Free Republic

A US Republican congressman has called for the bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites, saying in case of US hesitancy, Israel should be allowed to do that. Speaking on the House floor on Tuesday, Republican Louie Gohmert said that Israel’s invasion of Gaza means that it is time to bomb Iran. “It is time to bomb Iran’s nuclear capabilities. It is time for the United States, if we are not going to stop Iran’s nukes, then let Israel do it. A friend will not put another friend in this kind of jeopardy.” Israel and the US accuse Iran of pursuing non-civilian...

In the space of a few hours, two Palestinian terrorist attacks occurred in Jerusalem, both in areas close to Arab districts. In the second, Monday afternoon, Aug. 4, a motorcyclist shot an Israeli soldier outside the tunnel leading to Mt. Scopus and Wadi Joz, injuring him seriously. As the assalant raced off, a passerby shot at him and missed. The soldier was evacuated with stomach wounds to the nearby Hadassah Hospital which shares Mt. Scopus with the Hebrew University campus. A large-scale hunt has been launched for the assailant. Three hours earlier, a 19-year old Palestinian rammed a heavy excavator...

Short documentary with English subtitles presenting 5 facts proving Putin is behind the conflict in Ukraine.

The innocent American could only read the headlines and shake his head sorrowfully at the continuing carnage in Gaza -- a pillar of fire by night and a cloud of smoke by day. How did this happen again? Simple: Hamas renewed its indiscriminate attacks on Israel through overhead rockets, underground tunnels, words and deeds -- and Israel finally responded in force. Not just the innocent but the sophisticated observer has to wonder: Why? What's the sense of it? There seems none from the rational -- that is, the conventionally Western -- point of view. Which may explain why generations...

WASHINGTON — Following the quick collapse of the cease-fire in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the White House not to force a truce with Palestinian militants on Israel. Sources familiar with conversations between Netanyahu and senior U.S. officials, including Secretary of State John Kerry, say the Israeli leader advised the Obama administration “not to ever second guess me again” on the matter. The officials also said Netanyahu said he should be “trusted” on the issue and about the unwillingness of Hamas to enter into and follow through on cease-fire talks. An Israeli official said the Netanyahu government viewed...

Azerbaijan said Friday eight soldiers had been killed in three days of clashes with arch-foe Armenia on the border and near the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region as tensions spiked in the long-running conflict. International mediators, who have for years sought to help the two countries reach a breakthrough, expressed concern over the violence, with the United States renewing a plea for the presidents from both countries to meet for talks. Azerbaijan's defence ministry said Armenian troops had ramped up their activity in the past few days and attacked Azeri positions. "Reconnaissance and sabotage groups of the Armenian armed forces attempted...

On July 24, 14 bodies were exhumed from a burial site in Sloviansk. The victims were civilians, all of whom are believed to have been killed by pro-Russia separatists when they were occupying the area. According to Ukrainian officials, there are roughly 300 people missing in Sloviansk, and mass and individual graves are consistently being found. VICE News correspondent Simon Ostrovsky investigated what may have been behind these murders, traveling to the mass grave site near Sloviansk as the bodies were being unearthed. He also met up with journalist Chris Miller, who found signed death warrants and proof that the...

For reasons that have no rational explanations at this time, the US and Europe have embarked on a concerted program to demonize Putin, ostracize Russia, and bring the world as close to a major conflict as it's been since the Cold War, a time hardly memorable to many in the current crop of our elected officials. Within hours of the MH-17 plane crash, the United States pinned the blame on Russia generally, and Putin particularly. The anti-Putin propaganda (and if there were a stronger term I'd use it) has been relentless and almost comically over-the-top (see image above, and those...

This is a rush transcript from "The Kelly File," July 31, 2014. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.... Fox News Megyn Kelly Grills Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer!?

Let’s just recap what happened with the abduction of an Israeli soldier this morning. The Israeli government believed the word of the Secretary of State of the United States that, via his Turkish and Qatari friends, he had obtained acceptable terms for a ceasefire with Hamas. Mr. Kerry’s flunkies even bragged about the success of his Turko-Qatari connections, chiding those who looked askance at his bromance with friends and sponsors of Hamas. What happened next – a surprise attack on Israeli troops in the southern Gaza Strip an hour and a half into the “ceasefire”, an abduction of a soldier...

The IDF believes there is a high likelihood that a soldier was kidnapped this morning in Rafah (Rafiach) at 9:30am. Hamas terrorists attacked IDF troops this morning during the cease fire, a battle ensued, at it is believed they managed to kidnap a soldier. They have made numerous attempts, since the war began, to abduct soldiers, and this may have been their goal all along. The soldier’s family has been notified.

If you want to judge a nation, look at how it treats its most vulnerable civilians. Hospitals are a good place to start. Al-Shifa, the largest hospital in Gaza, is housed in a converted British army barracks. Some 126 miles north is Israel’s Ziv Medical Center in Zefat. Hamas, which controls Gaza, is using the civilian population as human shields. The terrorist group has placed its missiles in schools and mosques and, even more deplorably, burrowed its command center underneath the al-Shifa hospital. Hamas‘ activities are taking place in plain sight. Just two weeks ago, The Washington Post described al-Shifa...

<p>JERUSALEM - Despite Israeli casualties and world criticism, a near-consensus in Israel supports the government's conduct of the Gaza war, views Hamas as the aggressor and considers outsiders' moralizing as hypocritical, ignorant or both.</p>

The House on Wednesday passed a resolution to condemn the extremist group Hamas for its recent rocket attacks against Israel. The measure, passed by voice vote, specifically denounces Hamas's use of civilians as "human shields" during combat. "Hamas is engaging in a crime of enormous proportions, perpetrated by those who are deliberately hiding among civilians to protect themselves," said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-Calif.). "The world can't let terrorists embed their forces among the civilian population, using them as human shields, without speaking out." It also expresses support for Israel to defend itself against Hamas, as well...

Three Israeli soldiers were killed and 27 injured in the Gaza Strip Wednesday, July 30, on the 23rd day of Israel’s counter-terror operation Defensive Edge against Hamas. A bomb planted in the wall of a building in Khan Younes blew up as the soldiers went in to examine a tunnel shaft. Maj. Gen. Sami Torjeman, OC Southern Command, told reporters that the soldiers had fought “stubbornly” and “seriously impaired” Hamas’ strength. Hundreds of enemy fighters have been killed, he reported, including scores of Hamas’ elite troops and some of the commanders hunkered down in their hideouts. Dozens too had been...

Governor Palin uses two unlikely sources to get to the truth about what’s happening in Israel.

The conversation between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Barack Obama was tense and tough, according to a report on Channel 1 Tuesday evening. Based on a transcript of the conversation, obtained by Israel’s channel 1, Obama “behaved in a rude, condescending and hostile manner,” the network’s foreign correspondent concluded. During the 35-minute conversation on Sunday, the president reportedly demanded that Israel should immediately and unconditionally end the operation. When Netanyahu asked what Israel would get in return for unilaterally ending the strikes, Obama replied: “I believe Hamas will stop firing rockets – quiet in return for quiet.” To which...

That nine of the 10 Israeli servicemen who died in the counter-terror operation against Hamas Monday, July 28, were killed on Israeli soil was a wake-up call for Israel’s war leaders. It meant that Hamas had used the 22 days of combat to carry the contest from its own home ground into Israel by grabbing the tactical advantage of surprise. The Nahal Oz encounter was a tragic microcosm of the current face of Operation Defensive Edge. The tunnel, from which a band of Hamas infiltrators jumped out – and about whose existence the IDF admits to have known – ran...

IDF chiefs have asked the government for a clear decision on whether to expand their counter-terror operation in the Gaza Strip which entered its 22nd day Tuesday - or terminate it. This was reported by a senior IDF officer Tuesday. He put it this way: “Decide now whether we go in or out.” DEBKAfile: This comment reflects the mounting criticism in the IDF high command of the government’s slowness in reaching a decision about the next stage of the operation against Hamas. This irresolution, they say, exposes the troops to danger and point to the 10 fatalities the IDF suffered...

Israel expands counter-offensive In the past 48 hours, Israel was pressured to accept its fifth “humanitarian” ceasefire in Gaza by President Barack Obama, US Secretary of State John Kerry, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Chairman of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu came close to folding, whereas Hamas saw the truce as applying only to Israel and therefore used it as a call to arms. The slogan Israel broadcast: Quiet will be met with quiet and fire with fire, was seen by Hamas as a sign of Israel weakening. This impression was confirmed on Sunday when...