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Iranian-Jewish former state senator files to run against George Santos
(New York Jewish Week) – George Santos, the self-proclaimed “Jew-ish” Republican congressman who has spread a series of falsehoods about his background, now has at least one actual Jewish challenger: Anna Kaplan, an Iranian-American former Democratic state senator from Santos’ New York district.
Kaplan filed paperwork yesterday to run for Congress against Santos, who was elected last year and whose district covers parts of Queens and Long Island.
Kaplan, 57, was the first Iranian-American elected to New York’s state senate, and served from 2019-2022, representing the seventh district, which covers part of Long Island’s north shore. She lost her reelection campaign last fall to Republican Jack Martins, in what became a GOP sweep of Long Island.
During her tenure, she championed issues of concern to Jewish voters, including in her efforts to pass a long-stalled bill that authorizes the state to survey whether and how school districts are teaching about the Holocaust. Kaplan was a 2022 honoree of the New York Jewish Week’s “36 to Watch.”
“As a Jewish political refugee who has fought tirelessly for the memory of the Holocaust to be preserved and honored, I’ve been outraged and disgusted by the insane lies that George Santos has told to our community,” she said in a statement in January to Jewish Insider. “I’m heartbroken that our community won’t have true representation as long as he’s occupying our seat in Washington.”
Born in Tabriz, Iran in 1965, Kaplan came to the United States alone at age 13, fleeing Iran’s Islamic Revolution. She lived briefly in Crown Heights, Brooklyn and then Chicago, Illinois with a foster family, before reuniting with her family in Queens. She went on to earn an undergraduate degree from Yeshiva University’s Stern College and to graduate from the university’s Cardozo School of Law.
If she secures the nomination, she may face Santos, a freshman Republican congressman who has drawn national attention for allegedly embellishing and falsifying large parts of his biography, including that he has Jewish heritage and family members who survived the Holocaust.
Despite Santos’ claims, a number of media outlets, including JTA, have uncovered evidence that he has no Jewish ancestry. More recently, Santos has said that his repeated claims of being Jewish were a “party favor joke.”
In January, the Nassau County Republican Committee called on Santos to resign. He has refused, and filed to run for reelection in April. The committee has reportedly considered replacements for Santos, including Martins and Mazi Melesa Pilip, an Ethiopian Jew of color who currently serves in the Nassau County legislature.
Gothamist reported that three other candidates have also filed to run against Santos in next year’s elections, though so far, Kaplan is the only one with prior experience as an elected official.
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The post Iranian-Jewish former state senator files to run against George Santos appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Pope Leo Says Those Who Wage War Are Thieves Stealing Away Our Peaceful Future
Pope Leo XIV looks on as he meets with Catholic religious education teachers attending a national meeting organised by the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI), in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, April 25, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Yara Nardi
Pope Leo on Sunday described those who wage wars and appropriate the earth’s resources as thieves who rob the world of a peaceful future, issuing a warning about the use of nuclear power on the anniversary of the Chernobyl reactor accident.
Ukraine is commemorating the 40th anniversary of the world’s worst nuclear disaster on Sunday amid lingering fears that Russia’s four-year-old war could spark a repeat of the tragedy.
In his weekly address after the Angelus prayer, the Pontiff said the Chernobyl accident had left a mark on humankind’s collective conscience.
“It remains a warning over the use of ever more powerful technologies,” the Pope, who has just returned from a 10-day tour across four African nations, said.
“I hope that at all decision-making levels, wisdom and responsibility always prevail, so that atomic power can always be used to support life and peace,” he added.
Commenting on the Gospel of the day, which contained the metaphor of a sheep thief, Pope Leo said thieves came under many appearances, listing as examples “superficial lifestyles driven by consumerism,” prejudices and wrong ideas.
“And let’s not forget also those thieves who, by plundering the earth’s resources, by fighting bloody wars or feeding evil in whichever form, are simply taking away from all of us the chance of a future of peace and serenity,” he added.
Leo, the first US pontiff, has attracted the ire of President Donald Trump after becoming more outspoken against war and despotism.
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UK’s Starmer and Trump Discuss ‘Urgent Need’ to Restore Shipping in Strait of Hormuz
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and US President Donald Trump (not pictured) hold a bilateral meeting at Trump Turnberry golf course in Turnberry, Scotland, Britain, July 28, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and US President Donald Trump discussed the urgent need to get shipping moving again in the Strait of Hormuz during a call on Sunday, a Downing Street spokesperson said.
“The leaders discussed the urgent need to get shipping moving again in the Strait of Hormuz, given the severe consequences for the global economy and cost of living for people in the UK and globally,” the spokesperson for Starmer’s office said in a statement.
“The prime minister shared the latest progress on his joint initiative with President (Emmanuel) Macron to restore freedom of navigation,” the spokesperson added.
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Palestinian Leader’s Loyalists Win Local Elections, Including Some Seats in Gaza
A Palestinian man votes during the municipal election at a polling station in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip April 25, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Loyalists of President Mahmoud Abbas won most races in Palestinian municipal elections, election officials said on Sunday, in a vote that for the first time in nearly two decades included a city in the Gaza Strip run by rival Hamas.
Saturday’s ballot marked the first elections of any kind in Gaza since 2006 and the first Palestinian polls since the Gaza war began more than two years ago with Hamas’ cross‑border attack on southern Israel.
Abbas’ West Bank–based Palestinian Authority (PA) said the inclusion of the Gaza city Deir al‑Balah, which suffered less damage than other areas of the coastal territory during the war, was intended to show that Gaza was an inseparable part of a future Palestinian state.
The elections, in which voter turnout was low, had been held “at a highly sensitive moment amid complex challenges and exceptional circumstances,” Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa said as results were announced on Sunday.
But they represented “an important first step in a broader national process aimed at strengthening democratic life … and ultimately achieving the unity of the homeland,” he said.
POSSIBLE INDICATOR OF HAMAS SUPPORT
Hamas, which ousted the PA from Gaza in 2007, did not formally nominate candidates in Gaza and boycotted the race in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Fatah’s victory was widely expected.
But some candidates on one of the Deir al-Balah lists were widely seen by residents and analysts as aligned with the movement, making the vote a potential indicator of support for the Islamist group.
Preliminary results showed that the list, known as Deir al‑Balah Brings Us Together, won only two of the 15 seats contested in Gaza.
The Nahdat Deir al‑Balah list, backed by Abbas’ Fatah party and the Western-backed PA, secured six seats. The remaining seats were won by two other Gaza-based groups, Future of Deir al‑Balah and Peace and Building, not affiliated with either faction.
Abbas loyalists swept the election in the West Bank, running unchallenged in many seats.
Fatah spokesperson Abdul Fattah Dawla noted that turnout was close to that for the last municipal elections in the West Bank, in 2022, praising voters for participating despite ongoing violence by Israel.
“By electing figures linked to Fatah, voters appear to be seeking unrestricted international support for municipal governance and a gradual political shift that could extend beyond the local level,” said Palestinian political analyst Reham Ouda.
The recent war has left much of Gaza reduced to rubble, with many residents displaced and focused on survival. Israel has continued conducting strikes despite an October ceasefire.
In Gaza, voter turnout reached just 23 percent, while in the West Bank it was 56 percent, according to Chairman of the Central Elections Commission Rami al‑Hamdallah.
Al‑Hamdallah said some of the ballot boxes and voting equipment did not make it into the enclave because of Israeli security restrictions, though those challenges were overcome.
Hamas’ Gaza spokesperson, Hazem Qassem, downplayed the significance of the election results, saying that they had no impact on wider national issues.