Free Republic

Picture with humorous caption From Zionist sharks to Mossad vultures; for anti-Zionists, where Israel is concerned conspiracy theories are always in-vogue - no matter how outlandish or just plain nuts they sound. Vying for this year's best Israel-related conspiracy theory is an Islamist activist in the UK, who claims he has been the victim of a most dastardly of Zionist deeds. According to Asghar Bukhari, founder of the extremist Muslim Public Affairs Committee (MPAC), Zionists broke into his house last night and stole... his shoe. No kidding. Text of tweet

Israel has often complained that UNRWA, the UN body dealing with "Palestinian refugees," merely exists to continue the conflict without resettling the people it treats as the UN does with all other refugees, but apparently the Palestinian Arabs are unhappy with the organization too - for not giving them enough, and for giving too much to their brethern in Syria's Yarmouk neighborhood. Residents of Gaza defined as "refugees," namely the descendants of Arab residents who left Israel in the 1948 War of Independence, are protesting against UNRWA after the latter transferred resources to displaced Palestinian Arab residents of the Yarmouk...

Education Minister Naftali Bennett announced on Tuesday that he has decided to cut state funding for a play by an Arab theater about a terrorist who murdered an IDF soldier. "I've ordered the relevant people in the education ministry to immediately remove the play from the culture basket," he said of the state-funded selection of cultural events intended for youths. Bennett was referring to the play "The Parallel Time" by Almidan, an Arab theater in Haifa. The play tells the story of Walid Daka, an Arab-Israeli imprisoned for abducting and murdering Israeli soldier Moshe Tamam in 1984. "Israeli citizens won't...

A group of 40 British filmmakers and artists have sent an open letter to The Guardian on Monday calling for the Curzon and Odeon cinema chains to stop screenings of an Israeli film festival opening in London this week. Seret 2015, the London Israeli Film and Television Festival, will open Thursday with a gala screening at Bafta, followed by a number of screenings at the aforementioned theaters in the days to follow. Denying the boycott is about refusing to show films by individual filmmakers, the letter stresses cinemas should cancel the screenings because the Israeli state is “promoting this festival...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has suffered a serious setback in the parliamentary elections Sunday, according to initial reports. Four hours after the ballots closed, it appeared that Erdogan's AKP party will not have the required majority for passing reforms in the Turkish constitution. With 90% of the votes counted, the Kurdish HDP party received about 11% of the votes, according to Turkish-language CNN. This places it past the 10% threshold required for entering parliament and would give it about 80 MPs. The party has never before passed the threshold. According to reports, AKP received 42 or 43% of the...

The UN Security Council expressed outrage on Friday over a recent wave of barrel-bomb attacks in Syria's northern Aleppo province that have left scores dead, AFP reports. Russia, Syria's ally which has vetoed past resolutions against the Bashar Al-Assad regime, joined in a statement from the 15-member council condemning "all violence against civilians, and civilian infrastructure, including medical facilities." The statement was issued following a behind-closed-doors report on Thursday by senior UN aid official John Ging, who said the attacks on Aleppo were continuing. Ging estimated that some 3,600 people have been killed by barrel bombs in Aleppo alone since...

Thousands of young people are now employed on campuses around the world, well financed and well organized, in an unprecedented effort that challenges the very legitimacy of Israel on every possible academic and economic front. They call their movement: BDS – Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions. Over the next few days, Mr. Sheldon Adelson and Mr. Haim Saban have called an emergency meeting of organizations concerned about BDS to answer two questions. ● From where does the finance and organizational support for BDS emanate? ● How can BDS be stopped? The answers may be easier to ascertain than one would expectMost...

US President Barack Obama's administration is scrambling to quell concerns ahead of a Congressional review of the impending Iran nuclear deal that is approaching a June 30 deadline, but one US Senator reports Obama is refusing to reveal a document detailing the full scope of the deal. Senator Bob Corker (R-TN), who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that he and other Senators are trying to obtain a document with the exact details of what the administration has already agreed to - but their requests are being refused. "There is a document that explains what Iran is...

A French municipal council has approved a proposal to name a newly built street after Palestinian Liberation Organization leader and arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat, the Nice Matin newspaper reported Tuesday. The proposal was adopted by a large majority of elected representatives of of the south-western town La Seyne-sur-Mer. According to Mayor Marc Vuillemot, the proposal was brought forward by the town's residents and only a handful of representatives voted against it. Those who opposed the measure were reportedly unhappy with honoring a "controversial figure" or, as others described Arafat, a "terrorist." "There is also a Yitzhak Rabin-street in the district. To...

Iranian nuclear fuel stockpiles grew by a massive 20% over the past 18 months of negotiations between Iran and world powers, a report last month by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has revealed. The report comes just one month ahead of the June 30 deadline set for the P5+1 powers and Iran to finalize a deal over Tehran's nuclear program. News that Iran has been busily expanding its stockpiles contradicts claims by US President Barack Obama that the Islamic Republic had "frozen" its nuclear program during the last year and a half of negotiations. Despite that, western leaders appear...

On the sidelines of the Israel Day Concert in New York's Central Park on Sunday, former US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton gave a rundown of Iran's nuclear program and the impending deal on curbing it, in an exclusive Arutz Sheva interview. While negotiations between Iran and world powers have reached an interim agreement ahead of a June 30 deadline for a final deal, Bolton predicts that the Iran negotiations are "doomed to failure." "I don't think Iran has any intention of giving up its efforts to get deliverable nuclear weapons," said the former ambassador. "Even if a deal...

Arutz Sheva was on hand to cover Kenneth Abramowitz, co-founder of NGN Capital and founder of a blog about the threats facing the West called SaveTheWest.com, as he addressed the Israel Day Concert in Central Park in New York on Sunday. According to Abramowitz, America's success is due to three things: its ability to grow an economy, to protect both a secular and religious culture, and to protect itself physically from external threats. However, he noted that the US has room to improve in all of these categories, remarking, "we could end anti-Semitism in two minutes." "Anti-Semitism should be illegal...

A group that is operating in Gaza and which says it is associated with ISIS has claimed that it killed a top Hamas commander. According to the group, which calls itself the Army of the Islamic State, Saber Siam was killed when ISIS operatives placed a bomb on his car, blowing it up with him inside. Siam was killed, the group said, because he was “a partner in a declared war against religion and against Muslims, working for the heretical government in Gaza.” ISIS warned Hamas to immediately “end its war against religion in Gaza” or “face the consequences.” The...

R&B, soul and hip hop singer-songwriter Lauryn Hill officially announced on Monday that she was cancelling her planned show in Israel, scheduled for May 7. In a statement on her website, Hill wrote, “When deciding to play the region, my intention was to perform in both Tel Aviv and Ramallah. Setting up a performance in the Palestinian Territory, at the same time as our show in Israel, proved to be a challenge.” “I’ve wanted very much to bring our live performance to this part of the world, but also to be a presence supporting justice and peace. It is very...

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini called Wednesday on Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) to resume peace negotiations, saying the situation on the ground was "not sustainable," according to AFP. Mogherini issued the remarks after eyewitnesses said the Israeli Air Force (IAF) carried out four strikes on terror targets in Gaza on Wednesday, hours after terrorists launched five rockets at civilians in the Jewish state. "We see the situation on the ground as not sustainable and (it is) an illusion to think the status quo is an option," Mogherini said at the opening of an annual meeting in Brussels...

The United States made clear on Wednesday that it will not consider an extension to reach an agreement on curbing Iran's nuclear program, despite indications from France and Iran that talks may stretch into July. "We're not contemplating any extension beyond June 30," State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said at a news briefing, according to the Reuters news agency. He added that the United States believes the world powers working with Tehran can achieve their goal of reaching an agreement by the self-imposed deadline. Secretary of State John Kerry plans to travel to Geneva for a May 30 meeting with...

Former UK Chief of Staff Lord Dannatt has called for a ground invasion against Islamic State (ISIS) on Monday, claiming that the cultural and security impact of the group calls for an international armed effort to expand beyond the current airstrike campaign. "The capture and likely destruction of the 2,000-year-old Roman colonnades at Palmyra, Syria, by Islamic State constitutes a potential cultural crime on a gigantic scale," Dannatt wrote in the Daily Mail. "These majestic ruins represent thousands of years of human civilisation and there is now surely no doubting just how great a threat IS [ISIS - ed.] poses...

US Vice President Joe Biden on Monday sought to end an embarrassing rift between Washington and Baghdad after Pentagon boss Ashton Carter blamed Iraqi forces for the fall of Ramadi. The White House said Biden called Iraqi's prime minister Haider al-Abadi, just hours after the US Defense Secretary's suggested the Islamic State group won control of the city because "Iraqi forces showed no will to fight," according to AFP. Biden "recognized the enormous sacrifice and bravery of Iraqi forces over the past eighteen months in Ramadi and elsewhere," the White House said. As well as rowing back Carter's comments, Biden...

Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon (Likud) has decided not to extend the seizure order issued last year against the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva (Torah academy - ed.) building in Yitzhar, in the heart of Samaria, according to Channel 10. For the first time in over a year, police and IDF forces will vacate the premises and allow students to return. The yeshiva was initially seized by Border Policemen in April 2014, following clashes between an extreme element in the community and security forces. The cyclical clashes began after a house was destroyed by the IDF, sparking tire-slashings of two IDF cars....

Video US President Barack Obama has described the loss of key Iraqi territory to Islamic State as a tactical setback, while insisting the war against the jihadist group is not being lost. "I don't think we're losing," Obama said in an interview with news magazine The Atlantic published Thursday, days after the Iraqi city of Ramadi was overrun. Shia militias converged on Ramadi Monday in a bid recapture it from jihadists who dealt the Iraqi government a stinging blow by overrunning the city in a deadly three-day blitz. The loss of the capital of Iraq's largest province was Baghdad's worst...