How The Post reported 'Crossroads of Conflict'
World
How The Post reported 'Crossroads of Conflict'
May 5, 2025 | 6:33 PM GMT
The Post's Rachel Chason gives us a look at her reporting for 'Crossroads of Conflict,' a series about Africa's new epicenter of jihadist activity.
Crossroads of conflict
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New York Post
2 hours ago
- New York Post
NYC's free summer meal program offers halal food, without listing kosher options
The city Department of Education's summer meal program for NYC youths boasts a variety of halal options at more than 25 locations citywide, but kosher food 'must be specially ordered,' officials told The Post. Free breakfasts and lunches will be served at hundreds of locations – schools, pools, libraries and parks – for anyone up to 18 years old, including all students from both public and private schools. 'You don't need to sign up, show any papers, or have an ID to get these meals,' the DOE says. 'Just head to one of our spots and enjoy a delicious breakfast and lunch.' Halal food – permissible for Muslims to eat under Islamic law – is available for the taking by anyone who shows up at the listed locations. Kosher food, for observant Jewish kids, is not mentioned on the DOE website. 4 DOE food worker Maria Gonzalez said she gave out 100 meals from a food truck in Haffen Park in the Bronx on the first day of the free summer meal program Friday. J.C. Rice Only when asked by The Post, the DOE said kosher meals 'must be specially ordered, and they are only available upon request. However we do not currently have any applications for kosher meals.' The glaring omission angered some Jewish advocates. 'The DOE's clear promotion of halal options alongside silence on kosher meals highlights a gap that needs urgent attention,'' said Karen Feldman, a DOE teacher and co-founder of the NYCPS Alliance, which fights antisemitism in the city public schools. 'Jewish families who keep kosher deserve the same outreach to feel fully included in this important program.' 4 A DOE food truck gave out free summer breakfasts and lunches to youths in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. J.C. Rice A similar controversy erupted in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, when the City Council's Jewish Caucus demanded that Mayor De Blasio's DOE include kosher meals along with vegetarian and halal food for Muslims in its free meal program. The DOE does not track students by religion, but an estimated 10 percent of NYC public-school students, roughly 100,000, are Muslim. The number of Jewish kids in NYC public schools is unclear, but 105,776 K-12 students enrolled in private Jewish schools in 2024-2025, said Gabriel Aaronson, director of policy and research for the non-profit advocacy group Teach Coalition. Poverty and hunger plague many NYC Jews, among other groups. The Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, which serves more than 325,000 clients, says it provides emergency food that meets the cultural and religious dietary needs of both kosher and halal-observant households. 4 Karen Feldman, a DOE teacher and co-founder of a group fighting antisemitism in public schools, faulted the city's free summer meal program's failure to list kosher meals for Jewish kids. Gregory P. Mango The DOE's summer menus offer a variety of halal options it says meet Islamic guidelines. For instance, a breakfast of egg and cheese on a buttermilk biscuit, home fries, and fresh fruit; and a lunch of chicken tenders with dipping sauce, garlic knot and corn. Other halal breakfasts include waffles, zucchini and banana bread, whole-grain bagels and buttermilk pancakes. Lunches feature pizza, mozzarella sticks, beef patties, falafel, chicken sandwiches, veggie burgers and empanadas. Kosher foods meet Jewish dietary laws, including restrictions on certain animals like pork and shellfish, separation of meat and dairy, and specific slaughtering and preparation methods. If ordered, the DOE said, a kosher breakfast would include a muffin, granola or cereal, plus yogurt, an apple, and milk. A lunch would consist of hummus, tuna or egg salad, whole wheat bread, grape tomatoes, apple and milk. 4 The DOE posted July summer meals with multiple halal options, but none for kosher food, angering some Jewish advocates. DOE Last week, the DOE would not detail its preparation or purchase of halal and kosher foods. 'We are thrilled that our summer meals program is returning this year, making sure that our youngest New Yorkers are fed and nourished,'said DOE spokeswoman Jenna Lyle. Funding for the summer meal program comes out of the DOE's yearly $600 million budget for all school food.
New York Post
3 hours ago
- New York Post
Antisocialists! NYC singles cancel dates over feelings about Zohran Mamdani: ‘dealbreaker'
Dating in the Big Apple just got even more complicated. Potential dates have been canceling on each other over their stance on socialist Zohran Mamdani, after the controversial lawmaker won the Democratic mayoral primary this week in what's been described as a 'political earthquake.' In one screenshot that's gone viral, two New York City singles don't even make it to the first date before politics get in the way. Advertisement 5 The screenshot of the conversation went viral. Murray Hill Guy/ X 'I did just want to ask one thing to make sure we're on the same page and not waste time!' the woman asks in a text message a few hours before the first date. 'Did you vote for Zohran for mayor? I'm really excited he won' The man, known as online personality Murray Hill Guy, didn't offer a reply in words. Advertisement Instead, he just sent her a screenshot of the canceled dinner reservation, before sharing the exchange online to his 30,000 followers on X, in a post that immediately went viral. The restaurant, Little Rebel, even chimed in, joking they just had a table for two open up if anyone needed a last-minute date spot. 5 Murray Hill Guy shared the conversation on social media. Murray Hill Guy/ X But things got even juicier. Advertisement After the woman saw the conversation went viral, she sent this text message: 'Your page is disgusting. If you do not delete your post I'm going to the police. I don't need this in my life right now this week has been insanely stressful.' 5 The woman said she contacted the police. Murray Hill Guy/ X 'Didn't you just vote to defund the police now you want to call them over a twitter post?' Murray Hill guy replied. 'Good luck!' Advertisement 'That was definitely a deal breaker,' he told The Post. 5 Dating in NYC in the Mamdani era is getting even more complicated. Jack Forbes / NY Post Design 'If someone is so far left to bring that up before we even meet that's a dealbreaker to me,' he said, adding that he considers himself in the middle politically. 'Maybe, you know, a few minutes into the convo, that one would make more sense. If this girl brought it up on the date, I probably would have been more reasonable about it.' 5 Mamdani won the Democratic mayoral primary Tuesday in what's been described as a seismic shift for the party. William Miller 'I remember after the November election, girls from apps would ask me, in the first message, 'who did you vote for,' and I just wouldn't answer,' he said. 'This was the first time I had actually planned a date and this happened.'
New York Post
3 hours ago
- New York Post
Mayor Adams: I helped rolled out free NYC bus pilot program but Mamdani's lousy negotiating skills killed it
Socialists apparently don't understand the art of the deal. Democratic mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani is a terrible negotiator unfit to lead NYC, according to Mayor Adams, who told The Post this week he witnessed his rival's political deal-making ineptitude firsthand. Mamdani – whose Marxist pledge to provide free bus service citywide is a centerpiece of his mayoral campaign — asked Hizzoner for help bringing a pilot program for free buses during an April 2023 dinner at Gracie Mansion with the mayor, Adams recalled days after Mamdani shockingly won the Democratic mayoral primary. Adams — a Dem seeking re-election as an independent — agreed to help convince Gov. Hochul to add funding for the five-borough pilot in the upcoming budget, and even let Mamdani post a video of him on social media gushing how much he loved the concept. 5 Mayor Eric Adams says he once played a huge role helping Zohran Mamdani score Albany support to bring a pilot program providing fare-free buses to the Big Apple – only to have it crash and burn the following year because the socialist Queens assemblyman and mayoral hopeful is a horrific negotiator unfit to lead the city. 'I have always told my team to work with anyone — regardless of their politics — if it meant improving the lives of New Yorkers,' Adams said. 'So when Zohran Mamdani came to me in 2023 asking for help pushing for free bus service in the state budget, it was my team that went to Albany and got it done.' Days after the one-year, $15 million program expired Aug. 31, 2024, state Assemblyman Mamdani and state Sen. Michael Gianaris (D-Queens) gushed it was a 'resounding success' in an op-ed they penned for The Nation. 5 The fare-free bus pilot programs on the Bx18A/B (Bronx)), B60 (Brooklyn), M116 (Manhattan), Q4 (Queens), and S46/96 (Staten Island) routes ended on August 31, 2024. MTA However, during 2024 budget negotiations, Mamdani ruined any chances of extending the pilot by butting heads with Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and voting against the state budget in protest over a landlord-friendly measure that allowed home-repair costs to be passed on to rent-stabilized tenants, sources told The Post. An irate Heastie reportedly threatened to pull the bus pilot if Mamdani voted against the budget, and it was ultimately excluded. 5 Mamdani has made bringing free bus service citywide a centerpiece of his NYC mayoral campaign. Kyle Mazza/NurPhoto/Shutterstock Mamdani and Heastie have since denied the confrontation happened. Adams – who has made 'Get Stuff Done' a motto of his three-plus years in office – said the 33-year-old socialist pol's failure to complete a layup and get the pilot program extended shows just how unprepared Mamdani is to run the city. 'Here's what Zohran doesn't want you to know: the only reason those free buses weren't renewed is because he failed to negotiate it back into the budget the following year,' said Adams. 'There is something so cruel about promising New Yorkers things you cannot — and have not — delivered on, which is precisely what Zohran Mamdani's entire platform rests on,' added the mayor, who has repeatedly ripped the millennial pol as a 'snake oil salesman' making progressive promises he can't keep. 5 Adams said it was him — not Mamdani — who convinced Gov. Kathy Hochul (pictured) in 2023 to fund a fare-free bus pilot program. Robert Miller Besides subsiding free buses citywide, Mamdani's Soviet-style proposals include freezing rents for regulated apartments, free child care and opening city-run grocery stores. 5 Mayor Adams holds Wednesday's New York Post with headline 'NYC SOS' following Mamdani's win in Democratic primary. Brian Zak/NY Post The long lefty laundry list — estimated to cost $10 billion— would be paid for by taxing the Big Apple's ultra-wealthy under Mamdani's plan, but critics say it's severely flawed because such action must be taken by state pols and not the sitting mayor. Mamdani's campaign did not return messages.
