Free Republic

Jews are SCARED. In the first three months of 2014 more Jews left France for Israel than at any other time since the Jewish state was created in 1948. The hundreds of rockets raining down on Israel are considered acceptable. Retaliation (with phone-call warnings , "knocking" to prevent civilian casualties,) is "massacre by the Jews." And the White House, of course, is silent. Europe is ablaze with Jew hatred, and North America is, too. The "Palestinians" own the streets, the schools, the colleges, the immigration process, the White House. If you want to help, you can do these things: LIGHT...

David Cameron has raised the prospect of further sanctions against Russia as the West's relations with Vladimir Putin grew increasingly strained following the apparent shooting down of flight MH17 over Ukraine by pro-Moscow separatists. In a sign of a hardening attitude, David Cameron said Europe and the West must "fundamentally change our approach" unless the Russian president alters course. The comments came after a day which saw the Government adopt a tougher approach to Moscow, with Russia's ambassador summoned to the Foreign Office and Philip Hammond claiming Mr Putin was not doing enough to use his influence over the rebels...

Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte says Russia's president has "one last chance" to show he is serious about helping rescuers recover the bodies of the victims of crashed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17. The attack on the plane has claimed the lives of 28 Australians and eight permanent Australian residents, who were among the 298 passengers and crew on board. Mr Rutte's comments come amid reports pro-Russian rebels have taken 38 bodies from the site. Minutes after what he described as a "very intense" conversation with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Mr Rutte said: "He has one last chance to show he...

Milan (AFP) - An Italian appeals court on Friday cleared Silvio Berlusconi of having sex with an underage prostitute and abuse of power in a surprise ruling that will strengthen the former prime minister on the political scene. "The defendant is acquitted," presiding judge Enrico Tranfa said, requesting silence after gasps from the courtroom. The effectively scraps Berlusconi's seven-year sentence and lifelong ban from holding public office. The judge said there was "no crime" on the abuse of power charge and that Berlusconi's actions "did not constitute a crime" on the prostitution one, promising to publish a detailed explanation within...

Paris police have banned pro-Palestinian activists from demonstrating this Saturday night, an official told AFP Wednesday, after violent protesters blockaded French Jews in a local synagogue and attacked them earlier this week. Saturday night’s protest was planned for the Barbas–Rochechouart metro station near the northern Gare du Nord train station, the official said. However, Paris police oppose the demonstration, citing “serious risks to public order” in “a context of elevated tension,” according to news broadcaster RTL. Protesters have already taken to Twitter, they said, with the intent to “smash the Jews” in Saturday’s protest. “We’ll smash the Jews Saturday,” wrote...

I have a guest post this morning from Saxo Bank chief economist Steen Jakobsen regarding the slowing German economy. Steen says the German economy is decelerating too quick for comfort and faces a triple whammy from Asian rebalancing, the US economy, and a bad energy policy. From Steen JakobsenGermany May Have Won the World Cup, but Its Economy is Cooling Fast We need to congratulate Germany on its World Cup win. It was a victory for organisation and science, but unfortunately the Germany economy is slowing fast — and too fast for comfort when we look at Eurozone GDP. I...

Strasbourg, France, Jul 18, 2014 / 02:56 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The European Court of Human Rights ruled that the refusal to recognize same-sex “marriages” does not violate the European Convention on Human Rights. In a July 16 ruling, the human rights court explained that while “some Contracting States have extended marriage to same-sex partners,” European laws establishing the right of men and women to freely marry “cannot be construed as imposing an obligation on the Contracting States to grant access to marriage to same-sex couples.” The applicant to the high European human rights court brought his petition after Finland refused...

European Union (EU) leaders on Wednesday condemned the firing of rockets into Israel while urging the Israel to “act proportionately” and Hamas to agree to a ceasefire, AFP reports. Voicing “great concern” over continued violence in Israel and Gaza, EU leaders said the bloc “condemns the firing of rockets from Gaza into Israel and the indiscriminate targeting of civilians.” “Israel has the right to protect its population (but) in doing so it must act proportionately and ensure the protection of civilians at all times,” a European Union statement added. …

If Scotland votes for independence in its referendum on Sept. 18, it may not be allowed to join the European Union for five years. New European Union chief Jean-Claude Juncker said last night that the EU needs to take a break from admitting new countries. “Under my presidency of the commission, ongoing negotiations will continue … but no further enlargement will take place over the next five years," Juncker said, according to the BBC. He later clarified his remarks. Juncker wasn't talking about Scotland specifically but about countries generally, he said. Even so, it's hard to see Scotland retaining automatic...

The UK's anti-Israel frenzy knows no bounds. My best friend's wife "Charlotte" (a 5 feet tall 57-year old lady who wants this story publicised but wishes to remain anonymous) was surrounded and assaulted by several Muslim anti-Israel fanatics in the middle of Oxford Street in broad daylight. She was shopping there when the demonstrators came marching down the road shouting "Free Free Palestine and Zionists murderers". The photos she took here are from just before the assault (next bit is an update to the original posting). Charlotte (who is a proud Jew) said: "As they passed by with their disgusting chants I...

Social Democrat leader Stefan Löfven has been flooded with thousands of negative comments after he posted on Facebook that "Israel has the right to defend itself" in a post about the ongoing Gaza crisis. The election favourite posted the comment on Saturday night and within minutes he was on the receiving end of angry replies from users of the social network. "Israel must respect international law but obviously has the right to defend itself. It is a huge tragedy that the violence escalates," Löfven wrote. Most of the comments were critical of the political party leader's stance with one user...

The German government is expecting around 175,000 people to file applications for asylum this year, the highest number in two decades. Regional politicians are acting surprised, but there have been signs of this development for years now. […] The refugees in Germany are fleeing many things: the civil war in Syria, the recent wave of terror in Iraq, torturous regimes but also, in many cases, a life of poverty and no prospects, be it in Africa or as a member of the Roma minority in Serbia. Germany’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) estimates that as many as 175,000...

Paris - Clashes erupted in Paris on Sunday as thousands of people protested against Israel and in support of residents in the Gaza Strip, where a six-day conflict has left 168 Palestinians dead. Several thousand demonstrators walked calmly through the streets of Paris behind a large banner that read "Total Support for the Struggle of the Palestinian People". But clashes erupted at the end of the march on Bastille Square, with people throwing projectiles onto a cordon of police who responded with tear gas. The unrest continued early Sunday evening as police announced six arrests had been made. A small...

The Israelis and the Palestinians are resisting Secretary of State John Kerry’s repeated offers to travel to the Middle East and try to help negotiate a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Experts on both sides believe he doesn’t have the credibility or ability to do any good if he shows up there.

Rocks were thrown at police in Berlin during a protest by some 1,000 demonstrators—most of them Palestinians—against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. As many as 10 demonstrators were arrested for breach of the peace and trying to forcibly free others already arrested in Saturday’s protest, a police spokesman said. One police officer was struck by a rock but was not injured. The march was unregistered; demonstrations in Berlin require a police permit. …

The New Nazis have arrived. The firebomb went off Friday night at the entrance to the synagogue of Aulnay-sous-Bois, a northeastern suburb of the French capital. A Middle Eastern man assaulted a Jewish 17-year-old girl on a Paris street near the Gare du Nord train station by spraying pepper-spray on her face, shouting: “Dirty Jewess, inshallah you will die.” In Belleville, an eastern suburb of Paris, a demonstration Saturday by a few dozen people against Israel’s attack on Hamas featured calls to “slaughter the Jews,” according to Alain Azria, a French Jewish photojournalist who covered the event. The crowd also...

Sirens sounded Saturday evening in northern Israel as rockets were apparently fired from Lebanon into the Jewish state. The sirens sounded in Nahariya, Rosh Hanikra, Shlomi, Kabri and Hanita, along the border with Lebanon. Initial analysis said that the rockets were apparently fired from Lebanon by a Palestinian Lebanese terror group. "Two rockets fired from Lebanon hit uninhabited areas in the Nahariya region," a coastal town around 12 kilometers (seven miles) from the border with Lebanon, an army spokeswoman told AFP. Israel responded with artillery fire targeting the firing points. A Lebanese security source told AFP at least one rocket...

Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators turned out on the streets of London, Paris, and Oslo on Friday to call for an end to Israeli military strikes on Gaza. Several thousand people crowded the streets outside the Israeli Embassy in west London, waving placards that read "Gaza: End the Siege" and "Freedom for Palestine." The crowds blocked an entire road, and several protesters managed to climb on top of a double-decker bus stuck in traffic, but police said the protest was largely peaceful. Norwegian news website The Local reported that some 3,000 protestors gathered in front of the Norwegian parliament in Oslo...

The European Commission took Denmark to court on Thursday for allowing the sale of snus, despite a European Union sales ban on the moist oral snuff. Sweden, a snus producer, is currently the only country in the 28-member bloc permitted to sell the powder tobacco, a privilege granted when it joined the club in the 1990s. …

A 38-year-old man in southern Sweden was assaulted on Sunday night after hanging an Israeli flag from his window, with police suspecting it is a hate crime. The incident occurred in Seved, Malmö, shortly before midnight on Sunday when the man displayed an Israeli flag from his window, sources told newspaper Sydsvenskan. The man reportedly exchanged words with men on the street after hanging the flag, and left his apartment. Before the assault the man's window had been smashed where the flag of Israel had been hung. "After that the man went out onto the street to see what was...