Free Republic

A unity government will reportedly not be created, because Tzipi Livni thinks Benjamin Netanyahu does not adhere to the notion of the "two-state solution." But is this the only political solution? This is what Livni and many others around the world think, but it isn't so. Not only is it far from being the single solution, it’s a bad solution, and will likely never be achieved. The idea of "two states" is based on a series of assumptions: First, the assumption that the primary Palestinian national ambition is statehood. There is no basis to this. The Palestinian ethos is based...

Gazans want open borders, not handouts After billions pledged at international donor conference toward Strip's rebuilding, ordinary Palestinians say there will be no real success until border crossings are opened. 'I don't think we can derive hope from the conference,' resident says As the world's top diplomats pledged billion of dollars for war-ravaged Gaza in Egypt on Monday, ordinary people here, from merchants to housewives, said they'd rather have open borders than handouts. Donor Nations Egypt: $4.4B raised for Gaza reconstruction / News agencies During Sharm el-Sheik Gaza aid conference, where donors pledged $4.4 billion, Clinton says Obama administration has...

Like the GOP, Catholics today face an identity crisis. "Reformers" want the Church to liberalize by softening its positions on homosexuality, women priests, and abortion rights, to go with its already liberal policies on immigration, welfare, the death penalty and healthcare. Then there are your traditionalists who think the Church has abandoned its core principles in a wrong-headed attempt to get hip to the times -- even if the times are to a large extent decadent. The majority of "cafeteria" Catholics dine in moderation, selecting what looks good from official doctrine and passing on the rest.

A team of archaeologists in Israel has unearthed what's believed to be the royal seal of an Old Testament prince who is said to have tossed the prophet Jeremiah down a well. Royal seal bears name of Gedaliah, a prince to Judah's King Zedekiah, mentioned in the Old Testament Book of Jeremiah. (courtesy Dr. Eilat Mazar) The stamped engraving, known as a "bulla," was discovered earlier this year about 600 feet south of the Temple Mount, but is just now making headlines. Team leader Dr. Eilat Mazar of Jerusalem's Hebrew University says the imprint was found in clay, astonishingly well-preserved,...

The Midrash states "There are seventy names for Jerusalem." Seventy names, each reflecting a different aspect of this city and its residents, today and throughout history. Jerusalem is the capital of the state of Israel, a center and symbol and the heart of the Jewish nation for 3,000 years. Jerusalem has been the object of reverence, hope and prayer of the Jewish people for thousands of years, and is a holy city to millions of believers of the three largest monotheistic religions. Jerusalem is one of the most diverse and interesting cities of the world. Jerusalem is Israel's largest city,...

Sixty years after its establishment by an internationally recognized act of self-determination, Israel remains the only state in the world that is subjected to a constant outpouring of the most outlandish conspiracy theories and blood libels; whose policies and actions are obsessively condemned by the international community; and whose right to exist is constantly debated and challenged not only by its Arab enemies but by segments of advanced opinion in the West. During the past decade or so, the actual elimination of the Jewish state has become a cause célèbre among many of these educated Westerners. The “one-state solution,” as...

During the past week, Sen. Hillary Clinton has presented herself as a working class populist, the politician in touch with small town sentiments, compared to the elitism of her opponent, Sen. Barack Obama. But a telling anecdote from her husband's administration shows Hillary Clinton's attitudes about the "lunch-bucket Democrats" are not exactly pristine. In January 1995, as the Clintons were licking their wounds from the 1994 congressional elections, a debate emerged at a retreat at Camp David. Should the administration make overtures to working class white southerners who had all but forsaken the Democratic Party? The then-first lady took a...

One of the high points at which the drama could have turned into a farce within seconds occurred nine years ago at the Wye Plantation summit. After exhausting and debilitating efforts, we received from Yasser Arafat a promise (even if half-hearted and unwilling) to delete from the Palestinian Charter the sections calling for the destruction of Israel. Upon leaving the conference room, we saw one of the closest advisers of President Bill Clinton and proudly told him about our achievement. "Are you out of your minds?" he shouted. "He's going to be killed because of that. He is too weak...

A thundering silence on Temple Mount's depredation By Hershel Shanks The "Jewish State" is allowing Judaism's holiest site to have its priceless artifacts destroyed and nobody seems to care No one really cares. But that puts me in an elite group: It includes two of Israel's most prominent Jerusalem archaeologists (Gaby Barkay and Eilat Mazar) — and me. Meanwhile, the Muslim Waqf goes on tearing up Jerusalem's Temple Mount, where once the Jewish Temple stood. The week before last, they hit an ancient wall that might be the foundation of a wall from the Second Temple complex built by Herod...

Regaining biblical courage and zeal August 18th, 2007 · 5 Comments This weekend we watched The Last King of Scotland, and as the movie ended it reminded me that Israel used to defend its people with a level of courage, daring and zeal that I can only call “biblical.” The movie itself was about Idi Amin’s reign of terror in Uganda in the 1970s. But the final scene of the flick was the 1976 hostage crisis at Entebbe International Airport, when Palestinian terrorists hijacked an Air France plane full of Israelis and Jews and landed it in the Ugandan city...

Congress allows Saudi influence on US campuses Filed under: Front Page, USA When it comes to Saudi money Congress cringes and refuses to regulate the Saudi influence in our colleges By Lee Kaplan On March 29th, 2006 the media failed to report the failure of a new bill in the House of Representatives, H.R. bill 609, that would have amended the Higher Education Act of 1965 and required America’s colleges and universities to report any donations received from Saudi Arabia as part of the Title VI international education bill. The new bill, dubbed the Burton Amendment to the College Access...

Is the debate on Capitol Hill about immigration a sincere one? Are the politicians seriously pondering the fate of this nation of laws or are they more interested in their political hides? Those are the very questions American citizens should be asking themselves every time the John McCains use the "I" word. If you're a card-carrying member of the McCain clan then you believe, as Mexico's president does and as Mr. McCain recently said, that there "are certain jobs that Americans are simply not willing to do." The senator from Arizona stands with the elistists and liberals, whose point of...

Any guest-worker program approved by Congress for the nation's 11 million illegal aliens would spawn a new wave of cheap-labor illegals that already-overwhelmed federal authorities are unprepared to handle, law-enforcement authorities and immigration officials say. A former high-ranking U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) official said the federal government does not have an adequate post-legalization enforcement program to prevent an expected flood of fraudulent identity documents or sanction employers who hire the new illegals. "The new illegal aliens will be cheaper than the guest workers, and there will be nobody in the government to check up on them," said the...

The massive marches organized and orchestrated by people supporting illegal immigrants have created a political problem for elected officials. Meanwhile, uncontrolled borders create a major social and security problem for the country. Whose problem are the politicians trying to solve -- their own or the nation's? If you were trying to solve the country's problem, the first order of business would be to regain control of our own borders. After trying various ways of doing that, and seeing how each one worked out, members of Congress could later turn their attention to what to do about the millions of illegal...

Any immigration legislation passed by Congress this year will not include the inflammatory provisions approved by the House last year that make it a felony to be in the United States illegally, Republican leaders on Capitol Hill said yesterday. House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said in a joint statement that "it remains our intent to produce a strong border security bill that will not make unlawful presence in the United States a felony." The commitment removes a primary concern held by many Democrats who say that the yearlong imprisonment carried by a felony conviction...

WCC assembly demonstrates ‘spirit of antichrist,’ prof says Feb 28, 2006 By David Roach Baptist Press PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil (BP)--Recognizing the Holy Spirit in other religions, tolerating homosexual marriage and denouncing the U.S. war on terror were among the views advocated at the 9th World Council of Churches Assembly Feb. 14-23 in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Founded in 1948, the WCC describes itself as “the broadest and most inclusive among the many organized expressions of the modern ecumenical movement, a movement whose goal is Christian unity,” according to the group’s website. The WCC has 347 member denominations in more than 120...

I don’t know where in the world she came from, and and I don’t know why the brethren put up with her. All I know is that the one feature of the contemporary Roman Mass that I despise most is the Ubiquitous Song Leader. You know who I mean. She stands in front of the congregation and sings into the microphone, upraising her hand(s) whenever she wants the congregation to sing along with her. She dominates the liturgy. Not even the celebrant at the altar enjoys such an imposing presence. All eyes are turned upon her. Thanks to the amplification,...

Church Buildings -- Monuments with Mixed Messages Design for Monastery Chapel, Clear Creek, Oklahoma, by Thomas Gordon Smith by The Rev. John A. Valencheck If you should happen to move to my town and needed to find a bank into which you could deposit your money, you might look into the one that is right down the street. Though it is a fine institution, it is not much of bank as far as bank buildings go. In fact, banking appears to be a rather minor aspect of what you might do in the building. Entering in the main door, if...

For quite some time I have been thinking of the resemblance lines between Iran President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and other past bitter enemies of the State of Israel and the Jewish People. On the one hand, Ahmadinejad reminds Haman with his plot to obliterate the Jewish People, by sneaking a surprise attack. Thus, Ahmadinejad might try to launch a nuclear offensive on Israel. On the other hand, Ahmadinejad's aggressive rhetoric toward Israel has similar features to that of Egyptian President, Nasser, on the eve of the Six Day War. For instance, on May 27 1967, Nasser proclaimed: "Our basic objective will...

A gang of more than 20 youths -- thought to be North African immigrants -- terrorized hundreds of train passengers in a rampage of violence, robbery and sexual assault on New Year's Day, French officials said yesterday. The five-hour-long criminal frenzy was "totally unacceptable," French President Jacques Chirac told reporters. "Those guilty will be found and punished, as they deserve." The gang of between 20 and 30 youths boarded the train, heading from Nice on the French Riviera to Lyon, in eastern France, early on Jan. 1, as it carried 600 passengers home from New Year's Eve partying overnight. Once...