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This prominent Greek neo-Nazi is running for mayor of Athens — from jail
(JTA) — Ilias Kasidiaris has been in a Greek prison since 2021 for his involvement with the far-right Golden Dawn party. The group disbanded after several members were convicted of running a criminal organization linked to hate crimes.
But that hasn’t stopped Kasidiaris, who has a swastika tattoo, from running to be mayor of Athens.
On Monday, the center-left PASOK alliance of parties submitted a proposal that would bar convicted criminals such as Kasidiaris from running in elections. According to Greek news site eKathimerini, it is unclear if the ruling government will accept the proposal.
According to reports, Kasidiaris has remained a popular figure with his follower behind bars, regularly using a cell phone and posting to social media. “He’s even been given the opportunity to conduct radio shows from his cell and has been very effective in using social media to rally support among the young,” the head of a group that studies far-right movements told the Guardian in April.
After Kasidiaris’ post-Golden Dawn party was banned, he founded a new party called the National Party-Greeks. But parliament banned that party from participating in June’s elections over concerns that Kasidiaris and other Golden Dawn alumni could re-enter the lawmaking body.
Still, Kasidiaris made his presence felt — he endorsed a slate of new far-right parties from his jail cell, and they performed well in the election, earning over 12% of the national vote. Analysts say the results could signal a resurgence of the far right in Greece.
Members of Golden Dawn — a fiercely anti-immigrant party that formed in the wake of Greece’s early 2010s financial crisis — were accused of attacking migrants and critics on the left, sometimes physically. Members denied the neo-Nazi label, but the group’s leaders praised the Nazis’ blood-and-soil nationalism, often denied the Holocaust and marched under a symbol that resembles the Nazi flag.
Former Golden Dawn member Yiorgos Roupakias was given a life sentence for the murder of Pavlos Fyssas, an anti-fascist rapper, in 2013.
Kasidiaris has admitted to being a Holocaust denier, and other Golden Dawn members had called Israel an “eternal enemy” of Greece and Greek Orthodoxy. Greek Jewish groups condemned Golden Dawn’s former leader for saying there were no gas chambers in Auschwitz.
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The post This prominent Greek neo-Nazi is running for mayor of Athens — from jail appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Germany’s Halt to Arms Exports to Israel Is Response to Gaza Expansion Plans, Chancellor Says
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz attends a cabinet meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Aug. 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Liesa Johannssen
Germany’s decision to curb arms exports to Israel comes in response to Israel’s plan to expand its operations in the Gaza Strip, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Sunday in an interview with public broadcaster ARD.
“We cannot deliver weapons into a conflict that is now being pursued exclusively by military means,” Merz said. “We want to help diplomatically, and we are doing so.”
The worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza and Israel’s plans to expand military control over the enclave have pushed Germany to take this historically fraught step.
The chancellor said in the interview that the expansion of Israel’s operations in Gaza could claim hundreds of thousands of civilian lives and would require the evacuation of the entire city of Gaza.
“Where are these people supposed to go?” Merz said. “We can’t do that, we won’t do that, and I will not do that.”
Nevertheless, the principles of Germany’s Israel policy remain unchanged, the chancellor said.
“Germany has stood firmly by Israel’s side for 80 years. That will not change,” Merz said.
Germany is Israel’s second-biggest weapons supplier after the US and has long been one of its staunchest supporters, principally because of its historical guilt for the Nazi Holocaust – a policy known as the “Staatsraison.”
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Newsom Calls Trump’s $1 Billion UCLA Settlement Offer Extortion, Says California Won’t Bow
California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks at a press conference, accompanied by members of the Texas Democratic legislators, at the governor’s mansion in Sacramento, California, U.S., August 8, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
California Governor Gavin Newsom said on Saturday that a $1 billion settlement offer by President Donald Trump’s administration for UCLA amounted to political extortion to which the state will not bow.
The University of California says it is reviewing a $1 billion settlement offer by the Trump administration for UCLA after the government froze hundreds of millions of dollars in funding over pro-Palestinian protests.
UCLA, which is part of the University of California system, said this week the government froze $584 million in funding. Trump has threatened to cut federal funds for universities over anti-Israel student protests.
“Donald Trump has weaponized the DOJ (Department of Justice) to kneecap America’s #1 public university system — freezing medical & science funding until @UCLA pays his $1 billion ransom,” the office of Newsom, a Democrat, said in a post.
“California won’t bow to Trump’s disgusting political extortion,” it added.
“This isn’t about protecting Jewish students – it’s a billion-dollar political shakedown from the pay-to-play president.”
The government alleges universities, including UCLA, allowed antisemitism during the protests and in doing so violated Jewish and Israeli students’ civil rights. The White House had no immediate comment beyond the offer.
Experts have raised free speech and academic freedom concerns over the Republican president’s threats. The University of California says paying such a large settlement would “completely devastate” the institution.
Large demonstrations took place at UCLA last year. Last week, UCLA agreed to pay over $6 million to settle a lawsuit by some students and a professor who alleged antisemitism. It was also sued this year over a 2024 violent mob attack on pro-Palestinian protesters.
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Trump Nominates State Dept Spokeswoman Bruce as US Deputy Representative to UN
FILE PHOTO: U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce speaks during her first press briefing at the State Department in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
President Donald Trump said on Saturday he was nominating State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce as the next US deputy representative to the United Nations.
Bruce has been the State Department spokesperson since Trump took office in January.
In a post on social media in which Trump announced her nomination, the president said she did a “fantastic job” as State Department spokesperson. Bruce will need to be confirmed for the role by the US Senate, where Trump’s Republican Party holds a majority.
During press briefings, she has defended the Trump administration’s foreign policy decisions ranging from an immigration crackdown and visa revocations to US responses to Russia’s war in Ukraine and Israel’s war in Gaza, including a widely condemned armed private aid operation in the Palestinian territory.
Bruce was previously a political contributor and commentator on Fox News for over 20 years.
She has also authored books like “Fear Itself: Exposing the Left’s Mind-Killing Agenda” that criticized liberals and left-leaning viewpoints.
In a post after Trump’s announcement, Bruce thanked him and suggested that the role was a “few weeks” away. Neither Trump nor Bruce mentioned an exact timeline in their online posts.
“Now I’m blessed that in the next few weeks my commitment to advancing America First leadership and values continues on the global stage in this new post,” Bruce wrote on X.
Trump has picked former White House national security adviser Mike Waltz to be his U.N. envoy. Waltz’s Senate confirmation for that role, wherein he will be Bruce’s boss, is still due.
Waltz was Trump’s national security adviser until he was ousted on May 1 after he was caught up in a March scandal involving a Signal chat among top Trump national security aides on military strikes in Yemen. Trump then nominated Waltz as his U.N. ambassador.