Free Republic

The announcement Thursday that the partners of the Leviathan gas reservoir will invest $3.75 billion in its development is a devastating blow to the BDS movement, Eli Groner, director-general of the Prime Minister's Office, told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday. The development of Leviathan, which is scheduled to take about three years, constitutes both the largest energy project and financial investment in Israel in the country's history.

Israel made another discovery off its coast. The newly discovered field, Royee, may hold up to 3.2 Tcf of natural gas according to a statement made by the Israeli partners in the field Ratio and Israel Opportunity who hold respectively 70%, and 10% stakes. The remaining 20% of the field are held by Edison. Royee is located about 150 kilometers offshore Israel close to its maritime borders with Cyprus and Egypt. The field’s size is yet to be confirmed, but current estimates suggest it is the third largest field discovered to date in Israeli waters after the Leviathan discovered by...

On May 3, Moscow criticized Turkey’s plans to explore natural gas deposits around the divided island of Cyprus, under the protection of Turkish naval and air power. Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry’s chief spokesman, Aleksandr Lukashevich, cautioned Turkey that its actions “may exacerbate the situation on the territory of Cyprus” (Rossiskaya Gazeta, May 4). The Greek Cypriots and Israel are coordinating their plans to develop offshore gas deposits and export the product in partnerships with international companies. One export route under consideration would run via mainland Greece into Europe. The Republic of Cyprus, Greece and, recently, Israel are all involved in...

While the Middle East may have a reputation for instability and occasional violence, there's no denying the vast riches it has to offer patient investors. Just months after the announcement of $1 trillion worth of minerals in Afghanistan comes word of oil discoveries in Israel... Israel may finally be able to tell its Middle Eastern neighbors where they can stick their oil — something the United States has wanted to do for years. In one of the most sought-after parts of the world, 4.3 billion barrels of oil could be sitting in the Leviathan project beneath the Mediterranean, according to...

Defense Minister Benny Gantz orders IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi to “step up preparations for the IDF,” his office says, ahead of the potential annexation of portions of the West Bank. “Alternate Prime Minister and Defense Minister Benny Gantz instructed the chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Aviv Kohavi, to step up preparations for the IDF ahead of diplomatic efforts on the agenda in the Palestinian arena,” the statement reads. Gantz says he also plans to appoint a point-person to coordinate between the different government bodies involved in the process. “In addition, a joint team will be formed that will...

U.S. authorities arrested a former Green Beret and his son on suspicion they helped smuggle auto titan Carlos Ghosn out of Japan inside a musical equipment box. In a criminal complaint, federal prosecutors said they were acting on a request from Japanese authorities to extradite Michael L. Taylor and his son, Peter M. Taylor, for their alleged roles in helping Mr. Ghosn escape from Japan. Michael and Peter Taylor didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Mr. Ghosn, a former Chairman and Chief Executive of Nissan Motor Co., had been charged in Japan with financial crimes and was living in...

A Lebanon County Republican lawmaker is adding his voice to the calls for the immediate resignation or removal of Pennsylvania Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine. Rep. Russ Diamond said Levine needs to go. He cited “the horrific results of the department’s COVID-19 policy” in regard to the number of cases and deaths that have occurred in nursing homes and other facilities under the department’s oversight. More than two-thirds of the state’s coronavirus deaths have occurred in long-term care facilities. Diamond has introduced a resolution calling for Levine’s ouster or for Gov. Tom Wolf to demand the health secretary’s resignation. Last...

Lebanon County commissioners have passed a protest resolution declaring the county in the yellow phase of the state’s pandemic reopening plan, effective immediately. The 2-1 vote came hours before Gov. Tom Wolf named 12 more counties to start a limited reopening next week; Lebanon was not among them. The board may be the first to have taken a formal action to break out from the governor’s plan, though legal experts say that given the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision affirming Wolf’s public health emergency disaster declaration, it’s likely has no legal relevance. The court, in that case, noted longtime Perry County...

When U.S. missiles killed Iran’s most important general and its most important militia leader in early January as they were visiting Baghdad, it looked like American forces would be kicked out of Iraq... More than four months later, not only are U.S. forces still there, but it’s clear that the killings have created space for a new Iraqi government to assert some independence from its powerful neighbor. The signs of this new approach have been building over recent months, and the ascendance last week of Mustafa Al-Kadhimi to the post of transitional prime minister is the latest and most profound......

Earlier this week senior defense officials in Israel announced that after years of Israel’s war-between-war campaign to drive Iran out of Syria, the Islamic Republic was finally withdrawing from the war-torn country. The news came just hours after an airstrike blamed on Israel targeted a research facility in Aleppo in Syria’s north. But the announcement also came as Iran is still regrouping from the targeted killing of Quds force commander Qasem Soleimani in January and as it continues to deal with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and a disastrous economic crisis hitting the country... Almost on a weekly occurrence foreign publications...

BERLIN (AP) — German police raided five sites linked to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, as authorities announced Thursday that they were banning activities by its political wing in Germany. The raids, intended to prevent evidence about possible front organizations being destroyed, took place at mosques and community centers in Berlin, Bremen, Muenster, Recklinghausen and Dortmund.

Berlin (AFP) - Germany on Thursday completely banned Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement from carrying out activities on its soil, as police raided mosques and venues linked to the group. Like the European Union, Germany had until now only outlawed Hezbollah's military wing while tolerating its political wing. But in a shift immediately welcomed by the United States and Israel, the German interior ministry said it now considered the entire movement a "Shiite terrorist organisation". "Hezbollah is a terrorist organisation deemed responsible for numerous attacks and kidnappings worldwide," Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told Germany's Bild daily. The interior minister "has banned...

BEIRUT — Violence escalated Tuesday in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli as protesters angered by the collapse of the country's currency and spreading economic upheaval burned down a series of banks and countered volleys of tear gas by pelting security forces with stones. These latest arson attacks came at the end of a large funeral for 26-year-old Fawwaz al-Samman, who died Monday from gunshot wounds, which his sister said on Facebook he had suffered during clashes with the army. The army released a statement Tuesday expressing regret for his death, without claiming responsibility, and announced it is opening an...

Mainstream media journalists in Oregon including investigative reporter Rob Davis of the "Portland Oregonian/OregonLive" have been able to obtain detailed information about Covid-19 cases in the state including the race and ethnicity of those testing positive, the underlying conditions in reported deaths and details about reported cases at nursing homes and retirement communities.... President Trump issuing an executive order tonight to keep meat processing plants open in the United States..... Yesterday's ramming attack on two French police officers in a Paris suburb being investigated as a terrorist attack.... Rioting in northern Lebanon with one dead and dozens injured in the...

Breaking News: Syrian air defenses repelling an attack in the Damascus area where its Monday morning. Israel aircraft from Lebanese airspace launching the attack..... Here in the United States People's Rights sponsoring an event at the Washington State Capitol in Olympia on Friday advocating the opening of Washington state..... The scope of the Saturday protest in Berlin against house arrest measures was greater than earlier reported. The protest involved nearly one thousand people. There was also a protest in another German city Stuttgart... "It's a real fear that if you have too harsh measures, then they can't be sustained over...

Israel has no role in the Palestinians' medical supply shortage. The real story is a shortage of leadership -- and rampant corruption We are in the midst of a global health crisis unlike any we have faced in our lifetime. A pandemic has filled the future with uncertainty and the world community is scared, but even dark times have a silver lining. All over the world, people are uplifting and supporting each other from a distance. Now is a time to come together. Sadly, Israel’s enemies are a clear exception to this. They never miss an opportunity to criticize the...

Where have we heard that number before? Yahya Sinwar, the leader of the jihad terror group Hamas, on Thursday boasted that if Israel didn’t come across with more ventilators for “Palestinian” coronavirus victims in Gaza, the jihadis “take them by force.” As if that weren’t enough, Sinwar added: “If ventilators are not brought into [Gaza], we’ll take them by force from Israel and stop the breathing of 6 million Israelis.” Of course, Sinwar wasn’t articulating any new imperative for the jihad group: a new genocide of the Jews has always been a cherished Hamas aspiration. As The Palestinian Delusion explains,...

Younis was 'responsible for pursuing spies and collaborators.' Sources stated that Younis was on a mission pursuing a target when he was ambushed... Younis was a “close associate” of former IGRC Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani, Sputnik reported.

Late Breaking News from Australia where its Tuesday. The child sex abuse convictions of Australia's Cardinal George Pell have been overturned.... Lack of agreement on preliminary targets to cut oil production holding up the OPEC+ nations from starting their talks... But other talks between Russia and Saudi Arabia are moving forward.... In Iraq early this morning rockets struck a facility connected with foreign oil firms operating in Iraq including the American Haliburton... There's a report that an American military officer has been killed in an ambush in northeastern Syria.... Easter is coming this Sunday and in Idaho Ammon Bundy and...

CAIRO, March 29 (Reuters) - The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said early on Sunday that the kingdom's air defences intercepted two ballistic missiles on Saturday night launched by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi group towards Riyadh and the city of Jizan, Saudi state news agency (SPA) said citing the coalition's spokesman. The coalition's spokesman, Colonel Turki al-Malki, said in a statement that no fatalities had been recorded so far. He said destroying the missiles caused some shrapnel to fall on residential neighbourhoods in the two cities, SPA reported. The spokesman added that firing missiles at this time by the Houthis and...