Free Republic

Australian intelligence agencies have discovered the Iranian Government directed at least two anti-Semitic attacks in Australia. Anthony Albanese on Tuesday said the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation had established the Iranian government was behind an October 20 attack on Bondi’s Lewis’ Continental Kitchen, and the December 6 fire bombing of the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne. The Australian government pulled its diplomats from Tehran and has moved to expel Iran’s ambassador to Australia. “ASIO assesses it is likely Iran directed further attacks as well,” the Prime Minister said. “I can also announce the government will legislate to list Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary...

"Israel just made all the Middle East happy tonight." — Israeli-Lebanese Christian journalist Jonathan Elkhoury, X, September 27, 2024. "As a Lebanese, this is one of the happiest days in Lebanon's history.... As a human being who holds peace before my eyes, this is the most important day for our region. Nasrallah and Hezbollah have terrorized the Lebanese people since the 1980s.... Every Lebanese and every decent human being should feel joy at the downfall of one of the greatest evils of our time. Now, we have a real chance to look forward... and sitting down with Israelis and the...

An even better question: Why are Hezbollah leaders still meeting in Beirut?The Israelis launched another massive attack on a building complex "on the outskirts of Beirut," the New York Times reports this morning. This apparently refers to Dahiyeh, the suburb controlled by Hamas Hezbollah [corrected], and where Israelis killed longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah a few days ago. Reportedly, Nasrallah's presumed successor had gathered with what's left of Hezbollah's command, and ... well ...Israel bombed a meeting of Hezbollah’s senior leadership around midnight on Thursday, a gathering that included Hashem Safieddine, the presumed successor of Hassan Nasrallah, the group’s longtime...

The IDF publishes a summary of Operation Rising Lion, ... According to the report, for months leading up to the operation, Military Intelligence gathered evidence that Iran was rapidly enriching uranium to 60% - a level sufficient to produce several nuclear bombs in a short time. Intelligence also revealed a covert regime plan involving advanced nuclear weapon research and experimentation in key areas. In parallel, the Iranian regime was preparing to triple its production of precision missiles, expanding its arsenal from 2,500 to 8,000 missiles. This was part of a broader strategy that included a multi-front attack against Israel, beginning...

A former CIA analyst pleaded guilty today to retaining and transmitting Top Secret National Defense Information to people who were not entitled to receive it, information which was publicly posted on a social media platform in October 2024.According to court documents, Asif William Rahman, 34, of Vienna, was an employee of the CIA since 2016 and had a Top-Secret security clearance with access to Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI).“Mr. Rahman betrayed the trust of the American people by unlawfully sharing classified national defense information he swore an oath to protect,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s...

One of Iran's top military commanders is believed to have been killed in an Israeli attack that targeted the new leader of terror group Hezbollah. Esmail Qaani, head of the Quds Force – the elite wing of the feared Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) – was reported to be with the new leader of Hezbollah, Hashem Safieddine, who was targeted in his HQ bunker in Beirut by the Israelis. The air strike on Thursday night during heavy bombing of southern Beirut was mounted as Safieddine held a secret meeting with other Hezbollah leaders in the underground intelligence headquarters.

An Iranian general who promised to “see the dead bodies of Americans all over the Middle East” is missing after an Israeli attack in Lebanon that may have also killed the presumed new Hezbollah chief. The whereabouts of Brig. Gen. Esmail Qaani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, remains a mystery after Friday’s airstrike in Beirut, the New York Times reported. Some Arab and Israeli outlets say he is dead, while others report him as wounded. Lebanese security forces also have lost contact with Hashem Safieddine, a top local Hezbollah official and the presumed successor to the terror group’s...

Protests against the arrest of a pro-Palestine Columbia graduate student are being organized by a Marxist revolutionary group that is pro-Communism, anti-Israel, and has potential links to the Chinese Communist Party. Mahmoud Khalil, a leader in the pro-Palestine and anti-Israel encampments at Columbia University, was detained earlier this month by the Trump administration, with the Department of Homeland Security arguing that he “led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.” The People’s Forum helped organize some of the campus chaos and is now organizing protests to free Khalil. Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) is the pro-Palestine and anti-Israel group...

An ex-CIA analyst was sentenced to more than three years in prison Wednesday for leaking top secret documents about Israel’s plans to retaliate against Iran last year. Asif William Rahman, 34, had pleaded guilty in January to two counts of willful retention and transmission of classified information after he was arrested for absconding with records from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency last October that indicated Israel was planning to launch airstrikes in response to a massive Iranian missile attack. Rahman, who had been a CIA employee since 2016 and had access to top secret documents, leaked the stolen information on social...

A Pakistani national was arrested in Canada this week for allegedly plotting a mass shooting at a Jewish center in New York City on the anniversary of the October 7 terrorist attack by Hamas militants against Israeli civilians. Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, 20, also known as Shahzeb Jadoon, was charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to the terrorist organization ISIS, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). “The defendant is alleged to have planned a terrorist attack in New York City around October 7th of this year with the stated goal of slaughtering, in the name of ISIS,...

The small South Caucasus nation of Georgia has become a multi-billion dollar hub for the international used car market. The vehicles are mostly sourced from the US, and many appear to be ending up in Russia. Equivalent in size to more than 40 football pitches, it hosts thousands of vehicles up for sale. He says that his company has responded to “a lot of demand for Western-produced vehicles”. Today the firm has 600 employees.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is recovering in intensive care after having emergency surgery to drain blood from his brain, a medical note published by the country's government said. The leftist politician, known as Lula, had reduced travel in recent months while doctors monitored his recovery from a trauma he suffered to the back of his head after falling at his home in late October.

[Catholic Caucus] Pope says Church must ‘confront forms of paganism’ in secularismIn his meeting with his brother Jesuits in Belgium, Pope Francis call secularization a “complex phenomenon” and noted sometimes the Church must “confront forms of paganism.”Speaking to 150 Jesuits in Brussels on Sep. 28, the pontiff answered a question from a member living in Amsterdam, one of the most secularized cities in the world.In his reply, Francis noted he didn’t mean a paganism like the one in the ancient world.“We do not need a statue of a pagan god to talk about paganism: The very environment, the air we...

It’s been obvious for years that China has a Potemkin economy, kept alive by slave labor, market bubbles, and government underwriting. it can’t last forever. The latest grim forecast about the economy comes from Peter St Onge, an economist with a much deeper fund of knowledge about and understanding of the Chinese economy than I could have in a thousand lifetimes.The biggest hint that the Chinese economy was in trouble was the demise of Evergrande, a massive property developer in China. The bankruptcy was huge, with the company’s assets valued at a probably inflated $245 billion and debts of $300...

U.S. Air Force Captain Daniel Alwan breached operational security, revealing in a now-deleted post that he’s in Israel preparing for a strike on Iran. Meanwhile, ten U.S. Air Force Stratotankers—critical for mid-air refueling of fighter jets—were spotted en route to the Middle East. Is the Biden-Harris administration likely to lead us into a war before the election?

Huh. This sure reeks of election desperation, doesn't it? After welcoming Venezuelan immigrants -- including violent gang members and other criminals -- into the U.S., the Biden administration is not extending their legal status. NEWS — The Biden administration will not be extending the legal status of tens of thousands of Venezuelan migrants who were allowed to fly to the U.S. under a sponsorship program, according to officials and internal documents.https://t.co/KCL5242Ncn — Camilo Montoya-Galvez (@camiloreports) October 3, 2024 CBS News Reports: The Biden administration will not be extending the legal status of tens of thousands of Venezuelan migrants who were...

It’s been a couple of weeks since the infamous “Signalgate” controversy erupted. Just as most Americans had moved on from this non-scandal, we have finally learned how Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor of The Atlantic, got into the encrypted group chat on Signal in the first place. For sure, this story was overblown from the get-go. Goldberg clearly oversold the chat as containing classified war plans, though a review of the chat, which Goldberg eventually published, proved the chat to be a real nothingburger. That said, the mainstream media quickly pounced on the story, and Democrats used the incident as a...

President Biden said Thursday that the US is “discussing” the possibility of Israel bombing Iranian oil facilities as payback for a volley of nearly 200 rockets fired at the Jewish state on Tuesday — causing a spike in global crude prices. Biden said the oil strike option was under consideration when asked directly by a reporter as he left the White House. “We’re discussing that. I think that would be a little… anyway,” the retiring 81-year-old president said ... Within 45 minutes of Biden’s remark, crude oil futures spiked to about $74 per barrel from its opening price of $70.10,...

Former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Jessica Aber, who was found dead at the age of 43 by Virginia authorities on Saturday, was at the helm of high-profile investigations into intelligence leaks, allegations of war crimes against Russian-linked individuals and people suspected of providing sensitive U.S. technology to Moscow before she stepped down at the start of the year. Why It Matters Aber, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, resigned in January after President Donald Trump was inaugurated. She had risen to lead one of the most important federal prosecutor's offices and roughly 300 prosecutors, civil...

The strikes targeted facilities in parts of Yemen controlled by the Iran-backed group. U.S. B-2 bombers and other aircraft struck five underground Houthi weapons storage locations in parts of Yemen that the Iranian-backed rebel group controls, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday. The facilities, which officials said were hardened, housed "various weapons components of types that the Houthis have used to target civilian and military vessels throughout the region," Austin said. Houthi rebels have attacked civilian vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The group was suspected in an attack in August. The strikes were the first...