Free Republic

Washington (AFP) - The group behind the Prophet Mohammed cartoon event in Texas where police killed two gunmen Sunday has a history of making provocative statements about Islam that it says are aimed at defending "freedom" and critics see as antagonizing Muslims. The American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), led by provocative activist Pamela Geller, offered a $10,000 prize in a competition to draw a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed. Depicting the Prophet Mohammed is seen as offensive by many Muslims. Such satirical images have prompted violence in the past including in Paris this year when 12 people were gunned down...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with a six-member bipartisan US Congressional delegation on Monday, including Rep. Karen Bass (D-California) who was among 58 members of Congress who skipped his controversial speech to Congress in March. One government official said that while the speech in Congress did come up during the meeting, the main focus was on the Iranian nuclear negotiations. Netanyahu is continuing to be outspoken in his opposition to the Iran deal. Explaining her decision to skip the Netanyahu address, Bass issued a statement prior to the March address saying that she is a strong supporter of the US...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell may be forced to end debate on the Iran bill early this week, marking the first time he has shut down the open amendment process that was a central promise of his bid for control of the chamber. Sen. Tom Cotton's surprise move on Thursday to force votes on his own amendment and one from Sen. Marco Rubio highlights the perils of McConnell's commitment to an open amendment process. When Sen. Harry Reid was leader, he often "filled the tree" in Hill-speak, essentially preventing members from filing amendments without his express written permission. McConnell's stated...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met US Senator Rob Portman (R-OH), who chairs the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and told him at the start of their meeting: "I welcome you here in that spirit of friendship between Israel and the United States. That doesn't mean we don't have differences of view. On the matter of the pending Iran deal, we view things differently. We think that the goal of the Iran deal should not be just to reach any deal. It should be to block Iran's path to the bomb. And...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's remarks to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy on its 30th anniversary.

In a rare interview with Israeli television, US Secretary of State John Kerry pledged Saturday that inspections to prevent Iran from attaining nuclear weapons would stay in place “forever,” and accused critics of the world powers’ emerging deal with Iran of “hysteria.” Evidently seeking to placate the public in Israel, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been a bitter and relentless critic of the deal, Kerry pledged: “We will not sign a deal that does not close off Iran’s pathways to a bomb and that doesn’t give us the confidence — to all of our experts, in fact to global...

Nearly 50 mosques, Muslim organizations and student groups have signed a statement that highlights concerns with a federal pilot program to combat radicalization and terror recruitment in Minnesota. “While we support the right of all Americans to live in democratic communities free of violence, we cannot in good conscience condone or help refine programs that are fundamentally discriminatory and are likely to further subject our community members to additional civil rights abuses,” said the statement released by the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The statement lists 44 Muslim organizations as undersigned supporters, as well as the National...

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee opposes amendments it would “ordinarily support” to a bill mandating congressional review of an Iran nuclear deal. An AIPAC official confirmed Friday that the group had earlier in the week sent a letter to all Senate offices urging them to “refrain from supporting provisions that could harm” bipartisan support for the bill. Noah Pollak, the director of the Emergency Committee for Israel, which backs some of the amendments, posted a copy of the letter on Twitter on Thursday. “We know that senators will offer amendments on a wide range of initiatives, many of which...

Iran would have enough enriched uranium within three months to be able to make up to eight nuclear weapons if negotiations with the international community blow up, Vice President Joe Biden said late Thursday, noting that "the path has already been paved" for that outcome. Biden's remarks at a dinner for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy played off concerns by critics, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that the Obama administration is negotiating an agreement that paves the path for Iran to get a nuclear weapon. "Let's get something straight so we don't kid each other," Biden said....

Not since Baryshnikov has a foreigner so captivated a New York audience. “A Conversation with H.E. DR. Mohammad Javad Zarif, Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran” played the other day at NYU. The show ran for just 90 minutes, but reviews were spectacular. Give this man a Tony: Zarif slayed ’em. “Demonstrating suave fluency in English and a familiarity with American history and law,” wrote the New York Times, “Iran’s foreign minister said Wednesday that the United States would risk global ostracism if it were to scrap a signed international pact that resolves the Iranian nuclear dispute.” Zarif,...

The US Senate rejected on Wednesday an effort to make any lifting of US sanctions on Iran part of an international nuclear agreement dependent on President Barack Obama certifying that Iran is not supporting acts of terrorism against Americans. With some votes still being counted, 54 senators had opposed a proposed amendment to a bill requiring an Iran nuclear deal to be reviewed by Congress, guaranteeing that it would not reach the 60-vote threshold required to move ahead.

Senator Rubio took the floor at 3:15pm and tried to bring 2 of his amendments up - one for Iran to recognize Israel's right to exist, another that the deal should be what the White House said it was in fact sheets earlier this month. Senator Cardin objected saying he is trying to work on an amendment on Iran's terrorism and other amendments. Rubio responded saying he agreed at insistence of other Senators to hold off his amendments in Committee upon assurances they would be heard on the floor. Said it was fine if his amendments aren't heard today but...

The Baltimore mom heralded for smacking her 16-year-old son at the Monday riots says she doesn't feel like a hero. In a CBS News exclusive, Toya Graham explained why she angrily confronted her son in an incident captured on a video that went viral. "To see my son come across the street with a rock in his hand, I think at that point, I just lost it," Toya Graham said Wednesday on "CBS This Morning." “He knew he was in trouble,” says Baltimore mom. The single mother of six was unofficially dubbed "mom of the year" by many on social...

As the nuclear negotiations with Iran reach their final phase, President Obama increasingly finds himself at odds with reality. Although the United States has worked for years to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons while limiting Tehran’s attempts to be a regional hegemon, the president’s desperation to secure a deal ­- at whatever cost -­ places both of these goals at serious risk. Rather than stand firm against Iran’s regional expansionism and its constantly shifting nuclear redlines, the president has gone to great lengths to avoid alienating Tehran and repeatedly revised his own definition of success. The result is that...

Today, there is no greater threat to U.S. national security than the prospect of a nuclear Iran. Led by theocratic zealots who have pledged to “annihilate Israel” and who regularly lead chants of “Death to America,” an Iran with nuclear weapons poses an unacceptably high risk of murdering millions of Americans or millions of our allies. For that reason, the top priority for the Senate should be to stop a bad Iran deal. The Senate is now considering the Iran Nuclear Review Agreement Act (Corker-Cardin), which provides that any Iran deal must be submitted to Congress. This legislation started out...

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif calls it “laughable” that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “has become everybody’s nonproliferation guru.” “He’s sitting on 400 warheads, nuclear warheads, acquired in violation of the NPT (non-proliferation treaty),” to which Israel isn’t a party, he tells an audience at New York University. Zarif says that the greatest threat to global security is nuclear weapons possessed by the P5+1 world powers, and next is Israel’s nuclear weapons. He says that he would welcome Saudi Arabia having the same arrangements and enrichment program as Iran under the NPT. “It’s their right.”

In meeting with South Korean minister, PM says: "We both face the threat of rogue states." Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday warned that the recent framework agreement on a Iranian nuclear deal "repeated the mistakes" made during nuclear negotiations with North Korea. The premier reiterated his condemnation of the outline accord reached in early April in Lusanne, Switzerland on Iran's disputed nuclear program, calling it a "historic mistake." During a meeting with with South Korea's Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Hwang Woo-yea, Netanyahu indicated that the tentative agreement would lead to the breakout of nuclear weapons in Iran...

Senators on Tuesday blocked a Republican push to require a final deal on Iran's nuclear program be submitted to the Senate as a treaty. Senators voted 39-57 on Sen. Ron Johnson's (R-Wis.) amendment, which was subjected to a 60-vote threshold. It was the first vote in a series of politically tricky amendments senators are expected to take on a deal reached by Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.). Their agreement gives lawmakers 30 days to pass a resolution of disapproval on any final Iran deal. Corker suggested ahead of the vote that if the Wisconsin Republican's push was...

Senate Sponsor Rubio, Marco [R-FL] [13] Cotton, Tom [R-AR] [11] Blunt, Roy [R-MO] [4] Risch, James E. [R-ID] [4] Sullivan, Dan [R-AK] Senate Cosponsor Kirk, Mark Steven [R-IL] [6] Toomey, Pat [R-PA] [4] Risch, James E. [R-ID] [3] Rubio, Marco [R-FL] [2]

Senate will resume Iran debate at 3pm. On Tuesday, the Iran bill will be opened up for amendments. On Thursday, final passage is expected in the Senate. On Friday, final passage is expected in the House.