Free Republic

It would seem that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accomplished what his predecessors could only have dreamed of: U.S. and Israeli fighter jets flying tandem over Tehran, Israeli officers ensconced in U.S. Central Command’s Florida headquarters. Since the days of David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s leaders have sought backing from the world’s preeminent superpower, which they hoped would guarantee their state’s survival into perpetuity. None could have imagined the level of cooperation currently on display. If one were to wake up the Old Man, as Ben-Gurion was known, from his otherworldly slumber in the sands of Sde Boker, he would surely...

Recognizing Iran’s ability to influence Hezbollah in ways that Lebanon can’t, US and Qatar broker truce through Tehran, rather than Beirut, after 47 Lebanese killed in response to killing of 4 troops Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire on Friday afternoon, a US official said, after another flare-up in southern Lebanon that saw four Israeli soldiers and dozens of Lebanese casualties. The renewed truce appeared as fragile as ever, as it didn’t see Israel pull out of the large buffer zone it established in southern Lebanon — one that Hezbollah has used to justify continued attacks on troops stationed...

WASHINGTON/DUBAI, June 19 (Reuters) - Switzerland said U.S. talks with Iranian negotiators on a pact to end the Middle East conflict would not take place on Friday, as Vice President JD Vance dropped plans to travel to Geneva, adding to uncertainty whether a lasting truce can be found. "The logistics of these negotiations have never been simple or predictable," the White House spokesperson said in a statement on Thursday night. Vance and the U.S. delegation had been ready to depart as soon as plans were finalised. The talks, set for the mountaintop resort of Burgenstock, would not take place, Switzerland's...

ToplinePresident Donald Trump claimed Iran backed out of talks scheduled for Friday in Switzerland, and warned they were "FINISHED" and would "get no money" out of the newly signed deal with the U.S.—as the agreement appears fragile less than 48 hours after it was signed.Key FactsTrump said "we'll play out the 60 days. They get no money, not ten cents!" referring to the 60-day period after the agreement was signed overnight Wednesday to negotiate outstanding issues, including the future of Iran's nuclear program.The deal included a commitment from the U.S. to lift sanctions on Iran and unfreeze Iranian assets in...

there has been renewed attention on the mosque’s history and past connections to individuals linked to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The New York Post described the mosque as one of the largest Islamic centers in California and noted that it has been the subject of national attention since the early 2000s. According to the report, two of the 9/11 hijackers, Nawaf alHazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, attended the mosque while living in San Diego before the attacks. Federal investigators later examined their activities in the city and their connections to members of the local Muslim community. The mosque’s current imam,...

New secret Hamas internal documents have been provided by IDF intelligence to the Amit Terrorism and Intelligence Research Institute, which provided them exclusively to The Jerusalem Post on Thursday. An analysis by the Amit Center includes six documents viewed by the Post, of which three are covered in this article, showing the progression of Hamas’s secret plans from 2022 to 2023 to systematically deceive Israel into complacency so as to surprise the IDF during the October 7 massacre. Although much is already known by now about Hamas’s deception, these original documents have not previously been made public and reveal a...

A federal judge ordered immigration officials to release the president of Wisconsin's largest mosque from detention Thursday, finding that Salah Sarsour has raised a "substantial" claim that he was being targeted for speaking out in favor of Palestinian rights. Sarsour, a Palestinian-born legal permanent resident of the United States, was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on March 30. The government has claimed he is a foreign policy threat, but Sarsour's attorneys say he was actually targeted for speaking out against Israel. U.S. District Judge James Patrick Hanlon wrote in a decision Thursday that attorneys for...

On October 19, 2011, Farhana Khera of Muslim Advocates delivered a letter to John Brennan, who was then the assistant to the president on National Security for Homeland Security and Counter Terrorism. The letter was signed by the leaders of virtually all significant Islamic groups in the United States: 57 Muslim, Arab, and South Asian organizations, many with ties to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the Muslim American Society (MAS), the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), Islamic Relief USA, and the Muslim Public Affairs Council...

Mayor Zohran Mamdani crony and far-left congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier has claimed the US has committed worse atrocities than the terror group Hamas. Chevalier made the shocking assertion in June 2021 — two years before the terrorists would launch their widespread Oct. 7 slaughter of innocent Israelis — while responding to a Twitter post from someone saying, “I agree the US wanton violence is categorically incomparable to the worst things Hamas has ever done or ever could do.” Chevalier wrote, “Only one is a nuclear power that’s ever used that kind of force 😶” — likely referring to the...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told U.S. President Donald Trump that Israel does not consider itself bound by the Lebanon clause in the emerging agreement with Iran, Israeli officials said, making clear that Jerusalem will not accept any arrangement that limits its freedom to act against Hezbollah. The understanding among ministers in the Security Cabinet is that Israel is standing firm on its interests in Lebanon, and that Netanyahu received full backing in the cabinet meeting for his position. The dispute comes after Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Trump and Iran all announced that a U.S.-Iran agreement had been reached. According...

An adviser to Iran’s supreme leader said Tehran would teach the attackers a “regrettable lesson” in defense of Lebanon after Israel struck Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sunday. “Neither the American diplomatic smile is trustworthy, nor is Israel’s savagery tolerable!" Mohammad Mokhber said on X. "We will teach the aggressors a lesson they will regret,” he added.

The Deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete. Congratulations to all! I hereby fully authorize the toll free opening of the Strait of Hormuz, and, simultaneously herewith, authorize the immediate removal of the United States Naval blockade. Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow! President DONALD J. TRUMP

The Hezbollah war with Israel has brought great suffering to the country. About one-quarter of the population (1.4 million people) has been displaced. More than 3,500 have been killed — many of them Hezbollah fighters but also many civilians... About a dozen Lebanese Christian civilians have been killed in the south...On June 1, Dr. James Karam and his two children, Tony and Theodosia, were killed by an Israeli drone strike as they returned from university exams in Beirut to their village. The Trump administration has sought to save Lebanon, pushing the Lebanese and Israeli governments to negotiate directly for the...

President Trump publicly dinged Israel for striking near Beirut as the US and Iran prepared to sign a peace deal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz. “This morning’s attack on Beirut should not have happened, particularly on a special day when we are so close to a Peace Deal with Iran,” Trump posted on Truth Social. ” Israel has the right to defend itself against threats, but the attack it was responding to was very small and meaningless.” “We are very close to a Deal that will bring peace to the region, including to Lebanon, and all sides should...

After Israel strikes Hezbollah targets in Beirut’s Dahiyeh neighborhood, Iran seeks to paint the attacks as a threat to an emerging deal between Tehran and Washington. “The Zionists’ incursion into Dahiyeh has once again shown that America either lacks the will to fulfill its commitments or the ability to do so,” writes Iran’s top negotiator and parliament speaker, Mohammad Ghalibaf, on X. “By giving the green light to the regime, you cannot gain concessions. The game of bad cop and good cop is outdated,” he says. "If you lack the will and ability to fulfill your commitments, speaking of continuing...

The Israeli military announced Sunday it launched strikes on Beirut targeting Hezbollah infrastructure. Smoke could be seen rising over the Lebanese capital. The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the strikes were in response to Hezbollah attacks in northern Israel. When Israel last struck the Beirut suburbs a week ago, Iran responded with strikes on Israel. Tehran, which is Hezbollah’s main backer, has insisted that any U.S.-Iran ceasefire deal must also include an end to Israeli strikes in Lebanon.

Reactions to Oct 7 genocidal Islamic Palestinian onslaught: radical left, "Palestinian," so-called "pro palestine" activism, neo-Nazis and Islamic.Most notable are those who have since hurled the genocide slur at the very people defending themselves against the genocidal Hamas regime in Gaza.Palestinians in Gaza and West Bank Celebrate on October 7. Oct 29, 2023. https://www.memri.org/tv/palestinians-gaza-west-bank-celebrate-october-seven-massacre-hand-out-sweets-fire-guns Palestinians in West Bank city of Nablus celebrate Hamas infiltration operation into Israel. AP Archive. Oct 12, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxMzV0MMmKE Al-Jazeera Praises Hamas Attack. MEMRI. Oct 17, 2023. https://www.memri.org/reports/presenters-reporters-qatars-al-jazeera-praise-hamas-attack-celebrate-israels-disaster Pro-Hamas extremists and neo-Nazis flood social media with calls for violence. Law enforcement officials are concerned about attacks...

There is only one nation on Earth that must continually argue for its right to exist, even when the very survival of its people is threatened by avowedly genocidal enemies. Many readers and podcast listeners have been dismayed by my enduring support for Israel and now urge me to debate someone—really, anyone—drawn from a growing cast of scholars, grifters, and moral lunatics who have made that beleaguered country their professional or psychiatric obsession. I’ve explained my position on Israel across several podcasts and in my public talks, but it might help to summarize it here. First, my general attitude: I’m...

Alpha polemicist Sam Harris is an enthusiastic and persuasive debater, but in his June 5 substack post, reproduced in the Free Press, titled, "Why it's futile to debate Israel's enemies," he informed his readers that he would no longer debate antizionists. Harris has concluded that it is pointless to debate with people who take a dimmer view of those who shoot rabid dogs than they do of the rabid dogs themselves. As he explained, "if my intransigence on these matters mystifies you, it might help to understand that, for whatever reason, I think militant Islam is ten times worse than...

The Justice Department on Wednesday indicted eight young anti-Israel activists, most of whom studied or worked at the University of Michigan, for orchestrating a criminal plot "to terrorize government officials, businesses, and the Jewish Federation" of Detroit. The defendants, many of them known campus agitators, targeted the homes of university officials and intended to use "poison, bombs, and psychological torture" on their targets. "In the dead of night, masked and hooded defendants allegedly threw noxious chemicals through the windows of families' homes and taped demand letters to their front doors," said Jennifer Runyan, the special agent in charge of the...