meeting. According to sources, the talks included discussions about de-escalation with Iran and getting to the negotiating table. The talks were also reportedly about ending the war in Gaza and negotiating the release of the remaining hostages – whether dead or alive – and about working toward peace in the Middle East. Although the talks were not exclusively about the possibility of normalization with Israel, sources said the conversation dealt with steps that need to occur to get there. Sources also said, "there was progress and optimism on all fronts." The Saudis are in the process of finalizing a defense and trade deal with the U.S., and the message shared between the two allies, sources added, is that they see eye-to-eye on all issues.
