Free Republic

The Palestinian parliament is continuing to reject any Jewish right to the “land of Palestine”, meaning the entire land of Israel, including the sovereign territory of the State of Israel. At a special meeting in Gaza on Thursday held on the occasion of Nakba Day, the Palestinian parliament stated that the entire “land of Palestine” is an Islamic endowment, and the Jews have no right to even a single inch of it. Nakba Day is the day on which Arabs mourn what they view as the “disaster” of the founding of the State of Israel in 1948. It is marked...

The Obama administration is involving itself again in the case of an American teen beaten by an Israeli Border Policeman last summer, in a move that CNN describes as connected to Israel-US tensions. The American cable network reported that White House National Security Council staffers recently took the unusual step of meeting in the West Wing with Tariq Abu Khder, 16, who was beaten by the policeman last summer during riots in eastern Jerusalem on July 3, 2014. The riots took place during the tension that followed the abduction and murder of three Jewish teens, and a revenge attack in...

urkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has rejected claims that Ankara is preparing to intervene militarily in neighboring Syria, local media reported on Saturday. "No, there is no situation right now that requires Turkey's involvement," Davutoglu was quoted as saying by the Hurriyet newspaper. Some opposition CHP party politicians claimed this week that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) might resort to military operations in Syria to boost its popularity ahead of a June 7 parliamentary election. "Turkey will launch a military operation into Syria tonight or Friday," the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) secretary-general Gursel Tekin said on Thursday,...

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday said that after a new Israeli government has been sworn in he will investigate whether there are "realistic options" for a return to peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), Reuters reports. "Once a new government has been sworn in, the Secretary-General will explore with Prime Minister Netanyahu realistic options for a return to meaningful negotiations on a two state solution," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said, after Netanyahu was able to clinch a deal to form a coalition hours before a deadline. Dujarric also said Ban was "deeply concerned by recent...

BOSTON (AP) -- For the first time in court, Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev dropped his blank, impassive demeanor and cried as his sobbing aunt briefly took the stand Monday in his federal death penalty trial. Tsarnaev, 21, wiped tears from his eyes quickly and fidgeted in his chair as his mother's sister sobbed uncontrollably. He had maintained a disinterested expression since his trial began in January. The aunt, Patimat Suleimanova, cried as she sat down about 10 feet from Tsarnaev. The tears began falling before she began to testify, and she was only able to answer questions about her...

.... "My father was a refugee from the massacres, not my grandparents. Every day, my sister and I would hear tales of history first-hand from my father. The thing that bothers and upsets me the most is hearing that it was about Muslims killing Christians. We all fall into the trap of this political propaganda. The murderers are not just after a victim. They want to accomplish a goal. When people are labeled – 'we are Muslims,' 'you are Christians' - it draws more resentful people to become killers, it leads them to sharpen their swords, and it gives new...

A senior source in the Jewish Home estimated Tuesday that White House pressure against a nationalist government is the real reason for the delay in the signing of a coalition deal between Likud and the religious Zionist party. The unnamed senior source was cited on Army Radio as saying that the Jewish Home has shown flexibility on numerous subjects, leaving very few disagreements between the parties, yet the prime minister is taking his time about signing the deal. The source estimated that the US is pressuring Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to establish a unity government with the Zionist Union (Labor...

Writing in Bloomberg View on Monday, journalist Eli Lake says US President Barack Obama has known for years that Iran needed only 2-3 months to produce enough fuel for a nuclear bomb, but purposely avoided saying so publicly, stressing instead that a full year was needed for Iran to build a nuclear bomb. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz on Monday acknowledged that the US has known for years that Iran is just two to three months form having enough fissile material for a nuclear bomb. When asked how long the Obama administration has known this, he responded, "Oh, quite some time....

US Secretary of State John Kerry has given his first interview to Israeli media since spearheading the controversial framework deal with Iran over its nuclear program. Speaking to Channel 10, Kerry sought to bypass Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's stern opposition to the deal by appealing directly to the Israeli people. Kerry sought repeatedly to reassure Israelis that despite the criticism from Netanyahu and many others, any deal with Iran would be watertight. "I say this again - we will not sign a deal that does not close off Iran's pathways to a bomb and that doesn't give us the confidence...

The world is "closer than ever" to reaching a comprehensive nuclear deal with Iran, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday, according to The Associated Press (AP). Speaking to a global gathering on nuclear disarmament, where he and Iran's foreign minister met on the sidelines, Kerry warned however that work on a deal is far from over and that key issues remain unresolved. "I know as well as anyone that we have a long way to go" on the path to a nuclear-free world, Kerry said at the conference, which Israel is attending as an observer. He acknowledged that...

Israel has returned 15 fishing boats seized in recent years off the Gaza coast, the Israel Defense Forces said late Wednesday. "The naval branch (navy) returned to Gaza 15 fishing boats which deviated from the Strip's permitted fishing zone and were seized over the years," the IDF statement read. The small vessels were dragged back to shore by a boat from the Gaza fishermen's union, an AFP photographer said. Because of security concerns, Israel bans fishing off the coast of Gaza beyond six nautical miles. Boats that exceed that limit are often fired on as a warning. Gazan fisherman, meanwhile,...

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will meet his Iranian counterpart in New York on Monday, the first time since their marathon talks which sealed the outlines of an emerging nuclear deal, AFP reports. Kerry will hold talks with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on the sidelines of the 2015 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty conference at the United Nations, a senior State Department official said Sunday. It would be the first meeting between the two since the April 2 deal reached in Lausanne, Switzerland setting out the parameters for the deal to curtail Iran's suspect nuclear program. Global powers must still...

Israelis appear to have been banned from buying tickets to see the Paris St. Germain soccer team in action, NRG reported Sunday night. The discovery was made by an Israeli couple planning a trip to Paris who wanted to attend a game – and could not find a listing for Israeli orders on the group's ticket ordering web site. Guy Schleider of Ramat Gan perused the team's web site and went to the ticket buying area, where a drop-down list allowed residents of countries around the world to choose their home countries where tickets would be sent to. Included on...

he original is from the Powdered Wig Society, which says ISIS claims to have captured and beheaded a brave female Kurdish fighter named Rehana. Rehana's friends, however, say she is still alive (and has killed more than 100 ISIS savages). This is not, however, the point. During the First World War, the Triple Entente published nasty hand-drawn cartoons of "Huns" with babies on their bayonets, and one of a woman bound to the wheel of an artillery piece. During the Second World War, the War Department drew pictures of "Japs" menacing (but rarely actually torturing or killing) women, along with...

US Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman had a harsh message for American Jewish leaders on Monday. Sherman warned them that if the new Israeli government does not demonstrate a strong commitment to the two-state solution, the US will have trouble assisting it in efforts to halt international initiatives at the United Nations. Speaking at a conference of the Reform Movement in the United States, Sherman insisted the US government has "always had Israel's back in the international arena, even when it meant standing alone. This will continue to be the case." But, she continued, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's actions prior...

The Palestinian Authority (PA) celebrated Israel's Holocaust Remembrance Day by denying its scope, Palestinian Media Watch revealed Sunday - claiming that instead of six million Jews killed by the Nazis, there were only 1-2 million. "Estimates regarding the number of Holocaust victims differ," an Op/Ed penned by columnist Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul for the official PA Al-Hayat Al-Jadida claimed. "The supporters of the Zionist movement have exaggerated the number of victims, claiming that it amounts to 6 million, whereas others, unbiased researchers, have estimated that there were between one and two million Jewish victims." "Regardless of the number, the bottom line...

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday unanimously approved, 19 to 0, legislation granting Congress a voice in negotiations on the Iran nuclear accord, The New York Times reported. The legislation will now go to the full Senate, after President Barack Obama earlier withdrew his opposition rather than face a bipartisan rebuke. Republican opponents of the nuclear agreement on the committee sided with Obama’s strongest Democratic supporters in demanding a congressional role as international negotiators work to turn this month’s nuclear framework into a final deal by June 30. The bill would mandate that the administration send the text of...

The internal tension in the Arab cities of Shechem (Nablus) and Jenin in Samaria has long been growing and threatening to boil over, as the Palestinian Authority's (PA) leading Fatah faction and its security apparatus clash. The two cities, which are under full control of the PA as per the 1993 Oslo Accords, in recent days became the scenes of violence between Fatah, which features a "military wing" named the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, and the PA Security Forces. An exchange of gunfire was reported last Friday at Jenin between armed men, apparently from Fatah, and members of the PA Security...

Ksenia Svetlova of the Zionist Union, an expert in Arab and Kurdish affairs, sees growth in future ties with Kurds in Syria and Iraq. Photo ....it has not been lost on many that Israel will need to continue developing relationships with groups in these two countries, especially as the security challenges there move closer to Israel’s borders....ISIS is also pressing Kurdistan. “There are various entities and organizations that represent the Kurds in different parts of the Middle East,” says Ksenia Svetlova, newly elected MK for the Zionist Union and an expert on Arab and Kurdish affairs. “The relations with Iraqi...

We apologise for this aneurysm inducing news, but seriously a Mufti in Saudi Arabia has just declared that a Muslim can cannibalise his wife. You heard correctly: Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah, a man of religious power in Saudi Arabia, believes it is halal to eat your wife. Clarifying his stance, Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah explains that literally eating your wife is permitted only if you're extremely hungry. Translating what appeared on multiple Arab websites (here, here, here, here and here): “A fatwa attributed to the Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah, which allows a man to eat his...