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Iran Congratulates Maduro on Inauguration, ‘Stands in Solidarity’ With Venezuela Against US ‘Coercive Measures’
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro meets with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, Oct. 24, 2024. Photo: Miraflores Palace/Handout via REUTERS
Iran has congratulated Nicolás Maduro for beginning his third term as Venezuela’s president, despite international outcry over what many leaders have described as an “illegitimate” presidency only won through a “desperate attempt” to seize power.
The Iranian government sent its best wishes to Maduro and vowed to strengthen ties with Venezuela, describing their bilateral relationship as a way to stand up to the United States.
“Congratulations to President #NicolasMaduro on his inauguration into office as President of the Bolivarian Republic of #Venezuela,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said in a post on X/Twitter on Saturday. “We wish him all the success in serving his great people & country and are looking forward to working with the elected government for the good of our nations in furtherance of Iran-Venezuela’s extensive bilateral ties.”
Congratulations to President #NicolasMaduro on his inauguration into office as President of the Bolivarian Republic of #Venezuela.
We wish him all the success in serving his great people & country and are looking forward to working with the elected government for the good of our… pic.twitter.com/FVmKecZqrp
— Esmaeil Baqaei (@IRIMFA_SPOX) January 11, 2025
Baghaei then said that Iran will stand by Venezuela in opposition to the US government.
“Iran stands in solidarity with Venezuelan people and government in the face of malign interventions and unilateral coercive measures led by the United States,” he said.
Maduro on Friday began his third term as Venezuela’s president, despite US Secretary of State Antony Blinken referring to his “illegitimate presidential inauguration in Venezuela” as a “desperate attempt” to seize power.
“The Venezuelan people and world know the truth — Maduro clearly lost the 2024 presidential election and has no right to claim the presidency,” Blinken said in a statement. “The United States rejects the National Electoral Council’s fraudulent announcement that Maduro won the presidential election and does not recognize Nicolás Maduro as the president of Venezuela.”
Opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia should have been sworn in as the Venezuelan president, according to the US State Department.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar agreed, posting on X/Twitter that the Jewish state “expresses concern over the political persecution and arbitrary arrests by the regime and joins the call of many in the international community to restore freedom and democracy in Venezuela.”
“Today, Jan. 10, Edmundo González Urrutia, the elected president of Venezuela, who won the presidential elections by a significant majority, was supposed to be inaugurated,” Sa’ar added. “However, the election results are not being respected, and his inauguration is not taking place. The ruler, Nicolás Maduro, an ally of Iran, must honor the will of the people in his country.”
US President-elect Donald Trump also lambasted Maduro after Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado — who emerged from months of hiding last week to join anti-Maduro protesters in the capital city of Caracas and demand that González be sworn in instead — was briefly detained by government security forces.
“Venezuelan democracy activist Maria Corina Machado and President-elect Gonzalez are peacefully expressing the voices and the will of the Venezuelan people with hundreds of thousands of people demonstrating against the regime,” Trump wrote on social media. “These freedom fighters should not be harmed, and must stay safe and alive.”
According to reports, Machado was forced to record several videos before she was released, although details of those recordings remain unclear and Maduro’s supporters have denied that the opposition leader was arrested.
Meanwhile, Iran is also increasing its military presence in Venezuela, with some members of the country’s elite even acquiring properties in the Latin American country and being offered political asylum should they need it, The Latin Times reported on Friday.
Iran has reportedly established a drone development base at the El Libertador air base in Venezuela, where training for Venezuelan military personnel also takes place in addition to the production and training in the use of a wide range of unnamed aerial vehicles (UAVs).
The two countries have also strengthened economic ties in recent years, such as Iran’s Mahan Air making direct flights between Caracas and Tehran. According to Infobae, a Spanish-language Argentine online newspaper, these flights have been used to violate international sanctions by transporting Venezuelan gold in exchange for Iranian oil.
The US and allied countries have imposed heavy sanctions on both Iran and Venezuela for a range of illicit activities, from human rights violations to supporting terrorist groups.
In 2021, for example, the US Justice Department announced charges against Iranian intelligence agents for plotting to kidnap an American citizen, journalist Masih Alinejad, in the US and take her by boat to Venezuela before forcibly returning her to Iran, where she was born.
Iran’s latest expression of support for Venezuela came about two weeks after a senior adviser to the Iranian health minister said that one of Iran’s top foreign policy priorities will be working to enhance its relationship with Cuba across several domains and to expand cooperation with Latin American countries more broadly.
Iran, Cuba, and Venezuela have all continued looking for ways to combat US sanctions, which are only expected to become harsher when Trump enters office on Jan. 20.
It is unclear if Iran will end up pursuing a relationship with Venezuela to resist US sanctions in a formalized way as it has with Russia.
Iranian and Russian leaders have been working on an initiative to form an international alliance against US sanctions known as the International Union Against US Sanctions. An Iranian lawmaker spearheading the effort said last month that it will soon be completed.
The post Iran Congratulates Maduro on Inauguration, ‘Stands in Solidarity’ With Venezuela Against US ‘Coercive Measures’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Online Antisemitism Watchdog Group Blasts Kanye West for Exploiting Social Media to ‘Make Racism Cool Again’
Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, dressed in a full black leather KKK outfit during his interview with DJ Akademiks that was shared on YouTube on March 31, 2025. Photo: Screenshot
The founder of a nonprofit organization that serves as the world’s first live database of online antisemitism said on Tuesday that Ye’s new song “Heil Hitler” is the rapper’s latest effort to “make racism cool again,” and criticized X for allowing the musician to promote Jew-hatred.
Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor, the founder and executive director of CyberWell — which focuses on combating online antisemitism, especially on social media — railed against Ye (who changed his name from Kanye West) the same day the Yeezy founder posted on X the messages “FREE GAZA” and “All racist allowed into the Nazi party.”
The self-described Nazi released last week a song titled “Heil Hitler,” which is the greeting in praise of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler that is given as part of the Nazi salute. The song includes an audio clip of a German speech given by Hitler in 1935. A clip of far-right social media influencer Andrew Tate playing “Heil Hitler” in his car has garnered over 3 million views on X and was reposted by Ye, although the re-post has since been deleted.
On Wednesday, Ye shared on X a video of someone leaving a Chick-fil-A drive-thru on a motor vehicle while playing the “Heil Hitler” track, before parking in front of the fast food restaurant and continuing to play the song. The vehicle had a screen that showed the music video for Ye’s hateful song and the person sitting in the motor vehicle did the Nazi salute twice when a choir on the track sang, “Ni–a, Heil Hitler.”
“Ye’s latest hateful contribution to the world, the song entitled ‘Heil Hitler,’ is part of his unabashed campaign to make racism cool again,” Montemayor said. “By embedding Nazi glorification – including ‘All my ni–as Nazis, ni–a, Heil Hitler’ and quotes from a 1935 Adolf Hitler speech – in pop culture, Ye exploited the algorithmic charge and large reach of social media platforms to normalize and spread Jew-hatred to millions.”
“As a repeat offender, duping advertisers, the Super Bowl production, and abusing music and social media platforms, this moment should be met with swift and scalable action by all digital service providers with any Ye footprint,” Montemayor added. “But, most importantly, a succinct response is needed by the platform that has systematically granted Ye and other celebrity antisemites their largest audiences in the space — the platform formerly known as Twitter.”
Many others have previously criticized the Elon Musk-owned social media platform for not removing Ye from X because of his antisemitic actions. Earlier this year, Jewish actor David Schwimmer asked Musk, who acquired the company in late 2022, to ban rapper Ye from X because of his antisemitic comments and his decision to sell a shirt that features a Nazi swastika.
The groups Campaign Against Antisemitism and StopAntisemitism have both called on Musk to delete Ye’s account from X. StopAntisemitism said in part: “Ye has twice as many followers on X as there are Jews on earth. His obsession with us isn’t just deranged — it’s dangerous. Kanye is a deeply troubled man, but also a powerful one. Deplatform him before his violent rhetoric turns into violent action.”
Despite efforts by other social media platforms to ban the “Heil Hitler” song and music video, X has yet to delete the music video that Ye posted on his account last week. The clip has thus far garnered more than 9 million views.
In 2022, Ye was temporarily suspended from X when he made antisemitic remarks, but shortly after returned to the platform to share more hateful comments targeting Jews.
CyberWell works with leading social media platforms to identify and remove antisemitic content. Its artificial intelligence-powered technologies scan social media in English and Arabic for posts that promote antisemitism, Holocaust denial, and violence against Jews. CyberWell’s analysts review the harmful content and report it to platform moderators.
In regards to the song “Heil Hitler,” Spotify and SoundCloud have both removed Ye’s new track, but alternate versions and snippets of the song have been shared by Ye’s supporters and still appear on the platforms. The same is true on YouTube and Apple Music, where a Ye fan uploaded the song under the title “HH,” but it has since been removed. On Reddit, versions of the song were shared in subreddits dedicated to Ye and other rappers.
A Reddit spokesperson told NBC News the platform is actively working to remove uploads and posts related to the song. “Hate and antisemitism have absolutely no place on Reddit. We have strict rules against hateful content, “the spokesperson explained. “In line with our sitewide rules, we are removing the song and any celebration of its message.”
Meanwhile, comedian and actor Russell Brand shared the music video for “Heil Hitler” on his X account on Monday, and defended Ye in a post online and on his podcast last week. The host of “Stay Free with Russell Brand” said the song has “a good hook,” and that Ye is a “true artist” and “uncancellable.” Similar sentiments were expressed on X by far-right American political commentator Candace Owens.
Montemayor condemned several social media platforms for their inaction in removing Ye’s hateful “Heil Hitler” song, starting with X.
“While YouTube, Reddit, and TikTok made speedy and clear attempts to demonetize Ye’s accounts and remove the presence of the song at scale, X platformed this hatred for more than 6.5 million views,” she explained, before turning her attention to Facebook and Instagram. She said the Meta-owned social media platforms “failed to moderate this content and its reposted formats, despite clearly violating Holocaust-denial and distortion policies.”
“The comments sections, even to content condemning the song across social media platforms, has been rife with open Jew-hatred — another testament to the negligence of social media platforms to enforce their policies where they effect users most,” Montemayor added. “The response, or lack thereof, on the part of the social media platforms to this latest celebrity-led assault of hatred is a litmus test for how seriously they take the issue of antisemitism and platform safety. CyberWell will continue to assist our Trusted Partners in optimizing their response to Ye’s latest abomination with clear and expert antisemitism compliance guidance.”
The post Online Antisemitism Watchdog Group Blasts Kanye West for Exploiting Social Media to ‘Make Racism Cool Again’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Belgian Police Raid Mohels’ Homes in Antwerp, Sparking Outrage in Jewish Community
Police pictured at an Anderlecht supporters village at the Atomium, before the final of the ‘Croky Cup’ Belgian soccer cup, between Club Brugge and RSC Anderlecht, May 4, 2025. Photo: BELGA/HATIM KAGHAT via Reuters Connect
Belgian police raided the homes of several mohels in Antwerp, a northern Belgian city, seizing their circumcision tools after a local Jewish rabbi filed a complaint — an incident that has sparked outrage within the local Jewish community.
A mohel is a trained practitioner who performs the ritual circumcision in Jewish tradition known as a bris.
On Wednesday, Belgian authorities raided three locations in the Jewish Quarter, searching for knives and other equipment allegedly used in unauthorized or illegal circumcisions. However, local police confirmed that no arrests were made during the operation.
Among the homes raided by the Belgian police was that of Rabbi Aharon Eckstein, a highly experienced mohel and a prominent leader within the Antwerp Jewish community.
In an interview with the publication JNS, Eckstein said the raid took place around 5 am.
“They didn’t say much. They just looked through the place and took my kit,” the Jewish leader said.
He also expressed his intention to continue performing circumcisions, as he had not received any instruction to stop such practice.
According to a police report, the searches were ordered by a judge following a complaint filed in 2023 by Rabbi Moshe Aryeh Friedman against Eckstein and other mohels within the Jewish community.
Prosecutors have been investigating illegal circumcisions in the country since last fall, amid concerns from local authorities that Jewish circumcisions are being carried out by individuals without proper medical training.
In his complaint, Friedman accused six mohels, whom he identified to the police, of endangering infants by performing the metzitzah b’peh ritual, in which the mohel uses his mouth to suction blood from the circumcision area.
However, Eckstein and other rabbis, along with parents of children circumcised by them, have denied such accusations, insisting that they do not perform this practice.
In Antwerp, Friedman is known for publicly criticizing several customs that are important to ultra-Orthodox Jews, who represent the majority of the city’s 18,000 Jewish residents.
The European Jewish Association (EJA) condemned the government’s handling of the issue, claiming it threatens freedom of religion.
“This constitutes yet another red line crossed in the intimidation of Jewish religious figures in Belgium,” Rabbi Mencahem Margolin, chairman of the EJA, said in a post on the social media platform X.
“Following the ban on shechita [kosher ritual slaughter], the harassment of mohels represents a further red line and a clear warning sign to Belgian Jews and the Belgian government. Freedom of religion must be upheld!” he continued.
The European Jewish Association (EJA) strongly condemns the police raid on the Mohels’ premises in Antwerp this morning.
EJA Chairman, Rabbi Menachem Margolin, say that this constitutes yet another red line crossed in the intimidation of Jewish religious figures in Belgium.…— EJA – EIPA (@EJAssociation) May 14, 2025
Despite several attempts to ban it across Europe, ritual circumcision remains legal in all European countries, though many, including Belgium, limit the practice to licensed surgeons and often perform it in a synagogue.
Last year, the Irish government arrested a London-based rabbi for allegedly performing a circumcision without the required medical credentials, marking the first arrest of a rabbi in Europe in years related to a bris.
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Putin Has Invitation to Visit Iran, but Dates Have Yet to Be Set, Kremlin Says
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attend a ceremony to sign an agreement of comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries, at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Jan. 17, 2025. Photo: Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via REUTERS
Russian President Vladimir Putin has an invitation to visit Iran, but the dates have not yet been agreed, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.
Iran‘s government spokesman Fatemeh Mohajerani was quoted by Russian state news agency RIA Novosti on Tuesday as saying that Putin‘s visit to Iran “is currently being worked out.”
Moscow and Tehran signed a 20-year strategic partnership agreement in January, the two countries have supplied each other with weapons, and Russia has defended what it says is Tehran’s right to peaceful nuclear energy.
“Indeed, President Putin has an invitation to pay an official or working visit to Iran. The dates have not yet been agreed. As soon as they are agreed, we will inform you,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked about a possible visit.
“We highly value our partnership with this country and we highly value the depth of our relationship in a wide variety of areas.”
The last time Putin visited Iran was in 2022, months after he sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine.
The post Putin Has Invitation to Visit Iran, but Dates Have Yet to Be Set, Kremlin Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.