Free Republic

This week, the world will celebrate the three-year anniversary of President Donald J. Trump’s Abraham Accords. On September 15, 2020, President Trump ushered in a new era of peace and collaboration in the Middle East between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain on the White House South Lawn.While intelligence community leaders said President Trump’s bold decision to keep his campaign promise and move the United States Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the eternal capital of Israel, would cause war in the Middle East, just the opposite happened.Not shockingly, many of these individuals said the same when the framework...

Amidst visits to Jerusalem and Riyadh, Jason Greenblatt tells me that if anyone can make it happen, he thinks it’s Netanyahu ABU DHABI – In the coming days, I’ll begin reporting on my meetings with senior government officials here in the United Arab Emirates. It’s been fascinating getting updates on how the UAE leadership views the new right-wing government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the progress that is being made in developing and deepening diplomatic and cultural ties after the signing of the Abraham Accords, the exciting growth of trade between the UAE and Israel. Today, however, I want...

An excerpt from senior Trump adviser Jared Kushner’s new book, ‘Breaking History: A White House Memoir On February 23, I departed for the Middle East, along with Avi Berkowitz, Jason Greenblatt, and Brian Hook. The trip included our first visit to the Sultanate of Oman. Strategically located along the mouth of the Persian Gulf, Oman shares a border with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Yemen. Across the Strait of Hormuz is Iran, a mere twenty-one miles away. Upon arriving in the afternoon, we headed to the hotel and waited for a call from the palace with instructions on what time...

Jason Greenblatt, the former US Representative for International Negotiations on Tuesday denounced the ruling by the European Court of Justice that all EU member states must label products from Judea and Samaria, eastern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights as ones manufactured in an Israeli “settlement”. “A hypocritical/political decision! So-called ‘settlements’ are actually cities & neighborhoods; nonsense to pretend otherwise. Peace will only come-if at all-via direct negotiations. This decision harms prospects for peace & ultimately hurts Palestinians,” said Greenblatt. Israel’s foreign ministry said earlier it “strongly rejects” the EU court’s ruling, decrying a "double standard". The secretary general of the...

Embedded Video, no link to You Tube. The United States called Wednesday for dismantling UNRWA, weeks before unveiling the economic aspects of its long-awaited Middle East peace plan. Addressing the UN Security Council, US adviser Jason Greenblatt said UNRWA was a "bandaid" and that it was time to hand over services assured by the UN agency to countries hosting the Palestinian Arab refugees and NGOs. "The UNRWA model has failed the Palestinian people," Greenblatt told the council. Last year, President Donald Trump's administration cut all funding to UNRWA, arguing that it was flawed as Washington pressed ahead with work on...

ANKARA - White House adviser Jared Kushner discussed his Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday, and the two also discussed increasing US-Turkish cooperation and ways to boost economic conditions in the region. Kushner, who has responsibility for Washington's Israel-Palestinian policy, has said the peace plan will address final-status issues of the Israel-Palestinian conflict, including establishing borders. Photo: AFP Kushner and Erdogan Photo: AFP facebook print send to friend comment Kushner meets Erdogan on Israel-Palestinian peace plan After saying the US had forfeited its role as mediator in the Middle East by moving its embassy to Jerusalem,...

The Palestinian Authority has demanded that President Donald Trump fire special envoy Jason Greenblatt, a senior PA official has claimed, conditioning the resumption of direct negotiations with Israel on Greenblatt’s removal. According to a report by Israel Hayom, a senior PA official and confidant of PA chief Mahmoud Abbas said that Abbas is pushing for Greenblatt to be replaced, citing his recent article in which Greenblatt criticized the PA leadership over its refusal to renew talks with Israel, and the PA’s stated intention not to consider the White House’s planned framework for a final status agreement. “At the time of...

The President of the PA, Mahmoud Abbas, addressed the United Nations Security Council yesterday. Of note was the fact that during the PA president’s speech, he told the audience that his people were part of a culture of coexistence, that he wished for his people to far from terrorism and extremism and finally that the United States had contradicted itself and was not capable of solving the “regional conflict”. In addition to what Abbas said, as usual, he conveniently forgot to mention that the PA pays terrorists and their families for murdering Israelis. He also conveniently forgot to mention that...

Arab diplomats quoted as saying yet-to-be revealed plan will nix refugees' right of return, raze far-flung settlements, place Jerusalem's Old City under international protection The Trump administration’s plan for peace in the Middle East may include US and international recognition of a Palestinian state and acceptance of East Jerusalem as its capital, the London-based Saudi newspaper Asharq al-Awsat reported on Wednesday. The plan, the report said, calls for placing the Old City of Jerusalem under “international protection.” The report quoted “knowledgeable Arab diplomatic sources” in Paris as saying that the US is planning to present its plan in the framework...

Dan Shapiro, who the US ambassador to Israel during President Obama's term, estimated in an interview with Kol Rama radio that there is no chance for peace between Israel and the Palestinian Authority at present time. "The administration is full of problems, and Netanyahu is busy with investigations, and I do not see it happening," Shapiro said....

When it was Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas’ turn at the recent Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to condemn President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, he added a strange, almost parenthetical paragraph to his rant: I don’t want to discuss religion or history because they [Israelis and Jews] are really excellent in faking and counterfeiting history and religion. But if we read the Torah it says that the Canaanites were there before the time of our prophet Abraham and their existence continued since that time—this is in the Torah itself. But if they would...

After a brief description of Amir's trip to Romania, where he was at the time of the broadcast, we are given some common sense on the Rapture (a question that many had asked him).Then comes an update on new threats to Israel around Daraa, where the original uprising in Syria started. Hezbollah forcing Syrian soldiers to go south to fight and shooting those who disobey. Although Israel promised Russia they would keep everything as quite as possible during the World Cup, "the next 24 to 48 hours will be very interesting," as Israel cannot allow such long-range capability so close...

As he didn’t neglect to remind us in his hilarious post North Korea summit press conference, President Trump just saved maybe 30 million people from nuclear annihilation. He did what his predecessors considered impossible and what the liberal media and all the “experts” continue to assure us can never be done: he brought peace to the region which up till now was considered the likeliest ground zero for World War III. In other words, pretty much, President Trump just saved the world. ... These were just of the few things President Trump didn’t actually say at his hugely entertaining post-summit...

Monday, The New York Times published the Palestinian response to an alleged Saudi peace plan. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reportedly presented it to PLO chief and Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas last month. According to the Times’ report, Mohammed told Abbas he has two months to either accept the Saudi proposal or leave office to make way for a new Palestinian leader who will accept it. The Palestinians and their European supporters are up in arms about the content of Mohammed’s plan. It reportedly proposes the establishment of limited Palestinian sovereignty over small portions of Judea and Samaria....

No American or European on the face of this earth could force a Palestinian leader to sign a peace treaty with Israel that would be rejected by an overwhelming majority of his people. Trump's "ultimate solution" may result in some Arab countries signing peace treaties with Israel. These countries anyway have no real conflict with Israel. Why should there not be peace between Israel and Kuwait? Why should there not be peace between Israel and Oman? Do any of the Arab countries have a territorial dispute with Israel? The only "problem" the Arab countries have with Israel is the...

President Trump told Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas Friday that it’s time for a comprehensive agreement to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “The president emphasized his personal belief that peace is possible and that the time has come to make a deal,” the White House said in a readout of the phone conversation between the two leaders. “The president noted that such a deal would not only give Israelis and Palestinians the peace and security they deserve, but that it would reverberate positively throughout the region and the world.” Mr. Trump invited Mr. Abbas to a meeting at the White House...

From TOI: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas traveled to Saudi Arabia unexpectedly on Monday to meet with King Salman and Crown Prince Muhammed Bin Salman, with the Gulf kingdom at the height of a major crackdown on members of the royal family. Abbas had been in Egypt, where he was scheduled to meet with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, when he was summoned to Riyadh to meet with the Saudi rulers, according to the official PA news site Wafa. The timing is very curious, as this sudden invitation came at the same time of the current upheaval in Saudi Arabia...

Palestinian-Arabs in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) are not a very happy bunch these days, and not just because of Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Contrary to western media hype of a potential explosion of violence due to U.S. President Trump’s announcement, protests in the Palestinian territories were relatively subdued. Only a few thousand Palestinians participated in demonstrations at their peak. All considered, it was hardly the new Intifada that the terrorist group Hamas has called for. Palestinians, it seems, have much greater concerns to attend to. Mahmoud Abbas’ (Abu Mazen) less than inspiring leadership, whose...

Things don't look so good for Israel right now.First, there were reports that Barack Obama will split Jerusalem and demand that Israel withdraw to 1967 borders... Now, Palestinian leader Abbas warned Israel to withdraw to the 1949 borders or face war.Facts of Israel Palestinian President Abbas told fellow PA Arabs that Israel must retreat to its 1949 borders or face war.Arutz Ashiva reported: Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas sent a letter to PA Arabs on Saturday saying Israel must retreat to its 1949 borders or face war. “The passage of years... will not force us to abandon or surrender...

In rambling speech, PA president gives a 'history lesson' in which he tries to negate Jewish connection to Israel, accuses Zionists of cooperating with Hitler Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday said that the Holocaust was not caused by anti-Semitism, but by the “social behavior” of the Jews, including money-lending. In a long and rambling at speech in Ramallah at a rare session of the Palestinian National Council, Abbas touched on a number of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories during what he called a “history lesson,” as he sought to prove the 3,000 year-old Jewish connection to the Land of Israel...