Free Republic

How holding Palestinian elections threatens to expose Fatah. The Palestinian attempt to appease the Biden administration by holding Palestinian elections threatens to reveal the flabbiness and collapse of Fatah, which lies at the heart of the Palestinian Authority. Recently, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas threatened Fatah members who opted to run outside the Fatah list with death. This apparently occurred last week during a Fatah Revolutionary Council meeting in Ramallah. Abbas had barred members of the Fatah Central Committee, Revolutionary Council, and Consultative Council from running in the upcoming legislative elections. This ban also included current ministers, ambassadors, governors, security officials,...

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the...

Shantika Briley was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly beating a man with a pipe when he reportedly sexually assaulted her 9-year-old daughter. The 35-year-old Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, mom said she caught the presently unnamed 39-year-old man “licking her daughter’s lips and trying to kiss her.” Briley allegedly responded with a pipe, beating the man in the head and face until he fled out the front door with Briley still in pursuit. [SNIP] Briley has been charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, and harassment but was released after posting a $25,000 bond. As of the time of this writing, she has yet...

This Christmas, South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg sought to draw his followers to a sacred story that helps shape the presidential candidate’s worldview and politics. But the pushback he received — mostly from conservative Christians — illuminates how one of the burgeoning culture wars during the 2020 election is the meaning of Christianity. Buttigieg, an Episcopalian who often discusses his faith on the campaign trail, sought to tie the Nativity story to some of the issues dominating political discourse. He tweeted: “Today I join millions around the world in celebrating the arrival of divinity on earth, who came into...

When Israel relinquished control of Bethlehem to Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Authority as part of the Oslo Accord agreement in 1995, 85% of this prosperous town were middle class Christians. Business and life was good when it was part of Israel. By Christmas 2019, Christians are less than 10% of the population in an economically stricken town. How did this come about? In 1995, Elias Freij was that the last Christian mayor of Bethlehem. He appealed to Israeli Prime Minister, Yizchak Rabin, not to withdraw from the city as part of the Accords due to his fear for the...

Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. … And being warned of...

The Israeli daily Ha’aretz is reporting that a bronze ring found 50 years ago at the Herodion excavation near Bethlehem has been discovered to bear the name of Pontius Pilate, Roman governor of Jerusalem and the man who ordered the crucifixion of Jesus, according to the New Testament. Ha’aretz reports that the name was discovered on the ring with the use of a special camera at the Israel Antiquities Authority labs. The letters on the ring spelled out in Greek writing “Pilatus.” The words surrounded a picture of a wine vessel. Hebrew University Professor Danny Schwartz told Ha’aretz that Pilatus...

A 2,000-year-old bronze ring found near Bethlehem bears the name of Pontius Pilate, the Roman official who ordered Jesus Christ to be crucified, archeologists have revealed.

Researchers have deciphered an ancient inscription on a bronze ring first found 50 years ago pointing to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor who ordered Jesus Christ’s crucifixion. Haaretz reported that the ring in question was first discovered at the site of Herodion near the West Bank’s Bethlehem by professor Gideon Forster from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, shortly after the Six-Day War in 1968-69. The owner of the ring had remained a mystery for some 50 years, however, but a recent cleansing and special camera work at the Israel Antiquities Authority labs found Greek writing on the ring, which translates...

A British aid worker was killed Friday in a U.N. compound in the West Bank during a gunbattle between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen — the first senior U.N. official to die in over two years of fighting. The United Nations accused Israeli soldiers of preventing an ambulance from immediately reaching Iain Hook, a senior manager for UNRWA, the U.N. agency that helps Palestinian refugees. The Israeli army said he was evacuated from the U.N. compound in the Jenin refugee camp as soon as possible. The death occurred hours after Israel reoccupied the West Bank town of Bethlehem for the...

Palestinians hang a burning puppet bearing the portrait of US President Donald Trump, during a mock trial for him and Vice President Mike Pence in the Aida refugee camp in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) — Dozens of Palestinians in Bethlehem are protesting the arrival of the Greek Orthodox patriarch of the Holy Land to celebrate Orthodox Christmas. The protesters scuffled with Palestinian police and church supporters Saturday as Theophilos III made his way toward the Church of the Nativity, revered as Jesus’ birthplace. Palestinians have been demanding his resignation for allegedly selling church land to Israelis in sweetheart deals. …

Despite attempts by modern biblical scholarship to debunk the gospel account of three magi visiting the newborn Jesus in Bethlehem, the stories were “historically true” according to extensive research by author Dwight Longenecker. In his new book, Mystery of the Magi: The Quest to Identify the Three Wise Men, Longenecker, a scholar and Catholic priest, states that an impartial study of the relevant data “shows beyond reasonable doubt” that the Magi of Matthew’s gospel were historical figures. For many years, Longenecker writes, skeptical scholars have rejected the possibility that the infancy stories about Jesus could be historical for a number...

The Bible tells us very little about the magi. Their story appears but once, in the Gospel of Matthew (2:1-12), where they are described as mysterious visitors "from the east" who come to Jerusalem looking for the child whose star they observed "at its rising." After meeting with King Herod, who feigns an intention to worship the child but actually plans to destroy him, the magi follow the same star to Bethlehem. There, upon seeing the baby Jesus and his mother Mary, the magi kneel down and worship him, presenting him with their three famous gifts -- gold, frankincense and...

Hebrew University announces discovery of Roman king's tomb at Herodium near Jerusalem Reuters Published: 05.08.07, 00:50 / Israel News The Hebrew University of Jerusalem announced on Monday the discovery of the grave and tomb of Herod the Great, the Roman empire's "King of the Jews" In ancient Judea. The University said in a brief statement the discovery was made at Herodium, where Herod's hilltop fortress palace once stood some 7 miles from the holy city where he had rebuilt and expanded the Jewish Temple. The university said it would give further details at a news conference on Tuesday. The Gospel...

One of the leaders in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) spoke out against the removal of Confederate statues, saying they are a part of history. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday at City Hall in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, local NAACP chapter president Esther Lee expressed her frustration with the current state of affairs in the U.S., WFMZ reported. “I think it’s all senseless. All senseless,” Lee said. “You know, we’re 108 years in as NAACPers and we might think things would improve, but they do not. You know we still have this factor about black and white.”...

Two Arab inhabitants of Bethlehem were arrested last week on suspicion of throwing stones and firebombs at Rachel’s Tomb. One of them was indicted and is being held under arrest until the end of proceedings. Police have recently been conducting a covert investigation of Arabs who on several recent occasions arrived at the fence near the Rachel’s Tomb compound and are suspected of throwing stones and firebombs at security forces operating there. As the investigation progressed and an evidentiary infrastructure was established, two Arabs aged 18 and 21 were arrested on suspicion of planning, preparing, and throwing firebombs and stones...

From Coach Collins, on December 25th In this time of worry about the future of our nation let us pause to remember the gift God gave us on the first Christmas morning. Here is the story of Christ’s birth as told to us by St. Luke @2: 1-20) 1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled. 2 This was the first enrollment, when Quirin’i-us was governor of Syria. 3 And all went to be enrolled, each to his own city. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the...

Why Was Jesus Born When and Where He Was? Msgr. Charles Pope • December 22, 2016 • In preparation for the coming of Christmas, we have been discussing some of St. Thomas Aquinas’ writings. In today’s last installment we’ll be looking at his commentary on the time and place of Jesus’ birth.We live in a culture today that tends toward a kind of temporal pride. We think that we have come of age, that we are smarter and wiser than our forebears. Scientific, technical, and medical knowledge are more highly developed to be sure, but there is more to...

Lynch mobs run wild on Bethlehem's streetsAs US envoy Anthony Zinni starts his peace mission, West Bank Palestinians resort to execution of collaborators By Phil Reeves in Bethlehem 15 March 2002 US demands Israeli military withdrawal Wars breed hate, inhumanity and lawlessness. And this degrading trinity was on full display in Israeli-occupied Bethlehem yesterday outside the ancient church marking the place of Christ's birth. Manger Square has become a wild, blood-drenched place, the scene yesterday of a lynching. Two years ago, the Pope shuffled across its flagstones, blessing Catholic pilgrims who had come by the thousand from across the globe...