Free Republic

Russia and Iran will speed up work on a "major new interstate agreement", the Russian foreign ministry said on Tuesday. -snip- Iran is the main backer of Israel's enemy Hamas. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone with Putin on Sunday and voiced "robust disapproval" of Russia's "dangerous" cooperation with Iran. Iranian authorities have said military cooperation with Russia is expanding day by day. Iran said last month it had finalised arrangements for Russia to provide it with Su-35 fighter jets, Mi-28 attack helicopters and Yak-130 pilot training aircraft.

EU officials will begin drawing up a list of extremist Israeli settlers who have been attacking Palestinians in the West Bank so they may be subject to potential sanctions, according to the EU’s chief diplomat. The announcement by Josep Borrell followed the statement earlier by Tánaiste Micheál Martin that Ireland would be “very open” to imposing sanctions and travel bans on extremist settlers if there is no agreement at EU level. Mr. Borrell, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Policy, said the issue was discussed during today’s meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels. While there was as yet no...

Progressive firebrand Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez lashed out at the Biden administration for opposing a UN resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza. Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) called the White House reaction “shameful” in a post on X after the US vetoed a measure backed by almost all other Security Council members and dozens of other nations demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza. “The Biden Admin can no longer reconcile their professed concern for Palestinians and human rights while also single-handedly vetoing the UN’s call for ceasefire and sidestepping the entire US Congress to unconditionally back the indiscriminate bombing of Gaza,” she wrote.

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Two months after the start of the Israel-Hamas war, hundreds gathered at Eaton Plaza in downtown Fresno on Friday afternoon to raise the Palestinian flag. Hundreds gathered to watch the flag raised at Unity Park as their national anthem played. "It represents the triumph of our collective efforts to amplify our voice and shed light on the plight of our brothers and sisters back home," said a local Palestinian-American. "Today we send a message to the world: the Palestinian people will not be silenced."

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States vetoed a United Nations resolution Friday backed by almost all other Security Council members and dozens of other nations demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza. Supporters called it a terrible day and warned of more civilian deaths and destruction as the war goes into its third month. The vote in the 15-member council was 13-1, with the United Kingdom abstaining. The United States' isolated stand reflected a growing fracture between Washington and some of its closest allies over Israel's monthslong bombardment of Gaza. France and Japan were among those supporting the call...

Berlin welcomes US visa ban on settlers who have committed violence in West Bank, says EU foreign ministers to discuss similar measures next week Germany on Wednesday said that the EU member states will discuss possible sanctions on radical Israeli settlers. German Foreign Ministry spokesman told a news conference in Berlin that the issue will be discussed during an EU foreign ministers meeting next week. “We welcome that the US has adopted a clear stance, as just as we are, and now will take concrete measures in the form of entry restrictions,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Sebastian Fischer said. “It is...

United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres on Wednesday invoked Article 99 of the UN charter for the first time, citing a “severe risk of collapse of the humanitarian system in Gaza,” as the war rages on between Israel and militant group Hamas. In a letter to José Javier De la Gasca Lopez Domínguez, the current UN Security Council President, Gutteres said he expects “public order to completely break down due to desperate conditions, rendering even limited humanitarian assistance impossible.”

@jacksonhinklle Over 60,000 anti-Zionist Jews gathered in New York "Israel is not the state of the Jews." "Zionism is not Judaism."

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Protesters marching in Philadelphia against the bombardment of Gaza chanted about genocide Sunday outside an Israeli-style restaurant, leading Gov. Josh Shapiro to call the demonstration “antisemitic.” In Philadelphia’s Center City and University City neighborhoods, hundreds of people marched to criticize Israel’s military actions in Gaza, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. However, it was unclear why some specifically protested the restaurant. A video of demonstrators outside of Goldie Falafel depicted people chanting, “Goldie, Goldie, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide,” which garnered backlash from the Democratic governor

French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday said that Israel should clarify its goals in the war against Hamas, claiming that totally destroying the organization could take 10 years. "We are at a moment when Israeli authorities must more precisely define their objectives and their final goal: the total destruction of Hamas, does anyone think it is possible? If this is the case, the war will last 10 years," Macron told a press conference at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, as quoted by Reuters. "There is no lasting security for Israel in the region if its security is achieved at...

Anti-Israel protests at American universities have made headlines in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. And almost simultaneously, many conservative critics — including GOP presidential candidates — have used those protests as an opportunity to ramp up their assault on higher education, eagerly yoking them to their long-standing accusations of “liberal indoctrination.” Eliminationist chants, partisan DEI officers, angry mobs hey-hey, ho-ho-ing their support for terrorists — in terms of Republican's favorite straw men, the “woke,” liberal campus of 2023 has them all! Institutions of higher education, conservatives charge, are complicit in fostering an atmosphere of intimidation and even violence...

CAPE TOWN — Presidents Putin and XI and other leaders from the Brics bloc of developing countries will hold a virtual meeting on the Israel-Hamas war on Tuesday, with Secretary General Guterres also participating. The leaders of fellow Brics members Brazil, India, and South Africa, as well as of Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates, which are set to join the bloc in January, will also take part, according to the office of President Ramaphosa of South Africa. Mr. Ramaphosa will chair the “extraordinary meeting” because of South Africa’s position as current chair of Brics,...

Representative Madeleine Dean (D-PA) said Friday on MSNBC’s “José Díaz-Balart Reports” that a two-state solution must come out of the Israel-Hamas war started by the October 7 Hamas terror attack. Dean said, “I would tell you the meeting with the prime minister began and we were warned of this, began with a 20-minute video compilation of the brutality and the horror of a fraction of what happened on October 7. Images that I’ll never forget. Just the absolute barbarism, the burning of people, the beheadings, and then we began our conversation with the prime minister. And so when it came...

A pro-Palestine protest outside the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington D.C. has erupted into violence. Police have already made several arrests after 150 activists 'violently' attempted to storm the building on Wednesday night. Hundreds of protesters gathered to call for a ceasefire in the Israel Gaza conflict, but clashes quickly began between demonstrators and DC Metro police.

Capitol Police said they are working to "keep back" 150 people who are "illegally and violently" protesting outside of the Democratic National Committee in Washington, D.C. They said they were making arrests but didn't say how many. It appears, based on social media postings, that protesters are calling for a cease-fire in the Middle East.

Gaza might become an international protectorate after the war, the EU has said, adding that neither Palestinian group Hamas nor Israel should ever rule there again. “After the previous Gaza wars, Hamas immediately started rebuilding its arsenal and preparing for the next conflict. This cannot be the case any longer. Different ideas are being discussed on how this can be ensured, including an international peace force under UN mandate,” said European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on Monday (6 November). “There can be no long-term Israeli security presence in Gaza. Gaza is an essential part of any future Palestinian...

The former leader of Fatah in Gaza, Mohammed Dahlan, has been living in exile in the United Arab Emirates for the past 10 years, where he has become a successful businessman. Born in the Palestinian coastal enclave, Dahlan is a powerful financial force in Gaza and an influential figure in the wider region – if Hamas fell, could he return to power?

A group of pro-Palestine activists staged a protest at the global investment management corporation BlackRock’s headquarters in Manhattan on Thursday. The protesters carried banners and entered the lobby of BlackRock’s offices, chanting slogans calling for the company to cease its support for what they view as genocide profiteering and to free Palestine. The demonstration is part of a larger global movement of pro-Palestine protests that have been taking place in recent months. These protests were sparked by an outbreak of violence in the occupied territories that resulted in the loss of many Palestinian lives. From Washington, D.C., to London and...

<p>The top US military official indicated Thursday that Israel will have a harder time eradicating Hamas the longer its military campaign in the Gaza Strip drags out and the more civilians that are killed in the process.</p><p>US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Charles Q. Brown, asked whether he is concerned that the rapidly climbing non-combatant death toll in Israel’s war against Hamas will lead Palestinian civilians to turn to terror, responded, “Yes, very much so.</p>

Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Wednesday for a united and Palestinian-led government for Gaza and the West Bank after the war ends, as a step toward Palestinian statehood. That vision sharpens U.S. differences with ally Israel on what the future should look like for the Palestinian territories once Israel’s military campaign against Hamas winds down. Blinken’s outline of what Americans think should come next for Gaza also serves as a check on the postwar scenarios floated by officials of Israel’s hard-right government and its supporters. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement Monday that Israel’s military would likely maintain security...