Free Republic

Vice President Kamala Harris may have made it more difficult to close a hostage deal, a startled senior Israeli official said after hearing the remarks she issued to the press late Thursday afternoon. “We hope that it won’t make it harder to achieve a hostage deal because it gives the appearance of day light between Israel and the United States,” the official said. Harris surprised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and those close to him by issuing her statement. At issue for Netanyahu and his team was Harris’s statement about how Israel would completely withdraw from Gaza at the end of...

Sir Keir Starmer's Labour government will not pursue an objection to the International Criminal Court (ICC) issuing an arrest warrant for Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Prosecutor Karim Khan KC applied for arrest warrants to be issued for Israel's prime minister and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar over alleged war crimes earlier this year. But under Rishi Sunak's Tory government, the UK had considered challenging the right of the ICC to issue arrest warrants for Mr Netanyahu and Israel's defence minister, Yoav Gallant. A Number 10 spokesperson said the government would not be pursuing the previous government's objection because it was...

France’s state-owned rail company SNCF says a 'massive attack' aimed at paralysing the high-speed network is causing delays and cancellations. A series of coordinated arson attacks on the train infrastructure of France's largest rail company, SNCF, caused a significant number of trains to be re-routed or cancelled on Friday morning, according to the transport company.... The attack is expected to disrupt the transport system on the opening day of the 2024 Paris Olympics.... International travel to and from the UK beneath the English Channel and to neighbouring Belgium has also been disrupted by what SNCF called a series of coordinated...

Fatah, the Palestinian group that administers the Israeli-occupied West Bank, along with a dozen other Palestinian factions, has signed a declaration with its longtime rival Hamas to form an interim unity government for the Palestinian territories after the war in Gaza, Chinese state media reported Tuesday. The declaration was signed in Beijing after three days of talks.... Previous efforts by Arab countries to reconcile Fatah and Hamas, who rule over Gaza and sparked the ongoing war in the territory with their Oct. 7 attack on Israel, have failed. The long-term standoff between the groups has weakened political aspirations for Palestinian...

JERUSALEM, Israel – Many Americans believe the failure of the attempted assassination of former President Trump was a miracle. Many Israelis do as well, and that's why one man wanted to give thanks at a place among the most holy in all of Jerusalem: the Western Wall. James Rosenberg asked Jews at the Wall to join him in reciting Psalm 100 on behalf of the 45th president. "This is a psalm that is dedicated to being thankful to God for something that happens that you want to be thankful for," Rosenberg told those gathered. He says the group's action at...

The super-rich are being advised how to use a loophole in pensions investments to shelter their wealth from Labour’s clampdown on large-scale tax dodging, the Guardian can reveal. Undercover filming by the Guardian suggests multimillionaire UK residents are being pitched offshore products said to legally protect their fortunes from inheritance tax (IHT) and capital gains tax (CGT). At a private event held a week before the general election, the international accounting brand Baker Tilly told advisers to the ultra-wealthy how they could use offshore pension schemes to shield their clients’ fortunes from tens of millions of pounds of inheritance taxes....

One of the world's biggest drug lords, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, leader of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, has been arrested by US federal agents in El Paso, Texas. Zambada, 76, founded the criminal organisation with Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who is currently jailed in the US. Arrested with Zambada on Thursday was Guzman's son, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, said the US justice department. In February, Zambada was charged by US prosecutors with a conspiracy to make and distribute fentanyl, a drug more powerful than heroin that has been blamed for the US opioid crisis. In a written statement on Thursday evening, US...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, a historic leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, and Joaquín Guzmán López, a son of another infamous cartel leader, were arrested by U.S. authorities in Texas, the U.S. Justice Department said Thursday. A leader of the powerful Sinaloa cartel for decades alongside Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, Zambada was known for running the cartel’s smuggling operations, but keeping a lower profile. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration had offered a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to his capture.

On Thursday’s broadcast of Newsmax TV’s “The Record,” Harvard Law School Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz said that he “can’t support a party that has Liz Warren and Bernie Sanders” and those who boycotted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech on Wednesday and he takes a view of “boycott the boycotters. If you boycotted Netanyahu, I’m boycotting you. I’m not going to ever vote for you or support you or give you any kind of financial support.” He also stated that “The Liz Warrens of the world are anti-American, anti-Israel, anti-democracy.”

Vice President Harris implored Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday to accept a cease-fire deal that would pause the fighting in Gaza and release hostages, as U.S. leaders say they are closer than ever to an agreement. Vice President Harris implored Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday to accept a cease-fire deal that would pause the fighting in Gaza and release hostages, as U.S. leaders say they are closer than ever to an agreement. “Let’s get the deal done so we can get a cease-fire to end the war,” she told reporters in brief remarks after her bilateral...

A 1:10 video excerpt from the Fox News Jesse Walters interview with trump and JD Hayworth. "And I said, we got to get this war over. This is a war machine. You're facing a war machine. That's what they do. They fight wars! They beat Hitler They beat Napoleon..."

President Joe Biden hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Thursday, likely marking the last time the two leaders will meet while both are in office, given Biden’s decision not to run again. Biden had denied Netanyahu a White House meeting for nearly a year after the latter won Israel’s elections in November 2022 — an extraordinary snub, motivated by the antipathy Democrats have for Israel’s statesman. They finally met in New York in September 2023, amid talk of a possible Saudi-Israeli peace deal that would have been a major diplomatic accomplishment for Biden. But the...

A group of Republican members of U.S. Congress hoisted the American flags outside Union Station in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday night after anti-Israel protesters replaced them with Palestinian flags earlier in the day. "Earlier today, pro-Hamas protesters took down the American flags at Union Station, burned them and raised Palestinian flags. Tonight, we righted their wrong. American flags are once again flying over Union Station. We will not let the terrorist mob win," House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., tweeted, along with a video of the lawmakers saying the Pledge of Allegiance. Earlier today, pro-Hamas protesters took down the American flags...

Five Reasons Why the Gaza Pier Failed July 16, 2024 In this episode, Sal Mercogliano - a maritime historian at Campbell University (@campbelledu) and former merchant mariner - discusses the underlying causes for the failure of the US military Joint Logistics Over the Shore (JLOTS) Gaza Pier.

The Mormon Church — officially the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) — is quietly welcoming thousands of migrants sent to Utah from overcrowded Denver, Colorado, despite public protests by state and local elected officials. Utah has suffered under the arrival of thousands of cast-off border crossers sent its way by officials in Denver, but even as the state has no resources for migrants, the Mormon Church is quietly welcoming them, causing the public burden to magnify. Republican Gov. Spencer Cox voiced his outrage in June after he said he just “learned” that Denver had been sending thousands...

Vice President Kamala Harris only condemned Wednesday’s anti-Israel and pro-Hamas protest and vandalism in Washington, DC, after Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance and others called her out for her silence. Harris was mum on Wednesday’s protests — which saw Union Station desecrated with antisemitic graffiti — until almost midday Thursday, prompting criticism from Vance. “Anti-American and pro-Hamas rioters burned the American flag in front of the US Capitol, and the woman who wants to be our president is still refusing to condemn it,” he wrote in a post on X at 10:54 a.m. Anti-American and pro-Hamas rioters burned the...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks before Congress on Wednesday in hopes of bolstering U.S. support for continuing Israel’s offensives against Hamas and other adversaries.

Rocker Dave Matthews was seen in the anti-Israel crowd that took to Washington, DC, streets Wednesday to protest against visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. News outlet Al Jazeera found him and did an interview. “It’s a disgusting show of support for someone who doesn’t deserve our support,” Matthews despaired in an on-air exchange with the outlet. At no time did he mention the hostages taken when Hamas terrorists invaded southern Israel last October 7, or consider their fate since. It was the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust — slaughtering babies, raping women, burning whole families alive, and...

HANOI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and Vietnam are discussing the sale of Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules military transport planes to Hanoi, two people familiar with the discussions said, in a sign of closer security cooperation between the two former foes. The talks could lead to a supply agreement this year, the sources said, in what would represent Vietnam's largest military deal since it said publicly at the end of 2022 that it intended to diversify its defence supplies, which have for decades relied heavily on Russian gear. The C-130 can carry soldiers, military equipment and other supplies, and would...

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are scheduled to meet separately with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Thursday amid the 2024 election race shakeup and as the administration still pushes for a cease-fire agreement. Biden will host Netanyahu in the Oval Office at around 1 p.m. ET, and the two leaders are scheduled to meet with families of American hostages held hostage in Gaza around 2:30 p.m. in the White House Cabinet Room. Harris will speak with Netanyahu around 4:30 p.m. in the vice president's ceremonial office, a meeting that is considered even...