Free Republic

Perhaps it is only syntactic sugar, but this statement advocating eventual co-existence with Israel from the Saudi Foreign Minister is worth noting. Speaking on the sidelines of the world assembly of Islamic scholars in Jeddh, Saud bin Faisal Al Saud said that the Middle-East needs peace and co-existence more than ever and Saudi Arabia as a leading Islamic country is ready to make sacrifices in peace negations and encourages President Abbas to follow the same policy. Referring to the ongoing war in Gaza strip, the Saudi foreign Minster stressed that Hamas authority is the sole responsible for Palestinian calamity and...

Barak Seener of RUSI says Israel 'should have gone in harder,' must reclassify human shields as combatants and stop aborting airstrikes. ---------------------- Barak Seener, an Associate fellow at Britain's Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies, thinks Israel is “choosing not to win” the war in Gaza. Seener – who has provided analysis and expert commentary for a range of international broadcasters and news outlets including the Associated Press, Al-Jazeera, BBC, CNN, Chinese CCTV, Fox News, Sky News, Voice of America, Bloomberg, Reuters and Xinhua – told Arutz Sheva that Israel is pursuing a misguided approach to the...

In Arab-Israeli wars, never assume that he who has a bigger army is the one actually winning the real war. There is no question that Israel has the bigger army in this war, but Hamas is winning. In close to two months of “calibrated” fighting, Israel is still helpless to stop Hamas from firing rockets, ceasefire or not. As for the Gaza PR war, the prime minister is too busy fighting with his ministers to realize Hamas has already won the world over by piling up bodies of dead Palestinian Arab children.

Forget the Ice Bucket Challenge, it’s a different kinda bucket challenge that’s sweeping the “sandy” Middle East this week! Using #RubbleBucketChallenge to raise awareness on social media, campaigners have swapped ice-and-water-filled containers for sand and rocks. The trend appears to have been started by Jordanian comedian Mohammed Darwaza last Friday, reports The Independent. This challenge is closer to home for Palestinian superstar Mohammad Assaf than others, who’s joined the trend in support of his hometown Gaza, that’s been under attack by Israel for two months now. Assaf knows exactly how his people are feeling; he went through the same exact...

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) -- Israel and Hamas agreed Tuesday to an open-ended cease-fire, halting a seven-week war that killed more than 2,200 people, the vast majority Palestinians, left tens of thousands in Gaza homeless and devastated entire neighborhoods in the blockaded territory. Hamas declared victory and bursts of celebratory gunfire erupted across Gaza, but the terms of the deal fell far short of Hamas' demand that Israel and Egypt open Gaza's borders. Under the Egyptian-brokered deal, Israel is to ease imports into Gaza, including aid and material for reconstruction. It also allows Palestinians to fish six nautical miles...

Video Link Here

The Israel Security Agency (ISA, or Shin Bet) has published a report on Hamas’s use of public buildings as cover for operational activity. The ISA said that interrogation of captives taken in Operation Protective Edge gave a “somewhat disturbing” picture of Hamas’s use of civilians and public buildings to carry out military activity, “out of an assumption that Israel will avoid hitting them.” …

A series of rocket sirens shattered the quiet night in Israel, as rocket attacks from Gaza resumed early on Tuesday morning. Sirens were heard across the Gush Dan region, the Shfela region and in coastal cities Ashkelon and Ashdod. Residents in communities bordering Gaza also awoke to Code Red alerts. A rocket was intercepted by the Iron Dome system over Gush Dan, while another slammed into an apartment building in Ashkelon, causing damage to several homes. No injuries were reported however

Ayman al Aloul, a journalist based in Gaza, dumped a bucket of sand, rocks, and shrapnel over his head to bring attention to the plight of Gaza — a challenge based directly on the Ice Bucket Challenge that’s still going viral. Admitting that he didn’t have a way to freeze a bucket of water, Aloul drew inspiration from the destroyed buildings around him. “It came to my mind that it’s good idea to show the whole picture — how Gaza looks now, rubble, destruction, cement with sand, small rocks,” he said in a video slowly gaining internet traction according...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lly2AfFW8kw

Channel 2 reports survey showing nearly 50-point slide in prime minister’s approval rating A poll released Monday evening showed a massive drop in the Israeli public’s opinion of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s performance, as well as dissatisfaction with the way the government is handling the needs of southern communities battered by rocket fire from the Gaza Strip. The poll, commissioned by Channel 2 and conducted by Shiluv Millward Brown, showed that on August 25 — 49 days into Operation Protective Edge — only 38 percent of Israelis “supported” Netanyahu, while a full 50% were dissatisfied, according to a Monday news...

France, Germany, and the UK have circulated a draft UN resolution on the Gaza conflict designed to end the rule of Hamas in return for Israel lifting its seven-year blockade of the Strip. The text, entitled “Elements”, was circulated in New York earlier this week and leaked on Thursday (21 August) to Israeli daily Haaretz. According to the newspaper, the resolution calls for Hamas, a militant group which advocates armed resistance against Israel, to hand over power to the Palestinian Authority, which is prepared to recognize Israel in return for the creation of a Palestinian state. It also calls for...

Former New York judge Mary McGowan Davis was appointed on Monday to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) commission investigating Israel’s Operation Protective Edge and that actions of the Hamas terrorist group. The move comes after Lebanese-born British lawyer Amal Alamuddin—Hollywood star George Clooney’s fiancée—turned down her nomination citing existing professional commitments. The selection of McGowan Davis is par for the course for UNHRC’s probe, given that the judge was part of the 2009 Goldstone committee which accused Israel of “war crimes” in Operation Cast Lead. Israel rejected the findings of the report which many assessed as blatantly biased, and...

An informative new video posted to YouTube on Monday by the IDF shows how the damage in Gaza reported by the UN is only giving half of the picture, and skewing the facts on the ground. In the video maps published by the UN showing Gaza buildings damaged in Operation Protective Edge are represented by red dots. However, the video goes on to clarify how these buildings—which include private homes, hospitals and schools—are being used to launch rockets and attacks from terror tunnels. …

In a Gaza address aired by Hamas's Al-Aqsa TV on August 17, Sami Abu Zuhri, one of the organization's spokesmen, said that it was time for Hamas to declare that the goal of the war "is not the opening of a border crossing here or there," but the liberation of Jerusalem.

When you listen to reports from international media outlets, you'll hear a whole lot about how the Israelis "kill civilians" in Gaza, including children. What you don't hear about is the fact that Hamas uses women and children as human shields. When women and children are killed as a result, Hamas parades their bodies around as propaganda for the media to attack Israel. Further, journalists tend to only report about Gaza and the West Bank but fail to include the hell Israeli civilians go through. They also never mention this fact: the entire point of Hamas launching rockets into Israel...

Terrorist factions in Gaza are apparently split once again over the possibility of accepting an Egyptian ceasefire proposal, with Hamas stubbornly refusing to accept it and at least two Islamic Jihad leaders claiming a truce will come into effect imminently. Islamic Jihad official Khaled al-Battash told interviewers a ceasefire would be coming into effect "within hours", along the same basis as the ceasefire following Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012, as outlined by an Egyptian proposal. The truce deal would include provisions for the rehabilitation of Gaza after a month and a half of fierce fighting, as well as an...

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is continuing his quest to unilaterally achieve a Palestinian state. Aides to Abbas on Sunday told The Associated Press (AP) that he will soon appeal to the international community to set a deadline for Israel to withdraw back to the pre-1967 borders and make way for an independent Palestinian state. Abbas is expected to unveil his proposal as part of a "day after" plan following the current war in Gaza, likely at a meeting of the Palestinian leadership on Tuesday, said the aides, who spoke on condition of anonymity. With no end in sight...

UNICEF has said that the Israeli occupation killed around 500 Palestinian children during the war on the Gaza Strip and wounded around 3,000 others. Chief of UNICEF's Gaza Field Office Pernille Ironside said that 469 children were killed. The number is expected to rise. She described the effects and damage of the Israeli war on the Palestinian children as "bad," noting that nine children were killed in the last 48 hours. The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced a higher number. They said that 560 children were killed and 11,000 wounded. Meanwhile, three children were killed on Thursday in Al-Nafaq Street...

Has President Obama finally awakened to reality, or does He remain lost in a dense fog? [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbWEyRS6hL4] Video link[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtlorhGuNLA] Video linkAccording to Secretary Hagel, we must be concerned not only about what we know is out there, but also about "what could be out there and what could be coming. . . . We must prepare for everything." [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYdwJSxeqY4] Video linkShouldn't we be more attentive to the likelihood of Islamic invasions across our southern border? It may happen and could already be happening. However, the Obama Administration seems unwilling even to consider the possibility, perhaps because President Obama views them as merely adherents to the religion...