Free Republic

Middle East Poll Whose to blame for the current crisis in the Middle East? Some say Israel, some say the US, some say the Palestinians, and others say all the Arabs combined. We're wondering what you think?

Christian group considers lawsuit over requirement By Nick Maheras, STAFF WRITER July 10, 2002 Legal action may be the next step by a Christian advocacy group opposed to a mandatory University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill reading assignment. The Family Policy Network, a nonprofit agency, objects to the university requiring all incoming freshmen and transfer students to read "Approaching the Qur'an: The Early Revelations" and attend an Aug. 19 discussion on the book. Terry Moffitt, chairman of the agency's board, said the assignment's mandatory nature lies at the heart of the issue. "If they had offered this as an...

HRES 393 IH 107th CONGRESS 2d Session H. RES. 393 Concerning the rise in anti-Semitism in Europe. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 18, 2002 Mr. CROWLEY (for himself, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia, Mr. LANTOS, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. ACKERMAN, Mrs. MALONEY of New York, Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island, Mr. NADLER, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. WEINER, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. ISRAEL, Mr. FERGUSON, Mr. HILLIARD, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. RODRIGUEZ, Mr. HOLT, Ms. ESHOO, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. WAXMAN, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. CAPUANO, Mr. KING, Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. LARSON of...

US Christian leader Bauer: Israel a priority for evangelicals By HERB KEINON Former US secretary of state James Baker reportedly cursed Jews in a fit of anger at Jewish pressure on the first president George Bush a decade ago, saying Jews don't vote for the Republican Party. But Gary Bauer, one of the Christian Right's leading voices in the US, says not only are more Jews ready to vote Republican, they also have a whole lot of friends in the evangelical Christian community for whom Israel is a top priority. Bauer, a former presidential candidate and head of a Conservative...

Israel's best friend in the White House By JONATHAN ROSENBLUM Who says there are no miracles today? President George W. Bush's long-awaited speech on the Middle East, in which he upset the applecart of cherished assumptions on which Middle East diplomacy has been based for more than a decade, certainly qualifies. At least if you believe the pundits, not one of whom came close to predicting what the president would say. If a speech can be judged by those it ticks off, then Bush's was a smasheroo. Foreign Minister Shimon Peres was reportedly so revolted that he could not bear...

<p>Brig. Gen. David Tzur and Minister of Interior Security Uzi Landau met with U.S. officials Thursday in the hope of creating a new office to fight terrorism.</p> <p>The office, to be in Washington, would monitor an almost instantaneous communications link between the proposed U.S. Department of Homeland Defense and the Israeli government on matters of homeland security. Visa policies, terrorist profiles and virtually all other internal security data — except classified intelligence — would be swapped by computer, fax and telephone.</p>

U.S. MARINES, ISRAEL EXAMINE W. BANK OPERATIONS WASHINGTON [MENL] -- U.S. and Israeli military commanders are studying the massive search-and-destroy operation for Palestinian insurgents in the West Bank. The examination involves the Israeli Defense Forces and the U.S. Marine Corps. The marines want to learn from the Israeli experience in urban warfare. The focus of the joint effort was a review of Israel's capture of the Palestinian refugee camp outside the West Bank city of Jenin. The three-day battle left 23 Israelis and more than 50 Palestinians dead. The military talks took place in both Israel and the United States....

New York’s hi-tech industry remains confident in Israeli partner By GWEN ACKERMAN The state of New York’s business sector, which has had a long, fertile relationship with Israel, is standing by its veteran partner and has not been put off by the current geopolitical, economic or security situation, says the director of the New York State Trade Office here. “I have 35 companies that I am working with at the moment from New York who are all anxious to develop relationships with Israeli companies and distributors and the like,” Gerry Stoch told The Jerusalem Post, noting that NY exports to...

Remarks to the Republican Jewish Coalition House Majority Whip Tom DeLay Washington, DC June 18, 2002 During these critical days, all of us who support Israel and love freedom need to redouble our efforts. We need to fully and adequately convey to the American people exactly why Israel cannot possibly find peace or achieve security by rewarding aggression with weakness and concessions. On the morning of September 11 every American realized that the war against terrorism was now the defining mission for our generation. Americans suffered through the types of brutal homicide attacks that have become a familiar pattern in...

Palestinians Say Bush Is an Obstacle to Peace June 25, 2002 By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA (Reuters) - Ordinary Palestinians branded President Bush an obstacle to peace Tuesday, saying his Middle East policy speech would encourage Israel to go on occupying the West Bank and Gaza Strip. "It was a silly speech by a silly and weak president," said teacher Ahmed A'lesh. "It would have been better if Bush had shut up instead of inciting against (Palestinian President Yasser) Arafat and branding us with 'terrorism."' Bush, in the long-awaited speech Monday night, said the United States would support the creation of...

Jun. 23, 2002 (Israeli) Food marketing project to US gets boost By TAL MUSCAL A special project to boost the sale of Israeli food products in the US was launched launched today in a joint effort by the Industry and Trade Ministry, its economic attache in New York Zohar Peri, the Export Institute of Israel, local food exporters, executives of Israeli supermarket chains and Jewish leaders in the US. Sale of Israeli made food in the US totals some $50 million annually. Behind the latest push is a growing interest in Mediterranean food by US consumers, and a desire to...

Thousands of supportive New Yorkers demonstrate for Israel By MELISSA RADLER NEW YORK - Thousands of New Yorkers gathered outside the Israeli consulate today to demonstrate their support for Israel and voice their opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state. Sponsored by 30 Orthodox, Reform and Conservative rabbis and six local Jewish groups, the demonstration featured the chief rabbi of Efrat, Shlomo Riskin, who led the crowd in a chant: "No, no, no, to a state of the PLO!" After the names of 31 Israeli civilians and 2 IDF soldiers who were killed this week were read out and...

CHRISTIAN COALITION OF AMERICA OPPOSES CREATION OF A PALESTINIAN STATE Washington, D.C. - The Christian Coalition of America expressed shock and horror at the latest terrorist attack in Israel. Referring to the suicide bombing on a Jerusalem bus where at least 19 died, Coalition President Roberta Combs declared, "Israel can not negotiate with terrorism. Terrorism cannot be rewarded with statehood. Now or in the future, a Palestinian state would sound the death knell of Israel." Combs noted that Tuesday's suicide attack with a nail-studded bomb aboard a Jerusalem bus was the 69th such atrocity in the past 21 months. "Yasser...

Islamic Scholar Warns U.S. of 'Two-Faced' Muslims WASHINGTON – A leader of the small worldwide Muslim reform movement is warning the West against wishful thinking as the U.S. government promotes an intensive dialogue with Islam. "The dialogue is not proceeding well because of the two-facedness of most Muslim interlocutors on the one hand and the gullibility of well-meaning Western idealists on the other," Bassam Tibi said Tuesday in an interview with United Press International. Syrian-born Tibi, who claims to be a direct descendant of the prophet Mohammed and teaches political science at Goettingen University in Germany, appealed for intellectual honesty...

U.S. uses Syrian minister's presence to attack Syrian support for terrorist groups By EDITH M. LEDERER UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- As Syria's foreign minister presided over the U.N. Security Council on Thursday, the United States accused Syria of supporting terrorist groups and demanded it condemn Palestinian suicide bombings, diplomats said. Syria's minister, Farouk al-Sharaa, denied that his country supported terrorists, saying it didn't have the means -- financial or otherwise -- to arm or give resources to terrorist groups, council diplomats said. Syria holds the council's rotating presidency for the month of June, and al-Sharaa followed a council tradition of...

'I'm crying enough tears to fill an ocean' By TOVAH LAZAROFF AND MARGOT DUDKEVITCH With her head wrapped in bandages, Penina Eisenmann pushed herself out of her hospital bed yesterday to go to the double funeral in Ofra of her daughter, Gal, five, and her mother, Noa Alon, 60. "It's the last thing I can do for them," Penina told reporters yesterday at Jerusalem's Hadassah-University Hospital in Ein Kerem. The last thing she remembers before the terrorist attack that murdered seven in Jerusalem on Wednesday, she is holding her daughter's hand. They are crossing the street by the French Hill...

Athens 2004 organizers keen on Israeli security firms By TAL MUSCAL Some 12 Israeli security firms currently at the EXPO-SEC convention in Athens, Greece have caught the eye of organizers of the 2004 summer Olympics, to be held in Greece, the Industry and Trade Ministry said today. Oded Distel, Israel's economic attache in Athens said the security budget for the Athens Olympic is set at $650 million and local firms have a very good chance of being involved securing the games. Companies on display include: Israel Aviation Industries, Elbit, Verint, and Checkpoint. Distel said the uncertainty around hiring security firms...

Yes to air Fox News, in response to comments by CNN's Turner By Ha'aretz Service Yes satellite television will begin broadcasting the Fox News channel Thursday, in light of remarks made by CNN founder Ted Turner, equating IDF actions with terrorism, Israel Radio reported. Even before Turner's comments, Israel's cable and satellite companies had received numerous letters from viewers requesting that the Fox News station be added to the viewing package, because they consider its coverage of the Middle East more balanced than CNN's, the radio said. Yes had submitted the request to air Fox News to the Cable and...

The Palestinian State Mistake President Bush's plan to recognize a Palestinian state won't stop terrorism against Israel. Fred Barnes, executive editor THE BLOODY TERRORIST ATTACKS on Israel this week, one killing 20 people, the other 7, should be a signal to President Bush. The State Department recently persuaded him that Palestinian conduct would improve and terrorism would cease if only Palestinians had real hope of statehood. And Bush agreed to give a speech supporting a provisional Palestinian state, one without final borders or other details worked out with Israel, but a state nonetheless. The one condition: Palestinians must first clean...

Time Not Right for Bush Mideast Speech, White House Says WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Wednesday condemned a suicide bombing at a Jerusalem bus stop and said its immediate aftermath was not the right time for President Bush to lay out his ideas on Middle East peace. The White House also said that Bush believes Palestinian President Yasser Arafat must do more to stop attacks like the suicide bombing that Israeli police said killed four people at a Jerusalem bus stop. A similar bombing on a crowded Jerusalem commuter bus killed 19 people on Tuesday. "It's obvious that...