Free Republic

I received an e-mail stating radical anti- Palestine activists were showing up at the Annual Capitol Township meeting. IT STATED:: As your elected Sangamon County Clerk, I am privileged to also serve as the Clerk of Capital Township. I am writing to make you aware of the annual township meeting next week and urge Capital Township Republicans to attend. A radical group of citizens is proposing an advisory ballot question that insults and threatens our country's longstanding friendship and alliance with Israel. The question asks, "Shall the United States federal government and subordinate divisions stop giving military funding to Israel,...

Earlier today, locals protesting against a refugee centre in Coolock, Dublin were confronted by leftist journalists and other antifa types. Here are the facts as we understand them from local first-hand sources in Coolock. We will be updating this article as more details are established:A small group of men arrived in the afternoon of Saturday April 6th to the old Crown Paints Factory in Coolock which is being picketed by locals opposing the plantation of up to 1000 asylum seekers there. They arrived to counterprotest and take footageAccording to video and our sources, the men were told to leave as...

The open letter denounced those who wrote in objection to director Jonathan Glazer's moral equivalence between the Jewish State and Hamas Actors Joaquin Phoenix, Debra Winger, Chloe Fineman and nearly 150 other Jewish Hollywood creatives signed a letter Friday defending filmmaker Jonathan Glazer’s Oscars acceptance speech last month that critics saw as equating Israel with the Nazis and Hamas. The open letter accused Glazer’s critics of suppressing speech within Hollywood, stating, "The attacks on Glazer also have a silencing effect on our industry, contributing to a broader climate of suppression of free speech and dissent, the very qualities our field...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that the date had been set for an Israeli military operation in the city of Rafah, near Gaza’s border with Egypt, to attack the last remaining Hamas battalions and destroy them. Netanyahu spoke as Israeli negotiators were in Cairo, Egypt, in the hope of striking a deal with Hamas via Egyptian, Qatari, and American mediators to see some of the remaining 133 Israeli hostages released, some of whom are dead. In a statement posted online, and translated and released by Israel’s Government Press Office, Netanyahu said: “Today I received a detailed report on...

Police are investigating swastikas and other antisemitic graffiti found in the left-wing beach town of Santa Monica, California, which prides itself on its “progressive” politics. The local Santa Monica Daily Press reported: The Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD) is actively investigating multiple reports of anti-Semitic graffiti discovered in various locations throughout the city, including the Pico neighborhood (2100-2300 Pico Blvd) marking sidewalks, trees and light posts. In a statement, the SMPD expressed its unequivocal condemnation of these hateful acts. “This behavior deeply offends the values of our inclusive community and will not be tolerated.”

The public has been repulsed by the actions of the Israeli government in Gaza, incoming Taoiseach (prime minister) Simon Harris has said. Mr. Harris said that Ireland stands ready to recognize the Palestinian state while calling for a two-state solution. In his keynote speech at the Fine Gael Ard Fheis* in Galway, the Fine Gael leader said the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza has worsened “before our eyes” and Ireland cannot stay silent on the actions of Israel. “We condemn the massacre carried out by Hamas in October and again call for the release of all hostages,” Mr Harris said....

Celebrity chef and World Central Kitchen founder José Andrés said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that Israel was committing a “war against humanity.” Discussing World Central Kitchen workers being killed in Gaza, Andrés said, “Every time something happens, we cannot be bringing Hamas the question. I think the IDF knows better than anybody that they can be a better army. There should be protocols. There should be rules of engagement, that somebody has to be making sure that the happen in a war zone, is way too many cases now of humanitarians dying.”

Cindy McCain, the executive director of the World Food Program and wife of the late Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the situation in Gaza had become dire. Anchor Jake Tapper said, “Israel has also approved opening the Erez Crossing from Israel into northern Gaza to get this desperately needed aid in. How important is opening that crossing for you and your workers with the World Food Program? Will that help hold off this famine that you’ve said is imminent?”

On Friday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “The Story,” White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby responded to questions on how the 2021 U.S. strike in Afghanistan that killed an aid worker is different from the Israeli strike that killed World Central Kitchen workers are different by stating that it’s “imprudent to try to compare two things that happened three years apart in two different conflicts.” And there was an independent investigation of the Afghanistan strike, “and that independent investigator found that there was no need for personal accountability to be had, but did find that the U.S....

NBC’s late-night host Seth Meyers is panicking over the prospect of a Trump victory in November, saying that President Joe Biden’s failure to make good on his promise of a ceasefire in Gaza is alienating Democrats in key swing states. Seth Meyers noted that Biden made that very promise during an appearance on Late Night in February — and that there’s still no ceasefire. [Voters] are understandably upset Biden keeps claiming he’s frustrated with Netanyahu’s handling of the war, while simultaneously sending more weapons to support that war against the wishes of a majority of Americans,” Meyers said on Wednesday’s...

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that Israel must control the territory in the Gaza Strip and significantly reduce the number of Palestinian residents in Gaza. In an interview to army radio, the far-right minister said that his "demand" was for the Gaza Strip to stop being a "hotbed where two million people grow up on hatred and aspire to destroy the State of Israel." ...Smotrich then suggested that the removal of around 90 percent of Gaza's residents would help achieve his goal. "If there are 100,000 or 200,000 Arabs in Gaza and not two million, the whole discourse about the...

The number of people seeking international protection in Ireland in the first three months of this year has risen by more than 2,000 compared to the same time last year. Figures from the Department of Justice show 5,163 people applied for international protection up to 28 March. This represents a rise of 2,170, or 72%, from the same period of time last year when 2,993 applications were made by 28 March 2023. More than one third of those who have applied for international protection so far this year are from Nigeria (1,668) while 416 are from Bangladesh, 400 from Pakistan,...

Fast food giant McDonald's is to buy back all its Israeli restaurants following a boycott of the brand in response to the Israel-Hamas war. The company said it had reached an agreement with franchisee Alonyal for the return of 225 outlets across the country employing 5,000 people. McDonald's was criticised after Alonyal started giving away thousands of free meals to Israeli soldiers. Sales in the region have slumped since the conflict began in October. On Thursday, McDonald's said a deal had been signed with Alonyal which has been running the chain of Golden Arches in Israel for more than 30...

Human Rights Watch said Thursday that an Israeli strike on an apartment building in Gaza City last October was an “apparent war crime,” citing no military rationale behind the attack after a months-long investigation. The Oct. 31 strike killed at least 106 civilians, including 54 children, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in its report. The report “found no evidence of a military target in the vicinity of the building at the time of the Israeli attack, making the strike unlawfully indiscriminate under the laws of war,” the group said. “Israeli authorities have provided no justification for the attack.” The findings...

World Central Kitchen (WCK) founder José Andrés has accused Israeli forces in Gaza of targeting his aid workers "systematically, car by car". Monday's strike which killed seven members of his staff was not a mistake, he said, repeating that Israeli forces had been told of their movements. WCK workers from Australia, Canada, Poland, the UK and the US were killed as well as their Palestinian colleague. Israel says the strike was a "grave mistake" and has apologised.

Israel faces the prospect of a U.S.-backed “color revolution” in the middle of its war against Hamas terrorists in Gaza as the opposition backs street protests against government, and a key cabinet minister has demanded new elections. A “color revolution” is a coup d’état accomplished through mass protests targeting the existing government, elected or not, with the assistance of the media — and, usually, with backing from foreign powers, including the United States. For the six months since the October 7 terror attack, Israel had seen remarkable unity, with protests — mostly centered in Tel Aviv — against Israeli Prime...

An international charity suspended delivery of food to starving Palestinians on Tuesday, a day after an Israeli airstrike killed seven aid workers from World Central Kitchen who were trying to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.Ships still laden with some 240 tons of aid from the charity that arrived Monday turned back from Gaza, according to Cyprus, which has played a key role in trying to establish a sea route to bring food to the territory.*** Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged that the country’s forces had carried out the “unintended strike ... on innocent people.” He said officials were...

Currently, Iran has a uranium stockpile to create 8 to ten nuclear bombs. But thanks to this nuclear deal, Iran must reduce its stockpile of uranium by 98%, and will keep its level of uranium enrichment at 3.67% — significantly below the enrichment level needed to create a bomb. On January 16, 2016, the International Atomic Energy Agency verified that Iran has completed the necessary steps under the Iran deal that will ensure Iran's nuclear program is and remains exclusively peaceful. Before this agreement, Iran's breakout time -- or the time it would have taken for Iran to gather enough...

dent has drawn a wide range of opinions from viewers. One viewer pointed out, "I'm fasting. That's your problem." This comment succinctly captures the essence of the situation. The individual fasting should not impose their religious practices on others. Another viewer chimed in with a humorous take, "Do you want some? It's lovely!! Well played!", applauding the woman's response to the man's unsolicited advice. The consensus among viewers seems to be that the man's actions were inappropriate. "Your religion's rules only apply to you," one viewer pointed out, emphasizing the importance of respecting individual choices and beliefs. Many viewers admired...

Over 40 people were killed and dozens injured in airstrikes overnight near Aleppo, in northwestern Syria. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that the alleged Israeli attack hit at least one weapons warehouse belonging to Hezbollah near the Aleppo International Airport in the early hours of Friday morning. The UK-based monitor further said strikes also targeted Syrian air defense installations in nearby Al-Saferah and that explosions were heard in the Kafr Joum area, in western Aleppo. Footage from the moment of the attack shows huge explosions and mushrooms of dust rising from the area. Two unnamed security sources...