Free Republic

Within hours after most foreign airlines flying to Israel suspended flights, demand for seats on Israeli carriers — practically the only ones now left plying the routes — skyrocketed, and so did airfares. El Al, which earlier this week said it expected that a wave of cancellation by people travelling into and out of Israel would depress its third-quarter revenues by as much as $50 million, denied it was taking advantage of the situation.

US flights to Israel to resume after brief ban. Will European carriers follow suit? The US national aviation authority has lifted a ban on American flights to Israel, but warned of a "very fluid situation" amid intense fighting with Palestinians in nearby Gaza, AFP reports Thursday. "Hamas does have rockets that can reach Ben Gurion airport... although the accuracy of their rockets does remain limited," State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said. Israel had warned of the economic impact of the ban by many world airlines and said that it would be a win for Hamas, who hailed the suspension as...

For the first time since an unprecedented diplomatic rift among Gulf powerhouses, Qatar's emir flew to Saudi Arabia late on Tuesday in a surprise visit and met with King Abdullah to discuss cease-fire efforts that have yet to bring an end to 15 days of war in the Gaza Strip. A senior Saudi official told The Associated Press that Saudi Crown Prince Salman, and Deputy Crown Prince Muqrin also attended the meetings with Qatar's Sheik Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani in the coastal city of Jeddah. King Abdullah's security adviser Prince Bandar bin Sultan and the king's son who heads the...

ABU DHABI — Qatar could face Gulf Cooperation Council sanctions amid its support of Hizbullah and the Muslim Brotherhood. Officials and analysts said Qatar could be penalized by the GCC for Doha’s support of groups deemed threats to the region. The officials said the sanctions could include the closure of borders by Qatar’s neighbors. “Qatar could face sanctions imposed by the Gulf countries, including the closing of borders with Qatar, and air space to it if Doha doesn’t stop supporting the Muslim Brotherhood,” Abdul Khaleq Abdullah, a leading United Arab Emirates analyst, said. On March 4, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and...

The all-clear had sounded in Nir Am quarter of an hour prior but soldiers were still walking the kibbutz's paths in helmets and full combat gear on Monday morning. The fact that two Hamas attack teams had emerged from a tunnel exit only a few hundred meters away from the fence and in the ensuing firefight killed four soldiers, including a battalion commander, before they were killed themselves, was hard to shake off. For three hours the members of the kibbutz and guests at the small motel (mainly journalists) had to remain indoors while the soldiers made sure no Hamas...

Lois Lerner has become the personification of the IRS targeting scandal.Which brings us to her infamous hard drive crash. Recall that the new IRS Commissioner first told Congress that all of Lerner’s emails were recoverable and would be provided to investigating committees.Sharyl Attkisson has a nice rundown of this explanation. Friday’s revelation that the IRS “lost” Lois Lerner’s emails in a computer crash came ten months after Congress first requested them and seven months after they were first subpoenaed by the House Oversight Committee. But what IRS Commissioner John Koskinen testified about the emails at a hearing in March appears...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Jim Gilchrist — one of the founders of the Minutemen Project — said he’s reaching out across America to recruit at least 3,500 volunteers who will go to the border to patrol and cover the “porous areas” between San Diego and Brownsville, Texas. The campaign is called “Operation Normandy,” and it’s set for May 1, 2015, Raw Story reported. “If you are familiar with the Normandy invasion of France in 1944, then you have an idea how large and logistically complicated this event will be,” Mr. Gilchrist said, Raw Story reported. “However, there is one difference. We are not going...

In an interview recorded Wednesday with CNN’s Becky Anderson (@beckycnn), Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel of being a “terror state,” saying that the country’s operation in Gaza was “creating a wave of terror.”Erdogan also denied that the governments of Turkey or Qatar were involved in the funding of Hamas’ terrorist activities, saying the only support his country is offering to the people of Gaza is humanitarian.“Qatar’s cooperation with Turkey has always been to be on the side of the persecuted and to support them through humanitarian aid. This is what’s being done.”

Israeli President Shimon Peres on Wednesday told United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that Israel would not stand by while Qatar, which paid for the UN official’s private flight to the Middle East, continued to finance Hamas militants, and took Ban to task for the two UN-run schools found to be housing Hamas rockets in Gaza. In his last full day in office, Peres, a historically dovish leader, struck a defiant tone in a statement delivered to the media after meeting Ban at the President’s Residence, in Jerusalem. “Qatar does not have the right to send money for rockets and...

After the Federal Aviation Administration extended its ban on U.S. flights to Israel for another 24 hours Wednesday following reports of Hamas rockets falling close to the Tel Aviv airport, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) released a statement suggesting the decision had motives outside of just protecting the safety of American travelers. Asked about his statement at a briefing this afternoon, State Department spokesperson Marie Harf called his comments “ridiculous and offensive.” “Did President Obama Just Launch an Economic Boycott of Israel?” Cruz asked on his website, before answering his own question affirmatively. “The facts suggest that President Obama has just...

Islamic Jew-hatred and genocide — it’s an Islamic imperative.What Rabbi or Priest ever talks this way? Islam is not like other religions. “Jihadi cleric calls for Muslim fighters to join the fighting in Gaza,” J Post, July 23, 2014“Our heart yearns to arrive and fight the sons and brothers of the apes and pigs,” says rebel fighter. isis caliphate,”A new jihadi media outlet called Al-Fawaris released a video calling on Gazans to endure the military operation, saying that victory looms and that Muslims all over the world support them.According to a report published on Monday by the MEMRI (Middle East...

Rep. Wolf from Virginia made a speech yesterday at the House of Representatives in which forewarned the country on the current genocide of Christians in Iraq. He stated:Mr. Speaker, the international legal definition of the crime of genocide is found in article II of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.It says:Genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the...

An execution taking place in Arizona tonight appears to have gone horribly awry. According to a report from the Associated Press, inmate Joseph Rudolph Wood "gasped and snorted" and was still alive more than an hour after the execution began. Wood was not pronounced dead until 3:49PM MT, one hour and 57 minutes after the beginning of the procedure. Wood's lawyers filed an emergency appeal during the execution, noting that he was "gasping and snorting for more than an hour" but was still alive some 70 minutes after the execution began. The whole process should have taken 10 minutes, Wood's...

Valdimir Petrov found evidence of a Russian artillery unit shelling Ukrainian positions from Russian territory, because a soldier from this unit is posting photos on his VKontakte page (the Russian Facebook). Or course immediately after discovering this, his page has been deleted. But the info is still here:

~ The FReeper Canteen Presents ~ ~ Remembering Our Troops!! ~ K-9 COMPETITION Air Force Staff Sgt. Rocky Thompson takes his military working dog, Aron, through a window obstacle during the K-9 competition on Minot Air Force Base, ND, Aug. 14, 2013. Thompson, a military working dog handler, is assigned to the 319th Security Forces Squadron. U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Kristoffer Kaubisch Canteen Mission Statement Showing support and boosting the morale ofour military and our allies' militaryand family members of the above.Honoring those who have served before. ASSAULT EXERCISE Army 1st Sgt. Kevin Mulcahey, left,...

Russia's Federal Penal Service said that the country's inmates would soon be contributing to public works including the construction of the Kerch Strait Bridge to Crimea and a cleanup operation in the Sochi region, the Kommersant newspaper reported Wednesday.

Montana Democrat’s Thesis Presented Others’ Work as His Own Senator John Walsh of Montana Confronts Questions of Plagiarism Democrats were thrilled when John Walsh of Montana was appointed to the United States Senate in February. A decorated veteran of the Iraq war and former adjutant general of his state’s National Guard, Mr. Walsh offered the Democratic Party something it frequently lacks: a seasoned military man. On the campaign trail this year, Mr. Walsh, 53, has made his military service a main selling point. Still wearing his hair close-cropped, he notes he was targeted for killing by Iraqi militants and says...

A physician at the helm of Sierra Leone's efforts to contain and control the Ebola epidemic has just been diagnosed with the virus, according to reports from Reuters and the BBC. Sheik Umar Khan, a virologist, has treated more than 100 patients with the deadly disease and was admitted earlier this week to a high containment treatment facility, according to a statement released on Tuesday by the government. A source inside the ward told Reuters that the doctor is receiving treatment, though no details were given on his current state of health. Health Minister Miatta Kargbo called Khan a "national...

Gulf emirate is branded the villain behind Hamas belligerence, with PM’s former security adviser saying it funds tunnel diggers and rocket launchers. President Shimon Peres accused Qatar on Wednesday of becoming “the world’s largest funder of terror” due to its financial support for Hamas in Gaza. “Qatar does not have the right to send money for rockets and tunnels which are fired at innocent civilians,” the outgoing statesman told UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in Jerusalem. “Their funding of terror must stop. If they want to build then they should, but they must not be allowed to destroy.” Qatar’s recently...

A 551-pound man wanted his house arrest sentence to be reduced because he is too heavy to leave his home anyway. The Orlando Sentinel reports that Steven Goodman, 70, received that sentence in August 2012 for supplying more than 1 million oxycodone and other prescription pills to “pain management” clinics rub by Christopher and Jeffrey George Wellington. The Wellington twins are currently serving 14 and 15-and-a-half years respectfully for disbursing illegal pills at clinics in Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, and Wilton Manors. U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra, who sentenced Goodman, was unmoved by Goodman’s request. Goodman was...