Free Republic

The Likud Party has experienced a significant rise following the war with Iran…The survey reveals that Likud gained 4 seats, increasing its total to 26, up from 22 in the previous poll. This marks the first time since October 2024 that Likud has surpassed Naftali Bennett’s new party, which has dropped to 24 seats. Although Likud is strengthening, the shift primarily reflects changes within the coalition bloc. Otzma Yehudit, led by Itamar Ben-Gvir, has lost two seats, dropping to 6. Meanwhile…the Democrats, led by Yair Golan, have gained ground, rising to 12 seats at the expense of Yesh Atid, the...

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand from New York has strongly challenged Mayor Zoran Mamdani’s controversial remarks regarding the Intifada, asserting that if democratic socialists are serious about leading New York City, they must openly denounce it. Gillibrand, known for her pro-Israel stance, criticized Mamdani for not rejecting the “globalization of Intifadas,” particularly as he requested a sit-down to further explain his position. “As the leader of a city as diverse as New York, home to the largest Jewish population in the country, he should take a clear stand,” Gillibrand remarked during a conversation on WNYC. The senator pointed out that it’s insufficient...

Presidential envoy Steve Witkoff deserves a great deal of credit for what followed in the aftermath of President Trump’s final elimination of the Iranian nuclear threat. Throughout the 12-day war, Witkoff maintained a diplomatic connection to the Iranian delegation in order to position a ceasefire upon conclusion. The Trump administration is now taking a more firm stance toward who in Iran they will accept negotiations with. As noted by Secretary Rubio, the use of intermediaries has exhausted its usefulness. While Qatar may play a role as an interlocutor to bridge the two sides, the time has come for direct face-to-face...

After the US strike on Iran earlier this week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump agreed on a rapid end to the war in Gaza and expansion of the Abraham Accords, Israel Hayom reports, citing “a source familiar with the conversation.” According to the outlet, Trump and Netanyahu agreed in a phone call that the war in Gaza would end within two weeks. Four Arab states, including the UAE and Egypt, would jointly govern the Gaza Strip in place of Hamas. The terror group’s leadership would be exiled, and all hostages would be released.

France's military actively intercepted Iranian drones targeting Israel in the days leading up to this week’s ceasefire, Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu confirmed Wednesday evening. Speaking before Parliament during a debate on the Middle East, Lecornu said the French army engaged in defensive operations as Iran launched a large-scale assault on Israel."I can confirm that the French army intercepted fewer than 10 drones over the last few days, during Iran's military operations against Israelhttps://www.jfeed.com/news-israel/iran-israel-conflict-analysis, either through ground-to-air systems or using our Rafale fighter jets," Lecornu stated

Azealia Banks pulled out of a London festival and alleged that “the promoters” pressured her to support Palestine. The 34-year-old singer slammed festival promoters in a lengthy post shared June 24 on X. “So guys, I am cancelling Boomtown and Maiden Voyage, the promoters have been stressing me out for weeks trying to force me to say free Palestine and threatening to cut me from the bill because I won’t say free Palestine and I’m not dealing with the threats and I’m not putting on a f***ing hijab,” she wrote. Banks was slated to perform at Burgess Park, London’s Maiden...

Israeli agents assassinated Al Qaeda's No. 2 official in a shooting in Tehran three months ago, eliminating a mastermind behind the deadly 1998 attacks on American embassies in Africa. Intelligence officials confirmed to The New York Times that two Israeli agents were acting at the behest of the U.S. when they shot Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah from a motorcycle on Aug. 7, the anniversary of the embassy bombings. His daughter Miriam, the widow of Osama bin Laden's son Hamza bin Laden, was also killed.

NEW YORK — The Hamas terrorist organization has claimed responsibility for the results of last night's mayoral primary in New York City. "Our glorious freedom fighters have delivered an attack on New York City that the Great Satan will not soon forget," stated Hamas spokesman Abu Obaida. "We take responsibility for the heroic operation that has begun the city's deliverance to Allah. The intifada has been globalized." Hamas went on to state that last night's primary was the first wave of assaults directed at destroying American cities and paving the way for attacks on the Jewish community. "We shall make...

Could you explain the origins of the title, Good Muslim, Bad Muslim? Is it not the case that the US - or the West generally - should be supporting moderate, secular forces within the Muslim world to counteract extremist, fundamentalist currents? MAMDANI: Even when Bush speaks of "good" Muslims and "bad" Muslims, what he means by "good" Muslims is really pro-American Muslims and by "bad" Muslims he means anti-American Muslims. Once you recognize that, then it is no longer puzzling why good Muslims are becoming bad Muslims at such a rapid rate. You can actually begin to think through that...

When I was a little girl, my mother used to call me her “Mississippi Masala.” A term of endearment and, as I would later come to find out, a reference: the nickname almost perfectly encapsulated my particular diasporic experience. My Pakistani parents moved to the United States in the 1990s, settling down in Mobile, Alabama—a town that is just about as south as you can get before plunging into the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. People are shocked when my birthplace is revealed. To many, a Muslim South Asian family has no place in the flattened conception of...

Eleven Iranian nationals have been arrested in the last 48 hours by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents across eight different states and nine cities, according to CBS News. This development comes in the wake of a nationwide security alert issued after the U.S. carried out a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities this past weekend. ... One of the individuals arrested is Mehran Makari Saheli, who is a former member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). ICE arrested Saheli at his home in Minnesota where he "admitted connections to Hezbollah," an Iranian-funded terrorist organization. ... On Sunday, authorities also...

ICE says Mehran Makari Saheli is an Iranian national, a convicted felon, a former member of Iran's IRGC, and has "admitted connections" to the terrorist organization Hezbollah. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials announced they arrested a former member of the the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in St. Paul this weekend. Mehran Makari Saheli was arrested on June 22 by federal officials. According to ICE, the 57-year-old Saheli was illegally present in the United States after an immigration judge ordered him to leave the country three years ago. ICE says Saheli is an Iranian national, a convicted felon, a...

National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi says that Israel and the Syrian regime are in direct daily contact and are discussing the possibility of normalization, Israel Hayom reports. Hanegbi today confirms comments he made during a classified session of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Sunday, saying “There is direct daily dialogue at all levels between Israel and the regime in Syria. I am leading it with political officials there,” the Hebrew outlet reports. Hanegbi told the committee that Syria and Lebanon are candidates for the Abraham Accords normalization agreements, the paper reports. When asked whether Israel had agreed...

Immigration agents collared 11 Iranian illegal migrants — including suspected terrorists — over the weekend in eight states as the Border Patrol warned of “possible sleeper” cells in the US.Immigration and Customs Enforcement nabbed former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps member Mehran Makari Sahel, who has “admitted connections” to the Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah, according to CBS News. He was busted near St. Paul, Minnesota. Yousef Mehridehno, whose name appears on the terrorist watchlist, was arrested by ICE outside Jackson, Mississippi, according to the outlet. Feds discovered that Mehridehno lied on a visa application after he had already been living in...

The mullahs threatened they could awaken terrorist “sleeper cells” in the U.S. should we attack them. Well, now we have attacked them—in extraordinary fashion, no less—and multiple cities are on heightened alert for possible violent responses.What if some potential terrorists were let in by an administration that refused to police its borders or deal with illegal immigrants? That could very well be the case, because former President Joe Biden’s regime encountered thousands of Iranian nationals at the border during his term—and let over 700 of them loose.The numbers are sobering. Look at how they got worse each year as Biden...

Socialist mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani refused to sign onto a pair of resolutions recognizing Israel and the holocaust — as the state lawmaker vies to lead a city with the largest concentration of Jewish people outside Israel. Mamdani skipped out on one resolution earlier this week that celebrated the Jewish state on its 77th anniversary. Last year, he declined to sign onto another resolution that denounced the holocaust. Thousands of resolutions are introduced each year and are almost always non-controversial signs of respect to groups or countries. Last month, the assembly honored Fort Drum with a measure when members of...

There is an shocking amount of misinformation and misunderstanding going on right now regarding Iran and Israel, and what brought us to this situation. We need to unpack this and be brutally honest as this is much bigger than you think and affects literally the whole world.You need to sit down and read this the entire way through and share widely — because this affects your life whether you want to admit it or not.To understand what is going on, we need to go back 46 years, to 1979, when Ruholla Khomeini established the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) during...

“America can’t do a damn thing against us,” Ayatollah Khomeini bragged while holding our hostages. The Carter administration had undermined the Shah’s government in favor of the Islamists who seized power and then prevented the embassy’s Marine guards from defending the facility and the people inside against the Muslim ‘student’ groups who claimed to be coming in peace. The “peaceful” student activists took over our embassy and held our people hostage. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei taunted President Trump with the same slogan in June after being asked to give up Iran’s nuclear weapons program. “Our response to the US nonsense...

Gov. Kathy Hochul shut down Democratic Socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s plan to hike taxes on some New Yorkers — as she admitted high costs were pushing residents to move out of state. Hochul was asked in a TV interview if she backed Mamdani’s plan to tax wealthy New Yorkers and up the corporate tax and flatly replied, “No.” “I’m not raising taxes at a time where affordability is the big issue,” Hochul told PIX 11. Mamdani has said he would impose a 2% income tax on Big Apple residents who make more than $1 million a year and inflate...

...while Iran takes hit after hit, one major actor remains conspicuously silent: Hezbollah. Is that surprising? Not entirely. But this silence, especially now, when Iran is under unprecedented pressure, points to something deeper: Hezbollah is trapped in a brutal strategic Catch-22 — perhaps the deadliest in its history. If it joins the war — it risks total annihilation by Israel.If it abstains — it risks losing the Iranian patron that underwrites its very existence... Hezbollah isn’t just an ally of Iran. It’s its creation. Since 1982, the IRGC has poured everything into the group: training, weapons, money, and ideology. Every...