Free Republic

Wait. It comes as a surprise to President Trump that many world leaders, especially from the Middle East, oppose him recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's historic and undivided capital? Facing dark warnings of a historic misstep and widespread unrest, US President Donald Trump on Monday delayed a decision on whether to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and move the US embassy there. The White House said Trump would miss a deadline to decide on shifting the embassy from Tel Aviv, after a frantic 48 hours of public warnings from allies and private phone calls between world leaders. When he was...

(AFP) - The European Union warned on Tuesday of possible "serious repercussions" if United States President Donald Trump decides to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and move the US embassy there. EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini's office said, in a statement, that "any decision or unilateral action affecting Jerusalem's status" might have "serious repercussions on public opinion in large parts of the world." It added, "The focus should therefore remain on the efforts to restart the peace process and avoiding any action that would undermine such efforts." ....

Turkish President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan says the Jerusalem issue is likely to bring an end to the diplomatic relations between Turkey and Israel, according to Reuters. .....

Video A top Democrat warned President Donald Trump against recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital Monday night, calling the expected declaration “a horrible tragedy”. .....

The security waiver used by every president since Bill Clinton to avoid implementation of a 1995 law requiring the US embassy in Israel be relocated to the capital city of Jerusalem lapsed Monday night amid speculation President Donald Trump could officially recognize the city as Israel’s capital or even announce an embassy move as early as this week. .....

In August 2016, then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton took on critics of her husband’s charitable foundation by saying the former first family “went above and beyond” to disclose their donors to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest when she served as America’s top diplomat. On the face, Clinton’s statement is true. A December 2008 voluntary ethics agreement the Clinton Foundation and incoming secretary of State executed with the Obama administration, before called for, disclosed all donors to the Foundation and its various initiatives, something normal charities don’t have to do. But over the years, the Clintons’ compliance...

Syrian state media on Monday said Israel had fired missiles at a Syrian military facility in the Damascus countryside, adding that Syrian air defense systems had intercepted three of the missiles. “Our air defenses are confronting an Israeli missile attack on one of our sites in the Damascus suburbs and three of the targets were downed,” state news agency SANA said, adding the attacks happened at 11:30 p.m. Monday. A witness told Reuters late on Monday three strong explosions were heard from the direction of Jamraya, west of Damascus. Another witness said thick smoke could be seen rising over the...

PBS has a plan for replacing Charlie Rose's late-night interview program, and it starts with Christiane Amanpour. "Amanpour," the acclaimed journalist's existing program on CNN International, will be aired by PBS stations "on an interim basis," the public broadcasting network said Monday. The network said it is also "finalizing plans for a second public affairs program to follow 'Amanpour' on PBS in the 11:30pm half hour time slot, rounding out the hour."

The Supreme Court is allowing the Trump administration to fully enforce a ban on travel to the United States by residents of six mostly Muslim countries. The justices, with two dissenting votes, said Monday that the policy can take full effect even as legal challenges against it make their way through the courts. The action suggests the high court could uphold the latest version of the ban that Trump announced in September. The ban applies to travelers from Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. Lower courts had said people from those nations with a claim of a “bona fide”...

Full title :Exclusive — Ret. Lt. Gen. Flynn: Terror-Linked Nations ‘Cutting Deals’ with Mexican Cartels to Enter U.S. Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, the former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), tells Breitbart News Daily on SiriusXM that countries that are known to support radical Islamic terrorism are "cutting deals" with Mexican cartels for access to human smuggling routes into the United States. Citing photos from the U.S. Border Patrol component of the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency on Friday, Gen. Flynn also told Washington Political Editor Matthew Boyle, host of Breitbart News Daily, that there are signs...

In Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, Iran-backed Houthi rebels are clashing with supporters of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh — an outburst of deadly violence between two groups that have recently been allies. Meanwhile, the Houthi rebels are claiming to have fired a missile at a nuclear power plant under construction in the United Arab Emirates. The claim has been denied by state media in UAE. The WAM news agency also says that the UAE would have the ability to shoot down such a missile, if it were fired, The Associated Press reports. Last month, Houthi rebels fired a missile...

People unknown knocked down crosses and tombstones, including those of Mother Teresa's nuns, killed in March 2016. For Mgr Hinder, this is serious, confirming the country’s “ongoing difficult situation and violence." The Saudi blockade puts at risk “the survival of people”.Sana'a (AsiaNews) – In recent days "the Christian cemetery in Aden was desecrated," including the tombs of the Sisters of Mother Teresa killed during the attack against the retirement home they ran, said Mgr Paul Hinder, apostolic vicar of southern Arabia (UAE, Oman and Yemen), speaking to AsiaNews. The economic, social and humanitarian situation in Yemen is disastrous, the prelate...

[subtitle: Video circulating online appears to show Ali Abdullah Saleh's corpse being dragged on the ground] Yemen's Houthi rebels claimed Monday that ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh had been killed as fighting shook the capital Sana'a following the collapse of his alliance with the insurgents. The claim, which could not be independently confirmed, came as Yemen's long and devastating civil war took a potentially decisive turn. Heavy clashes were reported in the city between forces loyal to Saleh and the Iran-backed Shiite rebels, who together seized control of Sana'a from the internationally recognized government three years ago. Moving to take advantage...

A drawn-out fight between the families of Sept. 11 victims and the Saudi government has been shocked anew with claims from former top U.S. intelligence officials that Riyadh provided aid to some of the terrorists responsible for killing 2,996 and injuring more than 6,000 in 2001. Affidavits filed by three former FBI officials provided to Secrets charge that Saudi Arabia used intricate espionage “tradecraft” to help the attackers prepare and hide out in the U.S. And another from knowledgeable former Florida Sen. Bob Graham charges that the hijackers could not have succeeded without a financial and logistical support network. “Official...

The head of Lebanon's powerful militant group Hezbollah accused Saudi Arabia Sunday of forcing the country's prime minister to resign after less than a year in his post, as Bahrain ordered its citizens in Lebanon to "leave immediately" and banned travel there. Prime Minister Saad Hariri stunned Lebanon and its leaders Saturday when he announced his resignation in a televised statement recorded in Saudi Arabia, citing Iranian and Hezbollah meddling in Arab affairs. Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, one of Lebanon's most powerful figures, said the statement was "dictated and forced upon" Hariri and called for calm as Lebanese leaders consult...

Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas has been waging a battle against U.S. President Donald Trump's intention to recognize Jerusalem as the official capital of the State of Israel but appears to be having trouble recruiting Arab leaders to the cause, Hahadashot (formerly Channel 2 News) reported Sunday. According to the report, Abbas has been calling all the leaders of the Arab and Islamic region and asked them to convene an emergency meeting of the Arab League. Despite his appeals, however, the leaders of the Arab world are not cooperating with him. The only one who expressed willingness to help...

(AhlulBayt News Agency) - US Former Secretary of State John Kerry said Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt pushed the United States to bomb Iran before the 2015 nuclear deal was struck. Kerry defended the deal during the Ignatius Forum in Washington, saying Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was genuinely agitating towards action, before he struck the accord with Tehran. Kerry said when he was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he met with Saudi King Abdullah, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Netanyahu, who all lobbied for military action. "Each of them said to me, you have to bomb Iran,...

Pro-Shiite Militia Chiefs conferring on anti-Israel operations were targets of Israeli air strike An Israeli air raid early Saturday, Dec. 2 struck a group of pro-Iranian Shiite militia chiefs holding a secret conference at the Syrian Army’s 91st Brigade base near Kiswah. Iranian and Hizballah officers are reported among the casualties. .... The base itself lies 14km southwest of Damascus and around 50km from the Golan. Gathered there were all the militia commanders operating in southern Syria to receive their orders in advance of a major offensive to capture rebel pockets in the Quneitra region opposite Israel’s Golan positions ......

Israeli warplanes struck a military base near Syrian capital of Damascus overnight Friday, Syrian state television has confirmed. According to pro-Assad news oiutlets, the target of the attack was an Iranian military base near the city of Al-Kiswa, located some 13 kilometers south of Damascus. Syria's air-defense system fired missiles at the Israeli aircraft, which reportedly launched the attack from Lebanese airspace, Sky News Arabia reported........

National security insiders are trying to claim treason for the fact that President Donald Trump’s transition team discussed potentially setting up a phone call with the Russian ambassador to the United States.Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin have met publicly on several occasions, and Russia maintains an active embassy in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C.The Hill reported: Former national security adviser Michael Flynn spoke with a “senior official” in President Trump’s transition team at the Mar-a-Lago resort to discuss what he should communicate to the Russian ambassador in a highly-scrutinized series of phone calls in December of 2016,...