Free Republic

An American professor and writer has said that Donald Trump’s “brain is rotting in front of us”, and claimed that to compare him to Joe Biden is “dangerous and wrong”. Sarah Churchwell, an American culture specialist and the author of a book examining division in the US, The Wrath to Come, was appearing on a panel at Hay Festival chaired by The Independent’s chief book critic Martin Chilton. They were joined by political podcaster David Runciman and We Need to Talk About Kevin author Lionel Shriver. Shriver claimed that, ahead of the US election on 5 November, she finds herself...

On Wednesday’s broadcast of “CNN News Central,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) argued that there’s never a wrong time to recognize a Palestinian state but Hamas shouldn’t be involved in it and while the ICC shouldn’t arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, we should have something like the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. Co-host John Berman asked, “Do you think this shows that terrorism pays?” Khanna answered, “No, it doesn’t. We should recognize a Palestinian state. That has been the United States’ policy, a two-state solution, 143 countries at the United Nations voted for it. Nelson Mandela called for...

The Australian Parliament rejected the Green Party's proposal to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state. The Green Party's proposal was rejected by a large majority of 80 members of parliament who opposed it, as opposed to only 5 members who supported it.. Adam Bandt, leader of the Green Party, claimed that recognizing a Palestinian state would be "a concrete step towards peace." "It's not just a symbolic move, it's a critical step towards peace and towards ending the slaughter we're seeing with the invasion of Gaza at the moment," he told parliament. ....

Saudi Arabia accused Israel on Wednesday of committing “continuous genocidal massacres” against Palestinians, casting the Biden administration’s efforts to broker a “normalization” deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia in doubt. In a statement, the Saudi Foreign Ministry — which has taken a tougher line toward Israel than Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) — accused Israel of deliberately targeting the tents of Palestinians in Gaza. #Statement | Saudi Arabia condemns and denounces in the strongest terms the continuous genocidal massacres committed by the Israeli occupation forces against the Palestinian people without deterrence by continuing to target the tents of defenseless...

British rock guitar legend Eric Clapton moved one step closer to Roger Waters territory last week, telling an interviewer that “Israel is running the world, Israel is running the show.” The 79-year-old musician, who has recently performed playing a guitar painted in the colors of the Palestinian flag, was interviewed on May 22 by David Spuria, an American Youtuber who hosts the popular Real Music Observer show. alking about the recent campus protests in the US against Israel, Clapton criticized the Senate hearings in which university presidents were asked about antisemitism on campus. “I was so enthused about what was...

"Squad" member Rep. Rashida Tlaib on Sunday blasted President Biden’s handling of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, deriding him as an "enabler" of genocide while speaking at an event attended by at least one member of a designated terrorist organization and funded by an asset of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The event, the People’s Conference for Palestine was held over the weekend in Detroit, and featured, among other speakers, Wisam Rafeedie, an activist with ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which the U.S. has designated a foreign terrorist organization. The conference was organized...

White House spokesman John Kirby defended Israel amid international outrage after an airstrike reportedly killed dozens of civilians in the Gaza Strip — saying the US military “did the same thing.” “We have conducted airstrikes in places like Iraq and Afghanistan where, tragically, we caused civilian casualties,” he said — adding that the US responded the same way as Israel in the aftermath. “We owned up to it, we investigated it, and we tried to learn from it to make changes,” Kirby said at Tuesday’s regular White House briefing. He noted that Israel said it used precision bombs and that...

A U.S. military-built pier off Gaza’s coast is being temporarily removed after a part of the structure broke off, the Pentagon said on Tuesday, in the latest blow to efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinians. The pier was announced by U.S. President Joe Biden in March and involved the military assembling the floating structure off the coast. Estimated to cost $320 million for the first 90 days and involve about 1,000 U.S. service members, it went into operation two weeks ago.

Breaking with the stance of other Western countries, Israel decided on Monday not to express an official opinion on the issue of Catalan independence in the meantime, NRG reported. According to the report, Spain asked Israel over the weekend to publicly declare that it does not support Catalan independence, as part of Spain’s efforts to garner international consensus on the matter. Israel’s ambivalence is a departure from the opposition to Catalan independence declared by the EU and US. On Friday, US State Dept. spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement that “Catalonia is an integral part of Spain, and the...

Television host Piers Morgan backed a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war Monday morning, saying in a string of social media posts that a recent Israeli strike in a Rafah “safe zone” that killed more than 40 people was too far. “The scenes from Rafah overnight are horrific,” Morgan wrote on the social platform X. “I’ve defended Israel’s right to defend itself after Oct 7, but slaughtering so many innocent people as they cower in a refugee camp is indefensible.”

An unusual exchange of fire occured this morning (Monday) between IDF forces and soldiers of the Egyptian army in the Rafah Crossing area. During the incident, an Egyptian soldier was killed and several others were injured. There were no casualties among the IDF forces. Israeli officials stated that the incident began when an Egyptian soldier opened fire at IDF troops, who then returned fire. The IDF Spokesperson's Unit stated, "A few hours ago (Monday), a shooting incident occurred on the Egyptian border. The incident is under review and discussions are being held with the Egyptians." .....

An Egyptian soldier was killed in a clash with Israeli soldiers near the Rafah Border Crossing in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday, the countries’ militaries said, in an incident that threatened the already strained ties between the nations. The circumstances of the cross-border shooting were not immediately clear, and it was unknown which side opened fire first. There were no casualties among Israeli forces. The Israel Defense Forces described the incident as “a shooting incident” on the border. “There was a shooting incident on the Egyptian border; the [incident] is under investigation, [and] dialogue is taking place with the...

Pressure is building between Israel and Egypt over Palestinian refugees as Israel prepares its offensive on Rafah, where Hamas is hiding out and using human shields. According to an Atlantic Council report:Relations between Egypt and Israel have soured in recent weeks as Israel prepares to launch a full-scale ground offensive into Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip—a move that Cairo has warned would put its peace treaty with Israel at risk and destabilize the region.Egypt fears a sweeping assault on Rafah—where more than one million displaced Palestinians have sought refuge from Israel’s incessant bombardment of the northern and central Gaza...

group of Princeton University graduates stood up and turned their backs on the Ivy League school’s president while he spoke at commencement Tuesday amid ongoing tensions on campus over Israel-Hamas war protests. More than 30 members of the university’s Class of 2024 — including many wearing keffiyehs, the traditional Middle Eastern headdress often worn by pro-Palestinian protesters — turned their backs to Princeton President Christopher L. Eisgruber as he closed out commencement with his address. About ten students sitting near the front row of the graduation ceremony also quietly walked out midway through Eisgruber’s speech in a pro-Palestinian demonstration similar...

BERLIN—The Biden administration is pressing European allies to back off plans to rebuke Iran for advances in its nuclear program as it seeks to keep tensions with Tehran from escalating before the autumn’s U.S. presidential election, according to diplomats involved in discussions. The U.S. is arguing against an effort by Britain and France to censure Iran at the International Atomic Energy Agency’s member state board in early June, the diplomats said. The U.S. has pressed a number of other countries to abstain in a censure vote, saying that is what Washington will do, they said. U.S. officials deny lobbying against...

Remember that catchy NYC tourism campaign, “I loooove New Yoork!” I can almost picture President Biden croaking out the catchy tune, but with one word changed: “I loooove Iraaan!”Iran is the number one state sponsor of worldwide terrorism. They call America the ”Great Satan,” and their stated goal is to wipe Israel off the map. But don’t tell that to Joe Biden, who doesn’t want to upset the Mullahs in case it might hurt his increasingly remote reelection chances. The befuddled octogenarian president actually is demanding that European countries concerned about the Islamic Republic’s nuclear weapons program stand down and...

Israeli lawmakers on Monday advanced a government proposal to designate June 1 as a day to commemorate the Farhud, the 1941 pogrom in Iraq coordinated by Palestinian leader Haj Amin al-Hussein. The Commemoration Day for the Farhud Events Bill, sponsored by Likud Party lawmaker Ofir Katz, was approved for first reading and will be discussed by the Knesset Education, Culture and Sports Committee ahead of future votes. Katz’s bill calls for the pogrom to be commemorated in educational institutions across the Jewish state in order to preserve the memory of the events and the victims and pass it on to...

After the announcement last week that Spain, Norway and Ireland would recognize the state of Palestine, a visibly-delighted Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations came to talk to the press. “We need somebody to take pictures,” Riyad Mansour said, ushering the Irish, Spanish and Norwegian envoys into an impromptu photoshoot just outside the UN Security Council. “A glorious day today,” Mr. Mansour declared as the four ambassadors stood shoulder-to-shoulder. […] All this, the supporters of Palestinian statehood hope, is gathering momentum towards the implementation of a two-state solution. That is not how Israel, nor its closest ally, the US, see...

The Israeli military suspects munitions or some other combustible substance it was unaware of caused a secondary explosion and a fire to spread in a complex housing displaced Gazans in southern Gaza’s Rafah, killing Palestinian civilians, following an airstrike on two top Hamas terrorists in the area. The military says it had been tracking Hamas commanders Yassin Rabia and Khaled Najjar ahead of the strike on a compound they were in on Sunday night, in the Tel Sultan neighborhood in western Rafah. According to the IDF’s intelligence, the area had been used for Hamas activity, with a rocket launcher just...

Israeli tanks advanced further into Rafah on Tuesday, according to witnesses, as the Israeli military said it was expanding operations in the southern Gaza city amid growing international condemnation. The tanks passed near the Al-Awda mosque, a central Rafah landmark, Palestinians in the city told The Wall Street Journal. The Israeli military didn’t comment on the specifics of its push into Rafah, but Israel’s Army Radio said the military had added a brigade to the five already operating in the city and troops were engaging in close-quarters combat with Hamas. Israel is trying to thread a needle by pursuing a...