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Disgraced New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announces new pro-Israel group
(New York Jewish Week) — Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has a new project, a year and a half after resigning amid a flurry of sexual harassment allegations: a pro-Israel organization targeting Democrats.
Cuomo delivered the message via video on Monday evening at an event at Carnegie Hall hosted by the World Values Network, the organization led by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach — an author, television personality and onetime Republican congressional candidate. Boteach organized the event in honor of the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and in memory of his recently deceased mother.
The launch of the organization, to be called “Progressives For Israel,” was first reported by Matthew Kassel at Jewish Insider.
While Cuomo provided few details about the organization, he said that it would call on Democrats to stand with Israel, “because silence is not an option.”
“Never again is not a prayer, it is a call to action,” Cuomo said, referring to the Holocaust remembrance maxim. “It is not passive. It is active. It will never happen again because we will never allow it to happen again, and we will do it together.”
Cuomo also called on officials to condemn antisemitism, not just with words “but with their actions.”
“You can’t denounce antisemitism, but waver on Israel’s right to exist and defend itself,” Cuomo said. “And it shouldn’t be just our Jewish officials who speak, but it should be non-Jewish officials who speak first and loudest.”
News: Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced last night that he is launching an organization called Progressives for Israel.
“I am going to call the question for Democrats,” he said. “Do you stand with Israel or do you stand against Israel, because silence is not an option.” pic.twitter.com/SiZCz45syb
— Matthew Kassel (@matthewkassel) March 14, 2023
The former governor also claimed his deceased father, former Gov. Mario Cuomo, told him from the grave: “It is time for the Shabbos goy,” a term for a non-Jew who performs actions that are prohibited for Jews on Shabbat.
“The Shabbos goy can do the work that benefits both the Jewish community and the non-Jewish community,” Cuomo said. “The Shabbos goy can turn on the lights on the Sabbath, because it benefits everyone. It is time to turn on the lights.”
Cuomo, a centrist Democrat who served as New York’s governor for a decade, was an ally of pro-Israel advocates while in office, similar to his predecessors. He traveled to Israel multiple times, and in 2016, signed an executive order directing state agencies to stop doing business with any entity that supported the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel. “If you boycott against Israel, New York will boycott you,” he said at the time.
His announcement comes at a time of crisis in Israel, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government seeks to pass legislation that would sap the country’s Supreme Court of much of its power and influence. A growing group of Democratic elected officials, including President Joe Biden, have called on Netanyahu to halt the legislation, which they have depicted as a danger to Israeli democracy. Among the critics of the court reform are a number of Democrats seen as pro-Israel stalwarts.
The court legislation has sparked massive protests across Israel that have brought hundreds of thousands of people to the streets. American Jewish groups have also held protests in New York and beyond.
The name of Cuomo’s purported group teeters on familiar territory: Other established organizations in the same space bear names such as Partners For Progressive Israel and the Progressive Israel Network. The New York Jewish Agenda, a progressive group that has protested against the Israeli government, called out Cuomo’s new pro-Israel group on Twitter.
“The chutzpah,” the tweet read. “One of the last things the Jewish people, progressives, or Israeli democracy needs is a disgraced, not-actually-progressive, former Governor inserting himself into this critical moment for Israel in a dangerously misguided attempt to stay relevant.”
In August 2021, Cuomo resigned after a report from New York Attorney General Letitia James found that he had sexually harassed at least 11 women while in office.
Cuomo has denied those allegations. The communications firm that represents Cuomo, Bulldog Strategies, did not respond to a request for comment.
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The post Disgraced New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announces new pro-Israel group appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Iran’s Guards Will View Military Vessels Approaching Strait as Ceasefire Breach
FILE PHOTO: A map showing the Strait of Hormuz is seen in this illustration taken March 23, 2026. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Sunday that any military vessels attempting to approach the Strait of Hormuz will be considered a violation of the two-week US ceasefire and be dealt with harshly and decisively.
The strait is under the control and “smart management” of Iran’s Navy, the Guards said in a statement reported by Iranian state media, adding it is “open for the safe passage of non-military vessels in accordance with specific regulations.”
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Iran Rejected US Demand to Stop Funding Proxies, and Halt Uranium Enrichment During Talks
FILE PHOTO: The atomic symbol and the Iranian flag are seen in this illustration, July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
i24 News – Iran has rejected core US demands in recent negotiations, including an end to uranium enrichment, the dismantling of major nuclear facilities, and a halt to support for regional terrorist groups, according to a senior US official speaking to Reuters.
The official also said that Tehran refused to end backing for Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, as well as calls to fully open the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, underscoring deep divisions that continue to stall diplomacy.
The failed talks come as assessments from officials and experts suggest that Iran’s nuclear program has remained largely resilient despite five weeks of intense US and Israeli strikes.
According to reporting from The Wall Street Journal, that while the campaign did cause significant damage to research facilities and parts of Iran’s enrichment infrastructure, the strikes appear to have stopped short of eliminating Iran’s most sensitive capabilities.
Iran likely retains operational centrifuges and access to a heavily fortified underground enrichment site, preserving the technical foundation of its program.
A critical concern for Western officials is Iran’s continued possession of an estimated 1,000 pounds of near-weapons-grade uranium. The International Atomic Energy Agency has reported that roughly half of this stockpile is stored in reinforced containers within tunnels beneath the Isfahan nuclear complex.
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Trump Vows to Blockade Strait of Hormuz After Iran Peace Talks Fail to Yield Agreement
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif meets with Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, as delegations from the United States and Iran are expected to hold peace talks, in Islamabad, Pakistan, April 11, 2026. Office of the Iranian Parliament Speaker/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
President Donald Trump said on Sunday the US Navy would start blockading the Strait of Hormuz, raising the stakes after marathon talks with Iran failed to reach a deal to end the war, jeopardizing a fragile two-week ceasefire.
Trump also said in a post on Truth Social that the US would take action against every vessel in international waters that had paid a toll to Iran, and begin destroying mines that he said the Iranians had dropped in the strait, a choke point for about 20% of global energy supplies that Iran has blocked.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards responded with a statement warning that military vessels approaching the strait will be considered a ceasefire breach and dealt with harshly and decisively, underlining the risk of a dangerous escalation.
“Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the Finest in the World, will begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump said in his Truth Social post.
“I have also instructed our Navy to seek and interdict every vessel in International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran. No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas,” Trump added.
“Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL!” he added.
Six weeks of fighting has killed thousands, roiled the global economy and sent oil prices soaring as Iran prevented traffic through the strait.
MORE NEGOTIATIONS?
In an interview with Fox News after his post about the strait, Trump said that he believed Iran would continue to negotiate and called the weekend discussions “very friendly.”
“I do believe they’re going to come to the table on this, because nobody can be so stupid as to say, ‘We want nuclear weapons,’ and they have no cards,” Trump told Fox News from his golf course near Miami, Florida.
Trump also said that NATO allies, whom he has criticized for failing to back the war he launched along with Israel on February 28, wanted to help with the operation in the strait.
There was no immediate comment from Washington’s allies.
The weekend talks in Islamabad, which followed the announcement of a ceasefire last Tuesday, were the first direct US-Iranian meeting in more than a decade and the highest-level discussions since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
“The bad news is that we have not reached an agreement, and I think that’s bad news for Iran much more than it’s bad news for the United States of America,” said Vice President JD Vance, who headed the US delegation.
A US official said Iran had rejected Washington’s call for an end to all uranium enrichment, the dismantling of all major enrichment facilities and the transfer of highly enriched uranium. The two sides also failed to reach agreement on the US demand that Iran cease funding for Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis as well as fully open the strait, the official added.
Iran’s Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, who led his country’s delegation along with Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, blamed the US for not winning Tehran’s trust, despite his team offering “forward-looking initiatives.”
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, who discussed the talks in a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Tehran wanted “a balanced and fair agreement.”
“If the United States returns to the framework of international law, reaching an agreement is not far off,” he told Putin, Iranian state media reported.
ISRAEL CONTINUES BOMBING LEBANON
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said “excessive” US demands had hindered reaching a deal. Other Iranian media said there was agreement on a number of issues, but the strait and Iran’s nuclear program were the main sticking points.
Despite the stalemate, three supertankers fully laden with oil passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, shipping data showed, in what appeared to be the first vessels to exit the Gulf since the ceasefire deal.
Israel has continued bombing Tehran-backed Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon, insisting – along with Washington – that that conflict was not part of the Iran-US ceasefire. Iran says the fighting in Lebanon must stop.
The Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah rocket launchers overnight into Sunday and black smoke could be seen rising in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut.
And in Israeli villages near the border, air raid sirens sounded, warning of incoming rocket fire from Lebanon.