Free Republic

Bruce Thornton is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. In Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1, when the Welsh magus Glendower boasts, “I can call spirits from the vasty deep,” the sceptic Hotspur retorts, “Why, so can I, or so can any man; But will they come when you do call for them?” For seven decades the West’s foreign policy establishment has been trying to call Middle East peace from depths of endless summits and conferences and agreements with ritualistic chants of “land for peace” and “two-state solution.” But all they’ve managed to produce is war, terrorism,...

Israel will strike against Iranian efforts to entrench itself militarily throughout Syria, and not only along the Syrian-Israeli border, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Russian President Vladimir Putin and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo over the weekend. Netanyahu told the weekly cabinet meeting that he spoke with both men and discussed the region, with an emphasis on Syria. The prime minister said he reiterated and made clear the principles guiding Israeli policy toward Syria. “First of all, Iran needs to withdraw from all of Syria,” he said. “Second, we will take action – and are already taking action –...

Elham Ahmed confirmed that we are fully prepared for dialogue and starting direct negotiations with the Syrian regime if the latter is already ready to initiate such a step. Hawar news agency (ANHA) interviewed with the Co-chair of Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), Elham Ahmed about recent events that are taking place, said we are fully prepared to negotiate. Where Elham Ahmed said that the war and military option will not solve the Syrian crisis. "We from the beginning said and still say that we are ready for dialogue and start direct negotiations with the regime." Elham Ahmed said they were...

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, announced that he’s expelling Uber from Turkey, a result of pressure from Istanbul's taxi industry. Istanbul taxi drivers, numbering more than 17,000, claimed Uber was providing an illegal service and that it needs to be banned. Ever since Uber began its service in Turkey in 2014, it's caused dissension among the country's taxi drivers, not unlike what's happening elsewhere. In a speech on Friday, Erdogan said, “This thing called Uber emerged. That business is finished. That does not exist anymore. We have our taxi system.... Where does this come from? It is used...

GENEVA (Reuters) - Talks with the United States over how to reform the main U.N. rights body have failed to meet Washington’s demands, activists and diplomats say, suggesting that the Trump administration will quit the Geneva forum whose session opens on Monday. A U.S. source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the withdrawal appeared to be “imminent” but had no details. Diplomatic sources said it was not a question of if but of when the United States retreats from the Human Rights Council, which is holding a three-week session through July 6. A separate U.S. official in Geneva had...

For the umpteenth time, the United Nations General Assembly has voted to condemn Israel for defending itself. By a tally of 120 to 8, the members declared that Israel was guilty of “excessive use of force” against Palestinians who were protesting the opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem. The resolution also requested recommendations to protect Palestinians. For 10 weeks now, the two sides have clashed at the border, resulting in 120 Palestinian deaths. Israeli Defense Forces warned protesters not to approach the Israeli-Gaza border on May 14, the day of the embassy opening. They did anyway - some armed...

Yemen government forces — backed by the Arab coalition — launched on Wednesday morning an offensive on the rebel-held port city of Al Hodeidah.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says President Donald Trump’s Mideast negotiating team will visit the region 'next week' as it finalizes its as-yet unveiled Israeli-Palestinian peace plan and will hold talks on deteriorating conditions in the Gaza Strip. The trip comes as officials say the Trump administration is near completion of the plan with an eye on a possible release this summer. The National Security Council said Wednesday that senior adviser Jared Kushner and special representative for international negotiations Jason Greenblatt would travel to Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. It said they would discuss “the next stages of the...

The oil-rich Gulf States - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates - are not known for easily parting with their petro-dollars. But this miserly instinct dissipates when the Sheikhdoms perceive a direct threat to the stability of their respective governments. On Sunday, the three nations led by Riyadh pledged to provide Jordan with a cash infusion of $2.5 billion to help the arid kingdom prop up its free-falling economy. Separately, the European Union announced that it would provide Jordan with $23.5 million. The hefty Gulf State bailout is testament to how seriously they view the problem. Jordan has...

A spokesman for the Iranian government on Tuesday warned North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that U.S. President Donald Trump could nullify any nuclear deal with North Korea, reported The Associated Press. The semi-official Fars news agency quoted Mohammad Bagher Nobakht as saying, "We are facing a man who revokes his signature while abroad." Nobakht's remarks came following the historic summit in Singapore between Trump and Kim. Even before the summit began, Iran urged North Korea to be cautious, with a spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry saying Pyongyang should enter the gathering with “awareness” because the United States has a...

Heavy fighting in Yemen between pro-government forces and Shiite rebels has killed more than 600 people on both sides in recent days, security officials said Monday. A charity said meanwhile that an airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition had destroyed a new cholera clinic in the country's north. Government forces, backed by the Saudi-led coalition, have been advancing along the western coast in recent weeks as they battle the Iran-allied rebels, known as Houthis. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media. Witnesses, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals,...

“Keep calm and carry on.” In the wake of a disastrous G7 summit where US president Donald Trump all but broke off the Western alliance, the EU should stay cool and prepare to take over global leadership. That is the message on Monday (11 June) by a former member of the EU leaders club, Helle Thorning-Schmidt. “The US is leaving a vacuum. And who should step in? For me, it is completely obvious, it is Europe’s time to step in,” the former Danish prime minister said at an event in Brussels. “That’s where our new next opportunity is,” she said,...

Israeli Military Industries Systems, or IMI Systems, in cooperation with Israel Aerospace Industries, abbreviated IAI, is close to finishing development of a new air-launched, precision-guided, high-speed weapon called Rampage that can hit targets more than 90 miles away. The announcement comes as Israel steps up its cross-border campaign against Iran and its interests in neighboring Syria, which has seen an increasing emphasis on stand-off capabilities given the complex air defense environment in that country, but the weapon could also be especially attractive to a number of foreign military forces. The two Israeli state-run companies officially unveiled the new weapon in...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu released a video Sunday in which made an "unprecedented offer" to the Iranian people to help solve Iran's water crisis by creating a Farsi website with detailed plans on Israeli water conservation technologies and strategies. "The Iranian people are victims of a cruel and tyrannical regime that denies them vital water," Netanyahu stated. "Israel stands with the people of Iran, and that is why I want to help save countless Iranian lives." He noted that "Iran's meteorological organization says that nearly 96% of Iran suffers from some level of drought" and that Iran;s Environmental Minister had...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday warned Syrian President Bashar Assad was “no longer immune” from retaliation, while declaring the Iran nuclear deal is over after Washington ditched the accord. “He is no longer immune, his regime is no longer immune. If he fires at us, as we’ve just demonstrated, we will destroy his forces." “Syria has to understand that Israel will not tolerate the Iranian military entrenchment in Syria against Israel,” Netanyahu added. “The consequences are not merely to the Iranian forces there but to the Assad regime as well,” he said, adding: “I think it’s something that he...

This afternoon, Donald Trump made an announcement regarding the future of the Iran nuclear deal. Ahead of a self-imposed May 12th deadline, the President announced that he will not be waiving the sanctions. This decision places the United States in violation of the deal. But while it may not kill the JCPOA completely – European states and Iran could decide whether to keep some version of the deal going without the United States – it will start a period of profound uncertainty about the future of U.S-Iranian relations. In some ways, this uncertainty is the most concerning thing about the...

Families of Gaza Arabs killed during border riots received $500 each from Iran, Israel's Reshet Bet reported. According to the report, the money was distributed by Hamas at a Ramadan "break fast" meal held Thursday night in honor of the "martyrs'" families. Approximately 112 rioters have been killed since the riots began on March 30. Of those, over sixty were killed while protesting the US Embassy's move to Jerusalem on May 14, at least 50 of whom were Hamas terrorists. Last week, a 22-year-old female medic was killed during the riots. Initial reports claimed she was innocent and unfairly targeted...

Earlier on Friday, Israeli forces along the border with Gaza began preparations for mass riots by tens of thousands of Palestinians. Four thousand Palestinians gathered and burned tires in five locations along the Israel-Gaza border fence Friday afternoon, according to the IDF spokesperson's unit.

The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews has posted numerous videos of this latest method of attacking Israel. Many acres of land has been burned and lives placed in danger. I have not seen or heard about this anywhere else.

Ethiopia's governing coalition has announced it will fully accept and implement the peace deal that ended its border war with Eritrea. It says it will accept the outcome of a 2002 border commission ruling, which awarded disputed territories, including the town of Badme, to Eritrea. This will end a dispute with Eritrea that sparked Africa's deadliest border war in 1998. Tens of thousands of people were killed in two years of fighting. The two sides have remained on a war footing as Ethiopia had, until now, refused to accept the ruling of the border commission, which was set up as...