Free Republic

'Extreme' desert runner Max Calderan's "Run for Love" may be more about politics than peace, despite claims by United Nations spokesman Chris Gunness that the event has little to do with religion or politics. Nonetheless, Calderan found out the hard way that not all marathons are alike, when he encountered a snag at the Erez Crossing into Gaza, where IDF officials stopped him right in his tracks.

Hamas police in Gaza have seized thousands of blankets and food parcels meant for needy residents, UN spokesman Chris Gunness said Wednesday. Gunness said Hamas police raided a UN warehouse in Gaza City, snatching 3,500 blankets and over 400 food parcels - supplied meant for 500 Palestinian families. He said the incident took place on Tuesday evening, and that it marked the first time Hamas had seized UN aid. The aid is especially vital now because Gazans are facing hardship after Israel's three-week military offensive against Hamas. Israeli officials have charged that the group routinely confiscates supplies meant for needy...

A heated argument is going on via Arutz Sheva between Christopher Gunness, UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency created especially for the Arab "refugees") spokesman in Israel, and David Bedein, head of the Israel Resource News Agency, Center for Near East Policy Research in Jerusalem, about whether UNRWA bears responsibility for programs that promote destroying Israel at UNRWA-aided schools. The story: David Bedein wrote an op-ed for Arutz Sheva claiming UNRWA sponsored programs were based on implementing the "Law of Return", even through violence. UNRWA's spokesman vehemently denied it. ..... .....

Update as of 7:30 a.m. EDT: Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian protester near Hebron in the West Bank early on Monday morning. According to reports, 11 others were injured in confrontations between the Israel Defense Forces, or IDF, and civilians in Hebron, Bethlehem and Ramallah. Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said in an IDF briefing that Hamas had “suffered great damage” and that IDF will “make Hamas regret that they embarked on a round of fighting with Israel.” Referring to rocket fire from Syria and Lebanon, Ya’alon stated that Israel would “respond aggressively” against such attempts. At least...

  UNRWA lifts suspension on Gaza aid imports http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=42740 UNRWA Press Release East Jerusalem 09 Feb 2009FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEUNRWA LIFTS SUSPENSION OF AID IMPORTS INTO GAZA PRESS STATEMENT BY CHRISTOPHER GUNNESS UNRWA SPOKESPERSONThe Hamas authorities in Gaza have returned to the UNRWA warehouses in Gaza City and Rafah all of the aid supplies confiscated on 03 and 05 February. UNRWA will now lift the suspension on the import of its humanitarian supplies into Gaza, which went into effect on 05 February.However, the Agency's food distribution operation to 900,000 refugees continues to be jeopardized by the decision of the Israeli...

Hamas on Monday claimed to have confiscated three ambulances that were imported into the Gaza Strip for UNRWA several weeks ago, backing up an earlier IDF claim that the ambulances had been seized. But UNRWA, which last week denied an earlier Jerusalem Post article quoting IDF claims that the ambulances had been confiscated, reiterated Monday that the reports were false, said that the ambulances were safe and sound in its Gaza compound, and even distributed a photograph of one of its officials, Christer Nordal, posing with what it said were the vehicles in question. According to a statement released by...

As usual, there is a big gap between what Arab countries promise and what they deliver. Ki-moon walks through a Hamas terror tunnel from Gaza to Israel last year. Photo Credit: Haim Zach / GPO UNRWA said Tuesday it has suspended it program rehabilitate Gaza, which may be good news for Israel since it says material shipped to Gaza are also being used to rehabilitate terror tunnels. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told President Reuven Rivlin in New York Monday night that the United Nations has sent a team to Gaza to investigate assertions by Israel that metal and cement shipped...

SHEAR YASHUV, Israel (AP) — A missile fired by the Lebanese Hezbollah group struck an Israeli military convoy on Wednesday, an apparent retaliation for a deadly airstrike attributed to Israel that killed six Hezbollah fighters in Syria earlier this month.

...."when I came into office, the world was divided and Iran was in the driver's seat. Now the world's united because of the actions we've taken, and Iran's the one that's isolated,” he said. Before his Presidency, Iran was well on its way to achieving the tools necessary to make a nuclear weapon. Now, he says to CNN's Candy Crowley, “you look at an example like Iran, over the last year and a half, since we began negotiations with them, that's probably the first year and a half in which Iran has not advanced its nuclear program in the last...

It’s been formally acknowledged that U.S. NATO ‘ally’ Turkey is providing safe haven to leaders of Hamas, a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) so designated by the U.S. State Department. By its very definition, an FTO should be considered declared enemy of the U.S. Despite this, Turkey doesn’t appear to be paying any price. Another player in all this is the small nation of Qatar. It is desperately trying to play both sides of a political fence as leaders of Hamas – to include the terrorist organization’s political leader Khaled Meshaal – has been forcibly relocated to Turkey. The reason these...

Gen. Jack Keane (Ret.) was on “The Kelly File” tonight following his testimony about terrorism at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. […] “Radical Islam has increased four-fold in five years,” Keane told Megyn Kelly. […] “This administration has been paralyzed by the fear of adverse consequences in the Middle East driven by the realities of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Keane told Kelly. …

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Character Studies From The Bible Moses New International Version (NIV) 3 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”...

An antitank missile has been fired at an IDF vehicle from the Har Dov area (Shebaa Farms) in a Hezbollah ambush Wednesday morning, and there are reportedly seven casualties, who are receiving treatment. A helicopter has been taking casualties to a hospital. The IDF is certain that none of its soldiers was abducted. Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for the attack, through journalist Rassan Ben Jiddo, who is close to the terrorist militia. ZAKA emergency services initially said that three people were hurt. The IDF spokesman said that an antitank missile was fired at an IDF vehicle that was moving along...

Off to try to defeat Nethanyahu, Obama advisor Jeremy C. Bird once worked for an anti-Israel activist condemned by the Anti-Defamation League. Bird, then a student at Harvard’s Divinity School, worked for Edmund Hanauer, one of America’s most prominent anti-Israel activists, in 2002. Bird worked for Hanaeuer while Hanaeuer wrote a virulently anti-Israel op-ed that accused Israel of “state terrorism” and “war crimes,” and called for the arrest and prosecution of Israeli soldiers. Bird and Hanaeur also attacked Israel in speeches. Hanauer showed an anti-Israel film to a Harvard audience and gave a speech at Harvard in 2002. Bird also...

The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit says that the Israeli Air Force was striking multiple artillery positions belonging to the Syrian army, and that direct hits were identified. The air strikes came minutes after residents in the northern Golan Heights reported hearing air raid sirens around 12:30AM (Wednesday). No casualties or damages have been reported in Northern Israel. On Tuesday morning two rockets exploded in the northern Golan Heights.

Unless there is any doubt, the vast majority of Democrats value partisan support for a failed president over support for our own national security and for that of Israel. Hence, they want to delay once again a vote on the Menendez-Kirk bill imposing sanctions on Iran unless it agrees to an acceptable final deal. The bill was introduced more than a year ago. The timing just isn’t right, you see. Will it ever be? A letter by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) signed onto by Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.),...

It would not surprise me if, at the next Republican National Convention, Benjamin Netanyahu took a seat in the delegates-from-abroad section. The Israeli leader has both allied and associated himself with congressional Republicans who differ with President Obama over whether to impose additional sanctions on Iran and who also — let’s not beat around the bush — hate his guts. Their foreign policy is actually a domestic one: to destroy the president. Whether this is political or personal — or a combination of the two — is beside the point. Whatever the case, when Netanyahu accepted John Boehner’s invitation to...

The new Greek government has plenty of challenges ahead of it: A towering debt, chronic unemployment and relations with the rest of Europe. But it also has an urgent security problem. Greece has become an unwitting crossroads -- both for jihadists trying to reach Iraq and Syria from Europe, and for fighters returning home from the Middle East.

The BBC has been accused of “race-baiting” for inviting radical anti-Israel MP George Galloway to appear at a high-profile show hosted in Finchley and Golders Green, which is home to one of the largest Jewish communities in the UK. “Question Time” sees commentators and political figures take part in a panel discussion on hot political topics, as well as fielding questions from members of the audience. Each episode is filmed in different locations around the country to allow different communities to take part. But the decision to invite Galloway of all people to the upcoming showing—which will be based in...

During Barack Obama's recent State of the Union speech, he told America he had no more campaigns to run. But it seems that statement flies in the face of reports that an organization known as “One Voice” has brought in what has been called a "five-man Obama team" to defeat Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Included in that five-man team is Jeremy Bird, the national field director for Obama's 2012 campaign, Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director of the Independent Media Review and Analysis, said Monday, citing a report at Haaretz. That group, Dr. Lerner added, will run the anti-Netanyahu effort out...