Free Republic

Negotiations between partners-in-peace Israel and Jordan on the allocation of sovereignty in the West Bank still remains the key to ending the 100 years old Jewish-Arab conflict. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House this week has confirmed President Obama’s assessment that the much vaunted two-state solution proposed by Obama’s predecessor President George W. Bush on 30 April 2003 (the Roadmap) will not happen whilst Obama is President—or indeed ever. Obama’s conclusion was announced by White House Middle East Adviser Rob Malley ahead of Netanyahu’s arrival at the White House after an absence of thirteen months.

Ibrahem Qasim/Flickr: air strike in Sana'a, May 2015 Samuel Oakford comments on the arrival of soldiers from two of the Saudi-led coalition’s nastiest members in Yemen: Just weeks after the UN said Eritrean soldiers may be on the ground in Yemen, Sudan has reportedly sent hundreds of additional troops to fight for the Saudi-led coalition. The apparent arrival of reinforcements from Saudi Arabia’s unsavory allies — both Eritrea and Sudan have dismal human rights records — not only has the potential to plunge Yemen even deeper into chaos, but it puts the United States, a de facto member of the...

Tehran seems determined to demonstrate that the nuclear agreement struck by the Obama administration will not alter the nature of the Iranian regime one whit. President Obama's proffered, outstretched hand to Iran, as proposed before the 2008 presidential election, has been repaid with a poke in the eye.

The United States spent a total of $5.9 billion to fund militaries around the world in 2014, according to the government’s 2015 Foreign Assistance report. Of that total, some 75%, or about $4.4 billion, was divided between Israel and Egypt. Clearly, the Middle East, at 64% of the pie, is the theme here, with Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon also found among the top 10 recipients. Closer to home, Colombia led the Americas with a relatively scant $29 million. Still, that’s enough to place it ninth overall on the list.

Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=308AnrGNYS4 Footage has emerged showing the moment two young Arab terrorists - one of them aged just 11 - carried out a stabbing attack aboard a bus in Jerusalem's Pisgat Ze'ev neighborhood Monday. A security guard was moderately wounded in the attack, but succeeded in shooting and injuring one of the attackers, while the second was detained at the scene. The attack was one of three stabbings or attempted stabbings in the capital Tuesday, ending a period of quiet in Jerusalem which lasted for several days. Shortly after the Pisgat Ze'ev attack an Arab terrorist was shot near the...

"I am Cyrus" by Paul Charles Merkley In November 1953, just a few months after leaving the presidency of the United States, Harry S. Truman was brought to the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York to meet a group of Jewish dignitaries. Accompanying him was his good friend Eddie Jacobson, a comrade from his Army days and former business partner in a short-lived men's haberdashery 30 years earlier. Jacobson introduced his friend to the assembled theologians: "This is the man who helped create the State of Israel." Truman retorted, "What do you mean, "helped to create"? I am Cyrus. I...

My son's classmate witnessed this incident. Said the guard was down on the floor because of the attack, but kicked the b(*& and shot her in the head. Unclear if she survived. I hope not.

Confirmation of Attack on Russian Jet May Strengthen Putin’s Resolve in Syria By NEIL MacFARQUHAR NOV. 8, 2015 MOSCOW — The main bell in St. Isaac’s Cathedral in St. Petersburg tolled 224 times on Sunday, once for each victim of the destruction of a Russian charter flight in Egypt a week ago. Although President Vladimir V. Putin and his aides at first indignantly dismissed suspicions of a terrorist act, the Kremlin has since then clearly come to grips with the idea that a bomb was probably involved in the crash: Late Friday it suspended all travel by Russians to Egypt,...

ISIS militants have lined up and shot 200 Syrian children in the latest sickening mass execution video to emerge from inside the jihadis' territory. Forced to lie side-by-side and with their faces in the dirt, the video shows about 200 young children stretched out in a long line to the left and right. Behind them, at least a dozen gunmen armed with assault rifles and handguns stand poised and ready to fire.

Syrian rebels recaptured a village and surrounding areas in the west of the country on Friday, consolidating significant advances made the day before at the expense of pro-government forces, a monitoring group said. ...Morek's capture was a blow to the Russian-backed campaign in the west and northwest of the country, where it has had limited success in retaking territory gained by rebels early this year.

On November 2, speaking at a Democratic fundraiser in New York, President Barack Obama poked fun at the Republicans, joking that if they cannot handle CNBC moderators how could they possibly handle Russia’s Vladimir Putin? “Every one of these candidates says, ‘Obama’s weak, Putin’s kicking sand in his face. When I talk to Putin, he’s gonna straighten out.’ …and then it turns out they can’t handle a bunch of CNBC moderators!” Mr. Obama said. “I mean, let me tell you: if you can’t handle those guys,” he continued, laughing, “I don’t think the Chinese and the Russians are going to...

In response to the European Union’s plan to label Israeli products manufactured in Judea and Samaria, MK Miki Zohar (Likud) has submitted a bill to the Knesset that would see products from countries that label Israeli products being labeled themselves. “We will label every product which comes from a country which is boycotting us. I think it would be appropriate if the public knows that the country that sends the product to us is daring to boycott us," Zohar told Arutz Sheva about his initiative on Sunday. .....

<p>Jewish Home chairman and Education Minister Naftali Bennett made clear on Sunday that his party will be opposed to any “gestures” to the Palestinian Authority (PA) if they are brought to a vote in the cabinet.</p> <p>Bennett was reacting to a report in the Haaretz newspaper on Sunday morning, which said that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will unveil a series of confidence-building “gestures” toward the Palestinians during his meeting on Monday with President Barack Obama.</p>

It was recently revealed that Israeli special forces carried out a daring operation to rescue the last Jewish family in the Syrian city of Aleppo. The Jewish Chronicle reports that preparation for the mission began months in advance. First an Israeli-American businessman named Moti Kahana sent a message to the family, whose name has not been released, that he wanted to get them out of the war-torn country. The family was aware of how dangerous Syria was, but they were too afraid to even take the chance on escaping. Kahana, who has a number of connections with rebel forces, soon...

Israel is offering for sale a laser weapon that can shoot down artillery and mortar shells as well as rockets and small UAVs. Called Iron Beam it has a range of 2,000 meters and is expected to enter service in Israel by the end of 2015. There is a lot of action on Israeli borders for a system like Iron Beam and it will soon become evident if Iron Beam is the first effective laser air defense weapon or not. Each Iron Beam firing unit consists of a radar and control system and two lasers. These three elements can be...

In 1999, a series of apartment bombings in the Russian cities of Moscow, Buinaksk and Volgodonsk killed around 300 people and set off a national panic. Then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin responded swiftly, overseeing the launch of an offensive in the breakaway republic of Chechnya and vowing to eliminate the Islamist fighters the Kremlin blamed for the attacks.That take-no-prisoners response to terrorism propelled Mr. Putin, then a relatively little-known former intelligence officer, to the presidency. And it became a pattern: Under his leadership, Russia has dealt ruthlessly with terror attacks, including the siege of a Moscow theater in 2002 and a...

David Cameron says crash 'more likely than not' caused by bomb as No10 sends RAF to rescue up to 20,000 Britons stranded in Sharm el-Sheikh after cancelling all flights

Intelligence agencies say Islamic State may be telling the truth by claiming responsibility for the attack. U.S. and European intelligence agencies now believe that the Russian airliner downed in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula on the weekend was probably taken out by a bomb planted onboard by an Islamic State-affiliated terrorist group, according to media reports. The Russian airplane may have been attacked by Islamic State (a.k.a. ISIS, ISIL, and Daesh) because Russia is waging war against it.

Interesting how they're now saying 'US satellite detects heat flash suggesting a bomb' -if you look at the video you can see the flash at 00:14 with your own eyes... sure looks like it to me, seems to be blowing-out the top of the fuselage: [video] All 224 on-board were soon dead, scattered over 7 sq miles of desert less than 30 minutes after takeoff from Sharm-el-Shiekh. Most had been sucked-out of their seats at 31K feet. Odd sounds were heard in the cockpit, but no distress signal was ever sent. Internal technical problems and pilot error have been ruled out...

The Russian jetliner that crashed in Egypt broke apart in midair, officials said Sunday — sparking speculation that a bomb might have caused the disaster. “All signs attest to the fact that the aircraft disintegrated in the air at a high altitude,” said Aleksandr Neradko, head of Russia’s Air Transport . Some experts said a planned explosion was more probable than a catastrophic equipment failure. “There’s no sign of a distress call, so the idea that the aircraft was undergoing a mechanical problem or an engine problem or a fire or something like that, you would expect that there would...