Free Republic

The Lebanese daily Al-Nahar on Jan. 3, 2026, quoted Lebanese Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Wehbe Katicha as saying that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro provided Lebanese Hizbullah with 10,000 Venezuelan passports, some of which were used by officers of Syria's Assad regime to flee the country.

Reza Pahlavi, the exiled Iranian opposition figure and son of Iran’s last monarch, has issued his first public call to action since the start of the current wave of nationwide protests, urging Iranians to take part in a coordinated act of protest later this week. In a video message released on Tuesday, coinciding with the tenth day of widespread demonstrations across Iran, Pahlavi called on citizens to chant slogans simultaneously on Thursday and Friday evenings, whether in the streets or from their homes. His appeal comes amid one of the most sustained periods of civil unrest in recent years, driven...

For over two decades, Venezuela has served as a critical outpost for Hezbollah in the Western Hemisphere, with reports detailing the group's entrenchment on Margarita Island and ties to the former regimes of Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro. U.S. intelligence assessments and media investigations describe this presence as evolving from fundraising networks among the Lebanese diaspora in the 1980s to sophisticated operations involving training, smuggling, and financial schemes by the 2000s. Margarita Island, once a bustling tourist spot, has been highlighted as a primary hub, surpassing even the Tri-Border Area in Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay for Hezbollah's regional activities. Training...

Former Israeli hostage Romi Gonen said she endured repeated sexual assault, harassment and intimidation during her 471 days of Hamas captivity, speaking publicly for the first time about her experience and her fear of becoming a “sex slave” in Gaza. Gonen, now 25, was kidnapped at age 23 from the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023, and released as part of the January 2025 hostage deal. In a two-part interview broadcast this week on Israel’s Channel 12 program Uvda, she recounted several incidents of sexual harassment and assault by three different men. “Only when you’re in this situation can...

Security officials assess that alongside strengthening its military capabilities, Hamas is also tightening its control over the Gazan population.

Iran, Colombia, Hezbollah, and Russia condemned the military operation performed by the United States in Venezuela on Saturday, where US special forces troops captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, while major US allies like Germany, Spain, and Italy said they were following the situation closely. Iran, an ally of Venezuela, said that the military attack on Venezuela was "a blatant violation of its national sovereignty and territorial integrity." Hezbollah stated that it "condemns the terrorist aggression and American thuggery against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela" and "further affirms its full solidarity with Venezuela - its people, presidency, and...

It’s hard to be optimistic about the future of Gaza. The cease-fire agreement brokered by the Trump administration is holding, but Israel continues to occupy more than half of the territory, and its forces have killed more than 350 Palestinians since the truce was reached on Oct. 10. Hamas, meanwhile, is resurging in Gaza—replacing key commanders killed in the two-year war with Israel; executing its Palestinian opponents; and hiding weapons and fighters in its tunnel system, more than half of which remains intact. So, where does that leave Palestinians and Israelis? And what does it mean for the rest of...

Ahead of the meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump, Israeli officials are concerned that Washington may force a transition to Phase II of the Gaza agreement without the return of the last killed hostage, Israel Police Yamam special operations unit Staff Sgt. Ran Gvili, and without firm commitments to Hamas’ disarmament and the demilitarization of the Strip. In Jerusalem, there is concern that the Americans will seek to move forward “at any cost,” potentially demanding further Israeli withdrawals and the opening of the Rafah crossing in both directions, while showing less interest in the facts...

Hamas is expected to elect a new leader within days or a few weeks, Saudi outlet Asharq reported Saturday, citing sources close to the Palestinian terror group’s leadership. However, the same sources also reportedly “ruled out holding general elections before the war comes to a complete end.” The two main candidates are former Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal and current Gaza politburo chief Khalil al-Hayya, the report said. Their main immediate policy difference relates to the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, according to the sources. Hayya, who is seen as close to Iran, was said to support the continuation of “armed conflict...

00:00 – Why Hamas Is a Religious Movement, Not a Nationalist One 08:05 – Why Islam Claims Land Can Never Leave Muslim Rule 13:20 – Why Western Leaders Misread Hamas’s Intentions 14:45 – October 7: What Hamas Was Trying to Achieve 16:55 – Why Western Media Repeats Hamas Casualty Claims 18:58 – What Jihad Really Means in Islamic Doctrine 23:40 – Demographic and Cultural Jihad in the West 25:10 – Qatar’s Role in Supporting the Muslim Brotherhood 27:25 – How Qatar Became a Global Islamist Power Broker 29:40 – Iran, Hamas, and the Sunni–Shia Alliance Against Israel 30:35 – Debating...

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resign on Monday, accusing him of engaging in the cover-up of the Qatargate affair, which Bennett called “the most serious act of treason in Israeli history.” The statement from Bennett, who is running against Netanyahu in next year’s election, follows new revelations about the scandal. The affair involves allegations that top aides to the prime minister were acting as paid lobbyists for Qatar, where Hamas’s leadership is based, while simultaneously working for Netanyahu. On Sunday, i24 News reported that communication between the suspects showed they had fabricated information,...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to brief US President Donald Trump that any expansion of Iran’s ballistic missile programme could pose a threat requiring swift action, NBC News reported on Saturday (Dec 20). The report said Israeli officials believe Iran may be rebuilding nuclear enrichment sites bombed by the United States in June, and are preparing to present Trump with options for renewed strikes targeting Iran’s missile capabilities.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have presented a $112 billion reconstruction plan to Gulf officials to build a “high-tech metropolis” atop the remains of Gaza, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The 32-page PowerPoint presentation labeled "sensitive" and titled "Project Sunrise" was developed over 45 days and reportedly presented to officials from Qatar, UAE, Egypt, and Turkiye. The plan envisions turning the Gaza Strip into a "high-tech metropolis" over the next two decades with four phases of reconstruction beginning in southern Gaza. It also calls for turning Rafah into Gaza's new "administrative center," housing over 500,000...

Bondi Beach is meant to be neutral ground. A place without history. A democratic beautiful stretch of sand where politics dissolves into sunlight, surf, and families pushing strollers toward the water. That illusion died when Jews gathered there to light Hanukkah candles—and were slaughtered for it. The massacre belongs to a broader pattern that has accelerated since Oct. 7, 2023: Jews targeted far from any battlefield, in the ordinary spaces of civic life. Synagogues, campuses, cafés, city streets—and now a beach—have become killing fields aimed not at a state, but at a people. The mass murder at Bondi did not...

(2011 editorial) I have always been fascinated by the timeless parable of the scorpion and the frog. It’s a short yet powerful warning about the often immutable nature of certain beings. In this case, the deadly and incontrovertible nature of evil. As the story goes, a scorpion asks a frog to carry it across a body of water, since the scorpion cannot swim. The frog then rightly asserts that doing so would put its life at great risk, as the scorpion is known to lethally sting other creatures, sometimes without provocation. To counter the frog’s argument, the scorpion insists that...

ERUSALEM, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Israel's cabinet has decided to give legal status to 19 settlements in the occupied West Bank, including two that were vacated 20 years ago under a pullout aimed at boosting the country's security and the economy, Israeli media reported. The Palestinian Authority on Friday condemned the move, announced late on Thursday. Some of the settlements are newly established, while others are older, Israeli media said. The move to legalise the settlements in the West Bank -- territory Palestinians seek for a future state -- was proposed by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Israeli Defense...

When deadly clashes erupted last July between Bedouin and Druze militias in the southern Syrian city of Sweida, some members of the Druze community living in Israel crossed the border to protect their kin. For Safi Ibrahim, an IDF colonel from the community, the crisis sparked genuine solidarity and brought emotions to the surface. As part of the events, he participated in a military operation in Syria – a mission that became deeply personal for him, fusing his military service with his identity. snip Unlike the Druze of the Galilee and Carmel – who serve proudly and prominently in the...

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — With the remains of one hostage still in Gaza, the first phase of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas is nearly complete, after a two-month process plagued by delays and finger-pointing. Now, the key players — including Israel, the Palestinian militant Hamas group, the United States and a diverse list of international parties — are to move to a far more complicated second phase that could reshape the Middle East. U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan — which was approved by the U.N. Security Council — lays out an ambitious vision for...

At first glance, Mike Waltz’s visit to Israel this week may look like a new UN ambassador’s routine orientation tour – a series of meetings, border briefings, and handshakes meant to signal continuity. But nothing about the timing or the choreography of this particular visit suggests anything routine. Waltz’s first major foreign trip since taking office is not just a symbolic gesture. It is the operational rollout of the Trump administration’s Gaza plan, carried out under the umbrella of UN Security Council Resolution 2803, which the US drafted and pushed through. And the visit comes just days after the UN...

Qatar, Turkey trying to dissuade Hamas from disarming, as Phase II of ceasefire still under discussion. Alternatives proposed would see Hamas give up its weapons to the Palestinian Authority or transferred them to a secure storage under oversight, which could preserve Hamas' influence in Gaza; this is likely to be the main issue discussed at the Trump-Netanyahu meeting in Florida The second phase of the Gaza ceasefire plan is still being shaped by the Americans, though nothing has been finalized. Israel and the U.S. jointly drafted the original 20‑point plan, which included a clear agreement that Hamas must be disarmed....