Free Republic

Tuesday on CNN's "The Situation Room," host Wolf Blitzer asked Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, the Israeli Defense Forces spokesman if Hamas stopped their aggressions if further military action could be avoided.

Israel came under a heavy barrage of rocket fire on Tuesday night, with code red sirens sounding off in central Israel, the Jerusalem area and as far North as Binyamina. More than 40 rockets were fired into Israel in the biggest ever salvo of long-range fire from Gaza. The Iron Dome rocket defense system intercepted a number of rockets and no significant injuries have been reported in the attacks. Meanwhile, 5 Hamas gunman attempted to infiltrate Israel at Zikim beach, near Gaza where they exchanged fire with IDF forces. All five terrorists were killed...

The family of Tariq Abu Khdeir, the 15-year-old Tampa boy whose brutal beating at the hands of Israeli police has made global headlines, was relieved to learn Sunday that he was released from jail. Tariq was sentenced to nine days of home detention while police investigate his involvement in violent protests that started after his cousin, Mohammed Abu Khdeir, 16, was abducted and burned alive last week in Jerusalem. Tariq’s aunt, Sanah Abu Khdeir, of Tampa, said Sunday she hopes that the boy and his parents will be home by July 16. Tariq is an American citizen of Palestinian descent....

According to reports, sites in Khan Younes, Rafah and Beit lahia were hit Air force hits Hamas, Islamic Jihad structures; 4 reported wounded; 2 rockets explode in Israel causing damage, hours after discovery of kidnapped teens’ bodies. The Israeli Air Force struck 34 targets in the Gaza Strip early Tuesday, carrying out “precision strikes” against Hamas and Islamic Jihad structures, the IDF said in a statement early Tuesday

The IDF launched extensive airstrikes in Gaza on Monday night, hitting more than 30 targets in the Hamas-controlled region. The IDF said in a statement that 34 terrorist targets throughout the region were targeted in the strikes. The statement noted that the airstrikes were in retaliation for rocket fire on southern Israel. “The IDF will continue to act decisively and as necessary against any party, until peace and the normal lives of the residents of the State of Israel are restored,” said the statement, which placed the responsibility for the rocket fire on Hamas and its different branches. Earlier Monday...

The Israel Air Force struck seven terror sites in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday night in response to a volley of rockets fired at southern Israel earlier in the evening. The IDF targeted five underground rocket launchers in the northern Gaza Strip, one terror activity site in central Gaza and a weapons manufacturing site in south Gaza, according to the IDF Spokesman's Office. "The Hamas terror organization and its offshoots are responsible for what happens in its jurisdiction," the Spokesman's Office said. Palestinian terrorists fired several rockets from the Gaza Strip toward southern Israel on Tuesday evening. The Iron Dome...

A new book by an IDF reserve colonel that studied women's role in combat units says that the women shouldn't be there. "The study found that a particularly high percentage of women who served in combat roles suffered physical harm during their service and will suffer for the rest of their lives from ruptured discs, stress fractures in the pelvis, uterine prolapse and more,” Sagi told Maariv/NRG. While men also suffer injuries during their military service, he said, studies prove that the female rate of injury is much higher and that the seriousness of the average injury is greater,...

Faced by threats from Iran and her proxies, the Israelis can't even count on the standard logic of deterrence, which is built upon the assumption of self-preservation. That might work if your enemy is North Korea -who's elite are enjoying life/perks- but Israel's enemies are mostly genocidal kooks who can't wait to die for the cause, from Tehran all the way down to the ground in southern Lebanon/Gaza... But what they can do is ensure they possess the capability to smash any foolishness from Hezbollah and/or Hamas promptly, since these groups lack the infrastructure for any sort of mass attack on...

Home » News & Views » Israel » IDF » TED Publishes Anti-Israel Lies in Interview With Arab Photographer On the TED blog, Mohammed was allowed to caption her own pictures. In those captions and during brief sections of the interview, Mohammed provided wildly inaccurate accounts of the activities, ethical standards, and operating procedures of the Israel Defense Forces. By: Lori Lowenthal Marcus Published: May 23rd, 2014 You are currently on page: 1 2 All Pages print The TED Universe. The TED Universe. Photo Credit: Facebook Who doesn’t love TED? For those who don’t know, TED is the phenomenally popular...

Palestinian Arab activists and radical leftists have uploaded an edited video that claims to show security camera footage of the IDF shooting two Arab youths, in an incident that took place last Thursday, on “Nakba Day.” The youths hurled rocks at IDF soldiers at the Bitunia checkpoint, not far from Beit El. The footage appears to show them dropping to the ground as they walked away from the IDF position. The IDF said that the video is heavily edited in order to give a false picture of what really took place. “On Thursday, a violent and illegal disturbance took place...

Almost two years after a Haifa court ruled that Israel was not negligent in the 2003 death of American activist Rachel Corrie during a protest against IDF operations in the Gaza Strip, the Supreme Court heard her family’s appeal of the verdict Wednesday afternoon. Speaking before the hearing in Jerusalem, Craig Corrie, the activist’s father, said the lower court’s ruling had given the army “immunity and impunity.” “I think that’s very dangerous,” he said. “I hope the Israeli high court will change the findings, but if they don’t, I hope the world and the world press will bring it into...

The IDF has ruled that the army has no reason to prevent a soldier preaching Christianity if he is meeting with soldiers in an informal and routine social activity.

Diego Tafiah, a convert from Colombia who now is a Haredi soldier, in the IDF, met his Catholic mother and sister for the first time in six years Wednesday night after they were flown in to Israel for a ceremony marking the end of his combat unit’s basic training course.

IAI-developed radar has greater range than its predecessors, can distinguish between enemy and friendly ships, detect multiple targets simultaneously. Israel's navy has a new weapon in the fight against threats from Syria and Hezbollah. Its newly installed "MF-STAR" radar system is designed to counter the Yakhont (S-800) anti-ship missiles used by both. The IDF says that the radar, manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), has a greater range in comparison to the previous generation of systems, can mark more targets at once, and detect enemy ships hiding among dozens of friendly or non-combatant vessels. The radar, installed on one of...

Chief of Staff Benny Gantz is being careful of voicing the facts publicly, but Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon has stepped up to the plate and told the truth of reality for him. “The money is gone. The defense apparatus is in crisis, and we need to loosen up the defense budget now,” Ya’alon said. Military officials have been debating whether or not to go to the media to address the problem. Their fear was not only public confrontation in front of the political leadership, but primarily the possible harm to the IDF’s deterrence capability. …

“We’re called the Eitam Battalion because that was the name of the second stop overtaken by [the biblical] Israelites in Sinai, on their way out of Egypt,” Savion said. “We are a strategic combat response to any developments on this border. If we see travelers in this region during the holidays, it’s a sign we are succeeding.” THIS IS how the battalion works: The surveillance towers growing out of the dunes feed control centers with advanced radar and visual imagery, and the data is sent to two regional control centers. From there, controllers scanning their screens direct security forces to...

The Northern Bedouin Tracking Unit commanded by Lt. Col. Majdi Mazarib protects Israel from kidnapings, infiltrators and 100,000 rockets. A special unit in the Israeli army comprised solely of Bedouin trackers is keeping Israel’s northern border safe. The Northern Bedouin Tracking Unit commanded by Lt. Col. Majdi Mazarib protects Israel from kidnapings, infiltrators and 100,000 rockets, among myriad other threats emanating from Lebanon’s Hezbollah terrorist organization. Speaking in Arabic, Lt. Col. Mazarib tells an interviewer in a video piece on his unit, “From Israel’s founding, the Bedouin community has chosen to volunteer and serve in the IDF, and actively participate...

As thousands of Jewish visitors stream in to visit the Cave of the Patriarchs to celebrate Passover holiday, dozens of rioters throw stones at soldiers in West Bank city. For the second day in a row violent clashes broke out between the IDF and Palestinian activists in Hebron by the Policeman’s Checkpoint in the West Bank city. On Thursday the clashes occurred on the sidelines of a Hebron demonstration to mark Prisoner Security forces responded with riot dispersal means, including tear gas. The checkpoint separates the section of the city that is under control of the Palestinian Authority from the...

IDF, far-right settlers clash during razing of illegal structures in West Bank

Over the past three weeks, we've heard several excuses for the denial of visas to the United States for Israelis. We've been told that visas were denied in order to remove Israel from the 'white list' of countries whose citizens qualify for longer-term visas. We've been told that the United States has been systematically denying visas to Shin Bet (General Security Service) and Mossad agents, to representatives of the IDF and to executives of companies in Israel's defense industry, and it was implied that was out of a fear of competition in the defense industry. And we've been told that...