Free Republic

In what appears to be the worst crisis yet for the governing coalition, sources close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday threatened to fire Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett over his criticism of Netanyahu a day earlier. “Bennett was given a message that he has to apologize clearly and unequivocally or there will be a price to pay,” a source in the Prime Minister’s Office told The Times of Israel. On Tuesday, Bennett delivered a speech lambasting the prime minister in the wake of a Times of Israel report according to which Netanyahu wants Jewish settlers to be...

The "Kerry Plan" is likely to be unveiled soon, Thomas Friedman of The New York Times wrote on Tuesday in a column titled "Why Kerry is Scary." The “Kerry Plan,” writes Friedman, is expected to "call for an end to the conflict and all claims, following a phased Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank (based on the 1967 lines)." Friedman also said that there will be "unprecedented security arrangements in the strategic Jordan Valley." According to Friedman, some settlements will remain under Israeli control and Israel will "compensate" Palestinians for the land. The plan will set east Jerusalem as the...

Jerusalem will seal the fate of the current peace negotiations. Jews and Arabs must square the circle and recognize the legitimate demands of each side in order to clinch a genuine peace agreement. Is doing so a geometrical impossibility or can Jerusalem transcend the limits of political geometry? […] The Gordian knot negotiators need to tackle is reconciling Arab sovereignty aspirations with Jewish security rights. This political aporia can only be solved by looking beyond the bounds of European political convention. Although there are good reasons to oppose a Palestinian militarization of east Jerusalem, there is no reason Arabs in...

MALIK OBAMA, brother of Barack Obama has been pictured at a charity function wearing a Hamas scarf (keffiyeh) that bears a well-known Palestinian slogan – ‘Jerusalem is ours – WE ARE COMING!’ While in Sanaa, Yemein in 2010, President Barack Obama’s brother Malik Obama was at an event billed as the Orphans Development Fund (ODF) Conference. It’s quite the ironic title considering a group photo Malik is in that he has posted to his website. In the photo, he can be seen wearing a Hamas scarf (keffiyeh) that bears a well-known Palestinian slogan – ‘Jerusalem is ours – WE ARE...

The government is planning to cede several sites in ancient Jerusalem to Muslim and Christian ownership, and Israel’s rabbis remain silent, Rabbi Yisrael Ariel has accused. “There is a terrible plan, called the ‘holy basin,’ to split Jerusalem between Christians, Muslims and Jews,” Rabbi Ariel said, speaking to Arutz Sheva. Rabbi Ariel, who heads the Temple Institute, continued, “The Christians will get the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and Mount Zion, the Muslims will get the Temple Mount, and we Jews will need to visit the Kotel (Western Wall) under the auspices of the Palestinian Authority.” The Palestinian Authority (PA)...

In the latest incident of Palestinian Authority (PA) incitement against Israel, a PA minister openly called for “Jihad” in Jerusalem. […] “Jerusalem is still waiting. Jerusalem is the direction. Jerusalem is the address,” Habbash stressed in the speech, adding that “evil hands” were “conducting a filthy game” intended to weaken the Islamic nation and “to divert the compass away from its true direction.” “We must convey a message to the people who have seized the Yarmouk refugee camp [in Syria], with slogans, pretexts, and false baseless claims. We say to them: Resistance and Jihad should not be waged in the...

A former Canadian minister who visited the Temple Mount on Sunday was shocked to learn of the discrimination shown by Israeli police officers towards Jews. Stockwell Day, who served as Canada’s Minister of Public Safety between 2006 and 2008, visited the Temple Mount following a coincidental meeting with a resident of Jerusalem, Yosef Rabin, who regularly visits the Temple Mount compound. […] “[The former Canadian minister] was shocked over how Jewish police can do these things to Jews. He did not understand how one can talk about the reunification of Jerusalem while at the same time Jews are not allowed...

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas sent a defiant message to Israel’s leadership and U.S. mediators Saturday, telling cheering supporters that the Palestinians “won’t kneel” and won’t drop demands for a capital in east Jerusalem. Abbas’ unusually fiery speech highlighted the wide gaps between him and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the outlines of a peace deal. It also raised new doubts about the chances of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to bridge those gaps in coming weeks and come up with a framework for an agreement. Abbas adopted tough positions in the wide-ranging speech, saying that “there will be...

In a normal state of affairs, there would be no need for Miri Regev’s bill. Two important laws, which have been included in our book of laws since the past millennium, should prevent negotiations over Jerusalem to begin with. One is Basic Law: Jerusalem, 1980, and the other is a more ancient law which prescribes an irreversible punishment for anyone working to remove sovereign territories from the State. Since Rabin’s murder, those who quote it are usually accused of incitement, so we’ll give up on the full wording here. A word to the wise is enough as is Miri Regev...

Jewish state must walk away from phony 'peace' negotiations now. On Sunday, Issa Karaka, the Palestinian Authority's minister for jailed terrorists, announced that in the next round of terrorist releases, Israel will release not only Palestinian terrorist murderers, but Israeli Arabs who murdered Israeli Jews in terrorist attacks. As late as last week, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was said to have completely rejected the Palestinian demand. But in response to Karaka's statement, Netanyahu's spokesman said only that the release of Israeli Arab terrorists would be subject to the approval of the government. In other words, Karaka was probably telling the...

Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - The sale of Nativity scenes with a wall running through the middle to symbolize Israel's security barrier borders on anti-Semitism, Jewish groups are saying. The Amos Trust, a British Christian charity that works with needy communities around the world, is selling the traditional Nativity sets with a political twist, noting that the wise men won't reach the stable because of the wall. The Amos Trust says its Nativity sets are made by Palestinian carpenters from olive wood from Bethlehem. Israel started building its security barrier -- a series of walls and fences -- in response to an...

Once again Barack Obama is going to push Israel to hand over half of Jerusalem, the Wailing Wall, The Temple Mount, Old Jerusalem, and the tomb of Jesus Christ to the Hamas-Fatah terrorists. Barack Obama believes giving the terrorists more land will result in peace. It’s as if the Gaza transfer and disaster never happened. The Times of Israel reported: US Secretary of State John Kerry will offer Israeli and Palestinian negotiators a political trade-off: Israeli recognition of the 1967 lines as a basis for the future Palestinian state, in return for Palestinian recognition of Israel as the state of...

“In Him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1. 4,5) We, the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem, share with you the joy of this Christmas season of the Incarnation. Our physical closeness to the town of Bethlehem where this took place is a constant reminder to us of its wonderful reality. We praise God for the Word made flesh in the person of Jesus Christ from the pure blood of the Blessed Virgin Mary and for her willingness to...

US 'offensive' aims for Jan. interim agreement, Jerusalem internationally managed, Israeli withdrawals and 'earned' Jewishness. The Palestinian Authority (PA) negotiating team has revealed some of contents of the secretive peace talks it has been holding with Israel, under American auspices. Independent journalist Baruch Yedid, who has maintained ongoing contact with official and unofficial PA sources, described to Arutz Sheva the situation taking place behind the smoke screen. According to Yedid, talks are advancing with the goal of a framework agreement in January, well before the 9-month period set for talks. Yedid's sources reveal that the agreement includes long term Israeli...

Deputy Knesset Speaker MK Moshe Feiglin was the only MK from the nationalist camp to vote in favor of MK Yaakov Litzman’s (UTJ) bill requiring 80 MKs to approve any withdrawals from Jerusalem, Israel’s capital. The bill was rejected on Wednesday. Only 12 MKs voted for the bill, all of whom were from the hareidi-religious parties other than Feiglin. Speaking to Arutz Sheva​, Feiglin said, “I looked at the empty seats of Likud, Jewish Home, and Yisrael Beytenu, and when their names were called and ‘not present’ was called—I thought to myself, truly the ‘right’ is not present.” …

The United States and Germany have issued an ultimatum to the IDF, a report Thursday said: No American or German army officers will work with IDF training academies if the army goes ahead with plans to relocate them to Mount Scopus in Jerusalem. The ultimatum could explain why Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced earlier this week that the plan to move them was to be delayed. Sources said that the IDF has begun looking for other sites for its military program as a result. …

U.S. plan gives Jerusalem holy sites to Vatican International mandate to control sections of Israel's capital TEL AVIV – Secretary of State John Kerry quietly presented a U.S. plan for eastern Jerusalem that calls for an international administrative mandate to control holy sites in the area, according to informed Palestinian and Israeli diplomatic sources. The exact composition of the international mandate is up for discussion, the sources said, but Kerry’s plan recommended a coalition that includes the Vatican, together with a group of Muslim countries such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia. The international arrangement is being proposed as a temporary...

The prospect of a new television action drama by the Israeli writer of the popular “Homeland” series being set in Jerusalem has raised the ire of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, which wants the plan stopped and is already calling for a boycott of the production. The PLO expends considerable energy challenging historical Jewish links to Israel’s capital and clearly views the proposed series, which will have a strong archeology theme, as a threat to that effort. Entitled “DIG,” and scheduled to debut in the U.S. on NBC’s USA Network late next year, the six-episode series features “an FBI agent stationed...

ERUSALEM - The hilltop city of Jerusalem was paralyzed on Friday by a snowstorm of "historic" proportions, with its mayor calling out the army to help stranded motorists. "We are battling a storm of rare ferocity," Mayor Nir Barkat said in a statement as snow in the Holy City piled up to around 37 centimeters, while outlying areas had much deeper drifts. One weather forecaster described the snowstorm as "historic" on public radio. Temperatures in the city were predicted to reach a high of two degrees Celsius during Friday and drop below freezing at night, with snowfall that started on...

My gifts are "ALIVE" in you though some have forgotten, They have not died with the Apostles For My Fruit can not rotten, "My Spirit is Eternal " and Desires to renew ( ( ) ) ~ ( ( ) ), The Day of Pentecost to "ARISE IN YOU" \!/ So raise up your hands \o/ and begin to receive ! You Shall do greater things if you just believe , I AM "HAS" sent you so will you stand up and go ?! For I AM your Talent so let my freedom within you Flow ~ ~ ~ I...