Free Republic

..... Dr. Kissinger made the comments as he spoke to participants in the Herzliya Conference via live feed. Discussing the option of a regional peace agreement, Dr. Kissinger expressed his doubts, saying, "I would welcome a regional peace process, theoretically it is a logical evolution. But I believe a step by step approach is better. We are not in a position to take a regional peace initiative, and it is not obvious what it can achieve. You'd assume a regional peace will include states that are no longer function as states – Syria, Iraq, Libya… If any agreement has to...

Following reports Wednesday morning of possible cuts in American military aid to Israel, Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated that the Obama administration was prepared to give the biggest military aid package in history, calling it “the largest single pledge of military assistance from the United States to any country in our history, cementing an unparalleled security relationship all the way to 2029". Blinken’s comments came during his address at the Herzliya Conference Wednesday afternoon. While the Deputy Secretary indicated the White House was likely to increase aid to Israel, he emphasized the Jewish state’s need to take concrete...

British MPs on Tuesday debated their country's funding of radical anti-Israel NGOs, with several legislators questioning why the government's aid agency is spending so much on extremist organizations which undermine Israeli democracy. The debate on foreign aid at the UK House of Commons was prompted by a petition which garnered nearly a quarter of a million signatures - well over the 150,000 needed to force a nonbinding parliamentary discussion on the issue. That petition calls for the UK government to end its policy of spending a fixed 0.7% of national income on overseas aid, and was launched after an expose...

The couple murdered in a brutal jihadist terror attack in Paris have been named. Muslim terrorist Larossi Abballa, who was under surveillance after serving time for links to jihadist networks, first stabbed 42-year-old police commander Jean-Baptiste Salvaing outside his home. He then holed up inside the house with Salvaing's 36-year-old partner Jessica Schneider - who was also a police officer - and the couple's three-year-old son. Shortly afterwards he killed Schneider by slitting her throat. Abballa then posted on Facebook a live 13-minute video of himself inside the house with the child in which he admits the murders and urges...

A senior commander in Hamas's elite commando unit has handed himself over to Israel, according to sources inside Gaza cited by Channel 2. Reports of his surrender to Israel have been circulating in Gaza ever since the commander - a member the elite "Nahba" unit of Hamas's military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades - went missing several days ago. The Nahba spearheads Hamas's tunnel warfare capabilities, and is specifically tasked with capturing IDF soldiers. The missing commander is reportedly from Khan Younis in southern Gaza, and the son of a prominent judge on Hamas's Sharia religious court. According to...

Reports of wild celebrations in Arab villages and neighborhoods following last week’s deadly terror attack in the Sarona Market in Tel Aviv left many shocked and horrified. Yet such expressions of joy and satisfaction following murderous acts of terrorism are hardly new, and have become a frequent occurrence after such attacks. Perhaps the most well-publicized celebrations came in the wake of the 9/11 attacks in 2001, when Arabs across Judea, Samaria, Gaza, and eastern Jerusalem were filmed cheering and handing out candy. For one young woman, however, these spontaneous expressions of celebration were not merely disgusting or disturbing – they...

Dozens of Israelis took to the streets of Tel Aviv to voice their solidarity for the victims of Sunday's deadly gun rampage in Orlando, Florida. The shooting, carried out by an Islamist terrorist, targeted a gay club in Orlando, and left 50 people dead and a further 53 wounded. Despite only recently having suffered a deadly Islamist shooting attack of their own - when two Hamas terrorists murdered four people and left several others seriously wounded in an attack at the popular Sarona Market last Wednesday - Tel Avivians held a candlelight vigil to commemorate the victims of the deadliest...

The Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group's official media wing has released a statement claiming credit for the deadly shooting attack at an Orlando, Florida gay nightclub on behalf of the jihadist organization. In a statement published in the last few minutes, the al-Amaq agency - which functions as ISIS's propaganda and media wing - claimed that "the attack that targeted a nightclub for homosexuals in Orlando, Florida and that left more than 100 dead and wounded was carried out by an Islamic State fighter." 50 people were murdered in the worst shooting spree in American history, and a further 53...

Actor and comedian Joe Piscopo earned nationwide fame with his celebrity impersonations, Saturday Night Live skits, and roles in Hollywood films like the remake of King Kong and Wise Guys. Less well-known, however, is Piscopo’s ardent support for the State of Israel. Now hosting his own daily radio show, Piscopo airs his views on a social and political issues – including what he sees as the trend within the Democratic Party towards abandoning Israel. Earlier this week, Piscopo sat down with Arutz Sheva to discuss the roots of his own pro-Israel views, his frustrations with the Democratic Party, and who...

Donald Trump issued a scathing condemnation of Wednesday's terror rampage in Tel Aviv. "I condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the outrageous terrorist shootings that took the lives of at least four innocent civilians and wounded at least twenty others in Tel Aviv yesterday," he wrote. "The Israeli security forces’ investigation is ongoing, but some facts have already emerged — and they are grim. "Just as fast as the condolences arrive from the civilized world is the praise arising out of the uncivilized one. Hamas praised the attack, calling the attackers 'heroes.' Reports out of Hebron indicate that residents of...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met with Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman and Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot upon the Prime Minister’s return from a state visit to Russia, Wednesday night, to discuss Israel’s response to the terror attack in Tel Aviv’s Sarona Market which left four dead and five wounded. In the wake of the attack, the Defense Ministry has frozen work entry visas for some 204 members of the attackers’ extended family. The attackers, identified as Khalid and Muhammad Musa Mehamara, both 21-years old, are cousins from the village of Yatta, south of Hevron. The two terrorists reportedly entered Israel...

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday night condemned the terrorist attack in Tel Aviv in which four Israelis were murdered. Ban also criticized Hamas for praising the attack. “The Secretary-General condemns tonight’s terrorist attack in Tel Aviv in which at least four Israelis were killed by Palestinian assailants and another four injured. He conveys his condolences to the families of the victims and the Government of Israel,” said a statement issued on behalf of the UN chief’s spokesperson. “The Secretary-General reiterates that there is no justification for terrorism nor for the glorification of those who commit such heinous acts,” added...

An Arab activist of the radical leftist NGO B'Tselem who filmed Elor Azariya shooting a wounded terrorist in Hevron in March testified against the soldier at the Jaffa military court on Wednesday morning. ..... Activist's son arrested by Azariya Azariya's lawyer Eyal Baserglick then questioned the Arab activist, revealing a connection between the shoemaker and Azariya. "Is it true that your 17-year-old son Aouni was arrested by the accused (Azariya) and the deputy platoon commander on 2.2.16, even before the incident?," asked Baserglick, mentioning a date in early February predating the incident by just over a month. Abu Shamsiyeh did...

Despite her comments opposing “settlements”, U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice promised Israel that the new military aid agreement between the two countries that is currently being negotiated will constitute “the single largest military assistance package — with any country — in American history,” Haaretz reported Tuesday. The comments came during Rice’s address on Monday to the American Jewish Committee Global Forum in Washington. She said the new decade-long aid package, which is expected to provide Israel somewhere between $37.5 billion and $40 billion over the life of the pact, will “constitute a significant increase in support,” providing funding to...

Video;-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ABh3tBFTMo Last week in San Jose, California, supporters of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump found themselves surrounded by violent far-left protesters, most of whom were apparently supporters of Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders. Several Trump supporters were assaulted amid ugly scenes - but apparently they weren't the only ones "feeling the Bern." In fact, video footage from the day shows how at one point, several Bernie supporters apparently mistook each other for Trump fans, and promptly began a violent brawl - before realizing they were all on the same side. In a somewhat comical scene, as other Sanders supporters...

The Islamic State (ISIS) jihadist group burned 19 Yazidi girls alive after they refused to have sex with its fighters, according to reports. The girls were locked in cages before being publicly executed in the city of Mosul in northern Iraq, according to the Kurdish ARA news agency. The gruesome spectacle took place in front of hundreds of people, according to local media activist Abdullah al-Malla. "They were punished for refusing to have sex with ISIS militants," he told ARA. Mosul is ISIS's de-facto capital in Iraq, and the country's second largest city. ISIS views the Yazidis - members of...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu headed to Moscow this morning, for his third visit to the Kremlin in nine months, as Israel-Russia ties continues to burgeon. The meeting is the fourth one between Netanyahu and Russia President Vladimir Putin during the same period, after the pair also met at the sidelines of the recent UN climate change conference in Paris. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin has also met with Putin during that time, even cancelling a trip to Australia to visit the Russian leader at the Kremlin. In an illustration of the growing alliance between their two countries, this time Netanyahu is...

The annual statistics on the precise number of Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria (AKA the West Bank) have been released by former Knesset Member Yaakov "Ketzaleh" Katz. Based on the Population Registry of Israel's Interior Ministry, there are 406,302 Jews in Judea and Samaria as of December 31, 2015. As clearly stated in the report, the statistics do not include eastern neighborhoods of Jerusalem (e.g. Pisgat Zeev, Ramat Shlomo, Ramot, Gilo, Ramat Eshkol, etc.) which are technically part of the West Bank and are home to another approximately 360,000 Jews. In the special English report released today, the Jewish...

Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) has attacked Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) over their support for a Palestinian state and the need for a political process with the Palestinians. "We will take down the government over anything that would lead to a division of the Land of Israel and the creation of a Palestinian state. We will fight it," he said during an interview on Meet the Press. "There will be no Palestinian state here. I will do anything to stop it," he promised. "We are in a government whose basic principles include...

Recent comments by Opposition head Yitzhak Herzog (Zionist Union) and Shelly Yachimovich (Zionist Union) suggest that their party may still join the government coalition. On Saturday, both politicians said that they would reconsider joining a unity government, should there be any diplomatic initiatives. MK Herzog presented new conditions to joining. "If Netanyahu kicks the Jewish Home out of the coalition, we will meet as a party and we will consider the issue," he told Shabbatarbut in Modi'in. "Netanyahu chose to go with the extremists," he added. "It doesn't look like he is breaking up with them. I lead a strong...