Free Republic

Beware hate-filled Arab propagandists who want to conceal the truth at any cost Internet manipulation of readers’ comments in response to articles published on overtly anti-Israel and anti-Jewish web sites is allowing those web sites to spew out their venom unchecked and uncontrolled. Freedom of speech on these web sites is non-existent - and its absence is playing a large part in influencing the opinions of those who visit these sites and see no readers’ comments that act as a counterbalance or rebuttal to the article published or readers’ comments supporting such articles.

Grossly inflating casualty figures, Jewish Democratic presidential candidate condemns Israel's defensive actions in Gaza. Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders has accused Israel of killing over 10,000 innocent civilians during 2014's war with Gazan terrorists - in a gross inflation of the casualty statistics enough to make even Hamas's own propaganda chiefs blush. Sanders, who trails Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton by a significant margin, made the comments in a meeting with the New York Daily News editorial board, a transcript of which was published Tuesday. Despite being the only Jewish candidate in either party (and despite a stint as a youngster...

Raphael Ahren, writing in the Times of Israel, tells us: Without the Israeli-Palestinian conflict there would be no Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, the European Union's envoy to Israel said Monday, arguing that the best way to fight BDS is to take steps to advance a two-state solution. "The most effective antidote against the BDS movement is to solve the Palestinian issue. If there were no Palestinian issue, there would be no BDS movement," Ambassador Lars Faaborg-Andersen said at a conference in Jerusalem. The EU does not expect Israel to be able to solve the conflict unilaterally, the ambassador stressed....

City First Lady Chirlane McCray is handing over more than $500,000 to an Arab-American activist who came under fire for denouncing critics on Twitter as “Zionist trolls.” The Arab-American Association of New York, a Brooklyn-based nonprofit run by Linda Sarsour, was selected as one of 14 groups by the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York to receive $10 million over five years to integrate mental-health services into their community programs. McCray oversees the fund.

RUSSELS, Belgium -- Belgian police are continuing their efforts to find all the accomplices of the terror attacks on March 22. But many say the roots of the danger to Belgium began a long time ago. When Islamic terror struck the heart of Brussels, the timing fooled authorities. But for others, it wasn't a total surprise. "Everybody knew that the next attack was only a question of not if but when," Daniel Schwammenthal, director of the AJC Transatlantic Institute, told CBN News. He says the roots of Belgium's problem go far beyond March 22. "The roots are really a violent...

The Consequences of Anti-Zionism Why continuing with its anti-Israel agenda won't save Europe from jihadist slaughter. March 25, 2016 Caroline Glick    Originally published by the Jerusalem Post.  What do radical Israeli groups have in common with their European funders? Last Thursday, Channel 2 broadcast candid camera footage of Breaking the Silence members gathering classified information on IDF operations. The footage was taken by Ad Kan activists. Breaking the Silence claims to be an organization dedicated to collecting testimonies from IDF soldiers documenting ill-treatment of Palestinians. Posing as soldiers with information to share, Ad Kan activists were interrogated by...

The Lie of Academic Free Speech How campus brownshirts make sure only one side is heard in the Israeli/Palestinian debate. March 25, 2016 Richard L. Cravatts    When GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump’s March 11th rally at the University of Chicago Pavilion was shut down last week by hundreds of leftist protestors, comprised of activists from Moveon.org, Black Lives Matter, Muslim groups, and even unrepentant domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, the morally indignant protestors had one purpose: to disrupt the event, prevent Trump supporters from hearing the candidate’s speech, and, most importantly, suppress Trump’s ideas and beliefs. Having already decided...

The earthquake that struck the Indian Ocean on December 26, triggering a series of huge waves called tsunami, "was possibly" caused by an Indian nuclear experiment in which "Israeli and American nuclear experts participated," an Egyptian weekly magazine reported Thursday. According to Al-Osboa', India, in its heated nuclear race with Pakistan, has lately received sophisticated nuclear know-how from the United States and Israel, both of which "showed readiness to cooperate with India in experiments to exterminate humankind." Since 1992, the magazine argued, leading geological centers in Britain, Turkey and other countries, warned of the need "not to hold nuclear experiments...

An Israeli minister on Tuesday suggested Europeans had ignored the danger of “Islamic terror cells” and focused on criticizing Israel instead, in a statement in response to the Brussels attacks. While offering condolences over the deadly bombings, Science, Technology and Space Minister Ofir Akunis also hit out at Europe over its labeling of products from Israeli settlements in the occupied territories. “I will repeat: many in Europe have preferred to occupy themselves with the folly of condemning Israel, labeling products, and boycotts,” Akunis, an ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said on his Facebook page. …

Bernie Sanders has dodged his Jewish ethnic roots throughout the campaign. He avoided campaigning in Jewish areas in Florida. He has a history of hostility to Israel. So it's not surprising that he decided to blow off the AIPAC conference. AIPAC conferences are lightly pro-Israel consensus events. AIPAC is willing to provide cover for just about any politician willing to show up. Actual pro-Israel views are not required. Hillary Clinton and Trump will be there. Obama has been there. Showing up at an AIPAC conference is basically a politician saying that he or she is willing to extend an olive...

Today we will join 20,000 fellow Jews in Washington, D.C. for the annual AIPAC policy conference. And this year, as in prior election years, the leading presidential candidates — Donald Trump among them — will take the stage to address pro-Israel advocates from across the country. So what makes this year different from all other years? This year, we’ve seen politics turn ugly. Hateful rhetoric cascades through the airwaves, inciting violence and bigotry. The unprecedented tone of the election cycle should give us pause. The Jewish people knows all too well the horrors of individuals using hate as a political...

Israeli professor says Jerusalem should endorse Kurdish aspirations in war-torn Syria, can help defeat Islamic State After the main Syrian Kurdish group officially declared areas under its control in northern Syria a federalized autonomous region this week, the Syrian regime and opposition, as well as Turkey, immediately rejected the declaration. Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign up! The group was also not given a seat at the table of peace negotiations taking place in Geneva. Despite not being recognized, the Syrian Kurds have fully governed their region for two...

Kamil al-Khatib, the deputy head of the Islamic Movement in Israel, is accusing Arab officials of giving a green light to "Judaizing actions" around the al-Aqsa Mosque. He also says that the officials incite against the Islamic Movement in order to ban its activities and neutralize the group in its struggle. During an interview with the Hamas newspaper Falastin, Khatib expressed his wonder over the usefulness provided by Arab officials when "Rabbi Yehuda Glick walks around the al-Aqsa courtyard and provokes Muslims around the world?" He further claimed that "His [Glick's] settlers hold Talmudic ceremonies and settler weddings around the...

Six Jewish vigilantes were jailed in Paris yesterday over a "savage gang attack" targeting attendees at a fundraising event for Gaza in 2009 in the French capital. The defendants used iron bars, baseball bats and bike chains in the onslaught, in which they deliberately targeted anybody who looked like a Muslim. Among their victims was a 22-year-old singer who suffered a “lynching” by the 20-strong mob who chanted “Death to Arabs” and “Long live Israel”. All were leading members of the Jewish Defence League (JDL), a notorious vigilante group that is outlawed in both America and Israel because of its...

The Israeli left as a democratic political movement is dead. That piece of bad news was delivered by a recent survey which shows that only 8% of Israeli Jews identify with the left, 55% with the center and 37% with the right. In the last election, the establishment Labor Party had to dress up as a wolf in Zionist centrist clothing by renaming itself the Zionist Camp (it still lost). The left had to create two other fake centrist parties to stop Netanyahu, but just ended up having to roll them into his center-right coalition. The Israeli left still controls...

University of California officials are proposing to include "anti-Zionism" as a form of discrimination that is unacceptable on campus, according to a long-awaited draft statement on intolerance released Tuesday. The inclusion immediately drew sharply divergent reactions, with pro-Israel groups hailing it as a needed step to protect Jewish students from hostility and those supporting Palestinian rights criticizing it as a naked attempt to suppress criticism of the Jewish state. Scholars were similarly divided over whether a statement meant to express the UC regents' principles against intolerance should include Zionism -- historically an international movement to establish a Jewish homeland and...

Bernie Sanders Meets with Leader of Designated Terrorist Group CAIR’s Rasha Mubarak and her Jew-hating history. March 16, 2016 Joe Kaufman    On March 10th, the Florida chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) posted on its Facebook page a photo of its Orlando Regional Operations Coordinator, Rasha Mubarak, shoulder-to-shoulder and smiling beside an equally smiling US Senator Bernie Sanders. Next to the photo, CAIR stated that the two were together “for a meeting with local Orlando leaders.” Question: Why was a leader of a group with so many connections to terrorism invited to such a meeting...

The official U.S. Visa Service for foreign citizens website, to help them travel to the United States, is surprisingly not part of a government Internet domain. Apparently this service has been outsourced by the US government to another firm, possible Computer Sciences Corporation. It really is the official US visa site, though, and a number of US embassy and consulate webpages point there. This one says explicitly that it is "the ONLY authorized website for the payment of visa fees." The reason this is interesting is the page from this official visa site that offers individuals to choose which country...

Anti-BDS Bill Fought By Hamas Associates and Group Justifying Knife Attacks in Israel Bill on desk and ready to be signed into law by Florida Governor Rick Scott. March 8, 2016 Joe Kaufman    On March 3, 2016, a bill was sent by the Florida Senate to the office of Florida Governor Rick Scott that, if signed into law, would prevent government agencies from giving public funds to companies based in Florida that are engaged in a boycott of Israel. The legitimacy of the bill can be shown merely by exposing the groups who are protesting its passage, groups...

The Indiana Senate near-unanimously approved a bill on Tuesday banning state funds from investing in entities that support the anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. The BDS movement, which aims to demonize, delegitimize, isolate and ultimately destroy the Jewish State has begun to appear in Indiana, especially on college campuses. [...] BDS promotes intimidation, fear and violence across campuses in Indiana according to the bill, and is "unethical and deeply damaging to the cause of peace, justice, equality democracy and human rights for all people in the Middle East." ...