Free Republic

The Obama administration looks set to go weak in the knees in life-or-death negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. From the start, the United States and its allies have pressed the mullahs to disable all but about 1,500 of their centrifuges. The logic: With that many machines in operation, should Tehran flip the switch to begin enriching weapons-grade nuclear material, the process of amassing enough uranium for an atom bomb would take a year. Cold comfort, but better than nothing. All the while, Iran has insisted that it needs all 9,400 of its spinning centrifuges, which, of course, ha ha, it...

Israel's foreign minister says Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas clearly doesn't want to make peace with Israel, calling his speech to world leaders last week "a message of hatred and incitement." Avigdor Lieberman also questioned Abbas' "legitimacy" to speak on behalf of the Palestinian people, telling reporters Monday it's clear he doesn't control the Gaza Strip, where Hamas remains in charge of security.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Speaks to the 69th United Nations General Assembly.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, launched a scathing attack on a United Nations organization from the podium of the UN itself when he denounced its Human Rights Council as a “terrorist rights council”. […] In a controversial address to the General Assembly, he contended that the council’s treatment of Israel was “biased” and rooted in a global upsurge in anti-Semitism. Mr. Netanyahu argued that it was Hamas, the faction that controls the Gaza Strip, that should be investigated for war crimes as it used civilians as human shields and fired missiles at Israel from batteries planted by mosques and...

Nathaniel Roi Arami fell to his death at a construction site in Israel. An “Arab co-worker” was questioned and released, but now the “incident is now being investigated as a possible nationalistically-related murder.” There is nothing unique about this story. It is one of many just like it that have come before, and many more like it will surely follow. But it epitomizes the willful ignorance that blankets not only Israel, but the U.S. and the West in general, on this issue. If Nathaniel Roi Arami was murdered, it wasn’t because his killer was an “Arab” who was acting for...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a powerful and sobering speech to the United Nations General Assembly on September 29th. He said he came from Jerusalem to speak on behalf of the Israeli people and to “expose the brazen lies spoken from this very podium against my country and the brave soldiers who defend it.” “Truth must always be spoken, especially here, in the United Nations,” the prime minister said to an audience of government leaders and delegates not used to hearing the truth spoken in the UN on issues relating to the Jewish state. Israel’s leader emphasized that his...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a powerful and sobering speech to the United Nations General Assembly on September 29th. He said he came from Jerusalem to speak on behalf of the Israeli people and to “expose the brazen lies spoken from this very podium against my country and the brave soldiers who defend it.”

In yet another tragic indication of Obama administration’s ideological obstinance, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki indicated that Israel and the United States are not on the same page regarding the scope of Islamic terror. The rift centers around Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at the U.N. on Monday, during which he insisted that terrorist groups such as ISIS, Hamas, the Iranian regime, Hezbollah, al-Qaeda and Boko Haram share the same vision. “Some are radical Sunnis, some are radical Shi’ites,” he explained. Some want to restore a pre-medieval caliphate from the 7th century. Others want to trigger the apocalyptic return...

The Jerusalem municipality says it is pressing forward with a plan to build a controversial new housing development in east Jerusalem. In a statement Wednesday, the municipality said Deputy Mayor Kobi Kahlon has signed an order approving the construction of some 2,500 homes in Givat Hamatos. …

State Department uses unusually harsh language when criticizing Israel’s approval of 2,610 homes in Jerusalem. The U.S. State Department used unusually harsh language on Wednesday when criticizing Israel’s approval of planned construction of 2,610 homes in Jerusalem. The housing units, which have been slated for construction since 2012 in the neighborhood of Givat Hamatos, were given final approval last week. Reacting to the move, the State Department warned it would call into question Israel’s commitment to peace with the Palestinian Authority. According to Reuters, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the step would also send a “troubling message” if the...

The Palestinians are asking the U.N. Security Council to set a deadline of November 2016 for an Israeli withdrawal from all Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 including East Jerusalem in a new push to achieve independence. […] The draft calls for intensified efforts, including through negotiations, to reach a peaceful settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and “a just resolution” of the status of Jerusalem as the capital of two states and of the Palestinian refugee problem. Its key provision calls for “the full withdrawal of Israel, the occupying power, from all of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East...

Israeli intelligence experts have expressed doubts about the viability of ongoing negotiations for a possible sale of Russian RAC MiG-35 fighters to Egypt. Speaking in late September, RAC MiG general director Sergei Korotkov said he was planning to travel to Egypt in October for talks on a proposed deal. Egyptian military personnel visited the MiG-35 production site recently, and the nation has previously been reported as interested in acquiring 24 of the type. The Russian corporation has expressed hopes that the negotiations will result in a deal, but added that the situation will be clearer after the planned talks in...

“If you like your Ebola free United States, you can keep your Ebola free United States” could be another Barack Obama promise. Just another in the long time of promises with, as Jim Geraghty of National Review has noted, comes with an expiration date. This one set on September 20, 2014, when the Ebola patient arrived in Dallas carrying the disease. Since then, the Obama administration has been asked about stopping flights into West African countries where Ebola is a problem. Their position is to keep the flights going. But don’t worry. We are taking people’s temperature before they board...

Yeah, I know what you’re thinking but no, I haven’t lost my mind and no, I am not kidding. For those of you who have been following me (@israel_shield) on Twitter, you know that I spend a good part of my time battling and destroying anti-Israel propaganda and lies and this Palestine issue is at the top of my list. I know an area called Palestine existed; the Romans coined that name when they occupied Israel from the Jews long before Islam ever existed. NEVER WAS PALESTINE AN ARAB COUNTRY AND NEVER WAS IT OCCUPIED FROM PALESTINIAN ARABS Modern day...

By supporting Hamas, President Jimmy Carter and Bishop Desmond Tutu are bringing about the death of more Palestinian civilians and Israeli soldiers alike, Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz said. "It's not only the UN, it's President Jimmy Carter who has blood on his hands," Dershowitz told JD Hayworth on "America's Forum" on Newsmax TV Tuesday. "He's the one who advised [the late Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser] Arafat not to accept the two-state solution that would have resulted in a Palestinian state," he explained. "It's Bishop Tutu who supports Hamas, which has a charter calling for the murder of every...

Fatah activist: Arabs who sold these properties should die; rock-thrower wounds policeman. Police and Border Police officers escorted several Jewish families past Arab protesters and into their newly acquired homes in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan on Tuesday, police said. The seven residences, adjacent to the capital’s Old City, were purchased by Elad, a rightwing organization that uses funds from Jewish supporters in the United States and elsewhere to buy properties in Arab districts. According to police, during a brief confrontation, one officer was lightly wounded by a rock that a protester threw. “In terms of the police perspective,...

Sweden’s new prime minister said Friday that his government will recognize a Palestinian state, a move that drew praise from Palestinian officials. In a declaration listing his government’s priorities, Social Democratic leader Stefan Lofven told lawmakers that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can only be resolved through a two-state solution requiring “mutual recognition” and a will from both sides to co-exist peacefully. “Therefore Sweden will recognize the state of Palestine,” Lofven said. …

Americans should protest this abuse of an ally.On Wednesday evening, soon after President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu had completed their parley at the White House, State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said: This development will only draw condemnation from the international community, distance Israel from even its closest allies, poison the atmosphere not only with the Palestinians but also with the very Arab governments with which Prime Minister Netanyahu said he wanted to build relations. And White House spokesman Josh Earnest—seeming to read in part from the same script—said: “This development will only draw condemnation from the international community. It...

Plans for new settlements in East Jerusalem pose a threat to peace and Israel’s relations with the European Union, the 28-member bloc said on Friday, joining the United States in its criticism of the decision. The strong language from the European Union, the biggest aid donor to the Palestinians, who seek statehood in territories captured by Israel in the 1967 war, echoes criticism from Germany, France and Washington. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the decision to build 2,610 homes in Givat Hamatos would be the first new settlement in the East Jerusalem area for 15 years. “This represents a...

Arutz Sheva was at the scene as hundreds of concerned Jews gathered on Tuesday in the Samaria town of Givat Assaf, located north of Jerusalem near Beit El, to join in a prayer rally to save the community from destruction. The far-left group Peace Now seven years ago petitioned for the town's destruction claiming it was built on Arab-owned land; residents argue it was not privately owned and therefore can easily be recognized as state land, adding that nearly all of the land was purchased and legally registered by residents in the state land registry. In a court discussion on...