Free Republic

Washington, DC (September 22, 2015) — American Enterprise Institute (AEI) president Arthur C. Brooks announced today that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will receive the 2015 Irving Kristol Award on November 9, 2015, in Washington, DC. The annual award, AEI’s highest honor, is given to individuals who have made exceptional practical and intellectual contributions to improve government policy, social welfare, or political understanding. The winner is selected by AEI’s Council of Academic Advisers. The award ceremony and dinner will be held at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC. Currently in his fourth term, Prime Minister Netanyahu will share his...

In his desperation to sink the Iran nuclear deal, Bibi Netanyahu is taking a hellish gamble. Israel depends upon the United States for $3 billion a year in military aid and diplomatic cover in forums where she is often treated like a pariah state. Israel has also been the beneficiary of almost all the U.S. vetoes in the Security Council. America is indispensable to Israel. The reverse is not true. Yet, without telling the White House, Bibi had his U.S. ambassador arrange for him to address a joint session of Congress in March -- to rip up the president's Iran...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government is less than a month old, but it’s already apparent that it is different from its predecessors. And if it continues on its current diplomatic trajectory, it may do something that its six predecessors failed to accomplish. Netanyahu’s new government may improve Israel’s position internationally. The stakes are high. Over the years, Israel has largely concentrated its efforts on developing the tools to contend with its military challenges. But as we have seen over the past decade and a half, Israel’s capacity to fight and defeat its enemies is not limited principally by the...

I can understand how Israel is, to put it mildly, uncertain about where it stands with the United States. Obama says that we are not losing the war with ISIS, when it looks as though we have lost every America-friendly or half-way friendly nation in the region. The pullout of troops from Iraq, supposedly because a Status of Forces Agreement could not be negotiated, the fall of Ramadi, Fallujah and Mosul without any intervention, the Iran Nuclear deal which is being pushed so Obama can claim it for his legacy; all of these intertwine with the ambitions of those in...

He’s just so awesome. During a recent address to the IDF General Staff Forum leading up to Israel’s independence Day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated, “the meaning of independence in my eyes is the ability to defend yourself.” I get it, you get it, and Prime Minister Netanyahu gets it. Our founding fathers got it. And now, the American public not only gets it but is standing up to preserve our individual rights to defend ourselves. The Washington Times reports, “exactly two years after President Obama’s bid for gun control following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting died...

The great pretense, the false suspense, the grand charade, the whole production number is about over. After months, after years of pretending that negotiations to keep Tehran's mullahs from getting their own nuclear weapon, the cover has been lifted and -- Ta-da! -- the grand finale begins with an all too familiar chorus: Peace in Our Time! Uncork the champaign, serve the caviar and get ready to applaud what should be a real hit. Call it "Munich: The Sequel." Back in 1938, the original production got a big reception from the waiting world, too, maybe bigger, because the audience could...

In terms of skills and education, Israel probably has the highest level of human capital per person in the whole world. Yet it’s per capita output is mediocre – in the middle of the developed country pack. Why is that? Because Israel has been slow to adopt capitalism. How do I know that? Because Bibi Netanyahu told me that in an interview in Dallas, several years before he became prime minister. Once he became Israel’s leader, he was been able to do something about it. In recent years Israel has become a center for entrepreneurship, innovation and capitalist spirit. But...

Here is a short pop quiz. When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Congress earlier this month about the parameters of the secret negotiations between the United States and Iran over nuclear weapons and economic sanctions, how did he know what the negotiators were considering? Israel is not a party to those negotiations, yet the prime minister presented them in detail. When Hillary Clinton learned that a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives had subpoenaed her emails as secretary of state and she promptly destroyed half of them -- about 33,000 -- how did she know she could get...

By Joel Leyden Israel News AgencyJerusalem, Israel — March 25, 2015 … Part of the following was communicated by the President’s Office of Israel to the Israel News Agency. President of Israel Reuven Rivlin this evening, appointed outgoing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu MK, with the task of forming the 34th Government of Israel, at a ceremony at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem. The President signed the official letter of appointment in his office with Prime Minister Netanyahu, before going on to make public statements. “In democracy, majority rules, and the majority has made its voice heard clearly in this election,”...

Though "Bibi" Netanyahu won re-election last week, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations will still look into whether the State Department financed a clandestine effort to defeat him. Reportedly, State funneled $350,000 to an American NGO called OneVoice, which has an Israeli subsidiary, Victory 15, that collaborated with U.S. operatives to bring Bibi down. If we are now secretly pumping cash into the free elections of friendly countries, to dump leaders President Obama dislikes, Americans have a right to know why we are using Cold War tactics against democracies. After World War II, my late colleague on CNN's "Crossfire," Tom...

American Jews on the left were beside themselves last week. Israel's Jews did something that utterly infuriated these American Jews: Israel's Jews overwhelmingly voted for a man of the right (or for other right-of-center parties). And not just any right-winger, but the only leader in the Western world to publicly differ from their hero, President Barack Obama. To understand their fury, one must first understand that no one is more certain of their moral superiority than the left. This is true the world over, and among Jews it is particularly so. For the leaders of the American Jewish religious left...

resident Barack Obama belatedly gave a high five to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose Likud Party won a decisive victory in last week’s elections. But like a lot of things Obama “accomplishes” this one comes with the familiar Barackian asterisk: Obama didn’t mean to give Netanyahu props; instead Obama thought he was criticizing the prime minister. “I indicated to him that given his statements prior to the election, it is going to be hard to find a path where people are seriously believing that negotiations [with the Palestinians] are possible,” said Obama according to the New York Times. His...

Freedom House, which publishes an annual report measuring freedom around the world, rating nations based on political rights and civil liberties, has recently issued its 2015 report. According to this report, there is only one free nation in the Middle East region. It so happens that it is the one nation that seems to trouble our American president the most – Israel. Freedom House rates on a scale of 1 – 7, “1” being the most free and “7” the least. Israel is rated 1.5, receiving a grade of 1 on political rights and 2 on civil liberties. The Israeli...

WASHINGTON — President Obama said he has told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the Israeli leader’s remarks in the closing days of his re-election campaign had upended the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and ran counter to the very nature of Israeli democracy, an unusually forceful and public condemnation of the top official of a vital United States ally. In his first public comments on the matter since Mr. Netanyahu’s victory in Tuesday’s elections, Mr. Obama said the prime minister’s pre-election statement that there would be no Palestinian state on his watch had all but foreclosed the chance for negotiations to resolve...

Can we say this administration has a bias against Israel? Israel can make no more concessions for peace. She gave up Gaza, and as a thank you, Hezbollah has been launching rockets for years. It makes no sense for Israel to surrender to her enemies as that would be genocide. For additional concessions would not make a difference to Hezbollah, Iran, Al Qaeda, Hamas or ISIS. They would continue their terrorist assault until there were no Jews left. After all, these are the same groups working so hard in Europe to make certain there are no Christians left. The global...

Now all the pieces are in place. The only outstanding question mark was put to rest this past week as Benjamin Netanyahu was re-elected Prime Minister of Israel. Apparently the Israeli electorate was not interested in making Palestine a “two state” as long as the Palestinians credo was much like Iran’s “Total annihilation of the Israelites”. There are moments in history when the forces of nature swirl in such a way that events take control beyond the powers of mortal man. In the late 17 and early 1800’s, the world shuddered as tumultuous events seemed to be intertwined. The American...

WASHINGTON — The White House is stepping up its antagonism toward Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu despite his victory in this week’s elections, signaling that it is in no rush to repair a historic rift between the United States and Israel. The sharpened tone indicates that the Obama administration may be re-evaluating its relationship with its closest ally in the Middle East, having lost patience with Mr. Netanyahu in the closing days of an election campaign in which he spotlighted deep disagreements with President Obama over a Palestinian state and a nuclear deal with Iran. “You reach a tipping point,” said...

Foreign elections don't always interest Americans very much. But Benjamin Netanyahu has become a familiar name in America, almost pronounceable, since his speech to Congress. Many Americans, Democrats and Republicans, cheered him to the polls in Israel this week. They were persuaded by his argument, expressed in near-Churchillian rhetoric, that the negotiations with Iran to prevent an Islamic bomb could lead to a "very bad deal." They know the only democracy in the Middle East stands in mortal danger, and that means America and the West are in danger, too. To hear the big ayatollah and all the little mullahs...

On Tuesday, the people of Israel spoke. They gave a clear mandate to the nationalist camp, led by the Likud and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, to lead the country. Now that the people have spoken, our leaders must consider the steps they must take, immediately upon entering office, that will enable them to advance their agenda and so meet the public’s expectations. To understand why this is necessary, we need to recall why Netanyahu decided to dismantle his last coalition government and opt for an early election. What made Netanyahu decide that he would be better off going to an...

What has gone wrong with the U.S. government in the past month? Just about everything, from the fundamental to the ridiculous. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the United States to warn Congress about the dangers of a nuclear Iran. He spoke without the invitation of an irritated President Obama, who claimed that he did not even watch the address on television. Obama declined to even meet with the Israeli prime minister, announcing that it would have been improper for him to have such a meeting so close to Netanyahu's re-election bid. But if Obama was so concerned about not...