Free Republic

On Dec. 21, amid his morning workout, an afternoon round of golf and a family dinner with friends, President Obama interrupted his Hawaii vacation to consult by phone with his top national security team in Washington. Egypt had introduced a resolution at the U.N. Security Council condemning Israeli settlements as illegal, and a vote was scheduled for the next day. The idea had been circulating at the council for months, but the abrupt timing was a surprise. Obama was open to abstaining, he said on the call, provided the measure was “balanced” in its censure of terrorism and Palestinian violence...

Palestinian terrorist leaders often use teenagers to commit acts of terror because they know that the Israeli legal system treats child terrorists more leniently than adult terrorists. Now ten members of the “progressive caucus” of the Democratic Party are trying to give these terrorist leaders another reason for using even younger terrorists to kill even more innocent civilians. On November 14, Representative Betty McCollum introduced legislation — co-sponsored by nine other “progressive” members of Congress calling on the State Department to “prevent United States tax dollars from supporting the Israeli military’s ongoing detention and mistreatment of Palestinian children.” In a...

When Egyptian general Al-Sisi ousted the Muslim Brotherhood from power, many in the West celebrated his coup. The Muslim Brotherhood's leader Mohammed Morsi had been an extremist intent on "cleansing" his country of Egypt's Christians, known as Copts. However, since becoming president, Al-Sisi has done little to nothing to protect the Copts. In fact, under his rule, more churches have been closed down than ever before. Christians are regularly targeted by Islamist extremist terrorists, and Copts generally feel that they may not have a future in their country. Al-Monitor reports: When a long-awaited law on building and restoring churches went...

The removal of the Jews from the Arab world has been all but ignored, says Tom Gross It is not surprising, given the sheer scale of the Holocaust and its sadism, that it has dominated contemporary discourse among Jews and others. But, while the extermination of European Jews has rightfully (though belatedly) generated a great deal of study and research, the removal of the Jews from the Arab world has been all but ignored. This ignorance extends to policy-makers at the highest level. Some journalists and politicians I have spoken to have expressed surprise when I even mentioned that Jews...

Support for the terrorists and sanctions on Israel. Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical left and Islamic terrorism.Matt Duss had once compared Israel’s blockade of Hamas to “segregation in the American South.”  After the murder of the Henkin family in front of their children, the stabbing of a two-year-old and his mother in Jerusalem, Duss wrote, “it shouldn’t shock anyone that Israel’s harsh occupation and abuse provokes Palestinians.” He blamed the “rising violence” on Israel and not the PLO terrorists. "Israel does need to start facing...

ANKARA, Turkey – The United States will cut off its supply of arms to Kurdish fighters in Syria, President Donald Trump told the Turkish president on Friday, in a move sure to please Turkey but further alienate Syrian Kurds who bore much of the fight against the Islamic State group. In a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Trump said he’d “given clear instructions” that the Kurds will receive no more weapons — “and that this nonsense should have ended a long time ago,” said Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. The White House confirmed the move in a...

The Archbishop of Canterbury said yesterday that Britain must confront its historic responsibility for conflict in the Middle East. The Most Reverend Justin Welby said ‘our own responsibilities must be faced and acknowledged’ and singled out Britain’s behaviour during the First World War and its aftermath. The Archbishop also pointed to the British Empire, the global trading system, American culture and even Western championing of women’s and gay rights as factors which cause ‘humiliation’ and disaffection among some Muslims.

The European Union rebuked Israel on Friday, condemning the Jewish state for the demolition of illegal Arab buildings and demanding Israel refrain from further demolitions. In a statement released by the local Office of the European Union Representative, the EU slammed Israel over the planned eviction of Bedouin squatters who established illegal settlements in the northern Jordan Valley in eastern Israel over the past decade. Ein al-Hilweh and Umm Jamal, home to an estimated 400 Bedouin squatters, were first established in the mid-2000s. The two illegal settlements, which have sprawled around roads and intersections, have hindered traffic in the area,...

The deputy head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Brigadier General Hossein Salami, warned Europe on Saturday that if it threatens Tehran, the Guards will increase the range of missiles to above 2000 kilometers. “If we have kept the range of our missiles to 2000 kilometers, it’s not due to lack of technology. ... We are following a strategic doctrine,” Salami said, according to the Reuters news agency, which cited a report in Iranian media. “So far we have felt that Europe is not a threat, so we did not increase the range of our missiles. But if Europe wants to turn...

Khaled Al-Batash, one of the senior leaders of the Islamic Jihad terrorist group in Gaza, reiterated on Saturday that the organization is determined to retaliate for Israel blowing up a terror tunnel which led from Gaza into Israel, resulting in the deaths of 17 terrorists, most of them members of the Islamic Jihad. The bodies of 12 of the terrorists were recovered by the Palestinian Authority (PA), while Israel recovered and is holding the bodies of the remaining five. In an interview with the Palestinian Arab Quds Press news agency, Batash said, "We are not discussing with anyone our right...

A criminal justice college in New York City is embroiled in a battle with the Pentagon over exhibiting and helping to sell artwork by suspected al Qaeda terrorists at Guantanamo Bay. John Jay College of Criminal Justice is displaying 36 pieces of art by Gitmo detainees but the Department of Defense wants the paintings and sculptures destroyed. The school is funded by tax payers. Families of 9/11 victims were particularly upset to learn about the artwork. 'I can't understand how this college in particular would allow such a thing. Where's their decency? Where's their dignity? . . . It's denying...

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The Houston Muslim community invited their neighbors to a special event aimed at building bridges between cultures and ending stereotypes about Muslims. The event provided attendees the opportunity to meet their Muslim neighbors, ask questions, clear misconceptions, dispel stereotypes, and create friendships. "Muslims are hosting this event for our neighbors to provide them with an opportunity to get to know the Muslim community and Learn about Islam," said Sultan Salahuddin of ICNA Houston.

Friday’s bloodthirsty attack on a mosque in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula during noontime prayers was a crime against all humanity. It wasn’t “just” an attack on Muslims. It was an attack on all of us who believe in civilization, tolerance and decency. At least 235 peaceful worshippers died, with more than 100 wounded. One is tempted to call it the work of beasts, but no creature in the animal kingdom behaves with such avid, calculated cruelty. Yet, the attack can be explained — though the explanation only makes it worse. Islamist fanatics struck with bombs and automatic weapons, slaughtering first the...

Terrorists have killed 235 people and injured over 100 others in a mosque attack in Sinai, Egypt. The militants opened fire on worshippers during Friday prayer. It is the deadliest attack on Egyptian civilians ever waged by Islamic extremists, according to the Associated Press.The terrorists have been wreaking havoc in the region for years, but no attack had reached this magnitude. The attack targeted a mosque frequented by Sufis, members of Islam’s mystical movement, in the north Sinai town of Bir al-Abd. Islamic militants, including the local affiliate of the Islamic State group, consider Sufis heretics because of their less...

 Gunmen attacked a packed mosque in Egypt's restive North Sinai province on Friday and set off a bomb, killing at least 155 people in one of the country's deadliest attacks in recent memory, state media reported. A bomb explosion ripped through the Al Rawda mosque roughly 40 kilometres west of the North Sinai capital of Al Arish before gunmen opened fire on the worshippers gathered for weekly Friday prayers, officials said. At least 120 others were injured in the attack...

At least 235 people have been killed in a bomb and gun attack on a mosque in Egypt's northern Sinai Peninsula, according to state media. The attack took place in the al-Rawda village, west of el-Arish, shortly after Friday prayers. Egyptian state media MENA provided the death toll, citing an official security source. It also said that 120 people were wounded in the attack. The silence in Sinai: Covering Egypt's 'war on terror' Local media reports said that attackers planted explosives and then opened fire on worshippers while the sermon was under way. Egypt has for years been battling an...

At least 155 people were killed and more than 120 wounded in a bombing and shooting attack against worshipers at a mosque in the northern Sinai after Friday prayers. Egypt's government has declared three days of mourning in response to the attack that struck the Al-Rawdah mosque in Bir al-Abed west of El-Arish. The attack was complex and involved bombs and shooting. Reuters reports that witnesses saw terrorists enter the mosque to kill worshipers during Friday prayers, when mosques see the largest attendance. The attack began around noon time. They also attempted to prevent rescue services from reaching the area.

At least 235 people were killed and another 109 injured in an attack on a Sufi mosque in Egypt's North Sinai region on Friday, Egyptian state-run media reported, in what appears to be the deadliest terror attack on Egyptian soil. After at least two explosions, gunmen who were waiting outside the mosque opened fire at worshipers as they fled Friday prayers, state-owned Ahram Online said. The attack targeted al Rawdah mosque, situated in the village of al Rawdah between Bir al-Abed and the city of al-Arish.

(CNN)Police are responding to an incident at the Oxford Circus underground station in London. The British Transport Police said on Twitter that officers were on the scene, but gave no further details. The station is located on the city's busy Oxford Street, a shopping strip usually busy with pedestrians and heavy traffic. The incident comes as throngs of shoppers flocked to the area for Black Friday retail sales. Developing story - more to come

Britain has spent £78 million protecting the Falkland Islands with a new missile defense shield also used by Israel, Russia Today reported Thursday. The Falklands’ new Sky Sabre defense system is part of a £280-million renewal package for the islands announced by then-defense secretary Michael Fallon in 2015. The Sabre uses radar to track short-range rockets and can predict a missile’s path and blow it out of the sky before it reaches its target. The shield utilizes the same technology as Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system, which has shot down hundreds of rockets fired from Gaza. It will be fully...