Free Republic

For the past 20 years, the best minds in Washington and Jerusalem treated Hamas as a pragmatic political operator whose leaders were satisfied living in the same world as the rest of us. Their charter, first adopted in 1988, endorsed a set of bloodcurdling millenarian goals. But despite the open madness and world-making ambitions of their public pronouncements, Hamas remained a semi-legitimate player, treated as just one unremarkable thread in the Middle East’s rich tapestry of mildly threatening, gun-toting political dreamers. Even to the most hardened Israeli security officials they were a Muslim Brotherhood offshoot whose extreme rhetoric and regrettably...

TEL AVIV—Hamas militants who flooded into southern Israel from Gaza last weekend carried detailed maps of the towns and military bases that they targeted. Some also carried tactical guides identifying weak spots on Israeli army armored vehicles. The documents, written in Arabic, were recovered from the sites of attacks or bodies of dead Hamas fighters by Israeli civilians, soldiers and emergency personnel. Taken together, the documents indicate that Hamas set out from the start to target not just military installations, but to attack civilian population centers and to take hostages, and they offer evidence of the scale of Hamas’s intelligence-gathering...

Savage speaks with former CIA operative Larry Johnson about the large-scale surprise attack waged on Israel and the developing war. Savage and Johsnon give a breakdown of the crisis as Israel faces its greatest threat in over 50 years. How did Israel miss this attack? Did U.S. weapons sent to Ukraine make it Hamas? How has the Palestinian Authority responded? Has Israel underestimated Hamas? Did Russia play a part in this plan? How incompetent leadership is putting us all in danger. What led to the Iron Dome failure? How has Biden emboldened Iran? Are there Hamas operatives in America?Why does...

In recent months Hamas refused to join the much smaller Islamic Jihad in launching rockets against Israel, which seems to have convinced Israeli leaders that, at long last, the leading terror group in Gaza had decided to prioritize the welfare of its subjects over more futile rocket attacks. Israel promptly reciprocated the de facto Hamas ceasefire by allowing thousands of Gazans to work in Israel—first 17,000, then 20,000, with the potential for many more. Their earnings were changing the lives of 100,000 family members with the possibility of even wider benefits. What was happening on the ground seemed to open...

The Russian presidential administration said Wednesday that the Kremlin was attacked by drones overnight in an attempt on President Vladimir Putin’s life. Moscow residents had reported hearing two explosions behind Kremlin walls shortly after 2 a.m. local time, after which the lights went out. Footage shared by residents in a local Telegram channel captured the incident, as smoke was seen filling the sky above the Kremlin. Videos also appeared to show part of the Kremlin on fire. Now, authorities say it was a brazen attack by Ukraine using two drones, both of which they say have been destroyed. No injuries...

A new BBC report has pointed to ‘evidence’ in a documentary that Russian navy ships were stationed near the site of the blast that destroyed the Nord Stream pipeline three months before it happened, in a clear insinuation that it was Russia that blew up its own pipeline.The report states that “Russian ships able to perform underwater operations were present near to where explosions later took place on the Nord Stream pipelines, according to an investigative documentary.”“The vessels were reportedly located using intercepted Russian navy communications,” it adds.The BBC says that the “suspicious Russian ship movements in the run-up to...

On September 26, 2022, Russian-owned Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines were hit by major explosions that put both pipelines out of operation. I use the term “operation,” advisedly because, due to the diplomacy surrounding Putin’s War in Ukraine, both pipelines had been shut down. It became quickly apparent that the cause of the explosions was sabotage. I covered the attacks on the pipelines in this story; Sanctions and US Opposition Couldn’t Stop Nord Stream and Russian Gas, but Sabotage Might Have Done the Job.The obvious question was, who did it? Four suspects emerged: the United States, Ukraine, an undetermined...

Denmark has invited Russian energy giant Gazprom to help recover a mystery object that was spotted near the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline six months after sections of it were sabotaged. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who revealed the discovery of the object earlier this month, said experts believe that the object could be a signal antenna to activate an explosive in that part of the pipeline. German, Swedish and Danish authorities are investigating the undersea explosions that sparked four leaks on the two Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea in September, seven months after Russia invaded Ukraine. The Danish...

A senior Ukrainian official on Wednesday rejected Russia’s claim that Ukraine sent drones to attack the Kremlin and assassinate Russian President Vladimir Putin. Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted that Ukraine has fought “an exclusively defensive war” against Russia and does not target any areas inside Russian territory. He questioned the strategic purpose of such an attack against the Kremlin. “This does not solve any military issue. But it gives [Russia] grounds to justify its attacks on civilians,” Podolyak said. He said Moscow’s claims about the alleged drone attack are “predictable,” asserting that Russia is “clearly” planning for a “large-scale...

Putin's Intel Officer Reveals New HUGE Problems For Russia Putin is terrified for his life- this is the claim by a former FSB officer who has now defected to the west and brought startling intelligence with him that could shape the course of the Ukraine war. Since the war in Ukraine started, Russia has experienced a mass exodus of people from its country- most notably young, military age men. An estimated 1 million Russians- or around .6% of the total population, have fled the country since the start of Putin's disastrous invasion of Ukraine.This mass exodus has been disastrous...

Russian government officials are claiming Ukrainian forces attempted to kill President Vladimir Putin with a failed drone attack. Officials say two drones were used in the "assassination attempt" at the president's residence within the Kremlin compound, but were disabled by Russian defense systems. No injuries or damage to the residence was reported. Putin was seen in video and photos released Wednesday meeting with a regional governor outside Moscow.

Russia has accused Ukraine of attempting to assassinate Vladimir Putin in a double drone strike on the Kremlin overnight, prompting demands from lawmakers in Moscow for the Kyiv regime 'to be destroyed'. Moscow said it had foiled the attempt and furiously decried the attack as 'a planned terrorist act and an attempt on the life of the President of the Russian Federation.' But Ukraine quickly responded to the accusation - the most dramatic Russia has levelled against Kyiv since invading its neighbour more than 14 months ago - saying it had 'nothing to do' with the alleged attack, casting doubt...

The Kremlin vowed retaliation Wednesday after shooting down two drones in an alleged Ukrainian assassination attempt on Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to state-run media and videos posted on social media reportedly showing the strike on the capitol. VIDEOS AT LINK.......... The two unmanned aircraft crashed into the Kremlin after Russia’s electronic warfare defenses shot them down, and Putin was not present in the Kremlin when the attacks occurred, according to state-run TASS News Agency, citing the Kremlin’s press service. Multiple videos circulating on social media showed smoke emanating from the roof of the Kremlin and what appeared to be...

BREAKING: Ukraine Targets Putin with Drone Strike on the Kremlin Russia has accused Ukraine of attempting a drone attack on the Kremlin with the aim of killing President Putin. Russian officials said Putin was not injured, and that Moscow shot down two drones.

The Ukrainian military is widely expected to launch its spring counteroffensive any day now, though what approach it will take and how the situation will unfold is anyone’s guess. According to Zelensky administration adviser Mykhailo Podolyak, Moscow’s anxiety surrounding the war’s next stage is one reason the Russian army has increasingly launched missiles at civilian targets in recent days: the sooner Ukraine can be provoked into starting the offensive, the less prepared it will be. New guidelines sent by the Putin administration to Russia’s pro-government media outlets and obtained by Meduza confirm that the Kremlin is preparing for multiple scenarios....

(Reuters) -Russia accused Ukraine on Wednesday of attacking the Kremlin with drones overnight in a failed bid to kill President Vladimir Putin, according to the state-run RIA news agency.The Kremlin said it considered the attack to be a "planned terrorist action" and reserved the right to retaliate, RIA reported.

The United States Marshals Service (USMS) was hit with a ransomware attack, the agency said in a statement. It was a “Major Incident,” one that could endanger the safety of the nation. The incident occurred on February 17, and “officials determined that it constitutes a major incident,” according to an agency spokesperson. Ransomware is malware that locks up computer systems until a “ransom” is paid to unlock the system. “Shortly after that discovery, the USMS disconnected the affected system, and the Department of Justice initiated a forensic investigation,” according to the spokesperson. “The affected system contains law enforcement sensitive information,...

It’s thrilling to know that with the new Congress, it’s looking like there will finally be an open and honest investigation into the events of January 6, 2021.. November 3, 2020 and January 6, 2021 Are Inextricably Tied. However, what’s critical about the forthcoming deep-dive into the unjust, immoral, and unconstitutional jailing of hundreds of January 6 “trespassers” at the Capitol, is a look into how that event ties explicitly into what transpired in the presidential election of 2020. Ideally, we must have an investigation that does not divorce the two events from each other. As long as our representatives...

Over the last few years, there has been much written about the destruction of American democracy. Frequently the threat has been of alleged interference in U.S. elections by Russia, China or other state actors. Government agencies, the name of election integrity, were assigned to identify and disrupt these foreign intrusions. As more and more information is revealed about these agencies, it seems that America's Intelligence Community participated in these activities domestically, and in a way that poses a grave threat to both election integrity and American democracy.Just last week it was revealed that the FBI again withheld pertinent information from...

A leading Ukrainian presidential aide claimed this morning that the explosion which damaged a key bridge in Crimea may have been ordered by one of Vladimir Putin's warring commanders. The 12 mile crossing over the Kerch strait links Crimea to the Russian mainland and is a major artery for Putin's forces that control most of southern Ukraine's Kherson region and for the Russian naval port of Sevastopol. It was damaged in an explosion early Saturday morning which saw chunks of the bridge fall into the sea and a large fire break out. The incident prompted gleeful messages from Ukrainian officials...