Free Republic

Donald Trump said Iran begged him not to strike after they found out how big the planned strikes were.Trump said that the strikes “would’ve been the biggest attack since World War II. It would’ve been disastrous for them.” Trump confirmed, “Negotiations begin tomorrow afternoon.”

Last year, a bipartisan group of members of Congress introduced H.Res.776: a resolution expressing concern about the persecution of Coptic Christians under Egypt’s Islamic regime. The resolution has only picked up 8 cosponsors and has yet to make it out of committee. By contrast, 103 House Democrats voted to cut aid to Israel out of H. R. 8595 which also apportions $1.4 billion to Egypt and $1.6 billion to Jordan. Meanwhile an amendment to zero out the $1.4 billion in military aid to Egypt never even made it out of the House Rules Committee while none of the Democrats who...

JERUSALEM—In Jerusalem’s Old City, a group of Israeli teenagers recently banged on the door of the headquarters of the Armenian Apostolic Church and asked if there were Christians inside it. They wanted to spit at them.The boys said it was a religious duty, or mitzvah, to humiliate Christians, or, as they called them, idol worshipers. “We are supposed to hate them,” explained one teen, wrapped in an Israeli flag. They were among the thousands of mostly young Israelis who on that May afternoon marched through the historic Old City for a national celebration that marks the capture of East Jerusalem...

Hamas terrorists were quietly building a sprawling European terror network for years — stockpiling guns, scouting targets, and even filming a martyrdom-style video — as they plotted a massacre on the continent to mirror the horrific October 7 attack on Israel, according to a bombshell investigation released last week. The chilling scheme, uncovered through a joint probe by European intelligence agencies and reported by Swiss outlet Neue Zürcher Zeitung, spanned at least seven countries: Greece, Cyprus, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Poland, and Britain. The terror group eyed the second anniversary of its 2023 rampage, October 7, 2025, as a possible attack...

Today, it's a field of grass. But soon, it'll be the site of the first mosque in this Japanese town. "It makes me worry about how our community might change," says long-time resident Noriko Izumizawa. Plans to build an Islamic religious site in Fujisawa, a laid-back seaside town about an hour's drive south of Tokyo, have sparked a wide range of emotions. There is anger and fear, as well as hope and acceptance, exposing the growing anxieties over immigration and social change as Japan grapples with a labour shortage from a shrinking and ageing population. Although immigration remains politically sensitive...

An unconscious woman lies motionless on the floor while medics gather around her contorted body. The 25-year-old has just been brutally whipped 21 times in public after an Indonesian court found her guilty of violating Islamic law by kissing her partner during a TikTok live-stream. The act may seem like an innocent exchange between a couple in love, but in Aceh – the only province in the South-East Asian country that applies a version of Sharia Law – it is met with severe punishment. The woman – who was pictured wincing in agony as she was lashed repeatedly – is...

The French government has revealed that an estimated ninety per cent of so-called wildfires are the result of human activity, undermining the persistent media narrative that climate change is driving spontaneous fires ravaging the countryside. On Tuesday, French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said that 184 people have been arrested in connection with wildfires since the beginning of the summer. Those arrested are a combination of arsonists, criminals, and careless individuals, he said. According to the French Forest Observatory, around one in three (30 per cent) of wildfires are believed to have been set maliciously, Le Figaro reported. In total, the...

Japan is launching a new centralized intelligence body for the first time since World War II – a controversial move that some fear deviates from Tokyo’s pacifist ideals, but one others say is much needed in a country so riddled with security weaknesses it has been called a “paradise for spies.” The National Intelligence Bureau will formally launch on Friday, replacing previous structures criticized as disjointed and ineffective – and laying the foundation, experts say, for broader changes that could include an anti-spy law and a new external foreign intelligence agency similar to the CIA in the US, or MI6...

Sweden’s left-wing parties are running Arabic-language advertisements aimed at immigrant voters ahead of this year’s elections, repeating a strategy used during the 2022 campaign. The advertisements have appeared on Al Kompis, an Arabic-language website aimed at immigrants in Sweden who cannot speak Swedish. Political parties and public authorities have previously used the platform to reach the country’s Arabic-speaking population. Among those advertising during the current campaign are the Social Democrats and the Centre Party. An advertisement featuring Social Democrat leader Magdalena Andersson promises greater investment in healthcare and schools. It links to a dedicated campaign page claiming that the party’s...

Hours after Trump canceled a planned strike and said the outlines of a deal had been reached, a regime-linked Iranian outlet said the strategic waterway would remain closed as long as US ‘hostile actions’ continue. Iran on Sunday denied that it had reached any agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, directly contradicting U.S. President Donald Trump hours after he canceled a planned strike and announced that the outlines of a deal had been reached. “There is no agreement on reopening the Strait of Hormuz,” Iran’s regime-linked Fars news agency reported. “As long as the United States continues its hostile...

Donald Trump said on Saturday night that the US would hold off on any new strikes on Iran provided a deal to end the months-long conflict is quickly reached – marking the president’s latest climbdown from extravagant threats to hit the Tehran regime hard. The Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman called Trump on Saturday to express concerns about his strike plans, it was reported. Trump’s reversal also came after Iran threatened to retaliate decisively against its neighbours in the event of US strikes, while Kuwait reported being hit by Iranian drones on Saturday and two ships were attacked off...

France and Italy bolstered border controls on Saturday after about 60,000 people crossed into Spain's enclave in North Africa, sparking one of the largest migrant crises for the European Union in recent years. The migrants entered Ceuta from Morocco, the enclave's regional president Juan Jesus Vivas told reporters, but by Friday evening officials said more than 48,000 had returned. To cross into Ceuta, many swam around a small border barrier that juts out into the Mediterranean. At least 34 people died in the attempt. The sudden influx sparked an international crisis. France tightened checks on its border with Spain and...

President Trump on Saturday night said he agreed to halt a planned attack against Iran – after the Islamic Republic and other Middle Eastern countries agreed to the framework of a peace deal.“The U.S.A. is locked and loaded and ready to go against the Islamic Republic of Iran, at levels of Military Terror, Strength, and Power not seen since World War II,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. The president said Iran and other governments in the region asked the US “to hold off any attack” because “the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to.” According to Trump, the proposed...

President Donald Trump is pausing plans for a major attack on Iran, he announced on Saturday with the hopes of reviving an agreement with the country. The president was mulling whether or not to hit areas that would impact foundational elements of the Islamic Republic’s grid, as well as infrastructure, according to Axios.“The U.S.A. is locked and loaded and ready to go against the Islamic Republic of Iran, at levels of Military Terror, Strength, and Power not seen since World War II,” Trump posted to Truth Social. “Despite this, we have just been asked by Iran, and other Middle Eastern...

A newly published investigation highlighted issues that have long been overlooked — namely, that deals forcing Israel to release hundreds of terrorists and the unending Palestinian Authority (PA) pay-for-slay program fueled more terrorism, including the Oct. 7 atrocities. Over 650 jihadis with ties to the Oct. 7 atrocities reportedly received "pay-for-slay" payouts, while over 150 terrorists released through the U.S.-brokered Gaza "peace deal" became automatic millionaires through the same means. But years before that 2023 day when Palestinian jihadis raped, murdered, tortured, and kidnapped 1,200 innocents to enthusiastic support from Gazans, pay-for-slay was funding multiple generations of terrorists. And we’re...

In April 2026, the Russian military lost 116 km²: this is the first monthly decline recorded by the Institute for the Study of War since the summer of 2023, when the territory controlled by Moscow had reached an all-time low of 26,573 km² following Kyiv’s counter-offensive

More than 50,000 migrants rushed into Ceuta from Morocco on Friday, resulting in at least 67 deathsMigrants who swam or jumped over fences to rush into Spain's African enclave of Ceuta this week were returning home on Saturday, with many saying hunger, exhaustion and hostility from locals had crushed their hopes of a new life in Europe. The news comes as Spain announced it was erecting a 500-metre-long containment barrier on the sea border between its North African territory of Ceuta and neighbouring Morocco after more than 50,000 migrants breached the frontier earlier this week, with at least 67 dead....

President Donald Trump on Friday said the U.S. “has not agreed” to grant Ukraine licenses to produce Patriot missile systems, apparently backtracking on one of Kyiv’s top priorities in its war against Russia.The advanced military technology is “a hard thing to give away,” Trump said at a Cabinet meeting at Camp David, adding that a country that receives it could “someday turn on you.”“You have to be very careful,” Trump said. He said the U.S. and Ukraine are still “talking about it.”Trump’s latest comments on the war in eastern Europe came three days after he spoke at the White House...

Most migrants who entered Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta illegally from Morocco have now returned, according to the Spanish authorities. The return flow underlined the chaos that gripped Ceuta, with many migrants crossing back over the border on Friday to re-enter Morocco. “There are too many people here, everything is full,” one migrant told AFP. Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said “almost all those who entered Ceuta have already returned to Morocco”. The migrants came from the Moroccan town of Fnideq, next to the Spanish enclave, arriving throughout the night by land and sea. Some crossed the high...

An improvised explosive device detonated at a restaurant Saturday in central Moscow killing two people, Russian state media said, citing local officials. The suspected bomber was also killed, officials said. At least 21 people were also injured when the IED detonated at the restaurant on Kudrinskaya Square in Moscow, the National Anti-Terrorism Committee said, quoted by Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. An unidentified woman who attempted to carry the explosive device into the restaurant died in the blast as did a security guard and a patron, the news agency said. Ria Novosti reported the woman attempted to smuggle the...