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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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Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi lays a wreath as he visits the burial site of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon, June 3, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
A member of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was killed in an Israeli air strike on Tehran alongside a member of an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group, a senior Lebanese security source told Reuters and the Iraqi group said on Saturday.
The source identified the Hezbollah member as Abu Ali Khalil, who had served as a bodyguard for Hezbollah’s slain chief Hassan Nasrallah. The source said Khalil had been on a religious pilgrimage to Iraq when he met up with a member of the Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada group.
They traveled together to Tehran and were both killed in an Israeli strike there, along with Khalil’s son, the senior security source said. Hezbollah has not joined in Iran’s air strikes against Israel from Lebanon.
Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada published a statement confirming that both the head of its security unit and Khalil had been killed in an Israeli strike.
Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli aerial attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs in September.
Israel and Iran have been trading strikes for nine consecutive days since Israel launched attacks on Iran, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran has said it does not seek nuclear weapons.
The post Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip
Israeli soldiers operate during a ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, July 3, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), in cooperation with the General Security Service (Shin Bet), announced on Friday the killing of Ibrahim Abu Shamala, a senior financial official in Hamas’ military wing.
The operation took place on June 17th in the central Gaza Strip.
Abu Shamala held several key positions, including financial officer for Hamas’ military wing and assistant to Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’ military wing until his elimination in March 2024.
He was responsible for managing all the financial resources of Hamas’ military wing in Gaza, overseeing the planning and execution of the group’s war budget. This involved handling and smuggling millions of dollars into the Gaza Strip to fund Hamas’ military operations.
The post Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 20, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei named three senior clerics as candidates to succeed him should he be killed, the New York Times reported on Saturday citing unnamed Iranian officials. It is understood the Ayatollah fears he could be assassinated in the coming days.
Khamenei reportedly mostly speaks with his commanders through a trusted aide now, suspending electronic communications.
Khamenei has designated three senior religious figures as candidates to replace him as well as choosing successors in the military chain of command in the likely event that additional senior officials be eliminated.
Earlier on Saturday Israel confirmed the elimination of Saeed Izadi and Bhanam Shahriari.
Shahriari, head of Iran’s Quds Force Weapons Transfer Unit, responsible for arming Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, was killed in an Israeli airstrike over 1,000 km from Israel in western Iran.
The post Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors first appeared on Algemeiner.com.