Free Republic

A description of the Israeli attack on the T-4 airbase in Syria and the complete destruction of the control tower. The Iranians are no longer hiding their intentions and are waiting for the order to destroy Israel. Israel's help in rescuing the trapped soccer players (amazing technology!). The repercussions on Iran of Trump moving out of the Iran nuclear deal. And did you know it was Israeli intelligence that revealed the plot to blow up the convention in Paris at which Giuliani and Gingrich were scheduled to speak? Earthquakes and their possible significance. And the update is followed by a...

n a major story that came and went, President Obama shut down a major drug operation run by Hezb'allah because he didn't want to upset Iran's mullahs and endanger his Iran deal. Seems the Iran deal was considerably more important to his "legacy" than any concern about drug-dealing, the opioid epidemic, or just the idea of putting terrorists who finance themselves through the global drug trade out of business. Politico did the story about how Obama shut down Project Cassandra, so it should have gotten attention, yet it didn't. The whole thing recalls something security expert Rachel Ehrenfeld memorably told...

A Democratic candidate for a seat in the California state assembly blames Israel for committing genocide against the Palestinians and has offered her support for anti-Semitic Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. Maria Estrada, a candidate for California’s District 63 representing the southeast suburbs of Los Angeles, garnered the second most votes, some 28 percent, in a top-two primary on June 5 for the November election. She will run against incumbent and fellow Democrat Anthony Rendon, who also serves as Speaker of the California State Assembly. In an op-ed published in the Los Angeles Jewish Journal, Rabbi Abraham Cooper and...

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel imposed sanctions on the Gaza Strip and its dominant Hamas Islamists on Monday in retaliation for attacks by Palestinians using burning kites and helium balloons carrying blazing rags. People taking part in more than three months of protests at the Gaza border have started scores of fires by sending the balloons and kites into Israel, vexing its advanced military which is used to dealing with more conventional weapons. With southern residents and his far-right coalition partners calling for an end to the blazes, even if that required killing the kite- and balloon-fliers, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin...

JERUSALEM Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the immediate closure of the main cargo crossing with the Gaza Strip on Monday in response to Palestinians launching incendiary kites and balloons into Israel. Netanyahu vowed to use a "heavy hand" against Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza, and said more steps would be taken, without elaborating. Israel's military said the Kerem Shalom crossing is shut until further notice except for humanitarian aid, medical supplies and food. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum called the move "a new crime against humanity" and called on the international community to intervene.

A series of maps of Judea and Samaria, focusing on the placement of Jewish communities and Israeli military facilities in the area, provoked a dramatic change in the Obama administration’s policies vis-à-vis Israel, a report by The New Yorker claims. According to the report Monday, a presentation by then-Secretary of State John Kerry to President Barack Obama in the waning days of the administration ‘shocked’ the president into taking a more aggressive stance towards Israel, withholding America’s veto on a United Nations Security Council resolution critical of Israeli policies in Judea and Samaria. The Obama administration, like its predecessors, had...

Crude oil prices could jump as high as US$250 a barrel if Iran goes through with its threat to close the Strait of Hormuz in response to U.S. pressure on oil buyers to cut their Iranian purchases to zero, RT reports, quoting analysts. The most bullish among these analysts was Artem Avinov from online broker TeleTrade, who saw prices skyrocketing to US$250 a barrel if the Strait of Hormuz is blocked, disrupting about 17 million bpd in seaborne oil trade. Avinov, however, added that this course of events is very unlikely, suggesting Iran would instead opt for “a quick economic...

The Gulf Arab state of Qatar has called on Israel to issue thousands of entry permits to Gazans living in the Hamas-ruled Strip, allowing them to work in Israel, arguing that such a move would reduce tensions and end the ongoing wave of “kite terrorism” and balloon bomb attacks. Since March 30th, tens of thousands of Gaza rioters have gathered on the Israel border, clashing with IDF forces and attempting to breach the security fence. In recent weeks, however, the rioters have shifted from direct attacks on the border to the use of improvised explosive or incendiary devices, attached to...

In a post on her now-defunct blog, MSNBC anchor Joy Ann Reid attacked CNN’s Wolf Blitzer for treating Jewish guests with too much understanding. Blitzer is a “former flak for the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC),” reads the post from July 16, 2006. “He doesn’t even try to hide his affinity for his Israeli guests, or his partisanship for their cause, while turning instantly to prosecutorial mode when questioning any guest who has the dumb luck to be an Arab or Muslim in King Blitzer’s court,” Reid continues. “It’s actually quite stunning how brazen Blitzer’s bias has become.” In...

The U.S. Navy stands ready to ensure free navigation and the flow of commerce, the U.S. military’s Central Command said on Thursday, as Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned they would block oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz if necessary. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and some senior military commanders have threatened in recent days to disrupt oil shipments from the Gulf countries if Washington tries to cut Tehran’s exports.

As Syrian government forces press on with a furious offensive against rebel-held areas in the country's south, Israel is quietly acknowledging that President Bashar Assad's forces will soon be on its doorstep, laying down red lines for postwar relations with the Syrian leader. Israel's main concern is to keep archrival Iran, an Assad ally, as far away from its border as possible — along with its proxy, the Lebanese militia Hezbollah. "Our demand is that the Iranian forces will go out or withdraw from Syria as a whole, and in it specifically southwest Syria," said a senior Israeli military official.It...

Germany has been brokering an exchange deal between Israel and Hamas, and in recent weeks has proposed a concrete arrangement, the London-based Arabic language Al-Hayat newspaper said Thursday. In the deal, Israel would release Hamas terrorists it is holding in prison, in exchange for the remains of IDF soldiers Hadar Goldin, Hy”d, and Oron Shaul, Hy”d, along with Israelis Avraham Mengistu and Hisham a-Sayad. According to the report, Germany has been trying to broker a deal for the past three years — almost since the end of Operation Protective Edge, when both Goldin and Shaul went missing in a battle...

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The lawyer of Kurdish death row prisoner said a group of lawyers, including himself, had signed a letter to the President of Iran to stop the execution of the “innocent” man.Amid fears of Ramin Hossein Panahi being on the verge of execution, “60 lawyers of Persian and Kurdish ethnicities quickly wrote a letter to the President of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, also the head of Supreme National Security Council,” Mohsen Ahmadi, Panahi’s lawyer, told Kurdistan 24 on Tuesday.Describing Panahi’s arrest as “illegal,” Ahmadi, asserted that there were hidden hands that pushed for his client’s death sentence.Panahi was...

An Iranian general has accused Israel of ‘manipulating weather’ to prevent rain over the Islamic republic – aka, stealing the country’s clouds. Brigadier General Gholam Reza Jalali, head of Iran’s Civil Defence Organisation, alleged that his country was facing cloud ‘theft’ during a press conference. However he was later contradicted by the nation’s weather chief.

Federal prosecutors concluded an 18-month investigation into a former congressional technology staffer on Tuesday by publicly debunking allegations — promoted by conservative media and President Trump — suggesting he was a Pakistani operative who stole government secrets with cover from House Democrats.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) revealed a plea deal Tuesday to Imran Awan — former IT staffer for top House Democrats — which states the federal government found “no evidence” that Awan “violated federal law with respect to House computer systems.” The plea deal states: The Government has uncovered no evidence that your client violated federal law with respect to the House computer systems. Particularly, the Government has found no evidence that your client illegally removed House data from the House network or from House Members’ offices, stole the House Democratic Caucus Server, stole or destroyed House information technology equipment,...

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel has denied entry to a Jewish-American activist for advocating boycotts of the Jewish state. Israel’s immigration authority says the activist, Ariel Gold, arrived to Israel Sunday and was refused entry at the airport. Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan said “whoever works consistently for a boycott against Israel will not enter here.” Gold is the national co-director of CODEPINK....

Federal Judge Rosemary Collyer refused the Fraenkel family's request to reconsider the low compensation imposed on Iran and Syria as those responsible for the kidnapping and murder of their son Naftali, along with Eyal Yifrach and Gil-Ad Sha'ar. The verdict set a compensation of $ 4.1 million, while the suit demanded $ 340 million, an amount that was common in previous similar suits. The suit was based on the fact that Naftali's family had American citizenship. The judge explained her decision with an outrageous statement that also imposed responsibility on the Fraenkel family, which she asserted had exposed itself to...

An Iranian general has accused Israel of stealing its clouds in order to manipulate weather and cause drought in the Islamic Republic. Brigadier General Gholam Reza Jalali, head of Iran's Civil Defence Organisation said that the changing climate in Iran is 'suspect'. 'Foreign interference is suspected to have played a role in climate change,' said Jalali, who insisted results from an Iranian scientific study 'confirm' the claim. 'Israel and another country in the region have joint teams which work to ensure clouds entering Iranian skies are unable to release rain,' he said. 'On top of that, we are facing the...

The Obama administration granted citizenship to 2,500 Iranians, including family members of government officials, while negotiating the Iran nuclear deal, a senior cleric and member of parliament has claimed. Hojjat al-Islam Mojtaba Zolnour, who is chairman of Iran’s parliamentary nuclear committee and a member of its national security and foreign affairs committee, made the allegations during an interview with the country’s Etemad newspaper, cited by the country’s Fars News agency. He claimed it was done as a favor to senior Iranian officials linked to President Hassan Rouhani, and he alleged the move sparked a competition among Iranian officials over whose...