Free Republic

While many Israelis may not love the Palestinians, a vast majority want peace with them and wish them a good life; the same cannot be said coming in the other direction Actctive attempts by US administrations to broker a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians have been going on since the days of Richard Nixon. With over 40 years of failure, one might reason that there would be some soul-searching in Washington before trying again to make what President Donald Trump has described as the “ultimate deal.” Unfortunately, such introspection is rare and as such true progress remains elusive....

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas canceled scheduled security coordination meetings between Israeli and Palestinian officials. The meetings were cancelled on Sunday, two days after Abbas announced that PA leaders have frozen all contact with Israel over newly installed security measures at the Temple Mount. It is the first time that security cooperation has been halted since Abbas was elected leader of the PA nearly a decade ago, according to Israeli reports. Israel’s Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman told Ynet that Israel can manage without Palestinian security cooperation, but that the Palestinians will suffer without it. “We’ve managed for many years without...

The IDF said Thursday five battalions have been put on standby in the West Bank in light of the high tensions on the Temple Mount. After three Israeli Arabs came out of the Temple Mount complex armed and opened fire at an Israeli police force, killing two of the officers, Israel added metal detectors and security cameras at the entrance gates to the holy site to prevent the smuggling of more weapons inside. The added security was met with strong objection from the Palestinians, Israeli Arabs, other Arab nations and the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf. They claim the move constitutes a...

The Palestinian Authority’s 2017 budget shows a “huge increase” in the funding of salaries for imprisoned terrorists and the families of “martyrs,” an Israeli research institute revealed on Wednesday. According to Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), the amount of money allocated by the PA for payments to terrorists jailed in Israel rose 13% this year to $158 million — compared to $135 million in 2016. During the same time frame, disbursements for family members of dead terrorists increased by 4% — to $197 million from $183 million. Overall, PMW said, the PA is spending $355 million this year on the direct...

Breaking silence on stance over Taylor Force Act, Trump official stops short of endorsing legislation, but says administration supports objective. WASHINGTON — The White House said on Wednesday it supports the objective of a bill working its way through the Senate that would cut US funding to the Palestinians over salaries paid to terrorists and their families, but stopped short of endorsing the legislation. The Taylor Force Act, which is due for a vote in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee before lawmakers leave for their August recess, would require the Palestinian Authority to stop paying stipends to the families of...

Dozens of Arabs rioted tonight (Monday), throwing stones and blocking the Maale Mota Gur road in Jerusalem. Police forces are on the scene and the rioters are being driven out using riot control measures. At the same time, dozens of Arabs gathered near the Lions' Gate and attacked policemen. The Arab riots are part of the Arab protest against the metal detectors at the entrances to the Temple Mount following the murderous attack on Friday. During the day, hundreds of Muslim worshipers came to the Al-Aqsa mosque but did not enter and prayed outside the Temple Mount to protest the...

French President Emmanuel Macron called on Sunday for a resumption of long-stalled Middle East peace talks based on a two-state solution. “France is ready to support all diplomatic efforts towards this end within the parameters of peace recognized by the international community,” Macron said after talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He said Israelis and Palestinians should be able “to live side by side within secure and recognized borders with Jerusalem as the capital”. …

I met Mudar Zahran, currently the Secretary General of the Jordan Opposition Coalition (JOC), some six years ago and have kept closely in touch with him over the years.  I watched the JOC being formed and take shape, just as I watched their plan Operation Jordan is Palestine (OJIP) take shape. The goal of the later is: “To establish Jordan as the Palestinian homeland, in accordance with international law, where refugees will be settled within safe and secure borders, allowing Israel to become a fully recognized, sovereign state over all of its soil, including all land west of the Jordan...

Pastor J.D. talks about the unrighteous deception and strong delusion already at work today specifically focusing on three of the many lies concerning Israel, Trump’s travel ban, and Islam.

UN organization declares Israel 'occupying power' of Old City, denies Israeli sovereignty. UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee passed a resolution condemning Israel for its policies in the Old City of Jerusalem Tuesday. Ten member states voted in favor of the resolution, three voted against it, and three states abstained. The resolution refers to Israel “the occupying power” in its capital and denies Israel's claims to the Old City and eastern Jerusalem. The wording of the Jordanian-sponsored resolution was softened compared to a similar resolution which was passed in 2016, with references to the Temple Mount removed. However, the resolution explicitly denied...

MK Sharren Haskel (Likud) visited the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hevron on Sunday, ahead of an upcoming vote on a UNESCO resolution declaring the Cave of the Patriarchs a “Palestinian heritage site”. “This is a test for the international community. The Palestinian claims are baseless and distort reality. The Palestinians want to rewrite history and use UNESCO as their mouthpiece,” said Haskel. “As religious sites that are thousands of years old are being destroyed in the Middle East, Israel preserves the sites that are sacred to everyone, and they are open to all religions to visit and pray,” she...

Liberals around the world should have figured out by now that President Trump isn’t bluffing when he threatens action. When the administration reported that it was going to hold the U.N. accountable for their duplicity and reprehensible anti-Israel agenda, no one believed it.

Annual 'Al Quds Day' march sees usual chants of destroying Israel and the US, adds calls for killing of Saudi royal family. Chants against the Saudi royal family and the Islamic State group mingled with the traditional cries of "Death to Israel" and "Death to America" at Al Quds Day rallies across Iran on Friday. The annual show of solidarity with the Palestinian Arabs, which sees hundreds of thousands take to the streets, was launched by Iran's revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and is now marked by its allies across the Middle East. This year's commemoration comes amid an intensifying...

Alabama police arrested a man from Huntsville this weekend on terrorism charges. Aziz Sayyed, 22, a Muslim originally from North Carolina but who lived in the Middle East for some years, was taken into custody and the details of the case have yet to be released. The details of his crime will likely be revealed by authorities in the coming weeks. What is more interesting- and in our opinion, relevance- to this incident is his employer. Tayseer is that he is the franchise owner of not just one, but a chain of IHOP restaurants, and as with all franchises, they...

Fifteen days after London was targeted in a deadly terrorist attack — its second in less than three months — police in the British capital stood by Sunday as flags of the Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah were carried openly during a small pro-Palestine march through the city center. Hours after the march, yet another apparent attack occurred near a mosque in north London late Sunday night. One person was killed and eight injured after a van slammed into a crowd of people who had emerged from a prayer service at the mosque. A suspect has been arrested. Earlier, more than...

Are Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria an obstacle to peace? Are the millions of Arabs living inside Israel obstacles to peace? Prime Minister Netanyahu makes it clear that ethnic cleansing and judenrein are terms that will no longer be a part of the future of the Land of Israel. Ethnic cleansing for peace – what the Arab side proposes – is nothing more than blatant hatred of Jews and Israel.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson offered a clarification on Wednesday of comments he made the previous day concerning an end to the so-called “martyr payments” made by the Palestinian Authority (PA) to the families of terrorists. Tillerson disclosed at a Senate hearing on Tuesday that he had received reassurances from PA President Mahmoud Abbas that the PA would halt the practice of paying a monthly stipend to the families of suicide bombers and other terrorists. “They have changed their policy,” Tillerson said, referring to the PA. “At least I have been informed they’ve changed that policy and their intent...

If you've ever heard the term "self-hating Jew," but didn't know what it meant, look no further than Vermont Senator Berni Sanders. Sanders, in a video message to the hard-left Israeli Meretz party to mark the end of the Six Day War in 1967 and “50 years of Occupation,” said, “The occupation must end.” Sanders commenced his loathing of the Jewish state by referring to Meretz, which only has five seats in Israel’s 120-seat Knesset, as “Israel’s most prominent political organization.” Gushing that Meretz stands “for many of the same values that progressives are fighting for here in the United...

Rep. Mark Pocan (D., Wis.) has been identified as the anonymous member of Congress who reserved official Capitol Hill space for an anti-Israel forum that is being organized by several organizations that support boycotts of the Jewish state, according to congressional sources who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon. News of the June 8 anti-Israel event, which was first disclosed earlier this week by the Free Beacon, sparked outrage on Capitol Hill and initiated a search to identify the anonymous member of Congress sponsoring the event. The event, which sources confirmed to the Free Beacon is being sponsored by Pocan,...

Amir’s commentary on recent reports on Abbas-Trump meeting, Saudi Arabia in relation to the peace process and Merkel’s EU comments last week Last week I reported that during the behind closed-door meeting while visiting Bethlehem, President Trump shocked Palestinian President Abbas and told him of his intention to first push for a regional peace between Israel and the Arab world with the hope to reignite the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Saudi Arabia had already agreed to this move. More details have leaked from that tense meeting. Trump, while banging his fist on the table, yelled at Abbas “You lied to me...