Free Republic

Insane!Two liberal Jewish Democrats-Nita Lowey, Howard Berman-lifted their hold on $100 mil placed on military aid and equipment for the Hizbullah infiltrated Lebanese Army.Clueless, absolutely clueless! Nita Lowey has done this same old dance before. And it is getting very old. Hopefully when the new Congress takes over after the first of the year, the House Foreign Appropriations Committee will have a new Chairperson. A new Foreign Appropriations Committee that will be firm in blocking and not allowing anymore U.S. taxpayer funding of the PLO Fatah Authority, the Hizbullah infiltrated Lebanese Army, or any other jihadists.Lowey has placed "holds" on requested funds before. Mostly on funds...

Terrorist gunmen belonging to Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the official "military wing" of Fatah, ambushed Israeli police officers as they were driving along a road from Hevron.From CBN:"Two officers, one in critical and one in serious condition, were airlifted to Jerusalem's Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital and Soroka Hospital in Beersheva." "Command Sgt. Maj. Yehoshua Sofer, 39, succumbed to his injuries at the hospital." "Both officers were shot in the chest, according to Magen David Adom paramedics at the scene of the attack. A third officer sustained less serious gunshot wounds and a fourth was lightly injured by shrapnel.""The al-Aksa Martyrs' Brigades, the "armed wing" of the Palestinian...

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- The Obama administration appears to be rebuffing calls from some Jewish groups for the United States to be more assertive and public in defending Israel regarding the flotilla incident. The bluntest appeal for a more pronounced pro-Israel posture came from Abraham Foxman, the Anti-Defamation League's national director, who is in Israel meeting with the Israeli leadership. "The U.S. should reiterate its support and understanding for Israel, that as a sovereign and democratic nation it has the right to act on behalf of its national security and express its confidence that Israel can conduct its own investigation into...

UN calls for full inquiry after Israel Navy commandos storm international aid boat; European Union condemns incident.The White House on Monday said it "deeply regretted" the loss of life and injuries sustained in the clashes after Israel Navy troops stormed a convoy of international activists bringing aid to the Gaza Strip, leaving at least 10 people dead."The United States deeply regrets the loss of life and injuries sustained, and is currently working to understand the circumstances surrounding this tragedy," said White House spokesman William Burton. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a full investigation and expressed shock at Israel's...

(Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged the Obama administration on Saturday to impose a solution to the Middle East conflict that would give his people an independent state. ...Abbas's appeal to Obama came amid widespread media reports that the U.S. president was considering floating a proposal that would set the contours of a final peace deal. Any such move would likely be opposed by Israel, which says only negotiations can secure a final settlement to the conflict. Obama has been sharply at odds with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Israeli settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, land...

JERUSALEM – The Obama administration has encouraged "resistance" by Palestinians to protest Israel's presence in eastern Jerusalem, a senior Palestinian Authority official claimed to WND. The senior PA official, speaking from Ramallah on condition of anonymity, said that in recent meetings with U.S. envoys to the region, the American diplomats supported and encouraged the concept of Palestinian protests to pressure Israel into evacuating eastern sections of Jerusalem. The PA official's claim follows a meeting in Jordan last week between PA President Mahmoud Abbas and George Mitchell, Obama's envoy to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. At a press conference immediately following the meeting,...

President Obama needs every vote he can get in the House of Representatives for health care this week. So it would not do to have some of his liberal friends on the Hill think there is a crisis in U.S.-Israeli relations right now. Asked by FOX News’ Bret Baer directly if the recent diplomatic storm was a crisis, the President said no. He spoke of the decision by a mid-level Interior Ministry official in Jerusalem to allow housing units to be built in the Jewish section of the city. “Not helpful,” the President described the routine issuance of a building...

Phew. We can breathe easier now that the Obama administration has taken a tough-as-scimitars line with Israel, whose existentially threatening architectural blueprints for new housing, the administration says, pose a dire threat to U.S. troops and interests. Or, as Vice President Joseph Biden put it, referring to a new housing project in Jerusalem, as reported by Yedioth Ahronoth: "This is starting to get dangerous for us. What you're doing here undermines the security of our troops who are fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan." In other words, maybe it's not the Muslim-made IED planted in the roads of Helmand Province...

Attack from Gaza is third in 24 hours, after two rockets land near Sderot; comes on same day as visit to Strip by Europe's top diplomat, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. Attack from Gaza is third in 24 hours, after two rockets land near Sderot; comes on same day as visit to Strip by Europe's top diplomat, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. A Thai greenhouse worker was killed on Thursday afternoon when a Kassam rocket fired by Gaza terrorists hit the Netiv Ha’asara area. The man, in his 30s, was evacuated to Ashkelon’s Barzilai Hospital, where he was...

President Obama's health care plan is swirling the drain. Americans don't like it -- the latest Rasmussen poll has just 43 percent of Americans in favor, with 53 percent opposed -- and that dislike has the Obama administration suggesting that polls don't actually mirror the will of the American people. "They're waiting for us to act," Obama told a crowd in Ohio on Monday. "They don't want us reading polls. They want us to look and see what is the best thing for America." This is paternalism of the highest order -- he knows what's better for us than we...

The papers are full of reports about the startling criticism of Israel by the Obama administration — a criticism of a type not used by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton against many human rights abusing-governments the world over during the past year. (Who cares, for example, that 50,000 Muslim Burmese refugees are on the verge of starvation in Bangladesh, when you can bash Israel day after day, as the Obama administration did last week?) The Los Angeles Times noted that “Hillary Rodham Clinton’s harsh words stunned Israel.” The Wall Street Journal reported that “Clinton levied a blistering rebuke of Israel”...

Palestinians fueled by anger over what they see as Israeli expansions into Palestinian-dominated areas clash with police in East Jerusalem. Rising political and religious tensions in Jerusalem spilled into the streets Tuesday with a string of clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police that left more than 100 people injured. In scenes reminiscent of past uprisings, dozens of Palestinian youths, some with scarves masking their faces, pelted police with rocks, blocked roads and burned tires in half a dozen neighborhoods around East Jerusalem. Israeli police, who have been on high alert for days, responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and stun...

Clinton dismisses suggestions of crisis in Israel ties; U.S. envoy Mitchell postpones visit to region.. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Tuesday that Israel had proven its commitment to peace before both in words and actions, after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Jerusalem to do more to prove it was serious about the Middle East process. "The State of Israel appreciates and respects the warm words said by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton regarding the deep bond between the U.S. and Israel, and on the U.S.' commitment to Israel's security," Netanyahu's office said in a statement. "With regard...

IDF official: Neither Israel nor PA wants more conflict; police chief: This will not lead to third intifada.. After Hamas declared an official "day of rage" leading to clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces across Jerusalem on Tuesday, the violence seemed also to spread to other parts of the country. Assailants in the central Israeli city of Jaffa hurled rocks at two public buses, cracking the back window of one of them. Rocks were also thrown at a truck near Kibbutz Mishmar Hanegev in the south and at two vehicles in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Abu Dor. There were...