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Israels ambassador to the United Nations called out the organization for its failure to condemn Hamas atrocities while donning a Nazi-era yellow star as a stark reminder of what happened in the past when the world stayed silent.

During a heated address before the UN Security Council, Ambassador Gilad Erdan compared the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack to what his grandfather Chaim and his children endured when they were ripped away from their lives and taken to Auschwitz by the Nazis.

When his babies were sent to the gas chambers, the world stayed silent. When their bodies were burned along with millions of other Jewish children, the world was silent, Erdan said during Mondays meeting.

Today, after innocent Jewish babies were burned alive, this Council is still silent. Some of you have learned nothing in the past 80 years.

“Some of you have forgotten why this body was established. 7 Israeli United Nations Ambassador Gilad Erdan places a yellow star on his chest as he speaks during a Security Council meeting on the Israel-Hamas war at UN headquarters on Oct. 30, 2023, in New York City. Getty Images 7 Erdan told the Council he will continue to wear the star until the UN condemns Hamas’s actions.Getty Images

The ambassador, along with his delegation, then took out the gold stars similar to the ones Jews were forced to wear by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust to remind the group why they were first created.

Just like my grandparents, and the grandparents of millions of Jews, from now on my team and I will wear yellow stars, he told the Council as he stood up and placed the star inscribed with the words Never Again on his chest.

Nazi Germany used the Star of David patch to identify Jews between 1939 until the end of World War II.

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??? ??????? >> pic.twitter.com/Mj6OQzUjKu— Ambassador Gilad Erdan ???? ???? (@giladerdan1) October 31, 2023 7 Jews are seen wearing the Star of David after being liberated from Nazi German camps by Red Army troops on Nov. 29, 1944.Bettmann Archive

We will wear this star until you wake up and condemn the atrocities of Hamas, Erdan said.

During the address, Erdan stated to the Council that the only solution being sought out by Hamas was the final solution and that the terrorist organizations idea of peace would only be achieved by the elimination of Jews in Israel.

The harsh reminder by Erdan also comes after an outcry of anger by Israel after the UNs Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, The attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum.

The emergency meeting was convened at the request of the United Arab Emirates as tension continues to rise across the wartorn region. 7 Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei shows him speaking before an audience in Tehran on Oct. 25, 2023. KHAMENEI.IR/AFP via Getty Images

The ambassador also pointed out similarities between Adolf Hitler and Irans bloodthirsty Ayatollah Khamenei, saying that his regime is the latter to the Nazi regime and accused the Islamic ruler of fueling the uptick in violence against Jews.

Instead of shouting Sieg Heil, these radical Nazi Islamists scream, Death to Israel! Death to America! Death to England! Erdan said.

He explained that Ayatollah uses the actions of his death squads like Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, the Houthis, the Revolutionary Guard and other savage Jihadists to spread poisonous genocidal ideologies with the world. 7 A Hamas terrorist is seen with an Israeli hostage in the back of a stolen IDF vehicle following Hamas’s attack on Oct. 7.

On the day of the massacre, he called for the eradication of Israel alongside a video of Israelis running for their lives as his Hamas Einsatzgruppen mowed them down with machine guns, the ambassador said of the Ayatollah.

The Eizengruppen — often referred to as mobile killing squads — were outfits of Nazi SS soldiers used by Germany to ethnically cleanse Jews and others in mass shooting operations during the late 1930s til the end of World War II.

If Hitler had a Twitter account, it would look exactly the same as Khamenei’s, he said. 7 A Hamas terrorist holding a weapon grabs an Israeli next to a car during an attack by Hamas militants at the Tribe of Nova Trance music festival near Kibbutz Re’im in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. AP 7 An Einsatzgruppe D soldier about to shoot a Jew kneeling at a partially filled mass grave in Vinnytsia, Ukrainian, Soviet Union, in 1942. Getty Images

Erdan kept ambushing the council with historical compassion, saying that if it had existed during the Allies efforts to eliminate Nazi rule during World War II, the group would have been fixated on the death toll of Germans versus the murdering of British civilians during Germanys blitzkrieg bombings.

This is precisely where the world stood as the Nazis begin their rampage, Erdan exclaimed.

Precisely the same moment! And then, too the world was silent.

Despite his cries for the council to call out the violence taken against Israel, Erdan assured the group and the world that Israel would continue to defend itself in the war against Hamas in Gaza.

The people of Israel are strong, we cannot be broken, and we are not going anywhere. Many have tried to destroy us, but we are here to stay,” he told the council.

“Israel will win, crush Hamas and bring back the hostages.

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At least 51 people killed in Texas flooding as authorities face scrutiny over response

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At least 51 people killed in Texas flooding as authorities face scrutiny over response

At least 51 people have died after heavy rain caused flash flooding, with water bursting from the banks of the Guadalupe River in Texas.

The overflowing water began sweeping into Kerr County and other areas around 4am local time on Friday, killing at least 43 people in the county.

This includes at least 15 children and 28 adults, with five children and 12 adults pending identification, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said at a news conference.

In nearby Kendall County, one person has died. At least four people were killed in Travis County, while at least two people died in Burnet County. Another person has died in the city of San Angelo in Tom Green County.

People comfort each other in Kerville. Pic: Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle via AP
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People comfort each other in Kerrville, Texas. Pic: Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle via AP

People stand near debris following flash flooding, in Kerrville, Texas, U.S. July 5, 2025. REUTERS/Marco Bello
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Large piles of debris in Kerrville, Texas, following the flooding. Pic: Reuters//Marco Bello

More than 700 children were staying at Camp Mystic

An unknown number of people remain missing, including 27 girls from Camp Mystic in Kerr County, a Christian summer camp along the Guadalupe River.

Rescuers have already saved hundreds of people and would work around the clock to find those still unaccounted for, Texas governor Greg Abbott said.

But as rescue teams are searching for the missing, Texas officials are facing scrutiny over their preparations and why residents and summer camps for children that are dotted along the river were not alerted sooner or told to evacuate.

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AccuWeather said the private forecasting company and the National Weather Service (NWS) sent warnings about potential flash flooding hours before the devastation, urging people to move to higher ground and evacuate flood-prone areas.

People look at debris on the banks of the Guadalupe River after a flash flood swept through the area Saturday, July 5, 2025, in Hunt, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
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Debris on the banks of the Guadalupe River in Hunt. Pic: AP Photo/Julio Cortez

An overturned vehicle is caught in debris along the Guadalupe River after a flash flood struck the area, Friday, July 4, 2025, in Kerrville,
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An overturned vehicle is caught in debris along the Guadalupe River. Pic: AP

The NWS later issued flash flood emergencies – a rare alert notifying of imminent danger.

“These warnings should have provided officials with ample time to evacuate camps such as Camp Mystic and get people to safety,” AccuWeather said in a statement that called Texas Hill County one of the most flash-flood-prone areas of the US because of its terrain and many water crossings.

But one NWS forecast earlier in the week had called for up to six inches of rain, said Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management.”It did not predict the amount of rain that we saw,” he said.

Officials said they had not expected such an intense downpour of rain, equivalent to months’ worth in a few short hours, insisting that no one saw the flood potential coming.

One river near Camp Mystic rose 22ft in two hours, according to Bob Fogarty, meteorologist with the NWS’s Austin/San Antonio office. The gauge failed after recording a level of 29.5ft.

A wall is missing on a building at Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas. Pic: AP/Julio Cortez
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A wall is missing on a building at Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas. Pic: AP/Julio Cortez

Bedding items are seen outside sleeping quarters at Camp Mystic. Pic: AP/Julio Cortez
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Bedding items are seen outside sleeping quarters at Camp Mystic. Pic: AP/Julio Cortez

A Sheriff's deputy pauses while searching for the missing in Hunt, Texas.Pic: AP/Julio Cortez
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A Sheriff’s deputy pauses while searching for the missing in Hunt, Texas.Pic: AP/Julio Cortez

“People, businesses, and governments should take action based on Flash Flood Warnings that are issued, regardless of the rainfall amounts that have occurred or are forecast,” Jonathan Porter, chief meteorologist at AccuWeather, said in a statement.

“We know we get rain. We know the river rises,” said Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, the county’s top elected official. “But nobody saw this coming.”

Judge Kelly said the county considered a flood warning system along the Guadalupe River that would have functioned like a tornado warning siren about six or seven years ago, before he was elected, but that the idea never got off the ground because “the public reeled at the cost”.

Pic: Reuters
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A drone view of Comfort, Texas. Pic: Reuters

Officials comb through the banks of the Guadalupe River in Hunt, Texas. Pic: AP/Julio Cortez
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Officials comb through the banks of the Guadalupe River in Hunt, Texas. Pic: AP/Julio Cortez

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was asked during a news conference on Saturday whether the flash flood warnings came through quickly enough: “We know that everyone wants more warning time, and that is why we are working to upgrade the technologies that have been neglected for far too long.”

Presidential cuts to climate and weather organisations have also been criticised in the wake of the floods after Donald Trump‘s administration ordered 800 job cuts at the science and climate organisation NOAA, the parent organisation of the NWS, which predicts and warns about extreme weather like the Texas floods.

A 30% cut to its budget is also in the pipeline, subject to approval by Congress.

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Professor Costa Samaras, who worked on energy policy at the White House under President Joe Biden, said NOAA had been in the middle of developing new flood maps for neighbourhoods and that cuts to NOAA were “devastating”.

“Accurate weather forecasts matter. FEMA and NOAA matter. Because little girls’ lives matter,” said Frank Figliuzzi, a national security and intelligence analyst at Sky’s US partner organisation NBC News.

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How Prevent is tackling young extremism 20 years after the 7/7 bombings

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How Prevent is tackling young extremism 20 years after the 7/7 bombings

Radicalised nine-year-olds, teenagers mixing incel culture with extreme right ideologies and a Muslim who idolises Hitler – this is just some of the casework of those tasked with deradicalising young extremists in the UK.

Monday will mark 20 years since the 7/7 attacks on the London transport network when four suicide bombers killed 52 people and injured 770 others.

A year later the government set up its deradicalisation programme Prevent as part of its counter-terrorism strategy.

Sky News has spoken to two leading intervention providers (IPs) at Prevent who both say their work is getting ever more complex and the referrals younger.

The Metropolitan Police’s Prevent co-ordinator, Detective Superintendent Jane Corrigan, has also told Sky News it is “tragic” that when it comes to terrorism, “one in five of all our arrests is a child under 17”.

She believes parents should talk to their children about what they are reading and seeing online.

“Parents instinctively know when something doesn’t feel right when their child is becoming withdrawn or isolated – not wanting to engage,” she says.

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People worried that someone they know has thoughts that could lead to terrorism can refer them to Prevent.

File pic: iStock
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File pic: iStock

‘A pic-n-mix of ideologies’

Home Office figures show 11-year-olds are the largest age group to get referred.

Concerning cases are passed on to IPs such as Nigel Bromage who told Sky News: “Often there will be a pic-n-mix of ideologies.

“From my own examples and experience, we are aware of people looking at the incel culture and mixing that with some far-right elements.”

Jason Farrell with Nigel Bromage
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Sky’s Jason Farrell with intervention provider Nigel Bromage, who was exposed to extremism when he was a child

Incels, meaning “involuntary celibates” are men who have been unable to have a relationship with women despite wanting one and become misogynistic and hateful as a result.

Like many IPs, Mr Bromage from Birmingham comes from an extremist background himself, having once been a regional organiser for the proscribed Neo-Nazi group Combat 18.

For him too, it began as a child.

“It all started with someone giving me a leaflet outside my school gates,” Mr Bromage says.

“It told me a horrific story about a mum getting killed by an IRA bomb explosion – and at the end of the leaflet there was a call to action which said: ‘If you think it’s wrong then do something about it’.”

He developed a hatred for Irish republican terrorism which morphed into general racism and national socialism.

“At the very end I thought I was going to go to prison, or I would end up being hurt or even killed because of my political beliefs,” he says.

Nigel Bromage
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Mr Bromage says his youngest case involved a nine-year-old

Boy, 9, groomed by his brother

Mr Bromage reveals his youngest case was a nine-year-old who had been groomed by his brother.

“He was being shown pro-Nazi video games, and his older brother was saying ‘when I go to prison or I get in trouble – they you’re the next generation – you’re the one who needs to continue the fight’,” he says.

“Really, he had no interest in the racist games – he just wanted to impress his brother and be loved by his brother.”

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Every year, nearly 300 children who are 10 or younger are referred to Prevent.

Home Office figures show that over the last six years 50% of referrals were children under the age of 18.

Eleven-year-olds alone make up a third of total referrals, averaging just over 2,000 a year, with the figure rising even higher in the most recent stats.

Another IP, Abdul Ahad, specialises in Islamic extremism.

He says the catalyst for radicalisation often comes from events aboard.

Ten years ago, it was Syria, more recently Gaza.

“It is often a misplaced desire to do something effective – to matter, to make a difference. It gives them purpose, camaraderie and belonging as well – you feel part of something bigger than you,” he says.

The wreckage of a double-decker bus after the blast at Tavistock Square. Pic: PA
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Fifty-two people were killed on 7 July 2005 when four suicide bombers blew up three London Underground trains and a bus. Pic: PA

Clients want someone to ‘hear them’

Some of his clients “don’t fit into any particular box”.

“I’m working with a guy at the minute, he’s a young Muslim but he idolises Hitler and he’s written a manifesto,” he says.

“When you break it down, some people don’t know where they fit in, but they want to fit in somewhere.”

Mr Ahad says the young individual mostly admires Hitler’s “strength” rather than his ideologies and that he was drawn to darker characters in history.

Often his clients are very isolated and just want someone to “hear them”, he adds.

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Abdul Ahad
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Intervention provider Abdul Ahad specialises in Islamic extremism

Mr Ahad is also an imam who preaches at the Al-Azar Mosque in South Shields, a well-regarded centre for community cohesion and outreach.

He uses his understanding of the Islamic faith in his Prevent sessions to help guide his referrals away from extreme interpretations of the Koran by offering “understanding and context”.

He says: “We quote the correct religious texts – we explain their responsibility as a Muslim living in the UK and we re-direct their energies into something more constructive.”

Common theme of mental health issues

Mental health problems are a common theme among those referred to Prevent including depression and autism.

A recent inquest into the death of autistic teenager Rhianan Rudd found she took her own life after being radicalised by two white supremacists.

Her mother was critical of Prevent, as well as the police and MI5 after she had referred her daughter to the deradicalisation programme and Rhianan was subsequently charged with terrorism offences.

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Last month a coroner found some failings in the processes around protecting Rhianan, but none of them attributable to Rhianan taking her own life.

Det Supt Corrigan says a referral doesn’t mean individuals end up being arrested or on an MI5 watchlist.

She says: “You’re not reporting a crime, but you are seeking support. I would say the earlier you can come in and talk to us about the concerns you have the better. Prevent is just that – it is a pre-criminal space.

“It’s tragic when you see the number of young people being arrested for very serious charges. Just look at terrorism – one in five of all our arrests is a child under the age of 17. We need to think about how we respond to that.”

Prevent has been criticised for failures such as when Southport killer Axel Rudakabana failed to be recognised as needing intervention despite three referrals, or when MP David Amiss’ killer Ali Harbi Ali went through the programme and killed anyway.

Axel Rudakubana. Pic: Merseyside police
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Axel Rudakubana failed to be recognised as needing intervention despite three referrals. Pic: Merseyside police

It’s harder to quantify its successes.

Mr Ahad says he understands why the failures hit the headlines, but he believes the programme is saving lives.

He says: “I think the vast majority of people get radicalised online because they are sitting in their room reading all this content without any context or scholarly input. They see one version of events and they get so far down the rabbit hole they can’t pull themselves out.

“I really wish Prevent was around when I was a young, lost 15-year-old because there was nothing around then. It’s about listening to people engaging with them and offering them a way of getting out of that extremism.”

File pic: iStock
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File pic: iStock

‘Radicalisation can happen in days to weeks’

Det Supt Corrigan says: “I’ve sat with parents whose children have gone on to commit the most horrendous crimes and they all spotted something.

“Now, with hindsight, they wished they had done something or acted early. That’s why we created this programme, because radicalisation can happen in days to weeks.”

Twenty years on from 7/7 the shape of the terrorist threat has shifted, the thoughts behind it harder to categorise, but it is no less dangerous.

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Volpe toss hits Judge as sloppy Yanks fall again

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Volpe toss hits Judge as sloppy Yanks fall again

NEW YORK — A blunder that typifies the current state of the New York Yankees, who find themselves in the midst of their second six-game losing streak in three weeks, happened in front of 41,401 fans at Citi Field on Saturday, and almost nobody noticed.

The Yankees were jogging off the field after securing the third out of the fourth inning of their 12-6 loss to the Mets when shortstop Anthony Volpe, as is standard for teams across baseball at the end of innings, threw the ball to right fielder Aaron Judge as he crossed into the infield from right field.

Only Judge wasn’t looking, and the ball nailed him in the head, knocking his sunglasses off and leaving a small cut near his right eye. The wound required a bandage to stop the bleeding, but Judge stayed in the game.

“Confusion,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I didn’t know what happened initially. [It just] felt like something happened. Of course I was a little concerned.”

Avoiding an injury to the best player in baseball was on the Yankees’ very short list of positives in another sloppy, draining defeat to their crosstown rivals. With the loss, the Yankees, who held a three-game lead over the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East standings entering June 30, find themselves tied with the Tampa Bay Rays for second place three games behind the Blue Jays heading into Sunday’s Subway Series finale.

The nosedive has been fueled by messy defense and a depleted pitching staff that has encountered a wall.

“It’s been a terrible week,” said Boone, who before the game announced starter Clarke Schmidt will likely undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery.

For the second straight day, the Mets capitalized on mistakes and cracked timely home runs. After slugging three homers in Friday’s series opener, the Mets hit three more Saturday — a grand slam in the first inning from Brandon Nimmo to take a 4-0 lead and two home runs from Pete Alonso to widen the gap.

Nimmo’s blast — his second grand slam in four days — came after Yankees left fielder Jasson Dominguez misplayed a ball hit by the Mets’ leadoff hitter in the first inning. On Friday, he misread Nimmo’s line drive and watched it sail over his head for a double. On Saturday, he was slow to react to Starling Marte’s flyball in the left-center field gap and braked without catching or stopping it, allowing Marte to advance to second for a double. Yankees starter Carlos Rodon then walked two batters to load the bases for Nimmo, who yanked a mistake, a 1-2 slider over the wall.

“That slider probably needs to be down,” said Rodon, who allowed seven runs (six earned) over five innings. “A lot of misses today and they punished them.”

Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s throwing woes at third base — a position the Yankees have asked him to play to accommodate DJ LeMahieu at second base — continued in the second inning when he fielded Tyrone Taylor’s groundball and sailed a toss over first baseman Cody Bellinger’s head. Taylor was given second base and scored moments later on Marte’s RBI single.

The Yankees were charged with their second error in the Mets’ four-run seventh inning when center fielder Trent Grisham charged Francisco Lindor’s single up the middle and had it bounce off the heel of his glove.

The mistake allowed a run to score from second base without a throw, extending the Mets lead back to three runs after the Yankees had chipped their deficit, and allowed a heads-up Lindor to advance to second base. Lindor later scored on Alonso’s second home run, a three-run blast off left-hander Jayvien Sandridge in the pitcher’s major league debut.

“Just got to play better,” Judge said. “That’s what it comes down to. It’s fundamentals. Making a routine play, routine. It’s just the little things. That’s what it kind of comes down to. But every good team goes through a couple bumps in the road.”

This six-game losing skid has looked very different from the Yankees’ first. That rough patch, consisting of losses to the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Angels, was propelled by offensive troubles. The Yankees scored six runs in the six games and gave up just 16. This time, run prevention is the issue; the Yankees have scored 34 runs and surrendered 54 in four games against the Blue Jays in Toronto and two in Queens.

“The offense is starting to swing the bat, put some runs on the board,” Boone said. “The pitching, which has kind of carried us a lot this season, has really, really struggled this week. We haven’t caught the ball as well as I think we should.

“So, look, when you live it and you’re going through it, it sucks, it hurts. But you got to be able to handle it. You got to be able to deal with it. You got to be able to weather it and come out of this and grow.”

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