Free Republic

The Muslim government of North Sudan recently reaffirmed a law decreeing that Christians are prohibited from building any new churches. The reaffirmation was made North Sudan’s Minister Shalil Abdullah, and as we read from one Christian activist: We are deeply concerned by Minister Shalil Abdullah’s statement reaffirming the policy to deny new church permits. This policy, and the continued practice of demolishing and confiscating church land, constitutes a violation of the right to freedom of religion or belief, guaranteed in article 6 and 38 of Sudan’s Interim Constitution as well as article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and...

This kind of talk is becoming increasingly open and common. “Palestinian” victimhood propaganda has made Jew-hatred newly respectable, and the rise of Islam in the West has directed new opprobium toward those whom the Qur’an designates as the worst enemies of the Muslims (5:82).“Hitler might have been right, says ex-mufti,” Malaysia Today, July 15, 2014 (thanks to Tom): (Malay Mail Online) – Popular religious scholar Datuk Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin has waded into the Adolf Hitler controversy today, writing in an opinion piece that the Nazi dictator “might have been right” in exterminating the Jews.Despite admitting that not all...

IDF fears that, without Hamas, Gaza could descend into a Somalia-like situation, in which dozens of gangs or clans would take over various parts of the strip. The next 48 hours in the Gaza Strip will likely bring more of the same: Israeli air strikes, murmurs about a limited Israel Defense Forces ground operation and continued rocket fire from the Strip to central and southern Israel. But there is also a slim chance of reaching a cease–fire agreement. Contacts aimed at achieving this are ongoing on two different fronts: one Egyptian, and the other Qatari-Turkish. The Palestinian Authority is maneuvering...

The Middle East is falling apart, according to the Palestinian Authority (PA)’s official daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida—all because of an elaborate conspiracy on the part of the US to stoke conflict in Gaza, Iraq, Syria, and Libya. “After the coffins of US soldiers returned from Afghanistan and Iraq, and before that, from Lebanon, [the US] adopted a new method [to protect US interests]: exploitation and creation of Islamic, Christian and Jewish religious extremism, in order to fight [Arabs] with it [this method] rather than with its own soldiers,” the article claims, in a translation provided by Palestinian Media Watch. “Taking a...

Why is the U.S. downplaying or denying attacks against Christians?"What about the churches which were desecrated? Is this not blasphemy? Where is justice?" — Fr. James Channan OP, Director of The Peace Center, Lahore, Pakistan.Members of the Islamic group al-Shabaab publicly beheaded the mother of two girls, ages 8 and 15, and her cousin after discovering they were Christians. The girls "were witnesses to the slaughter." — Somalia."Christian teaching is extremely harmful to the mental health of the people." — Kazakhstan.Five years' imprisonment and up to $20,000 in fines for educators if they…speak to a Muslim child of religions...

Muslims in Iraq took 29 women, most of whom were part of a brothel, and butchered all of them in cold blood. One police officer described the crime scene: When we walked up the stairs, we saw a couple of women’s bodies and blood streaming down the stairs… We entered a flat and found bodies everywhere, some lying on the sofa, some on the ground, and one woman who apparently had tried to hide in a cupboard in the kitchen, shot to death there. According to one report: Gunmen wearing camouflage recently stormed two apartment buildings in Baghdad, Iraq, slaughtering...

My alma mater, The University of Chicago, was recently in the news for an overtly politically correct act for replacing its historic Bond Chapel's pews for Muslims to worship. This act is raising hackles reminiscent of the university's other, recent, tone-deaf decision to demolish the childhood home of former President Ronald Reagan, on its campus, and replace it with a parking lot and a commemorative plaque.The school, founded by the Rockefeller family in the late 19th century as a Baptist-affiliated institution of higher learning, with an English-style undergraduate college, and German-style graduate research school, today positions itself as completely non-denominational...

European Union (EU) leaders on Wednesday condemned the firing of rockets into Israel while urging the Israel to “act proportionately” and Hamas to agree to a ceasefire, AFP reports. Voicing “great concern” over continued violence in Israel and Gaza, EU leaders said the bloc “condemns the firing of rockets from Gaza into Israel and the indiscriminate targeting of civilians.” “Israel has the right to protect its population (but) in doing so it must act proportionately and ensure the protection of civilians at all times,” a European Union statement added. …

What’s it going to take until we can talk frankly about the enemy?We are constantly being told by jihadists that they are waging holy war in the cause of Islam, while their operatives here in the West (CAIR, ISNA, ICNA, MSA, etc.) insist that it has nothing to do with Islam. And our political and media elites do their bidding, shutting up and shutting down any discussion of jihadic doctrine, despite the reality.How many people have to be slaughtered before it’s too late?It’s not islamophobia, it’s islamorealism. Our AFDI ad, which ran in NYC, below: “Police: Al Qaeda Magazine Suggesting...

Shhhh! Do not speak of this! “Talk about extreme, militant Islamists and the atrocities that they have perpetrated globally might undercut the positive achievements that we Catholics have attained in our inter-religious dialogue with devout Muslims.” — Robert McManus, Roman Catholic Bishop of Worcester, Massachusetts, February 8, 2013. Those “positive achievements” don’t include doing a thing to stop this sort of thing, even in modern, moderate Turkey.“Hostilities at Catholic Church in Istanbul, Turkey Leave Parishioners Fearing Worse,” Morning Star News, July 15, 2014: ISTANBUL, Turkey (Morning Star News) – Members of a Catholic church in Istanbul fear an attack after...

Paris police have banned pro-Palestinian activists from demonstrating this Saturday night, an official told AFP Wednesday, after violent protesters blockaded French Jews in a local synagogue and attacked them earlier this week. Saturday night’s protest was planned for the Barbas–Rochechouart metro station near the northern Gare du Nord train station, the official said. However, Paris police oppose the demonstration, citing “serious risks to public order” in “a context of elevated tension,” according to news broadcaster RTL. Protesters have already taken to Twitter, they said, with the intent to “smash the Jews” in Saturday’s protest. “We’ll smash the Jews Saturday,” wrote...

Amid the recent troubles between Israel and the Palestinians, many Americans and media commentators are drawing disturbing lines of parallelism between the two societies, asserting a false moral equivalency to the actions of each. In essence, the claim goes like this: “Both sides are fighting each other with similar degrees of violence; both treat each other equally badly; each side is equally to blame for the violence, and they just can’t come together.” That notion that there is a moral equivalency between the defensive and targeted actions that the rule-of-law-based Israel is compelled to take, and the proactive and indiscriminate...

Sirens are sounding again at 10:36 am throughout the Eshkol region, after a volley of rockets fired less than one hour after Israel’s Security Cabinet agreed to a cease-fire mediated by Egypt landed in open areas. Two rockets have hit in open areas. No injuries or damage were reported. Sirens sounded at roughly 10:00 am in Ashkelon, throughout the Eshkol region, and in communities near Gaza. Two rockets fell in open areas in the Eshkol region; no injuries or damage have been reported. Israel accepted the truce in a surprise move Tuesday morning, after Hamas categorically rejected the notion of...

Hamas has been hiding its headquarters and arsenals in a new type of building, a special report from the Center for Intelligence and Counterterrorism revealed Tuesday. Mosques and minarets in Gaza have been converted to centers of war, according to the report, which was penned after Hamas officials leveled accusations against Israel after the Israeli Air Force (IAF) struck the mosque in the Alfaruk Nuseirat “refugee camp” in central Gaza. According to Israeli sources, the mosque was used as a compound for Hamas to plan and launch attacks, guard weapons, host training camps, and harbor terrorists. Hamas officials claim that...

Cabinet will likely accept terms of Arab League-backed ceasefire deal as Gaza terror group remains defiant. Hamas said Tuesday morning that the terms of an Egyptian ceasefire proposal were tantamount to surrender, as the Israeli government prepared to meet on the issue, and was expected to approve the deal. Meanwhile the Arab League, the US and PA leader Mahmoud Abbas all urged approval of the truce. As the security cabinet meets to discuss the terms of an Egypt-backed ceasefire, Palestinian sources report that Israel is still attacking targets in the Gaza Strip early Tuesday morning, Israel Radio reports.

Hamas rejected Egypt’s proposed ceasefire in Gaza on Monday night, as Arab foreign ministers in Cairo called on “all parties” to accept the proposal. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said the group would not accept a truce without a fully-fledged deal to end hostilities, according to AFP. “A ceasefire without reaching an agreement is rejected. In times of war, you don’t cease fire and then negotiate,” he told the news agency. Barhoum added Hamas had not received any official proposal and that “the weapons of the resistance are a red line.” …

Egypt launched an initiative on Monday to halt fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants, proposing a ceasefire to be followed by talks in Cairo on settling the conflict in which Gaza authorities say more than 170 people have died. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will convene his decision-making security cabinet on Tuesday to discuss the proposal on the Gaza violence, an Israeli official said. [An] Israeli official seemed to put a positive face on the proposed truce, saying that Israel's week-old offensive in Gaza had weakened the Islamist Hamas group militarily. Two members of Netanyahu's security cabinet suggested a truce...

On Thursday, The Washington Post’s blog ran a list that names children who were killed in recent Israeli airstrikes on Gaza. The blog post, written by Ishaan Tharoor, list the names and the causes of death of 83 people including 21 children who were killed in the recent bombing. However, Tharoor’s source may not be all that credible. The names were first published in a virulently anti-Israeli newspaper called Al-Akhbar—the editor of which, Nour Samaha, makes not even the slightest effort to hide her ideological bent and anti-Israel agenda. …

President Barack Obama’s approval rating is higher among Muslims than any other religious group, a new poll says. According to a Gallup poll released Friday that tracked responses for the first six months of 2014, 72 percent of Muslims said they approve of the president, compared with just 20 percent who disapprove.

The Mukhtar (Islamic religious leader) of a Jerusalem neighborhood praises Israel for defending Arabs. The Mukhtar (Islamic religious leader) of the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sur Baher on Monday praised Israel for defending the city – and particularly the Al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount – from Hamas rockets. Just days after wide-scale riots by Jerusalem Arabs over the murder of Arab youth Mohammed Al-Khedr, Zuheir Hamadan said that Hamas, which claimed to be “defending” the Arabs of Jerusalem, was doing quite the opposite. “Israel is the one defending Al-Aqsa from the missiles of Hamas,” Hamadan said. Speaking to Israel Radio's...