Free Republic

We are in the midst of the Hanukkah season, the eight-day festival that commemorates the second century BC victory of Judah Maccabee and his family over the forces of the Seleucid king Antiochus Epiphanes. It was a remarkable, almost miraculous, victory. Antiochus was close to achieving the long-time Seleucid goal of recreating the empire of Alexander the Great. He and his predecessors had annexed Turkey, Mesopotamia, Persia and parts of India. They solidified their control of Judaea and came close to turning Egypt into a satellite kingdom as well. Like so many ancient rulers, Antiochus fixated on the idea he...

In response to the U.S. Senate recognizing the Armenian Genocide, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to close two military bases (one American and one NATO) on its soil. This led U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper to openly question Turkey’s commitment to NATO. Two days later, The Telegraph broke a story that Hamas uses Turkey’s territory to plot attacks on Israel, which included plans to assassinate the then-mayor of Jerusalem and the chief of police, as well as a well-known advocate of Jews’ rights to pray on the Temple Mount. These two developments are part of a larger pattern...

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pushed back Monday against congressional Democrats who demanded that the Trump administration retract its declaration last month that it views Israeli towns in Judea and Samaria as legal under international law. In a letter..., the Secretary of State called Democrats’ positions against Israeli towns in Judea and Samaria “foolish”, Israel Hayom reported Monday night. Last month, Pompeo announced that the State Department did not view Israeli towns in Judea and Samaria as being inherently illegal under international law, reversing the policy set down late in the Obama administration, mirroring the position adopted by the Carter...

You Tube Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=bIRDP7Kju3c&feature=emb_logo

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...

Archaeologists have identified a grand street in Jerusalem that was built by Pontius Pilate, the Roman prefect of Judea who is famous for overseeing the trial and crucifixion of Jesus. The nearly 2,000-foot-long (600 meters) street would have connected the Siloam Pool -- a place where pilgrims could stop to bathe and get fresh water -- to the Temple Mount, the most holy place in Judaism. The street was likely used by ancient pilgrims on their way to worship at the Mount, the researchers said. Archaeological evidence for Pontius Pilate is limited and the discovery sheds a bit of light...

... There will never be peace between the Arabs and Israel. Why not? Because, as noted, the Arabs don't want peace with Israel; they don't want Israel, and will look for any excuse to avoid any kind of peace agreement. As Netanyahu once observed regarding the prospects for peace in the area: "If the Arabs put down their weapons today there would be no more violence; if the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel." Or, as Golda Meir before him observed: "Peace will come when Arabs will love their children more than they hate...

A Bulla (seal) bearing a Hebrew name from 2,600 years ago was uncovered from dirt excavated in 2013 beneath Robinson's Arch at the foundations of the Western Wall. The seal is inscribed with the name of an individual with the most prominent role in the king's court in the kingdom of Judea. The Bulla (seal), which was used to sign documents, bears the Hebrew name and title: "Adenyahu Asher Al Habayit" which literally translates as “Adenyahu by Appointment of the House”- a term used throughout the Bible to describe the most senior minister serving under a kings of Judea or...

Catch us the foxes, The little foxes That ruin the vineyards— For our vineyard is in blossom. (Song of Songs 2:15) =========================================================== In a graphic materialization of the prophecy in Zechariah as explained in the Talmud, foxes are now being seen playing at the Temple Mount. It was reported in The Yeshiva World that visitors to the area have observed the group of about a dozen foxes in the southwestern area of the Western Wall for the last three days in the early hours of the day. This precise scenario was discussed in the Talmud (Makkot 24b). Rabban Gamliel, Rabbi...

Dozens of Muslim leaders, led by Iman Hassan Shalghoumi, head of the Imams Conference in France, visited the Barkan industrial zone in Samaria on Friday. The extraordinary delegation met with Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan and Sheikh Abu Khalil Tamimi of Ramallah, as part of the international hasbara (public relations efforts) activities of the Samaria Council and the Elant organization in France. Imam Hassan Shalghoumi of France, known for his pro-Israel views, spoke about the visit to the factories in Barkan which employ both Jews and Arabs. "We saw a company in which Israelis and Palestinians work together. I...

The gathering will take place on June 25-26 and will be attended by several Gulf Arab States as well as Arab partners for peace all over the region. By Mike Evans Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump hold up the signed document acknowledging Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, on March 25, 2019. (photo credit: AMOS BEN-GERSHOM/GPO) The Trump administration announced on Sunday the first stages of the peace plan roll-out, confirming that it will host a workshop in Bahrain in late June to focus on more direct economic investments of the West Bank and Gaza. The...

Israeli researchers raised a glass Wednesday to celebrate a long-brewing project of making beer and mead using yeasts extracted from ancient clay vessels —some over 5,000 years old. Archaeologists and microbiologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority and four Israeli universities teamed up to study yeast colonies found in microscopic pores in pottery fragments. The shards were found at Egyptian, Philistine and Judean archaeological sites in Israel spanning from 3,000 BC to the 4th century BC. The scientists are touting the brews made from "resurrected" yeasts as an important step in experimental archaeology, a field that seeks to reconstruct the past...

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...

The Middle East peace plan were revealed by on Tuesday.....from a leaked document circulated by the Israeli Foreign Ministry: A tripartite agreement between Israel, and Hamas, and a Palestinian state will be established that will be called "the new Palestine" that will be established on Judea, Samaria and Gaza, with the exception of the settlements. The settlement blocs will remain in the hands of Israel and will be joined by the few settlements. Jerusalem - Will not be divided and will be the capital of Israel and the new Palestine. Jews will not be allowed to buy Arab homes, and...

n dozens of localities in Judea and Samaria, there were more votes counted than people with voting rights, and voting percentages were higher than 100%. Jewish Press reports in the village of Itamar, results indicate that Ahmed Tibi’s Chadash-Ta’al received 52 votes, Meretz received 1 vote, and Zehut received 0. No votes were disqualified. A number of Itamar residents claim to have voted for Zehut and none for Tibi, indicating possible problems at that station. However, some experts say the over-voting claim is inaccurate, as the election committee has not updated its numbers of registered voters for some towns, rendering...

16,250 African migrants will be expelled to Western countries while the same number are to be granted temporary residency and dispersed across the country. Israel announced on Monday that it has canceled a contested plan to forcibly deport migrants to Africa after reaching an agreement with the United Nation High Commission on Refugees to allow around half of them to resettle in Western countries and the other half to remain in Israel. The deal reached between the Prime Minister’s Office and the UNHCR stipulates that Israel can deport some 16,000 migrants, while granting a “suitable” legal status to thousands of...

A general view shows the Israeli settlement of Beitar Illit in the Israeli-occupied West Bank April 7, 2019. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun Palestinians voiced alarm while Israelis weighed the gravity on Sunday of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s sudden election promise to annex Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.Some Israeli commentators saw the right-wing leader’s pledge on Saturday, as Tuesday’s national ballot approaches, as mainly a bid to siphon votes from ultranationalist rivals long advocating annexation. But after years of resisting far-right calls to formally put West Bank land captured in the 1967 Middle East war under permanent Israeli hold, Netanyahu...

A report in Arab media stated the President Trump’s long-awaited Middle-East Peace plan includes resettling up to one million Palestinians in Jordan in exchange for $45 billion in development projects. Al-Akbar, an Arabic-language news service based in Beirut, reported on Friday that Jordanian King Abdullah II agreed to the condition during his last visit to Washington. In addition, Israel would reacquire land in Tzofar, a town in the Arava desert, and Naharayim, where Jordan conquered in 1948 the Island of Peace and a hydroelectric power-plant that belonged to Israel. Israel currently leases the land however it is officially part of...

LAS VEGAS, Nevada — A group of protesters — at least one of whom was wearing a swastika T-shirt — interrupted President Donald Trump’s address to the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) on Saturday before being ejected by security. The demonstrators clambered on top of their seats in the ballroom at the Sands Expo and began chanting slogans against the Israeli “occupation” of the West Bank. (Israel considers the area, which Jews calls Judea and Samaria, to be “disputed,” not “occupied.”) At least one of the protesters, who happened to stand up a few rows in front of this reporter, was...

CNN’s Chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour identified Haifa in northern Israel as being located in the 'West Bank,' the Jordanian name for Judea and Samaria, in introducing a Palestinian Arab human rights lawyer. Amanpour made the gaffe on Wednesday during her global affairs interview program on CNN. She introduced human rights lawyer Diana Buttu to respond to an interview with Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon, who discussed the as yet unveiled United States peace plan. “Diana Buttu is a human rights lawyer and she joins me from Haifa, on the West Bank,” Amanpour said. In a...