Free Republic

Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu initiated a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday to discuss bilateral issues, Iran and Ukraine, the Kremlin said in a statement. ... Netanyahu does speak to Putin by phone from time to time, so Tuesday night's conversation - though not a regular occurence - is by no means unprecedented. Russia is a major player in three areas of major concern to Israel: Iran, Syria and arms sales to the Middle East. ... On Monday, US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki denied a Haaretz report last week...

Jews in one Ukrainian city were sent notes “indicating that they have to identify themselves as Jews,” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday. “In the year 2014, after all of the miles traveled and all of the journey of history, this is not just intolerable, it’s grotesque,” Kerry said. “It is beyond unacceptable. And any of the people who engage in these kinds of activities — from whatever party or whatever ideology or whatever place they crawl out of — there is no place for that.”

Jews in Eastern Ukraine are being blamed for supporting the revolution that forced pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych to flee the country. Armed men handed out a leaflet on Passover eve telling Jews to register or face confiscation of their property.The Mad Jewess reported: From a commenter at The Mad Jewess: I am able to read that document. What it says is that Jews supported the Junta in Kiev (the Bandera fascists) and are hostile to the Orthodox Republic of Donetsk and it’s citizens, and therefore must register or be expelled from the Republic and have their property confiscated.

Fear replaced communal atmosphere in Donetsk's Jewish community as armed men handed out a leaflet Passover eve calling on Jews register their religion and property with the interim pro-Russian government or face deportation and loss of citizenship.(VIDEO-AT-LINK) A leaflet distributed in Donetsk, Ukraine calling for all Jews over 16 years old to register as Jews marred the Jewish community's Passover festivities Monday (Passover eve), replacing them with feelings of concern. The leaflet demanded the city's Jews supply a detailed list of all the property they own, or else have their citizenship revoked, face deportion and see their assets confiscated. Donetsk,...

On the day before Jews prepared to begin their sacred holiday of Passover, a pair of horrible events cast a pall over the Jewish community. The Kansas Jewish Community Center became a tragic scene when a gunman opened fire. The gunman’s rampage also took him to the nearby retirement community of Village Shalom. The word “shalom” in Hebrew has three meanings. It translates to “hello,” “goodbye,” and “peace.” Now three innocent Americans were forced to say goodbye to the world. For their families, there will be no more peace. Hours before the shooting took place, another hateful individual was engaging...

Local radio is reporting that there has been a shooting at the Overland Park, Kansas Jewish Community Center around 1:00 p.m. Central time. Man walking up to people asking if they are Jewish and boom. News conference at 5:00. Evidently CNN is reporting.

A New Jersey teenager was charged with multiple counts of bias intimidation after he allegedly tried to lure Orthodox women as part of a gang initiation. Police said Rafael Laurano-Flores, 18, of Lakewood had planned to touch and knock down an Orthodox Jewish woman in the southern New Jersey township, according to the Asbury Park Press. Lakewood has a large haredi Orthodox population. Pinny Werner, coordinator of the Lakewood Civilian Safety Watch, told the newspaper, “We have not seen gang-related targeting in a long time. People are like, ‘What is going on?’ It has always been gang against gang, but...

As my friend Daniel Pipes wrote some days ago at National Review, the Middle East Forum is debating whether one can speak meaningfully of “moderate Muslims,” with Dr. Pipes defending the affirmative and Raymond Ibrahim the negative thesis. I respect both Pipes and Ibrahim, but I am not satisfied with the content of the debate. The first issue to be settled is what moderation might mean in the case of adherence to a religion, which is after all not a list of positions but an existential stance towards life. One can speak of a moderate Communist (e.g. Gorbachev) or moderate...

“The Last Hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews. The Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: ‘Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him.” Sahih Muslim, Kitab al-Fitan wa Ashrat as-Sa’ah, Book 41 of Koran, 6985 The Islamic group “Ask a Muslim” is running “Jesus is Muslim” billboards in Columbus, Ohio. Mohammad, the founder of Islam, was born 500 years after Jesus’s death. The Christian Post reported, via Free Republic:

Why exactly a “national homeland for Jews” would be acceptable to “Palestinian” Islamic supremacists in a way that “Jewish state” isn’t remains unclear, but the “Palestinians,” as maximalist and unilateral as ever, have already rejected the proposal, so we will probably never glimpse the arcane reasoning processes of the formidable Kerry. “Report: Kerry suggests defining Israel as ‘national homeland for Jews,’” by Roi Kais for Ynet News, March 29 (thanks to Jerk Chicken): US Secretary of State John Kerry is trying to overcome the controversy surrounding the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state by changing the definition to “the...

The Algemeiner has acquired photos and footage from the aftermath of a horrific anti-Semitic attack that took place in Paris, France late last week. Speaking on camera a day after his assault, the victim -- a 59-year-old Jewish teacher only identified as David -- said he was attacked by three North African "Maghreb men" at 10 p.m. on March 20 after leaving a kosher restaurant in Rue Manin, Paris, and making his way to a subway station. "They started to curse me out: 'dirty Jew,' 'death to the Jews,' 'son of a b***,' etc. Then they started to beat me...

t is surely indicative of our secular era that the error-filled bloviations of media figure and self-styled moralist Dennis Prager have such wide acceptance. I think I’ve finally figured out why, but more on that later. At this point, let’s take a look at his recent column entitled “Noah: One of the Most Moral Stories Ever Told,” sparked by the upcoming release of Darren Aronofsky’s film. Prager begins by reminding us that he has taught the Torah for more than 40 years, and that most of his teachings are available for download—for a small fee. He doesn’t go into much...

video at link

They left after Venezuelan secret police raided a Jewish club in 2007, and after the local synagogue was ransacked by unidentified thugs two years later. They left after President Hugo Chavez expelled Israel's ambassador to Caracas, and when he called on Venezuela's Jews to condemn Israel for its actions in Gaza in 2009. They left when Caracas claimed the ignoble title of most dangerous city in the world, and when inflation hit double digits, food shortages took hold and the country's murder rate reached 79 per 100,000 people. With Venezuela now roiled by anti-government demonstrations-the death toll reached 18 last...

In light of this story, it should come as no surprise that two thirds of French Jews are considering leaving. Israel’s Immigration and Absorption Ministry presented its findings to the Knesset this week that more than two thirds of French Jews are considering leaving the country. The findings were presented in the context of an Israeli government effort to increase immigration from France; however they raise serious concerns that a prolonged exposure to increasingly virulent forms of anti-Semitism are taking their toll on the sense of security felt by Jewish communities in France and across Europe. ... Of the...

Wikipedia says that the United States has more than 200 million Christians. Why do they seem nearly invisible and powerless? Where are the leaders who can mobilize this huge force? Presumably, Christian groups agree on the importance of education. Predictably, conservative or traditional parents want the schools to be as good as possible. Wouldn't we expect to see a coordinated effort by Christian groups and their leaders to make sure that public education operates at the highest practicable level?What we seem to see instead is fragmentation and passivity. Particularly striking is that there is no leadership. When have you ever...

When I grew up in an east coast city in Canada post WWII I never experienced any overt anti-Semitism. In my father's day it was different. Anti-Semitism was woven into the warp and woof of society. The most blatant manifestation could be found at the entrance of a popular river beach. There was a sign there. It said: NO JEWS OR DOGS ALLOWED. That sign expresses the essence of anti-Semitism. Human rights of any kind are for, well, humans. Jews are sub-humans. They are no different in genus from the other dumb animals except like dogs they are domesticated. Dogs...

Iranian exile to ‘Post’: Israel, Iran should become allies after regime falls

Dmytro Yarosh, a leader of the Right Sector movement, addresses a rally in central Independence Square in Kiev [Caption from] Reuters The leader of the far-right Ukranian Nationalist Pravy Sektor (Right Sektor) party has reportedly threatened to attack Russia's lucrative gas pipeline which travels through Ukraine to prevent the Kremlin from sparking a "Third World War.' ...

n September 1941, a medical officer performed a deed so heroic he was awarded an Iron Cross by the German high command. With little regard for his own safety, and in the face of heavy Soviet shelling, Major Leo Skurnik, a district doctor who had once fostered ambitions of becoming a concert pianist, organised the evacuation of a field hospital on the Finnish-Russian border, saving the lives of more than 600 men, including members of the SS. Skurnik was far from the only soldier to be awarded the Iron Cross during the Second World War. More than four million people...