Free Republic

Obama’s Plan to declare Jerusalem Palestinian. The settlements occupy only 1.7% of the West Bank…Kerry lies when he says “the window for a two-state solution is shutting… there’s been a massive increase in settlements over the course of the last years…” , by inventing the myth of “…massive settlement construction…”, Obama is trying to create a false sense of urgency to justify a UNSC resolution. The settlements occupy about 1.7% of the West Bank and the construction has been internal in already existing settlements, no new land was taken. The Palestinians could have had a State in over 93% of...

The Obama vs Netanyahu political bloodbath has a sharp historical edge. When the conservative Israeli Prime Minister won the election during the Clinton Administration, Clinton used his political hit men to force him out of office. One of those hit men was Stanley Greenberg.Stanley Greenberg helped push Israel’s earlier version of Occupy Wall Street. Now with elections coming up, Greenberg is back in Israel to try and topple Netanyahu one more time.While Netanyahu’s reelection prospects are looking far better than Obama’s, a major factor in Obama’s Middle East policy is getting rid of Netanyahu. The Labor party has hired...

- FrontPage Magazine - http://frontpagemag.com - Washington Backs Islamists as Sinai and Gaza ExplodePosted By P. David Hornik On June 21, 2012 @ 12:31 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage | 8 Comments The Los Angeles Times reports that the Obama administration is “deeply concerned” by the Egyptian military regime’s having seized powers so as to prevent a Muslim Brotherhood takeover of the country.Pentagon press secretary George Little said that “We…urge the [military] to relinquish power to civilian-elected authorities….” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that “We are particularly concerned by decisions that appear to prolong the military’s hold on power.”As the...

I went to the US Consulate this week to take care of certain family business. It was a thoroughly unpleasant experience. I think it is ironic that two days after my extremely unpleasant experience at the consulate, State Department Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland refused to say what the capital of Israel is. It was ironic because anyone who visits the consulate knows that the US's position on Jerusalem is in perfect alignment with that of Israel's worst enemies. Last time I went to the consulate was in 2007. At that time the building was located in the middle of an Arab...

The continuing turmoil in the Middle East makes it crucial that Israel finds ways to communicate with other nations in the region if it's ever going to enjoy peace and stability, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned in a blunt assessment. Speaking to reporters on Sunday as he traveled to the Mideast and Europe, Panetta said the Jewish homeland is becoming increasingly isolated in the region. He said Israeli leaders need to restart negotiations with the Palestinians and work to restore relations with Egypt and Turkey. "There's not much question in my mind that they maintain that (military) edge," Panetta said....

Secretary of State Clinton, in a sharp departure from her stance when she was a senator, is warning that any American action, even symbolically, toward recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel must be avoided for the reason that it would jeopardize the peace process. Her warnings were issued in a brief she has just filed with the Supreme Court — in which she is arguing that a law she voted for when she was Senator is unconstitutional because it could require the U.S. government to give to an American citizen born at Jerusalem papers showing the birthplace as Israel.

The protesters demand "social justice" and a more equitable economy but their exact demands are not clear. According to an investigative report by Maariv's Kalman Libeskind, the protests were engineered by a group of media strategists who are directed by prominent Democratic strategist Stanley Greenberg, a former adviser to Bill Clinton, John Kerry and others. Greenberg directed the strategists to create a protest that was not led by one specific group, in order to create social ferment. An unnamed left-wing leader would eventually step into this ferment and take the reins, Greenberg predicted. The Israeli strategists reportedly include Boaz Gaon,...

Here is an unusual press release from the U.S. State Department, first noted by The Weekly Standard and later Arutz Sheva: State’s Steinberg’s Visit to Israel, Jerusalem and West Bank U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE Office of the Spokesman May 18, 2011 MEDIA NOTE Deputy Secretary Steinberg's Visit to Israel, Jerusalem and the West Bank Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg visits Israel, Jerusalem and the West Bank May 18-19, 2011. In Israel, Deputy Secretary Steinberg met with Israeli academic and student leaders. In the West Bank, he met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and other

The IDF has increased its presence along Israel's borders with Syria and Lebanon over threats of renewed clashes similar to those on “Nakba Day.” Organizers of the anti-Israel marches earlier in the week are calling for a similar march Friday, the Muslim day of prayer, beginning after mosque services end. Calls to Arabs to march on Israel have gone forth on social networks, and have gathered tens of thousands of responses. A group calling itself the “Intifada Youth Committee” called for “A march in memory of the Nakba Day martyrs, [a march] from surrounding countries and from Gaza on Israel's...

Barack Obama to Israel: Drop dead. He announced Thursday that a Palestinian state, soon to be decreed by the United Nations General Assembly, must be drawn to 1967 borders. This tells the Palestinians and their Arab allies and enablers that events do not have to have consequences. We’re not supposed to remember that the Arab states attacked Israel in 1967 (and again in 1973), betting they could crush the Jews and take the looted land. Instead they were themselves squashed like bugs. Their airmen were shot out of the skies and their soldiers, routed, threw away their shoes in the...

The U.S. State Department under Secretary Hillary Clinton claims that Israel violates religious freedom in the same way as Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan and China. The department’s annual International Religious Freedom Report, released Wednesday for the year 2009, placed Israel in the same category as countries “where violators of religious freedom have been noteworthy” due to the Jewish State's emphasis on maintaining the status quo with regard to respect for Jewish legal standards.

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon says that while PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) talks peace in Washington, his men encourage terrorism back at home – and Gazans celebrate terrorism by giving out candy. Ayalon decried the fact that the PA minister for prisoner affairs recently visited the Abu Hamid family, four sons of which have been sentenced to life for murdering Israelis. The official, Isa Karaka, shared the Ramadan break-fast meal with the family, and praised the mother for the way in which she has contributed to the struggle for independence. Karaka also visited the home of suicide terrorist...

On Wednesday night in Washington Israeli and American officials worked feverishly—but failed—to produce a document stating Israel’s commitments regarding proximity talks with the Palestinian Authority. The U.S. was reportedly supposed to take the document to the Palestinians and then to the Arab League meeting in Tripoli, Libya, this weekend.Days earlier Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had outlined such commitments in a letter to secretary of state Hillary Clinton. It was deemed insufficient and, in Washington, President Barack Obama sent Netanyahu and his accompanying officials back to the drawing board. According to one report, Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman advised Netanyahu not...

United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday that the Obama administration's decision to ramp up pressure on Israel over construction of Jewish homes in East Jerusalem was bringing results. In an interview with BBC television, Clinton was asked whether escalating the tone with Israel had paid off. She said: "I think we're going to see the resumption of the negotiation track and that means that it is paying off because that's our goal." Advertisement Over the past two weeks Israel has sought to cool American ire over plans for 1,600 new homes in Ramat Shlomo, a Jewish...

Obama himself claims that he has launched a political war against Israel in the interest of promoting peace. But this claim, too, does not stand up to scrutiny. On Friday, Obama ordered Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to present Netanyahu with a four-part ultimatum. First, Israel must cancel the approval of the housing units in Ramat Shlomo. Second, Israel must prohibit all construction for Jews in Jerusalem neighborhoods built since 1967. Third, Israel must make a gesture to the Palestinians to show them we want peace. The US suggests releasing hundreds of Palestinian terrorists from Israeli prisons. Fourth, Israel must...

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has refused to buckle to US pressure to scrap a Jewish building project in East Jerusalem in a crucial telephone conversation with America's top diplomat. Mr Netanyahu ceded little ground to Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, as he finally responded to a series of conditions she set out to end a 10-day standoff between Israel and its superpower patron. The Israeli leader gambled that the Obama administration had lost its appetite for a prolonged diplomatic row by accepting just one of Mrs Clinton's demands in full as he agreed to make a...

The Hurva Synagogue was the premier Jewish place of worship in Jerusalem's Old City in the 19th and early 20th Centuries -- until Jordanian troops destroyed it in 1948. On March 15, after several years of painstaking restoration, it came to life again -- an exact replica of the old Hurva. In the week before its reopening, however, the Palestinian Authority unleashed a vicious conspiracy campaign that falsely claimed that reopening the Hurva was a prelude to Israel's intent to destroy Al-Aqsa Mosque on Temple Mount to make room for the Third Jewish Temple. Palestinian officials called on Arabs to...