Author: Human

Family members of those murdered on 9/11 have launched a petition calling for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to be excluded from the 25th-year memorial events on account of his association with extremism and refusal to condemn antisemitism.

The petition was launched by Florida relator Giovanni Galante, whose girlfriend was among those killed by al-Qaeda terrorists on 11 September, 2001. It has now gathered over 5,000 signatures.

The petition says that concerns have been raised about Mamdani’s public positions, associations, and responses to rhetoric that many perceive as hostile to shared American values.

These positions include a perceived reluctance to "clearly and unequivocally condemn phrases such as 'globalize the intifada,' which many interpret as endorsing or normalizing violence," the petition reads.

It also cited Mamdani's support for, or associations with, individuals whose public statements or records are viewed by family members as dismissive of American institutions or insufficiently critical of extremist ideologies.

The petition notes that Mamdani’s own father penned a book shortly after 9/11 in which he argued that suicide bombers should be “understood as a feature of modern political violence rather than stigmatized as a mark of barbarism.” Mamdani has previously said that his father has been influential in shaping his views.

Mamdani has also praised Brooklyn Imam Siraj Wahhaj, who was named as an alleged co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and served as a character witness for the “Blind Sheikh,” who was convicted in 1995 of plotting terror attacks against the United States.

More recently, Mamdani appointed Ramzi Kassem, who previously represented Ahmed al-Darbi (convicted in an al-Qaeda tanker bombing plot), as New York City’s chief counsel.

The NYC mayor also endorsed candidates such as Aber Kawas, who described 9/11 as an attack “a couple of people did in the context of US capitalism, racism, white supremacy, and Islamophobia,” and who also expressed sympathy for Ahmed Ferhani, who pleaded guilty to plotting to blow up a Manhattan synagogue.

"For 9/11 families, this is not simply a public ceremony, it is a deeply personal day of mourning," wrote Galante. "The presence of individuals whose words or associations are perceived as conflicting with the solemn purpose of the event risks detracting from that focus and causing additional pain."

Given the concerns expressed, the families in the petition respectfully asked the organizers to "carefully consider whether Mr. Mamdani’s participation would align with the intention of the ceremony and the expectations of the families most directly affected by the tragedy."

"The 25th anniversary should remain centered on remembrance, unity, and an unambiguous rejection of the violence and extremism that defined that day. Ensuring that all participants reflect these principles is essential to preserving the integrity of the commemoration."

Several 9/11 survivors have commented on the petition.

"As a survivor of the WTC attack on 9/11 I believe that based on Mayor Mamdani's past performance in regard to Israel and radical Islamic terrorism that he should be barred from all WTC memorial ceremonies," wrote Craig.

Silverio wrote, "Many tears had shed on that day, but why was Mayor Mamdani’s own reason he cried? [Because] his aunt stopped taking the subway after September 11th because she did not feel safe in her hijab."

"Seeing 9/11 Live on the news while at my first Active Duty Duty Station, and subsequently deploying ISO OER in Afghanistan during rotation one, it is an affront to the memory of all who perished that day and in the following days while hunting the vile Islamic perpetrators that anyone who has voiced support for those despicable death cultists would be given a voice of any kind at that event," wrote Justin. "Shame on all who would put the relatives of those fallen in a position wherein they have to tell anyone they do not want these individuals at that ceremony."

Brian wrote that his brother David was murdered on 9/11 and that he is "incensed that a terrorist excuser is now Mayor, and outspoken sympathizer for terrorist perpetrators."

"He is disqualified from attending the 9/11 remembrance ceremony and ought be barred."

The Post reached out to Galante for comment.

Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, eldest son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, on Saturday formally launched his bid to challenge President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in October’s election, showcasing support from Argentine President Javier Milei, an AI-generated message from his jailed father, and a video address from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Bolsonaro pledged tax cuts and a tougher stance on crime, and stressed his commitment to carrying forward his father's political legacy.

"Here is Bolsonaro's blood," he said in an emotional tone to supporters who waved green and yellow flags. The arena in Sao Paulo where he spoke was nearly full, but not quite.

Former President Jair Bolsonaro is currently under house arrest for his role in an attempt to overturn the election where Lula defeated him.

Milei delivered a fiery speech criticizing Lula and declaring that Bolsonaro can “save” Brazil from socialism. The Argentine president flew to Brazil the night before the event and met on Saturday with Sao Paulo Governor Tarcisio de Freitas.

"We will continue offering our testimony everywhere against the lies of socialism," Milei said.

Brazil's presidency did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.

Former first lady Michelle Bolsonaro, Flavio's stepmother, also appeared via video message to offer her endorsement, in a speech addressed to women voters. The two recently reconciled following a public dispute that played out in videos exchanged on social media.

"Flavio, may God bless and protect your candidacy," she said in the video message.

In December, the senator secured his father's endorsement to run in this year's election. But his campaign lost its early momentum in May, after leaked messages linked him to jailed banker Daniel Vorcaro, whom he later acknowledged had financed a film about his father's political career.

Bolsonaro’s popularity was also dented by the dispute with Michelle Bolsonaro and by his close ties to US President Donald Trump, who has imposed tariffs on Brazilian goods.

A Datafolha poll released on Friday showed Lula leading Bolsonaro 48% to 43% in a runoff, up from 47% to 43% in June.

Flavio Bolsonaro has struggled to forge political alliances. Center-right parties have so far decided to stay neutral rather than endorse his candidacy.

Supporters at the launch event remained optimistic about his prospects.

"Brazil has to change. There were no scandals linked to Flavio Bolsonaro. This is coming from the left," said Leandro Aguilar, 44, a São Paulo resident who attended the event with his family.

Janete Rubio, 68, appeared highly emotional throughout the gathering, at times crying or else dancing to music while draped in Brazilian and US flags.

“Brazil is very rich, but it is being underestimated. Together, with the strength of the United States and the strength of Trump, we will succeed,” she said.

Rescuers were searching on Sunday for 23 people missing after a Vietnamese ship sank in the busy waterway of the South China Sea, while 39 were pulled from the waters, China’s state broadcaster CCTV said.

Authorities in the southern province of Hainan said the cargo vessel Khoi Nguyen 18, with 62 Vietnamese nationals aboard, ran into distress in waters near Fiery Cross Reef, CCTV added.

A distress flare from the vessel was first spotted by a Chinese rescue ship, the Nanhai Jiu 115, on Saturday evening, CCTV said.

Six Chinese vessels, a rescue helicopter, and a Vietnamese vessel joined the search and rescue effort at the site, it said.

The Vietnamese-registered vessel is nearly 70 m. long with a gross tonnage of 999 tons.

The area around the reef is part of the disputed Spratly Islands, which China calls the Nansha Islands, a group of highly contested reefs, islets, and atolls in the resource-rich South China Sea.

China claims sovereignty over almost the entire strategic waterway, including the Spratly Islands, where it has built runways and militarized artificial islands.

But Beijing’s sweeping claims overlap with those of Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Brunei.

The Arab World Institute (IMA) in Paris returned 23 artifacts to Syria earlier this month, during French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to strengthen ties between the two countries.

Originally loaned in 2010 and 2011 to IMA from museums in Damascus, Aleppo, Latakia, and Palmyra, all 23 artifacts were transported back to Syria aboard the French presidential plane alongside Macron.

The artifacts include Roman bronzes, Byzantine and Islamic coins, funerary reliefs from the ancient city of Palmyra from the second and third centuries, a mosaic fragment from the Umayyad Mosque, reported the French magazine BeauxArts earlier in July.

Also returned as part of the collection was the statue of Ishqi-Mari, an ivory statuette discovered in a Temple of Ishtar in the ancient city of Mari by a French archaeological team in 1934.

Syria’s Foreign Ministry, in a July 7 statement, noted France as the first country to cooperate with Syria in its campaign to recover antiquities held worldwide since the Assad regime was overthrown.

Returning the artifacts comes as part of Syria’s “national and diplomatic efforts” to recover its cultural heritage, Syria’s Foreign Ministry explained.

Syria’s state media SANA, citing Syria’s Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums (DGAM), added that the artifacts had originally been slated to return in 2014, but delayed due to the deterioration of Syria and France’s relations under Assad.

Further, SANA reported that French authorities at the time had also refused to return the artifacts due to the nature of the security situation in Syria and concern for the artifacts’ preservation.

Macron and Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa presided over the official handover ceremony of the artifacts on July 7, which took place at the People's Palace in Damascus.

In its statement, the Syrian Foreign Ministry expressed its thanks and appreciation to French authorities for their cooperation in returning the artifacts.

“France has safeguarded Syrian archaeological treasures for years of war, to protect them from destruction and trafficking,” Macron shared in a post to X/Twitter, alongside a video of the ceremony. “They are back. Very proud to bring them back to Damascus.”

IMA President Anne-Claire Legendre echoed Macron’s sentiment in her own social media post, sharing the institute’s “great pride” in finally returning the artifacts to Syria.

“It is very moving to return these works to the Syrians and to see them return to the Damascus museum,” IMA said in its own X post, marking the occasion. “It is giving back to the Syrians elements of their history that have been threatened all these years.”

“After more than fifteen years of conservation at the Arab World Institute (IMA), these works, entrusted by the Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums of Syria (DGAM), are returning today to their country of origin. Presented as part of the permanent tour of the IMA museum, they have helped to reveal to a public from all over the world the richness of Syrian heritage.”

“This trip also marks the opening of a new chapter in cooperation between the Institut du monde arabe and Syria, with the preparation of a major exhibition dedicated to Syria in 2028 and the strengthening of partnerships between Syrian cultural institutions and the IMA,” IMA concluded.

Wildfires in southwest France have forced organizers of the Tour de France to reconfigure the final stage, set for Sunday.

The change is necessary because multiple first responders have been diverted to the fires. The new route will leave a smaller race footprint for local officials to secure.

“As numerous wildfires are currently affecting France, particularly the Gironde region, emergency services are fully mobilized to combat the blazes, while internal security forces are working to secure the affected areas and protect the population,” the Amaury Sport Organisation said in a statement.

"In light of this, the Ministry of Interior has decided to redeploy a portion of the internal security forces initially mobilized to ensure security for the final stage of the Tour de France, in order to reinforce the response efforts in the areas affected by the wildfires."

The wildfires have led to the evacuations of about 200,000 people.

Stage 21 had been set as a 132.5-kilometer ride from Thoiry down the Champs-Elysees in Paris.

The re-imagined Stage 21 still will end along the famed road, just after a circuit on the Montmartre. But the run now will occur solely within the Paris boundaries and travel just 89 km. Cyclists will take two extra circuits along the Champs-Elysees before heading out for the Montmartre climb.

The Montmartre circuit has proven to be popular after it was used in the 2024 Paris Olympics and then added to the 2025 Tour de France. The area can accommodate large gatherings of fans, who turn the area into a party atmosphere.

Earlier in the Tour de France, fans were asked to stay away from the final 40 kilometers of Stage 3 because of wildfires and the need to deploy first responders to the area.

Romania said on Saturday that it had shot down a second drone breaching national airspace in as many days over a sparsely populated area near the border with Ukraine.

The first drone, which Romanian prosecutors investigating the fragments said was Russian, was shot down by the NATO state on Friday, the first time it has done so after dozens of airspace breaches.

President Nicusor Dan took to social media to say the second drone had been shot down at 8:30 a.m. (0530 GMT), 10 km (6 miles) west of Sfantu Gheorghe in the Danube Delta.

The defense ministry said the airspace breach had been spotted by radar at 8:22 a.m., and two F-16 fighter jets had been scrambled.

It did not specify the origin of Saturday's drone; prosecutors said the drone downed on Friday had been Russian.

Romania, which shares a 650-km (400-mile) land border with Ukraine, said Russian drones had breached its airspace around 30 times since Moscow began attacking Ukrainian ports across the Danube River after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

In May, a Russian drone crashed into an apartment building in the southeast Romanian town of Galati, near the Ukrainian border, injuring two people. It was the first time a strike had hit a densely populated area in a NATO country and caused injuries during the Ukraine war.

On Friday, General Gheorghita Vlad, the Romanian army's chief of staff, said Russian attacks on the region around the Ukrainian port of Odesa had increased ahead of the harvest season, further pressuring key energy and trade routes in the Black Sea.

Ukraine’s forces struck a Russian warship and vessels used for transporting Iran-linked military cargo in the Caspian Sea, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday.

“We also achieved very strong results with long‑range strikes in the Caspian Sea – including vessels used in military cargo shipments involving Iran,” he said on X.

Zelensky did not provide additional details.

This report from Ukraine comes on the heels of a recent statement from US President Donald Trump to Truth Social on Friday, in which he claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin assured him that Russia was not selling weapons to Iran. 

"If they did, it would be very bad for them – certainly not in their best interests," Trump emphasized in the post.

Despite Trump's confidence in Putin's claims regarding arms sales to Iran, recent reports from US intelligence sources indicated that Iranian drone attacks on CIA facilities in the Gulf might have received Russian assistance, potentially involving the provision of targeting information or advanced drone technology.

According to the Reuters report, at least two CIA facilities were struck in March, one of which was the CIA station in Saudi Arabia, located within the US embassy in Riyadh, while another was based in eastern Iraq.

These US intelligence sources informed Reuters that firm conclusions about Russian involvement in the attacks have not yet been reached.

However, they noted the strikes' effectiveness and precision, as well as Russia's broad technical support for Iran, as potential evidence of this involvement.

While Russian support for Iran is longstanding, the specific targeting of sensitive CIA sites would suggest that Moscow is willing to escalate its efforts to disrupt US operations as Washington continues to face challenges in trying to bring the conflict involving Iran to an end.

The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned four individuals and nine entities tied to an Iranian financial evasion network on Friday, according to a press release on the department’s website.

The network, run by Iran-linked financier Babak Zanjani, enabled the Islamic regime to evade sanctions and pursue actions that destabilize the region, OFAC stated.

In addition, the network also provided support to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) through Zanjani’s digital asset companies, such as Zedcex and Zedxion, the department said.

Revenue methods used by Zanjani to finance the regime included financial services, gold and precious gem production, digital asset trading, and major transportation and infrastructure projects, the Treasury said.

Zanjani had previously been found guilty of embezzlement in an Iranian court in 2016, a charge for which he was sentenced to death, the statement noted, with his sentence commuted in 2024.

His 2025 reemergence as a financier for Tehran was described by the Treasury Department as a demonstration of "the lengths to which Iranian state-affiliated elites will go to preserve access to the international financial system so that they can enrich themselves, even as they mismanage the Iranian economy."

According to the department, the sanctions are part of a broader effort enacted through Executive Order 13902, which targets Iranian financial, petroleum, and petrochemical sectors to prevent the funding of the regime's nuclear, missile, and terror activities.

The department emphasized that the new sanctions would "further pressure" Iran following its recent drone and missile attacks on countries across the Middle East, as well as ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

“The Iranian regime continues to pay a steep economic price for its reckless behavior, with the rial plunging to another record low and inflation up massively,” said US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. “Under President Trump’s leadership, Treasury will continue cutting off economic access for corrupt Iranian regime elites, along with their financiers and facilitators.”

The statement included a call for governments and financial institutions worldwide to avoid engaging with Zanjani or his network, as well as other networks connected to Iran.

"The Iranian regime is the world’s leading state sponsor of terror, and for more than 40 years has used the IRGC to foment instability in the region and beyond. We will continue to expose and disrupt networks that provide the regime and its proxies with the resources they use to undermine US national security interests," the statement concluded.

US President Donald Trump said US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has “turned Palestinian,” amid remarks at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday.

“This was a man who was 100% for Israel,” said Trump. “But now he’s a great, proud Palestinian.”

“I’m going to send him a beautiful Palestinian outfit tomorrow so he can greet Bibi Netanyahu when he comes to town next week,” he added. 

The president further poked fun at the press and honored the Secret Service for protecting him, returning to the event celebrating press freedom after a shooting forced the suspension of the original event in April.

Trump, whose administration has often been at odds with the press, started his speech by mostly going along with the warm and relaxed tenor of the evening, alternately mixing friendly jokes with pointed criticism of what he calls the “fake news media.”

But he also could not resist taking cracks at his political adversaries in the press and show business, singling out journalists such as Don Lemon and Lawrence O'Donnell, politicians like Chris Christie and Adam Schiff, and celebrities including Bruce Springsteen and Jane Fonda for personal attacks.

Trump suggested he was going easy on the press after he had planned fiercer criticism last time around. "This place is really the largest group of Trump derangement syndrome people ever put together at one time," he said. "I suspect some of you are lucky that our last dinner was cut short because… I was going to go after you."

This year's dual events marked Trump's first presidential appearance at the correspondents' dinner. He had boycotted the event during his previous years in office, though he promised to return next year.

Press freedom advocates have criticized the Trump administration over lawsuits it has filed against media organizations, restrictions on some journalists' access, and threats of action against broadcasters. He rejects the criticism, saying his administration is promoting accountability and addressing bias.

The black-tie gathering of journalists, politicians and administration officials at the Washington Hilton hotel was called off on April 25 after a man tried to force his way through a security checkpoint and fired a shotgun outside the ballroom where Trump and members of his cabinet were taking their seats.

The suspect, Cole Allen, pleaded not guilty in May to charges including attempting to assassinate the president.

The dinner was moved to a smaller venue at the Waldorf Astoria hotel under heightened security, and one of the first messages of the night was defiance in the face of the assault.

"Tonight, our message is this: We are back. We will not be intimidated. We refuse to let an act of violence have the final word," said the outgoing president of the White House Correspondents' Association, Weijia Jiang of CBS News.

Trump later said, "We do not yield to political violence… No deranged loser with a gun will ever change that."

The event also honored Secret Service officer Victor Gonzales, who was shot at a security checkpoint outside the ballroom in April and is credited with stopping the attack, and the Washington Hilton staff who assisted guests. Gonzales was wearing a protective vest and was the only person wounded that night.

The gala – an annual fixture on Washington's calendar for more than a century – raises money for journalism scholarships and celebrates press freedoms as guaranteed by the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

It normally features a comedian who pokes fun at the president and the press, but this year's entertainment came from mentalist Oz Pearlman.

Trump punctuated his speech with a few jokes, telling journalists, "I know it was not easy finding shoes to go along with your bulletproof vest, which many people didn't want to wear because they'd rather die than look 20 pounds heavier."

Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.

A Romanian F-16 fighter jet shot down a drone that had entered its airspace on Friday, authorities said, the first time the NATO member state has done so following dozens of such incursions.

Later that day, NATO Air Command confirmed that a drone was shot down by allied fighters under NATO command and control in Romanian airspace.

NATO said an investigation was ongoing and that the alliance is in close contact with Romanian authorities.

Airspace breaches on NATO's eastern flank have fueled concerns that the alliance's borders are at risk as war rages between Russia and Ukraine.

The Romanian army's chief of staff told a news conference that Bucharest had not yet identified the drone's origin or purpose and that an investigation was underway.

However, Chief of Staff General Gheorghita Vlad said it appeared to be a Shahed – the Iran-designed attack drones used by Russia against Ukraine.

"Visually, the pilots reported the drone looked to be a Shahed type," he said, adding it was too soon to draw conclusions.

Earlier in the day, an army source told Reuters: "There is an ongoing investigation to determine the origin of the drone. But in this part of the world it is Russia that is the attacker."

Earlier, President Nicusor Dan wrote on social media platform X that a Romanian pilot had shot down the drone at about 11 a.m. after it entered the country's airspace.

"The area was uninhabited, so the pilot was able to shoot without any risk. Currently, teams of the relevant institutions are investigating the area to come up with all the details about the incident," Dan wrote.

The Romanian Defense Ministry said the drone was shot down near the town of Padina in Buzau county in the east of the country.

It said two Romanian F-16 jets and two Italian Eurofighter Typhoons based in Romania had been scrambled in response to the incursion, adding the drone was first detected by radars at 9:30 a.m. around 20 km. east of Sulina on the Black Sea coast.

Fragments of the drone fell on a wheat field but caused no damage or injuries, the Buzau county prefect told reporters.

Romania, which shares a 650-km (400-mile) land border with Ukraine, has reported multiple breaches of its airspace by Russian drones since Moscow began attacking Ukrainian ports across the Danube River following its full-scale invasion in 2022.

General Vlad said Russian attacks against Ukraine’s Odesa region had increased ahead of the harvest season, further pressuring key energy and trade routes in the Black Sea.

In late May, a drone crashed into an apartment building in the town of Galati, near the Ukrainian border, injuring two people, the first time a strike had hit a densely populated area in a NATO country and caused injuries during the Ukraine war.