Free Republic

LONDON (AP) — The Netherlands added itself Friday to a list of countries pressuring organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest to drop Israel from the contest because of its war in the Gaza Strip. Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS, one of dozens of public broadcasters that collectively fund and broadcast the contest, said it would not take part in next year’s competition in Vienna if Israel participates “given the ongoing and severe human suffering in Gaza.” “The broadcaster also expresses deep concern about the serious erosion of press freedom: the deliberate exclusion of independent international reporting and the many casualties among journalists,”...

The largest organization of socialists in America cheered Vice President Kamala Harris’s pick of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) as her running mate for 2024, saying it showed they and the left “are a force that cannot be ignored.” “Harris choosing Walz as a running mate has shown the world that DSA and our allies on the left are a force that cannot be ignored,” Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) boasted on X. The Uncommitted movement, in which DSA members played crucial roles nationally and in multiple states, pressured the Democratic establishment into choosing a new candidate and backing down...

“What does it mean,” the Manhattan Institute’s Tal Fortgang wrote in City Journal on Monday, “when a sitting member of Congress speaks at a conference attended by hundreds of terrorism sympathizers?” This was not simply a hypothetical question. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Ramallah) recently spoke at the People’s Conference for Palestine in Detroit, and her words were so hateful, so incendiary, and so firmly aligned with the cause of enemies of the United States, that they give Fortgang’s a particular urgency, and lead to another question: if a sitting member of Congress hates America, should she be serving in Congress at...

Conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, the 31-year-old father of two and founder of Turning Point USA, was shot and killed in broad daylight Wednesday at a Utah Valley University event in what Utah governor Spencer Cox described as a "political assassination." The event marked the first stop of Kirk's "American Comeback" campus tour. Sitting under his signature "Prove Me Wrong" tent, Kirk spoke for roughly 20 minutes before a single shot rang out, reportedly from roughly 200 yards away, as Kirk began to answer a question about transgender shooters. A gruesome video from the event shows a bullet hitting Kirk in...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused his Spanish counterpart of making a “blatant genocidal threat” after the latter lamented Spain’s lack of “nuclear weapons” to defend against Israel during his announcement of sanctions against the Jewish State. In his speech on Monday, Pedro Sanchez said “Spain, as you know, doesn’t have nuclear bombs, nor aircraft carriers, nor large oil reserves. We alone can’t stop the Israeli offensive, but that doesn’t mean we won’t stop trying, because there are causes worth fighting for even if it’s not in our sole power to win them.” Sanchez then introduced nine new measures, including...

Summary. While Israel has historically been regarded as a close ally of the United States—sharing democratic values, intelligence cooperation, and defense partnerships—certain individuals of Arab "Palestinian" origin or ideological affiliation have been involved in acts of violence against Americans. This article provides a factual overview of documented incidents that have shaped this complex relationship. 1. Sirhan Sirhan and the Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy (1968)Background: Sirhan Bishara Sirhan, a Palestinian IslamoChristian born in Jerusalem in 1944, moved with his family to the United States in 1956.[1]Defense : The ex Grand Mufti of Jerusalem dispatched two Arab lawyers to defend Sirhan....

The International Committee of the Red Cross chose a wing in Al-Shifa hospital "adjacent to the [Hamas] movement offices,” according to documents found by the IDF in Gaza and recently declassified. Two Hamas documents found by Israeli forces in Gaza indicate that international organizations such as the Red Cross and Doctors without Borders are well aware of the presence of Hamas in the Gaza Strip’s medical facilities despite obfuscating or outright denying it publicly, NGO Monitor revealed on Wednesday. The internal Hamas memos were among a cache of documents declassified by the Israel Defense Forces. NGO Monitor translated the Arabic-language...

HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) has taken the decision to remove a new Banksy mural due to the building being listed and therefore legally protected. However, some feel that they are “silencing a work of art about silencing protest”... A new Banksy artwork that sprung up this week at the Royal Courts of Justice in London has been scrubbed off. As we reported this week, the mural by the ever-elusive street artist depicted a helpless protester lying on the ground holding a blood-spattered placard, while a judge loomed over him wielding a gavel. British police moved quickly to cover-up...

Trump Stares Down Protesters in D.C. Safety Showdown: President Donald Trump faced a fiery protest while dining at a Washington, D.C. restaurant near the White House. Demonstrators stormed the venue waving Palestinian flags and chanting, “Free D.C., free Palestine, Trump is the Hitler of our time.” Despite the uproar, Trump remained composed, continuing conversations with nearby guests. Vice President J.D. Vance reassured diners to enjoy their meals, while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth watched as security tried to contain the scene. Watch

Russia on Wednesday strongly condemned the Israeli attack on Qatar's capital Doha, calling it "a gross violation of international law and the UN Charter," and "an assault on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of an independent state." In a statement, the Foreign Ministry emphasized that Israel targeted Qatar's residential district, purportedly aimed at high-ranking members of the Palestinian Hamas movement who were reportedly located there, killing at least six people, including a Qatari police officer and injuring several people. "Russia views this incident as a gross violation of international law and the UN Charter, representing an assault on the sovereignty...

Observation: Former President Trump’s response to recent events may appear measured on the surface, but it carries a sharp undertone of reckoning — particularly for Qatar, a long-time U.S. partner that has walked a fine line between diplomacy and duplicity. For years, Qatar has positioned itself as an impartial broker in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, all while funneling support — financial and political — that has helped keep Hamas firmly in power in Gaza. Israel has long raised concerns about Qatar’s double game: projecting neutrality to the West while quietly propping up one of the most destabilizing forces in the region....

WASHINGTON — Calls are mounting in both Congress and the Trump administration for the widow of late Arizona Sen. John McCain to resign from or be forced out of her United Nations post overseeing food distribution in the Gaza Strip, following months of botched aid drop-offs and rampant looting by Hamas. UN World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director Cindy McCain has been criticized by ex-colleagues, lawmakers and officials for failing to work with Israel’s military and the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) to provide food, water and other assistance to Palestinians. “If WFP was doing its job,” one senior US official...

A boat carrying Greta Thunberg towards Gaza has been set ablaze in a suspected drone strike off the coast of North Africa, witnesses have said. The 22-year-old Swedish climate firebrand is part of a controversial convoy of around 350 activists and aid workers, sailing on what they describe as a 'peaceful mission' to deliver supplies to Palestinians in Gaza. But reports have emerged overnight that one of the vessels – the so-called Family Boat, flying under a Portuguese flag and carrying members of the flotilla's Steering Committee, including Greta – was attacked 'by a drone and caught fire' off the...

The fire on Greta Thunberg’s Gaza-bound flotilla was likely started by one of the activists onboard, according to authorities in Tunisia — who said there was “no basis in truth” that it was struck by a drone. Tunisia’s Interior Ministry said there were no drones detected when Thunberg’s Global Sumud Flotilla [GSF] claimed it was hit by one Monday, starting a fire as it was off the Tunisian port of Sidi Bou Said. The ministry maintained that the group’s claim that a drone attack started the fire had “no basis in truth” — and that it was likely started onboard,...

He tried to warn them. Over the weekend, President Donald Trump unveiled a new ceasefire proposal before sending a message to Hamas: "The Israelis have accepted my terms. It is time for Hamas to accept as well," he said. "I have warned Hamas about the consequences of not accepting. This is my last warning, there will not be another one! Thank you for your attention to this matter." Hamas apparently didn't pay attention to the matter. One of its senior terrorists, Bassem Naim, released a statement on Monday calling Trump's proposal a "humiliating surrender document" and saying Hamas's "right" to...

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry says it ‘condemns and denounces in the strongest terms the brutal Israeli aggression’. An Israeli attack in Qatar’s capital, Doha, targeting Hamas officials has drawn swift condemnation from across the region and beyond, with the United Nations chief calling it a “flagrant violation” of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Qatar. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office confirmed that the Israeli military carried out the attack in Doha on Tuesday against Hamas leaders. It was the first such attack by Israel on Qatar, which has been a key mediator in ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas...

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced that it targeted “senior officials” of Hamas shortly after explosions shook the Qatari capital Doha, in what would mark the first known Israeli air strike on Qatari soil. In a statement released on September 9, 2025, the IDF and Israel’s domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet said the operation was carried out “using the Air Force” with precision munitions. While the military did not disclose which aircraft were involved, the statement was accompanied by an image of a McDonnell Douglas F-15D Baz fighter. The military described the strike as a response against Hamas leaders “directly...

Qatar’s vocal condemnation of Israel’s operation reveals a deeper, more troubling reality: the Arab-Islamic regime has been a key enabler of the genocidal Hamas leadership. By consistently supporting Hamas, both through direct funding and media manipulation, Qatar has played a dangerous role in perpetuating the cycle of violence. Qatar’s state-backed media outlets, like 'Al Jazeera' and 'Middle East Eye', have been vocal in pushing narratives that fuel anti-Israel sentiment, much like the Turkish Islamist dictator Recep Tayyip Erdoğan uses 'Anadolu' and 'TRT' to spread Islamist propaganda. But it goes beyond mere media influence—Qatar has actively positioned itself as a “mediator”...

🚨The moment of the strike VIDEO AT LINK.............. 🚨BREAKING 🚨 Joint statement from the IDF Spokesperson and the Shin Bet Spokesperson: The IDF and Shin Bet, through the Air Force, carried out a targeted strike against the top leadership of the Hams terrorist organization. The leadership members who were targeted led the terrorist organization's activities for years and are directly responsible for carrying out the October 7 massacre and managing the war against the State of Israel. Before the strike, measures were taken to minimize harm to uninvolved civilians, including the use of precise weaponry and additional intelligence information. The...

Qatar “strongly condemns” the Israeli strike on Hamas leaders in Doha, calling it “cowardly.” Saying that the strike “targeted residential buildings housing several members of the Political Bureau of Hamas,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari says that the “criminal assault constitutes a blatant violation of all international laws and norms, and poses a serious threat to the security and safety of Qataris and residents in Qatar.” Ansari adds that Qatar “will not tolerate this reckless Israeli behavior and the ongoing disruption of regional security, nor any act that targets its security and sovereignty.” Qatar is investigating “at the highest...