Free Republic

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has raged for decades, and despite numerous attempts to broker peace, an end to the violence does not appear likely anytime soon. Opinions on both sides of the debate are fierce and passionate, and nearly everyone has feelings of some kind regarding the geo-political situation.

An Israeli beauty queen's selfie has caused a stir in Lebanon, with some Lebanese calling for their country's contestant at the Miss Universe pageant to be stripped of her title for consorting with the enemy. Miss Israel, Doron Matalon, posted a photo of herself and Miss Lebanon, Saly Greige, smiling together at pageant preparations in Miami, where the winner will be picked on January 25.

Center for Security Policy (CSP) official Tommy Waller, who fought against Islamic jihadists "on their turf" in Afghanistan and elsewhere, said his military training did not include instruction in the ideology of the enemy, a deliberate omission that puts America in "great peril." Waller, a Marine Reserve major, speaking via Skype at the National Press Club on Jan. 16, said he was speaking as an employee of the CSP, a conservative national security group in Washington, D.C., which released that day a new report, The Secure Freedom Strategy: A Plan for Victory Over the Global Jihad Movement. The plan, designed...

President Obama warned Europeans "not to simply respond with a hammer" in working against radicalization among its Muslim populations, and argued that the United States had an advantage on this front because American Muslims are better integrated into society.. “Our Muslim populations, they feel themselves to be Americans. There is, you know, this incredible process of immigration and assimilation that is part of our tradition that is probably our greatest strength,” Obama said Friday, as he stood next to British Prime Minister David Cameron at a news conference. “There are parts of Europe in which that's not the case, and...

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) said those who criticize the appointment of Democratic Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN) to the Intelligence Committee because he is a Muslim are “un-American.” Schiff, who is the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said he has been “deeply disturbed” by the reaction by some to Carson’s appointment last week. “I am deeply disturbed that since his appointment to the committee, Congressman Carson has been subject to vicious, anti-Muslim attacks online and in social media, questioning his loyalty to our country solely because of his faith.”(continued)

While dozens of Islamic terrorists are being arrested across Europe in an unprecedented crack down on radical Islamic ideology, it’s comforting to know that here in the United States we don’t have a problem with radical Islamic terrorism. Oh sure, there is workplace violence and such. And terror plots… BUT these have nothing to do with the Prophet Mohammed, we now know. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t out of the woods yet. There is something even more sinister out there. Radical. Ohio. Terror. Yes. You may have read the headline, or seen the movie: Ohio man accused in Capitol...

KUALA LUMPUR: Despite being an investigator for almost two decades, analysing the Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ8501 will be one of the toughest challenging for Nurcahyo Utomo, who knew the pilot personally. The National Transportation Safety Committee investigator, Nurchayo said listening to recording from black boxes over and over again can be disturbing and requires utmost mental strength. “Listening to the playback of a black box involved in a crash is not like listening to music or a discussion. “We are listening to a recording that represents the last moments before the crash and it is disturbing. There are times where...

Following the recovery of the two “black boxes” aboard the crashed AirAsia Flight QZ8501, a story on Yahoo! News reports that “Allahuakhbar, Allahuakhbar were the last words [the pilots] said before they died.” AirAsia Flight QZ8501, a flight out of Surabaya, Indonesia and bound for Singapore, took off early Sunday December 28, 2014 in what can only be described as violent weather. The pilots, amidst the storm, radioed in, asking air traffic control for permission to turn left and climb to a higher altitude to avert the storm. A little while later, the plane crashed into the Java Sea, taking...

Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart, who unfortunately is evidently a news source for all too many younger Americans, has had a lot to say in the wake of the Paris terror attacks. We haven’t disagreed with everything that Stewart has said, but we do feel compelled to point out Stewart’s glaring hypocrisy. First of all, Stewart gave a tribute to the victims and lamented the attack in a monologue delivered at the outset of his show. Like just about everyone else in the US high-brow media, we can’t help but notice that Stewart declined to show any of the cartoons that...

... “The Kalashnikovs, the identity cards the [killers] supposedly left behind, it was all staged,” said Boular, as his friends nodded in agreement. “It was a conspiracy designed by the Jews to make Muslims look bad. We’d rather just stay where we are." ... (Another said) The man, who gave his named as “Mohamed,” also said he was a devout Muslim but then changed his demeanor and added, grinning, that he was also “a delinquent.” Then he said he was a drug dealer and without prompting, invited the reporter into the (also very clean) gas station to show an array...

The Moroccan-born mayor of Rotterdam has said Muslim immigrants who do not appreciate the way of life in Western civilisations can 'f*** off'. Ahmed Aboutaleb, who arrived in the Netherlands aged 15, spoke out in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris last week. Appearing on live television just hours after the shootings, Mayor Aboutaleb said Muslims who 'do not like freedom can pack your bags and leave'. 'It is incomprehensible that you can turn against freedom,' Mayor Aboutaleb told Dutch current affairs program Nieuwsuur (Newshour). 'But if you don't like freedom, for heaven's sake pack your bags...

Hundreds of Tanzanian schoolgirls returned home Monday after spending three months hiding in safe houses to escape genital mutilation, state television said. Female genital mutilation (FGM) can range from female circumcision to the removal of the entire female genitalia. Some 800 school girls fled to shelters run by charities and church organisations, which offer protection during the months FGM is traditionally carried out, from October to December. Some of the shelters are given police protection to ensure the girls remain safe. Minister of Labour and Employment Gaudensia Kabaka called on traditional leaders to use their influence to stop “this retrograde...

Paris (AFP) - This week's three million copies of Charlie Hebdo, the first post-attack issue of the French satirical weekly, will defiantly feature caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed, its lawyer said Monday. The special issue, to come out on Wednesday, will also be offered "in 16 languages" for readers around the world, one of its columnists, Patrick Pelloux, said. Charlie Hebdo's lawyer, Richard Malka, told French radio the upcoming publication will "obviously" lampoon Mohammed -- among other figures -- to show staff will "cede nothing" to extremists seeking to silence them. The two gunmen who slaughtered 12 people in their...

DAKAR, Senegal — A girl perhaps no more than 10 years old detonated powerful explosives concealed under her veil at a crowded northern Nigeria market on Saturday, killing as many as 20 people and wounding many more. The blast inflicted devastating damage on shoppers at the Monday Market in Maiduguri, the shopping hub in a city that is at the heart of the Boko Haram insurgency. The explosion, witnessed by dozens of people, represented a new tactic in the Islamists’ campaign with their decision to use perhaps their youngest-ever suicide bomber. The terrorist group has increasingly employed women as suicide...

When a leader of the Muslim community stands up and defends the murder of innocents in the name of Islam, we all need to listen, take him at his word, and respond appropriately There was a post trending on Facebook yesterday. A commentary by a British Muslim Cleric, Anjem Choudary, in the USA Today, defending the Paris terrorist attack on the publication, Charlie Hebdo. Why would the USA Today give a voice to a Muslim cleric who thinks the Paris attack was well deserved? Why does the US press always give front page coverage to those who have done harm,...

A Saudi Arabian blogger has been publicly flogged after being convicted of cybercrime and insulting Islam, reports say. Raif Badawi, who was sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in jail, was flogged 50 times. The flogging will be carried out weekly, campaigners say. Mr Badawi, the co-founder of a now banned website called the Liberal Saudi Network, was arrested in 2012. Rights groups condemned his conviction and the US appealed for clemency. On Thursday state department spokeswoman Jen Psaki urged the Saudi authorities to "cancel this brutal punishment" and to review his case. In addition to his sentence, Mr...

Following are excerpts from a program featuring former Mufti of Egypt Ali Gomaa, which aired on CBC TV and was posted on the Internet on December 23, 2014: Ali Gomaa: The hadith that relates how [the stones and the trees will say:] "There is a Jew behind me, come and kill him" is a 100% reliable hadith that appears in Muslim's compilation. But I must stress that we will not attack anyone. We are the ones under attack. The Prophet Muhammad was right when he foretold that before this, the Zionist entity would occupy our land, and would kill our...

The typically cowardly way the lowlife Islamists in Paris murdered their prey-de-jour has given rise to a new round of apologia in support of Islam as the so called, “Religion of Peace.” The west’s cowardly media and detestable politicians have once again begun to explain the beauty of Islam and proclaim that the very few murders they acknowledge as being connected to Islam are the exceptions rather than the rule. While these people are busy trying to tell us the sky is brown up is really down and in is really out the truth cries out to be heard. *Those...

Security: In the wake of the Islamist terrorist attack in Paris, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani argues to reinstate a policy cancelled by Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has arguably left the city as exposed as it was on Sept. 10, 2001. Although the Paris terrorist attack by Islamists has not been linked to any mosque, the historical record is dotted with similar attacks that have such links, including the Nov. 5, 2009, rampage at the Army base in Killeen, Texas, by Maj. Nidal Hasan that killed 13 and wounded 31 as the self-proclaimed "Soldier of Allah" shouted "Allahu...

You know it’s going to happen sooner or later, so now is a good a time as ever to plan ahead for what we have to do:A. 1). Clamp down on innocent People’s freedom of expression. Because the DNC and the terrorists have a common enemy in the Christian right, so why not once AGAIN use a Serious crisis to suppress their common enemy with speech controls out of ‘sensitivity’ for the insane Islamists.2). Clamp down on innocent folks owning guns? Because the knee-jerk reaction of the DNC is to push their socialist national agenda, and once AGAIN work to...