Free Republic

Predictably, having so many terrorists in our midst - in addition to the danger - will have the consequence of more intrusion in our personal lives and more state power. From The Telegraph, "Emergency laws to monitor phone and internet records 'to stop terrorists'": Emergency laws will be brought in next week to force phone and internet companies to hold records of customers’ calls, texts and visits to websites. The fast-track measures are necessary to defend national security against the terrorist threat from Iraq and Syria, David Cameron said. The consequences of not acting are “grave”, the Prime Minister...

Delta Air Lines is canceling all flights to Israel until further notice, citing reports that a rocket landed near Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport. A Delta Boeing 747 from New York was flying over the Mediterranean headed for Tel Aviv on Tuesday when it turned around and flew to Paris instead. Flight 468 had 273 passengers and 17 crew on board. US Airways, which has one daily flight from Philadelphia, canceled that flight Tuesday and the return trip from Tel Aviv. United Airlines, which has two flights daily to Israel out of Newark, N.J., did comment immediately on the status...

MANHATTAN — American flags were removed from atop the Brooklyn Bridge's two towers Tuesday morning and replaced by white flags, sources said. Police, including the NYPD's counter terrorism and intelligence divisions, were checking surveillance footage from the bridge after images of the white flags hit social media about 7 a.m., sources said. "Why are there white flags on top of the Brooklyn Bridge?" City Council member Mark Weprin tweeted at 9:34 a.m. It was not immediately clear how the white flags, which are usually a military symbol for surrender, got there. Witnesses reported seeing NYPD counter terrorism officers heading up...

Some truths CNN reveals only accidentally. One such truth Anderson Cooper shared on the night of July 17. In speaking about the shoot down of Malaysian airliner MH 17 earlier that day, Cooper referred back to “July 17, 1996, when TWA Flight 800 was shot down off the coast of Long Island in New York.”

The one emotion most of us who study Russia never associate with the men of the Kremlin is panic. They’re not the type. They’re more like mobsters, prone to say “we have a problem” rather than to freak out. They think everything has a solution, although sometimes that solution might mean someone has to take nine grams of lead behind the ear. They do not raise their voices—my experience is that most Russian tough-guys are mumblers, not yellers—and they get things done, even if the final outcome might lack a certain, say, elegance. That’s why it’s unusual to see the...

Rows of candles were set up last week at the home of Rabbi Zalman and Toba Grossbaum, co-directors of Chabad of Livingston, N.J., so community members and family could welcome in Shabbat and pray for the people of Israel.With the Sabbath approaching, Israel Defense Force troops are on the ground in Gaza, with Jews everywhere praying for their safety. Throughout the world came calls for prayer and good deeds on behalf of the Israeli soldiers, and all people threatened by ongoing missile attacks, with special emphasis on Jewish women and girls lighting Shabbat candles, and for families to join with...

In the wake of the attack on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, "every country, including Russia," must determine whether it is "together with the terrorists or together with the civilized world," Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Monday. In an exclusive interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, Poroshenko said, "Every country and every person, and every leader should find out their own place." "We know exactly" where a missile was shot that hit the plane Thursday, killing all 298 people aboard, and where the flight crashed, he said. "And all this territory is firmly controlled by Russian-supported terrorists." Ukraine has "a lot of...

Chris Boudreau has been reeling for months after learning her son died fighting with a terrorist group overseas. Now, a self-proclaimed jihadist is urging the Calgary mother to embrace an extremist ideology she suspects was used to brainwash her son. On his blog, Abu Dujana al-Muhajir claims he was among a group of young men who left Calgary to join “various fronts of Jihad” after forming a study group at a downtown mosque. Damian Clairmont, Boudreau’s son who was also part of the group, was later killed during rebel infighting in Syria. Clairmont’s death devastated and confounded his mother, who...

Something important is missing from the New York Times's coverage of the war in Gaza: photographs of terrorist attacks on Israel, and pictures of Hamas fighters, tunnels, weaponry, and use of human shields. It appears the Times is silently but happily complying with a Hamas demand that the only pictures from Gaza are of civilians and never of fighters. The most influential news organization in the world is thus manufacturing an utterly false portrait of the battle—precisely the portrait that Hamas finds most helpful: embattled, victimized Gaza civilians under attack by a cruel Israeli military. A review of the Times's...

Hamas claimed it captured an Israeli soldier Sunday on the deadliest day yet in the battle between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza. The solider was taken during an early morning operation, according to Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Hamas' military wing, al-Qassam Brigades. He provided the supposed soldier's name and ID. "He is a prisoner, and if Zionists lie about the dead and wounded, then the fate of this soldier is their responsibility," the spokesman said. Gunfire and cheers erupted in Gaza in apparent celebration of the soldier's capture, according to CNN reporters on the ground. There was no...

ATU forces took control of the village Jubilee, located in the vicinity of Lugansk. Fluttering above the municipality Ukrainian flag. This is with reference to a source in the APU said the publication "The Informant," reports PressOrg http://pressorg24.com. "A source in the Ukrainian armed forces, confirmed that the village of Jubilee is controlled by the armed forces of Ukraine," the statement said. According to sources, the Ukrainian flag hung in the village since yesterday. Currently representatives of ATU strengthened on the outskirts of Lugansk in this direction.

Hundreds of poignant stories triggering a nationwide outpouring of grief in MalaysiaMalaysian Airlines flight attendant Sanjid Singh was not scheduled to be working on board doomed Flight MH17, but had swapped with a colleague - just months after his wife, also an attendant, had swapped her shift to avoid Flight MH370. The contrasting twists of fate make up just one of hundreds of poignant stories triggering a nationwide outpouring of grief in Malaysia where many are finding it difficult to grasp the twin disasters befalling their country and national airline. US officials believe Flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur...

A missile launcher allegedly used to destroy Flight MH17 has been smuggled across the Ukrainian border into Russia to cover up its role in the strike, Ukraine’s interior minister claimed Friday. Amid mounting evidence that Russian-backed separatists were behind the disaster, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said “technical assistance” from Russia could not be ruled out. In a pointed reference to Moscow, Samantha Power added that the perpetrators should not be “sheltered” by any UN member state. We cannot rule out technical assistance from the Russians. The perpetrators must be brought to justice, they must not be sheltered...

Miss Conley might have had honeymoon visions of romance, but in reality she was in for a nasty fate. Despite embracing radical Islam, she wouldn’t have been able to erase the self-respect she was raised with in only six months. Many of the abuses the other women in the camp would have been used to, (imprisonment in the house, husbandly beatings, unwanted polygamy and a cheating husband), Miss Conley would have rebelled against. This “rebellion” would have given Terrorist Fiancé even more reason to beat her, starve her, or worse. Miss Conley is in an American jail where she’s not...

Kenneth Timmerman has reported from the Middle East for 35 years. He was one of the first journalists on the scene after Iranian terrorists bombed the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon in 1983. When the 2012 attack on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi left four Americans dead, Timmerman recognized the pathetically inadequate coverage. “Iranians have been killing us for the past 30 plus years and the U.S. government has never done a thing,” Timmerman told Townhall. “I think it’s about time we stood up to the Islamic fascist government in Iran and made it clear that their continued murder...

Russian terrorists destroyed the top world research scientists. On board of the downed Boeing was actually a potential cure for HIV. As a result of the loss of the aircraft at Donetsk mankind has lost about 100 AIDS specialists. In addition, the Board might be a cure for HIV. The downed over Donbass Malaysian Boeing flew the world's leading experts in the field of AIDS scientists, physicians and community leaders. All of them were to assemble at the beginning on Sunday in Melbourne (Australia) International Conference. As reported by the International AIDS society, on board the aircraft, via Kuala Lumpur,...

Google has a penchant for honoring left wing ideologues, facilitators, criminals by including them in their Google Search icon, symbolic of the high regard they have for left wing, liberal scum. Today is no different. July 18, 1918 is the birthday of the man who became the symbol of the African National Congress, served in many positions within the organization.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on Thursday it appeared that the downing of a Malaysian airliner near the Ukraine-Russia border was not an accident and that the passenger jet apparently was "blown out of the sky." "This is truly a grave situation," Biden said in a speech in Detroit. He said he had seen reports that Americans may have been on board and that "we're now working every minute to try to confirm those reports as I speak." Biden said the downing of the jet was tragic. He spoke by phone to Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko.

SSo far, 194 Palestinians been killed during Operation Protective Edge; that’s already a higher death toll than that of the entire 2012 Operation Pillar of Defense. Or at least that’s what’s reported in the press, internationally but also in Israel. The truth is that the number of casualties, and the percentage of civilians among the dead, comes exclusively from Palestinian sources. Israel only publishes its version of the body count — which is always significantly lower than the Palestinian account — weeks after such operations end. Meanwhile, the damage to Israel’s reputation is done. During Pillar of Defense, 160 Palestinians...

The U.S. Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that 2012 losses because of personal identity theft totaled $24.7 billion. The money losses from identity theft pale in comparison with the costs of paperwork, time and inconvenience imposed on the larger society in an effort to protect ourselves. According to LifeLock, while the laws against identity theft have gotten tougher, identity theft criminal prosecution is relatively rare. Unless we develop a low tolerance and a willingness to impose harsh sentences, identity thieves will continue to impose billions of dollars of costs on society. Today's Americans tolerate what would have been...

On October, 2011, amid a lethargic economic recovery, President Barack Obama – a man who prided himself on ending wars, not starting them – touted his foreign policy successes. Beyond the successful raid that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden, Obama noted that he had successfully solved two thorny international puzzles; ending the war in Iraq and successfully prosecuting a brief campaign to stem the violence in Libya. In a speech in the White House, the president made the case for his own competency within an announcement regarding the beginning of the full withdrawal of American troops...

The most valuable information ever unearthed about Obama came not from the mainstream media but from heroic FBI-informant Larry Grathwohl. The information Grathwohl let the world in on proved who Barack Obama truly is: the lifetime friend of unrepentant domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, who also gave America’s most anti-American commander in chief his White House rise.

Let's drop the names "Hamas" and "Israel" and make a list of the characteristics of two imaginary warring entities. We'll call them Entity A and Entity B. Entity A: --Declares that its raison d'etre is to annihilate Entity B. --Sends missiles to explode in the most populated parts of Entity B in order to kill as many civilians as possible. --Uses families and individual civilians as human shields to protect its own leaders from attack. --Tortures and kills domestic political opponents. --Has no political or religious freedom and has no freedom of speech, press, or assembly, and no independent judiciary....

Security cabinet to meet at 7 a.m; Egyptian initiative calls for end of all "hostilities" from both sides, meeting in Cairo within 48 hours after quiet restored; Kerry expected to visit Egyptian capital. Diplomatic officials said that Netanyahu was expected to encourage the other seven members of the security cabinet to accept the proposal, which would return the situation in Gaza to what it was before Operation Protective Edge began a week ago. Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman and Economy Minister are expected to oppose the proposal in the security cabinet, but are unlikely to be able to prevent the forum...

A nameless woman “dumped on a street, arms and legs cut off, entrails eviscerated” — this is just one testament from Bing West’s account of Fallujah in 2004. This was the first mini-caliphate of Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI). West’s quote still matters, because it sums up the real-world impact of Salafi jihadism, the ideology of sick totalitarianism that once inspired Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and that now motivates Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Leading ISIS, Baghdadi is painting Iraq and Syria with the blood of all those who do not yield. And be under no illusions: ISIS does not believe in geographic...

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. expressed “extreme, extreme concern” on Sunday over reports that bomb makers from Yemen responsible for the 2009 underwear-bomb plot are now in Syria cooperating with foreign militants there, possibly to develop new, nearly undetectable explosive devices. Asked on Sunday whether that threat was a “clear and present danger,” Mr. Holder responded: “I think it is. In some ways, it’s more frightening than anything I think I’ve seen as attorney general.”

Mahmoud Abbas, the sometimes moderate, often ineffectual leader of the Palestinian Authority, just asked his rivals in Hamas a question that other bewildered people are also asking: “What are you trying to achieve by sending rockets?” The Gaza-based Hamas has recently fired more than 500 rockets at Israeli towns and cities. This has terrorized the citizenry, though caused few casualties, in large part because Israel is protected by the Iron Dome anti-rocket system. In reaction to these indiscriminately fired missiles, Israel has bombarded targets across Gaza. Compared with violent death rates in other parts of the Middle East, the number...

How many times do I have to write about the problems discovered in Common Core teaching? This time it deals with Pearson Education, one of the leading companies that helps develop and train Common Core teaching. According to their website: “As the leading education services company, Pearson is serious about evolving how the world learns. We apply our deep education experience and research, invest in innovative technologies, and promote collaboration throughout the education ecosystem. Real change is our commitment and its results are delivered through connecting capabilities to create actionable, scalable solutions that improve access, affordability, and achievement.” [Emphasis mine]...

Attorney General Eric Holder has a "lot of sleepless nights," reported ABC News this morning. Chief among his concerns? The threat of "homegrown violent extremists." Asked the ABC News reporter, "Is that threat," like the Boston Marathon bombing last year, "any less serious?""These lone wolves. These homegrown violent extremists are people who keep me up at night, as well," said Holder. "Trying to monitor them, trying to anticipate what it is they are going to do. And the experience that we had in Boston is instructive. It only takes only one or two people to really do something horrific."The...

I've been caught asking myself the same question many times this week. "Does our President believe in terrorism?" No, I'm not asking if he personally believes in the use of terrorism, or the ideology of terrorism, or the effectiveness of the weapon of terrorism. Some of my critics are already condemning me for not asking that question from the start. And as well intentioned as some are who would hold those positions, I feel a need to break things down into even more succinct pieces. Does President Obama believe in terrorism's existence and imminence in the days we live this...

Obama quietly eliminated the NATIONAL DRUG INTELLIGENCE CENTER, that was monitoring terrorist activity on the border. Mexican cartel violence is at an all-time high along the increasingly porous southern border yet the Obama Administration has shut down a critical intelligence agency dedicated to identifying, tracking and severing the nexus between drug trafficking and terrorism. It’s a senseless move, which is why it was done very quietly. The only real way to discover that the Justice Department’s 19-year-old National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) has been closed is by trying to visit its website. It simply says that on June 15, 2012,...

KYIV, July 12 /Ukrinform/. Terrorists, led by the so-called "deputy minister of social policy of the Donetsk People's Republic," are trying to forcibly transfer to Russia orphans from orphanages in Donetsk and Maryinka, the Donetsk region, the OstroV online newspaper reported on Saturday. "There are no legal documents for the transfer abroad of children from Maryinka and Donetsk, therefore crossing the border will be illegal. Kids do not want to leave anywhere," graduates of the Maryinka orphanage told reporters.

An Egyptian cleric formerly known as the "preacher of the revolution" during the revolt against President Hosni Mubarak warned Egyptian television viewers this week that Muslim Brotherhood sheiks have issued a fatwa permitting "anal jihad" for terrorists far from their wives, which is exactly what it sounds like.

Edited by Joel Leyden Israel News Agency Jerusalem --- July 11, 2014 ... The following was communicated by the Israel Prime Minister's Media Adviser to the Israel News Agency. Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, today at the Israel Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, issued the following statement: "This is the fourth day of Operation Protective Edge. The Israel Defense Forces, the Israel Security Agency and the security forces are fighting Hamas with increasing intensity. As of now, we have hit over 1,000 Hamas', Islamic Jihad and other terrorist organizations' targets, and we are still busy. The pace of attacks in...

SLOVIANSK/DONETSK, Ukraine – Finally free from the clutches of Russian-backed separatists who abducted her, Hanna, a pro-Ukraine activist from Donetsk, tells a dispiriting tale. “My face was smashed – he punched me in the face with his fist, he was trying to beat me everywhere, I was covering myself with my hands… I was huddled in the corner, curled up in a ball with my hands around my knees. He was angry that I was trying to protect myself. He went out and came back with a knife,”[....] [....] While definitive statistics on abductions are hard to come by, the...

Extreme Islamist group ISIS have seized 90lb (40kg) of radioactive uranium in Iraq which could be used to make a dirty bomb. The Times reports that the militants seized the material after overrunning a university in the city of Mosul, which they captured last month. Iraq's ambassador to the UN has now appealed to the international community for help to "stave off the threat of their use by terrorists in Iraq and abroad." This is believed to be the first time that an Islamist terror group has been able to obtain such a large quantity of radioactive material, and security...

Hamas has taken to the Hebrew language in its latest effort at psychological warfare.

The terrorist group Hamas claimed late Wednesday that it attempted to target Israel's nuclear reactor in the desert town of Dimona by firing three long-range M-75 rockets at the facility. One of the rockets was destroyed in mid-flight by Israel's Iron Dome system, and two fell harmlessly in the rocky Negev. However, merely by targeting the nuclear facility, Hamas has committed nuclear terrorism, according to United Nations treaties. Article 2 (1) of the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism states: 1. Any person commits an offence within the meaning of this Convention if that person unlawfully...

Despite fiery statements issued by Hamas spokesmen over the past 48 hours, it was obvious Tuesday night that the Islamist movement was searching for ways to rid itself of the current escalation. Hamas feels that it has been forced into a confrontation with Israel – one that it did not want at this stage because of its increased isolation and financial crisis. The massive Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours have surprised Hamas and other Palestinian groups. Hamas apparently expected a limited response to the recent rocket attacks on Israeli cities and towns. But...

France foiled an Islamist terrorist plot to target the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and even a nuclear power plant, it emerged on Wednesday, as the country unveiled new, tougher anti-terror rules. French police stumbled on the plans after decrypting coded messages between a 29-year-old Algerian butcher living in the Vaucluse, southern France, known only as Ali M, and one of the highest-ranking members in al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM. According to Le Parisien newspaper, in April last year, the married father of two who went by the pseudonym Abu Jaji was asked by his AQIM contact, whose web...

Operation Protective Edge may look like its predecessors--Operation Cast Lead in 2008-9 and Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012--in that it is a response to Palestinian terrorism launched from Gaza against Israeli civilians.

Ben-Gurion Airport, Israel, July 8 – Despite the escalating security situation in Israel, 64 new Olim from the United States made aliyah to Israel today with Nefesh B’Nefesh. The new immigrants hail from Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Virginia. The youngest immigrant is an eight-month-old baby while the oldest, Lottie Herman, is 92. Herman who fled Germany in 1939 to America, will be settling in Jerusalem. Among the other olim who arrived this morning was Becky Kupchan, 26, from Chicago. Kupchan will be moving to Beer Sheva, the capital city of Southern Israel. “Although...

There have been and will continue to be Jewish terrorists who use their religion to justify murder, but the difference between Jewish jihad and Islamic jihad is that only in Islam is jihad a legitimate expression of the faith. It is true that there have been religious Jews like Baruch Goldstein, who gunned down 29 Muslim worshipers and wounded more than 125 others before being beaten to death in 1994. And it is true that his epitaph reads, “He gave his life for the people of Israel, its Torah and land.” And it is true that in 2009, an ultra-Orthodox...

Near the end of 2010, a group of telecommunications and commerce businesses joined forces to form a mobile payment venture called Isis. It was a solid brand name: Short, simple and easy to remember. Unfortunately, ISIS is now associated with a militant group based in the Middle East, so the wireless company believes a branding tweak makes sense.

On June 2, the Palestinians announced a new unity government, which included Hamas, an organization designated by the U.S. State Department as a terrorist group. American aid to the Palestinians since the mid-1990s, according to a Congressional Research Service report, has exceeded $5 billion. In recent years it has averaged $500 million per year. The report notes three major U.S. objectives of these funds: preventing terrorism against Israel from Hamas; fostering “stability, prosperity, and self-governance on the West Bank”; humanitarian aid. When Hamas joined the Palestinian government on June 2, the United States recognized the new government and there...

Sixty three women from Kummabza village and two other settlements in Damboa local government area of Borno State who were kidnapped by suspected members of the Boko Haram on June18 escaped late at night on Friday. A top security source in Maiduguri who does not want his name mentioned because he was not authorised to speak on the matter confirmed the escape. He said half of the women who escaped from the camps made it to their homes, while others who were found wandering in the bushes near Adamawa state are now in the custody of soldiers in Gulak town....

An ongoing lawsuit has pried loose new records linked to a family of Sarasota Saudis who left home in a hurry just before 9/11. It was Halloween night, 2001. The horrors of 9/11 were still fresh on the the minds of Americans. At a time when everyone was on edge, the sight of a man disposing documents in a dumpster behind a Bradenton storage facility aroused suspicion. Summoned to the scene, Manatee County sheriff’s deputies confronted the man, who had a Tunisian passport. According to FBI records, authorities searched the dumpster and found “a self-printed manual on terrorism and Jihad,...

American officials have ordered some overseas airports with direct flights to the US to intensify screening of electronic devices. Transport officials said in a statement passengers could be asked to switch on devices, and equipment that does not power up would not be allowed on board. An official told the BBC that London's Heathrow was among the airports. The US announced new security measures last week, apparently in response to a terror threat, but gave no details. Analysts say the changes appear to be in response to intelligence that Islamic militants in Syria and Yemen are developing bombs that could...

US company World Eco Energy has signed a preliminary agreement to invest $1.175 billion to generate electricity in Iran. The plan is to turn solid waste into power. In April, the US Treasury awarded American-based Boeing and GE a license to sell spare parts to Iran to help the country’s ailing aviation industry. Iran needed new plane parts, as its jets have passed their service life and need proper replacements.

President Ronald Reagan’s former National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane recently honored Ground Zero mosque imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, tainting his former boss’s legacy in so doing. Making matters worse is that Abubaker Y. Ahmed Al Shingieti, the Vice President of the organization that hosted the event was for years a high ranking henchman in Sudan’s terrorist regime and is today a stealth jihadist who leads a Muslim Brotherhood front group. Last year, it was reported that McFarlane may have illegally represented the government of Sudan and that the FBI seized documents in a raid of his apartment. One of the...