Free Republic

The number of Salafists in Germany has risen to its highest ever level, according to the country’s intelligence chief, sparking fears radical Islamist extremism is on the up. Hans-Georg Maassen said people adhering to the fundamentalist Islamic ideology had ‘risen to an all-time high’, with the German intelligence agency BfV claiming it is now at 10,800 – it was at 9,700 in December last year. He said recruitment to Salafism is now taking place in ark corners of the internet, which is hard to police. Maassen also said Islamists coming from the North Caucasus were especially dangerous as many of them had...

Akayed Ullah has been identified as the suspected bomber of a Manhattan transit terminal on Monday morning, NYPD Commissioner John O’Neill told reporters. Ullah, 27, resides in Brooklyn and came to the United States approximately seven years ago, a U.S. official told The Daily Beast. Ullah had a pipe bomb strapped to his body when it exploded in a passageway between two subway platforms, NYPD official John Miller said.

Full Title: BREAKING NEWS - 'Terror attack' in New York: Footage shows the moment 'pipe bomb malfunctions and explodes prematurely, injuring ISIS-inspired Bangladeshi suspect in his 20s wearing wires' An explosion was felt Monday morning in the Subway station underneath the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan Police have taken one man into custody, who was reportedly carrying a pipe bomb The suspect is a 27-year-old Bangladeshi national who has been living in the U.S. for seven years Former NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said the suspect 'supposedly was setting the device off in the name of ISIS' and that...

Nidal Sakr labels Trump “enemy of God” and tweets, “Down with America!!!” What do you get when you have an individual who was acquainted with the founders of al-Qaeda and recruited into a terrorist cell by one of them; who was sentenced to death for the murder of an Egyptian policeman; who is consistently leveling threats at world leaders; and who is currently living in the United States? The answer can be nothing short of ‘Trouble.’ The individual in question is Muslim Brotherhood operative and Chairman of the March for Justice, Nidal Sakr. Recently, Sakr took to social media to...

An explosion has reportedly gone off at New York's main bus station - with terrified tourists seen "stampeding" from the scene. A bomb squad has been dispatched to Manhattan's Port Authority Bus Terminal following the reported blast, witnesses claim. Taking to Twitter this morning, one woman wrote: "Just was stuck in a running stampede at port authority bus terminal due to bomb scare." She added: "Cops EVERYWHERE." The reports are currently unconfirmed. We'll be bringing you the very latest updates, pictures and video on this breaking news story.

"I strongly condemn any attack on Jews anywhere in the world and on Israeli citizens," the EU foreign minister said...

Ten Guatemalan parliamentarians signed a letter to the president of Guatemala in which they requested to transfer their embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, according to Israel Hayom. The letter was also reportedly given to MK Haim Yellin (Yesh Atid), who visited the Guatemalan parliament last week with MK Yifat Shasha-Biton (Kulanu). The letter joins yesterday's report that Guatemalan Foreign Minister Sandra Jovel said Guatemala supports President Trump's statement ...

..... "We will continue not to decide on the status of Jerusalem until it is determined in negotiations."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made his first trip abroad, to Paris, since US President Donald Trump announced last week that the US would recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, drawing international condemnation and sparking violent protests across the Middle East and beyond. Standing side-by-side with French President Emmanuel Macron during a post-meeting press conference on Sunday, Netanyahu attempted to strike a conciliatory tone, calling the French leader an indispensable leader in the quest for peace in the Middle East. Even as thousands of Israelis protested against Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, the prime minister insisted he was open...

Denmark will not follow the example of the United States and move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem following US president Donald Trump’s controversial announcement on Wednesday, foreign minister Anders Samuelsen has confirmed. “Jerusalem’s status is one of the most sensitive areas in a peace agreement. The Danish government therefore believes that Jerusalem’s status should be a shared capital for two states, unless the two parts agree differently. That was our position before, and it still is,” Samuelsen said in a written statement to news agency Ritzau. “The government has therefore no plans to move the Danish...

The 1662 Book of Common Prayer translates Psalm 122 more elegantly even than the King James Bible. “Jerusalem is built as a city that is at unity in itself.” Hubert Parry set those words to music in 1902 for the investiture of King Edward VII, and his gorgeous anthem has been sung at every subsequent British Coronation. But Jerusalem has rarely been “at unity in itself,” and it certainly is not today. Neither the dazzling Anglican hymn, nor Thomas Cranmer’s baroque translation, nor, indeed, the original Hebrew words bear much relation to contemporary reality. The status of Jerusalem isn’t part...

The U.S. military allowed thousands of Islamic State militant group (ISIS) fighters to flee from their de facto capital of Raqqa, Syria, in a secret deal that boosted the U.S. fight against the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, according to a former Pentagon-backed commander, who has since switched his allegiance to Turkey and who spoke to Reuters. As the spokesperson for the Syrian Democratic Forces, a mostly Kurdish coalition of Arabs and ethnic minorities, Brigadier General Talal Silo acted as the face and the voice of the U.S.’s leading partner against ISIS in Syria. The U.S.-backed group successfully ousted...

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri is now disclosing the nature of his resignation, and why he left Lebanon to spend time in Saudi Arabia. It appears the Saudi and regional partners provided evidence that Iran and Hezbollah were planning an assassination targeting Hariri and his family.

The Trump administration chastised the Palestinian Authority on Sunday, expressed regret that PA leaders would not meet with Vice President Mike Pence during his upcoming visit to Israel this month, following President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital last week and plans to relocate the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Ahead of President Trump’s declaration Wednesday, the Palestinian Authority warned that such a move would mark the end of any hopes for a negotiated settlement between Israel and the PA during the Trump administration. Following Trump’s statement last week, the PA announced that Vice President Mike Pence,...

It's the knowing smirk that rankles most. When Donald Trump flashes his grating, self-satisfied grin, he's signalling to you and me that he's untouchable, beyond the reach of special counsel, Robert Mueller, and the comical remnants of the "rule of law". It's his easy, quick way of quashing the frayed spirits and hopes of those of us aching for his belated comeuppance and eviction from the White House. But Trump knows he's not going anywhere, anytime soon. So, he basks in his immunity and smiles. It's his tiny middle finger to anyone who believes that Mueller, the FBI or Congress...

If you’re ISIS in Iraq, this has not been a good year. President Trump has delivered on his promise to “Bomb the (expletive)” out of you and his generals have been given the green light to hunt every last one of you down and kill you. Mission accomplished. In an address yesterday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi formally announced that the more than three-year fight against the barbaric terror group is over after the country’s security forces drove the extremists from all of the territory they once held. ISIS in Iraq is defeated. Say what you will about this president,...

 The Israeli military on Sunday said it has destroyed a tunnel built by the Hamas militant group that stretched from the Gaza Strip several hundred meters (yards) into Israeli territory, declaring a breakthrough in its war against underground threats from the Palestinian enclave. Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, told reporters that Israel had used a new set of “tools” developed since a 2014 war with Hamas in order to destroy the tunnel. He said forces had detected the tunnel months ago and continued to monitor construction efforts by Hamas militants before demolishing it. ... Conricus said a new...

A member of the ruling Hungarian party posted a Facebook picture of a dead pig with the caption "this was Soros." The ruling party, Fidesz, accuses Jewish billionaire George Soros of working to allow migrants entry into Hungary. The party member denied referring to Soros and claimed another possible interpretation...

North Korea has lambasted US President Donald Trump for recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital, renewing its description of him as a "dotard" in a statement released Saturday on state media. Trump and North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Un have traded threats of war and personal insults in recent months as tensions remain high over the North's missile and nuclear threats. Now the hermit state has joined near-universal condemnation of the US president's decision on Jerusalem, calling it a "reckless, wicked act". "Considering the fact that the mentally deranged dotard openly called for a total destruction of a sovereign state at the...

Czech President Milos Zeman on Saturday accused EU states of being "cowards" in their response to his U.S. President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. "The European Union, cowards, are doing all they can so a pro-Palestinian terrorist movement can have supremacy over a pro-Israeli movement," said Zeman, according to AFP. The 73-year-old Zeman, targeting a second term from January and who had Friday said he was happy at Trump's controversial move, made Saturday's comment before delegates attending the congress of the far right Freedom and Direct Democracy party, which opposes immigration and the EU. Zeman added that...