Free Republic

So far, the debate over the proposed Islamic center near Ground Zero has unfolded along predictable lines, with the man at the center of the project, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, drawing attacks from the right painting him as a terrorist sympathizer with ties to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. But meanwhile, links between the group behind the controversial mosque, the CIA and U.S. military establishment have gone unacknowledged.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu revealed in a Knesset committee meeting that former US President Barack Obama requested Israel not send ground forces into Gaza during 2014’s Operation Protective Edge. The meeting’s purpose was to critique how Israel fought Operation Protective Edge, and use that to see how to make the progress of the next war against Hamas, if needed, better. Netanyahu related, “I explained to President Obama that if they continue not accepting the ceasefires, we will have no choice but to send in ground forces. He told me, ‘I am asking you not to send in ground forces.’...

Since 2104, and despite their intense terror campaign, more Palestinians have been killed by Palestinians than Israelis. When they are not attempting to kill Israelis they are killing themselves A frustrated Israeli Defense Minister, Avigdor Liberman, criticized the United Nations for ignoring the issue of Palestinians killing Palestinians. In a phone conversation with Nikolay Mladenov, the UN Middle East envoy, he complained that while the UN regularly condemns “justified Israeli actions against terrorism” they have nothing to say about decades of intra-sectarian rivalries in which Palestinian kill and injure each other.

Human Rights Watch on Thursday condemned Hamas, after the terrorist group executed three men in Gaza who were accused of “collaborating” with Israel. In a statement quoted by AFP, the organization urged Hamas to stop the "barbaric" practice. The executions were carried out after Hamas vowed revenge for the killing last month of one of its top terrorists, Mazen Faqha, which it blamed on the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad and its Palestinian "collaborators". The men who were hanged on Thursday were not implicated in the killing of Faqha but were accused of past acts of "treason and collaborating," a Hamas...

Hamas on Tuesday condemned the chemical attack in Syria's Idlib province in which at least 100 people were killed. "We condemn the mass killings that are hurting the Syrian people and, in particular, the disgusting massacre that took place today in Khan Sheikhun on the outskirts of Idlib - and the use of chemical weapons against citizens," the organization said in a statement quoted by Yediot Aharonot. “We call for an end to the bloodshed in Syria,” added Hamas. .....

The Council on Islamic Relations, better known as CAIR, has announced the terrorism linked group will host a town hall meeting Friday night with Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring. The town hall will center around opposing President Trump's executive order temporarily barring refugees and visitors from Somalia, Yemen, Syria, Libya, Iran and Sudan to the United States. "Join representatives of CAIR, Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center and MAS-PACE at a town hall meeting in Falls Church, Va., on the Trump administration’s Muslim Ban 2.0. Learn how the ban impacts your civil rights. The event will also include a free 'Citizenship...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/hp1330.htm December 17, 2008 HP-1330 Treasury Designates Bank Melli Front Company in New York City Washington, DC--The U.S. Department of the Treasury today designated ASSA CORP., a front company created and controlled by Iran's Bank Melli and domiciled in New York, and its parent organization, ASSA CO. LTD, located in the Channel Islands. "This scheme to use a front company set up by Bank Melli -- a known proliferator -- to funnel money from the United States to Iran is yet another example of Iran's duplicity," said Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial...

Iran's largest bank blacklisted From correspondents in Washington September 09, 2006 THE US Treasury Department announced overnight that it had blacklisted one of Iran's largest banks, Bank Saderat, from having any links with US-owned banks. The move effectively cuts Iran's state-owned Bank Saderat off from conducting any business linked to the US financial system. The Treasury Department said it blacklisted Saderat because of its "support for terrorism." "Bank Saderat facilitates Iran's transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars to Hezbollah and other terrorist organisations each year," said Stuart Levey, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. "We will no longer allow...

London's Terror Bank August 21, 2008 In the war on terror, the U.S. has had no greater friend than the United Kingdom. And as the U.S. economy continues to suffer under the burdens of Sarbanes-Oxley, our British friends have demonstrated a more sensible approach to financial regulation. For both of the preceding statements, however, there is an exception. Even as the U.K. stands with us in rallying the world against doing business with Tehran, an Iranian bank with a history of financing terrorism continues to operate in London. On September 8, 2006, the U.S. Treasury announced it was cutting off...

Hamas on Friday denounced the “Muezzin Law”, which passed a preliminary reading in the Knesset this week, warning the law would face “stiff resistance”. “This decision will not pass,” deputy Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said after Friday prayers in Gaza. “Our people and nation will raise the Azan all over the world,” he said, using the Arabic word for the Muslim call to prayer, according to AFP. The “Muezzin Law” was originally to have been applied during all hours of the day, but haredi parties objected to its original wording, fearing that it could be used to silence the Shabbat...

Hamas is reportedly planning to endorse a state of Palestine along the 1967 borders — a move that would be a monumental shift from the group’s long-held policy of reclaiming all of historic Palestine — though it won’t recognize Israel’s legitimacy. […] Talk of “the 1967 borders” generally refers to the pre-1967 lines between Israel and the territory it captured in that year’s Six-Day War from Jordan (in Jerusalem and the West Bank), Egypt (Gaza and the Sinai) and Syria (the Golan Heights). The amendments to the charter were reportedly worked out during a meeting in Doha, Qatar, which was...

U.S. president stresses his commitment to bring about real peace between Israel and Palestinians, Palestinian spokesman says. U.S. President Donald Trump speaks on the phone in the Oval Office. Alex Brandon/AP U.S. State Department confirms Obama's last-minute aid to the Palestinians Defense Minister Lieberman tells Pence: I expect to see U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem soon President Donald Trump spoke on the phone with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for the first time on Friday, and invited him to the White House, a Palestinian spokesman said. The call was the first contact between the two leaders, coming after complaints by Palestinian officials...

A report commissioned by Sweden’s Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) to look into the influence of the Islamist organization the Muslim Brotherhood in the country has sparked debate, with a number of researchers disputing the methodology used and conclusions reached. The report suggests that the Muslim Brotherhood is secretly leading Islamists in building a parallel society in Sweden by infiltrating organizations and political parties in the country. It also claims that there is an “established structure of values among the country’s political elite which stipulate how as a citizen you should approach ‘minorities’”. But in a blog post signed by 22...

In the next inevitable confrontation with the terror group, the lessons of the Hamas War must not be ignoed Israel's State Comptroller’s Report on Operation Protective Edge, the Jewish state’s war with Hamas in the summer of 2014, is exceedingly detailed. The problem is that it addresses the wrong details. Israel’s problem with Hamas wasn’t its tactics for destroying Hamas’s attack tunnels. Israel faced two challenges in its war with Hamas that summer. The first had to do with the regional and global context of the war. The second had to do with its understanding of its enemy on the...

The day after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, Linda Sarsour ascended the global stage at the Women’s March on Washington. Although not as famous as other speakers — Madonna, Michael Moore, Gloria Steinem, Ashley Judd, Angel a Davis, Van Jones — she is proving to be equally controversial. Sarsour (shown), a co-chair of the march, is a "Muslim feminist" and well-known Soros-funded activist in New York City, where she is executive director of the Arab Amer ican Association of New York (AAANY) and a director of the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), a radical migrant-refugee "rights" organization. She is also, say critics, connected...

As the race for the Democratic national chair comes down to the wire, filmmaker Michael Moore said Thursday the Democratic Party needs "fresh blood," new people like Minnesota congressman Keith Ellison. "The Democrats have a real chance to change things," Moore told CNN's Don Lemon on "CNN Tonight." "The old guard, God bless them, they've got to go. We need Keith Ellison as the DNC chair."

As the Canadian Parliament prepares to adopt a motion condemning "Islamophobia," the Canadian media have shifted into high-gear propaganda mode to smear all opposition to this anti-free speech measure as hysterical. Leading the charge in the Toronto Star is Faisal Kutty, who teaches law at Valparaiso University Law School in Indiana and Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto and has numerous ties to groups linked to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. Kutty leads off by scapegoating me as the "lunatic fringe" opposing this thought-crushing measure: "Canadian PM, Justin Trudeau, Smears all Canadians with Islamophobia Lie to Create a Sharia State,"...

President Donald Trump wants to drain the swamp. Well here's the perfect place to start. Remember this name: Ben Rhodes. I’ll get back to Ben in a moment. He is the centerpiece to Obama’s final vicious attack on Israel. Obama made many shocking, damaging attacks on Israel. The list is so long it would take me an entire book to list them all.Need proof? It accelerated in his final days. It was as if he had to show his true hatred for Israel with his last official acts.Many Americans know Obama allowed the United Nations and their anti-Semite representatives to condemn Israel for...

Anyone who thinks that an Israeli withdrawal from essential territory and this type of Palestine will bring peace and harmony is delusional What is ignored by people advocating a two-state solution is the clear and present danger of Hamas in the West Bank. It is an inconvenient truth for international diplomats pressuring Israel to withdraw from the West Bank that Hamas has a growing presence there.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) A senior Hamas official says a top member of the group’s armed wing has been chosen as its new leader in the Gaza Strip. Yehiyeh Sinwar, a senior commander who was freed by Israel in a 2011 prisoner swap, is considered one of the most hard-line figures in the Islamic militant group The Hamas official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was discussing the group’s secretive election process, confirmed the appointment. Sinwar replaces Ismail Haniyeh, who was prime minister of Hamas’ government in Gaza after the militant group overran the territory in 2007.