Free Republic

I will begin with a couple of paragraphs about Eurovision, the annual international song contest that I wrote about here the other day, but rest assured that this is not going to be another essay about that fatuous event, which, as I strove to point out in that earlier piece, is virtually worthless as a cultural offering but, as a social barometer, can provide fascinating insights. As I noted, the continent’s anti-Semites and Hamas-lovers were outraged at the refusal of Eurovision authorities to ban Israel, a longtime participant, from this year’s competition because of its current actions in Gaza, which...

Following the joint press conference in Brussels, Belgium on Tuesday, where the governments of Spain, Ireland, and Norway recognized a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital, Christians in Ireland and Norway criticized their respective governments' decisions. Christian leaders in Ireland and Norway, affiliated with the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ), issued statements on Tuesday rejecting their governments' unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state. They denounced the recognition as a grave mistake and a "reward for terrorism," arguing that the move would not contribute to peace in the region. “Christian supporters of Israel in Ireland sense...

After the announcement last week that Spain, Norway and Ireland would recognize the state of Palestine, a visibly-delighted Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations came to talk to the press. “We need somebody to take pictures,” Riyad Mansour said, ushering the Irish, Spanish and Norwegian envoys into an impromptu photoshoot just outside the UN Security Council. “A glorious day today,” Mr. Mansour declared as the four ambassadors stood shoulder-to-shoulder. […] All this, the supporters of Palestinian statehood hope, is gathering momentum towards the implementation of a two-state solution. That is not how Israel, nor its closest ally, the US, see...

Irish Ambassador to Israel Sonya McGuinness was summoned to the Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry in Jerusalem today and reprimanded over Ireland’s decision to recognize the State of Palestine. The ambassadors of Spain and Norway attended the same meeting for the same reason. Before any discussions, they were shown a previously unaired video of Hamas taking female army conscripts captive on 7 October last year. It is understood the Irish Government was disappointed at this, on the basis that it fell below the established procedures and practices regarding diplomatic engagement. What is believed to have been a “forthright exchange of views”...

The Palestinian Authority could collapse in the coming months, Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said on Monday, citing a lack of funding, continuing violence and the fact that half a million Palestinians are not allowed to work in Israel. "The Palestinian Authority, with whom we work closely, are warning us that they might be collapsing this summer," Barth Eide told Reuters. Norway chairs the international donor group to the Palestinians...

Hillel Fuld @HilzFuld: Another Palestinian lie debunked. FRC: Insufficient evidence to confirm famine in Gaza! The Famine Review Committee's report on Gaza, dated June 4, 2024, concludes that there is insufficient evidence to confirm the presence of a famine in Gaza. The committee evaluated…

The biggest accounts “for Palestine” on X: Jake Shields, Suleiman Ahmed, and Lucas Gage met at an event that was due to be attended by the grand wizard of the KKK. But tell me more about how anti-Zionism has absolutely nothing to do with antisemitism. [https://t.co/mneFRFAB6v]

Mohammad Nusairat, who is a student at University of Chicago Illinois said in his May 3, 2024 Friday sermon at the university’s MSA – Muslim Students Association that America, the American government, and democracy are cancers. He said that they have spread their illness all over the world. Nussairat continued to say that non-Muslim are tired of this cancer of the American government and democracy and that they want to see a new way of life. He stressed that Muslims have this way of life and that Islam is a religion that has come to be implemented on society. In...

Joe Biden has logged yet another foreign policy disaster under his belt after the Pentagon announced the "Gaza pier" will be dismantled due to damage. Some press reports describe the move as "temporary," though it's questionable whether the project will ever resume after being completely torn down and towed away. This marks the latest in a string of logistical issues involving the president's prized pier. For context, the pier has been in place for less than a month, and it's already suffered multiple shutdowns related to moderate seas overtaking it. Here's the full timeline illustrating just how absurd this idea...

The Palestinian Authority (P.A.)’s “Pay for Slay” program is a deeply disturbing initiative that incentivizes violence against Jewish Israelis. This program, which constitutes 8% of the P.A.’s budget, offers substantial monetary rewards to Palestinians who murder Israelis. The more lethal the attack, the greater the financial reward to the terrorists’ families. This practice, which costs the P.A. over $300 million annually, not only perpetuates violence, but also diminishes any prospects for peace in the region. Recently, a bipartisan group of 50 members of Congress, led by Congressman Josh Gottheimer, wrote to U.S. secretary of state Antony Blinken, urging the State...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Eight people from Tajikistan with suspected ties to the Islamic State group have been arrested in the United States in recent days, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. The arrests took place in New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles and the individuals, who entered the U.S. through the southern border, are being held on immigration violations, said the people, who were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation by name and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The nature of their suspected connections to the IS was not immediately clear, but the...

Pro-Palestinian protesters reportedly firebombed “the side of a building” on the University of California Berkeley (UCB) campus and claimed that students had been “attacked” on another campus. In a post on Instagram on Thursday, Palestine Action in the United States shared a post from an anonymous user who claimed responsibility for firebombing the side of Koshland Hall, a building at UCB that houses “labs from the Department of Molecular & Cell Biology.”

It’s not like this is a shocking survey. We’ve known that for years, the Palestinian people, the so-called innocent civilians, support Hamas. They voted them into power back in 2005 and have allowed the terror group to rule the Gaza Strip for nearly a generation. The international community thinks Hamas can be reasoned with—are they taking hits from Hunter Biden’s crack pipe? You cannot if anything has shown us over the past few weeks and months. They’ve rejected every ceasefire proposal because civilian casualties are not a byproduct of their operations; it’s their agenda. And the people here, for the...

Members of a small far-right group advocating the annexation and settlement of southern Lebanon are set to hold a video conference on Monday, claiming their approach is the “only solution” to the ongoing clashes with Hezbollah amid increasingly vocal calls for Israel to invade its northern neighbor. “More assassinations in Lebanon, more firing of missiles, more alarms in the northern settlements, and no real change is visible on the horizon,” the Uri Tzafon organization said in a statement last week decrying the current escalation in the north. As an alternative, it invited the public to participate in what it is...

During a sermon at the University of Illinois Chicago, a speaker for the campus’s Muslim Students Association denounced America and democracy, describing them as a “cancer” spreading worldwide, while advocating for the adoption of Islam as the “new way of life” for humanity. In a sermon delivered at the campus’s Muslim Students Association (MSA) last month, Mohammad Nusairat, a University of Chicago Illinois (UIC) student, declared that America and its values are a “cancer.”

Citing rescued hostage, captive soldier’s mom says [B]women were held as slaves. Mothers share accounts of their children’s captivity at conference, with one saying girls forced to clean and cook By TOI Staff. Shira Albag, mother of hostage Liri Albag, speaks during a conference of the Female Municipal Leaders' Forum in Ganei Tikva, June 14, 2024. Screen capture: Ynet, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law. The [B]mother of Liri Albag, a 19-year-old female soldier abducted on October 7, shared information Friday about her daughter that she said came from freed female hostages[/B] and also matched the...

One of the more common memes that I’ve seen white supremacists spread around recently has been “diversity is a code word for white genocide”. The concept here is that diversity is only promoted in white nations, and that the end goal is to eliminate white people altogether by flooding all white countries with non-white people until there are no white people left. Well, guess what, white supremacists? That’s exactly right. Diversity IS about getting rid of white people, and that’s a good thing. First off, I am a white person myself, so allow me to get that out of the...

In Deir Al-Balah, a city in the Gaza Strip, Marwa Al-Hasanat has found a way to bring some joy to her community amid the destruction and hardship of war in the form of a roadside bookstore. Al-Hasanat, 22, a lifelong lover of books inspired by her grandfather who authored three of his own on the Arabic language, started an online bookstore in June 2022 called Marwa.Book. But since the war began on Oct. 7, Al-Hasanat has not been able to purchase books to sell online from Gaza City, where she used to get her supply. The intermittent internet connection throughout...

A Columbia Law Review article that argues Jews "capitalized on the Holocaust to create a powerful narrative that monopolizes victimhood" was subject to an atypical editing process that omitted "a large number of Jewish students," according to sources familiar with the process. While prospective pieces are typically available for the Law Review's roughly 100 members to assess ahead of publication, the "Nakba" piece was handled behind closed doors by a group of roughly 30 student editors, according to Columbia Law School professor Joshua Mitts. While that group edited the piece "over several months," Mitts said, other editors—including Jews—were unaware even...

The Biden administration is close to finalizing a treaty with Saudi Arabia that would commit the U.S. to help defend the Gulf nation as part of a long-shot deal to encourage diplomatic ties between Riyadh and Israel, U.S. and Saudi officials said. But the success of the diplomatic effort hinges on Israel’s commitment to a separate Palestinian state, and more immediately an end to the war in Gaza, an unlikely proposition amid months of fruitless cease-fire talks and an Israeli weekend raid to retrieve hostages from the heart of the territory. The U.S. aims to present Israeli leaders with an...