Free Republic

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....

Iran, Qatar, other foreign actors backing anti-Israel demonstrations, LA Israeli consulate says. The Israeli LA consulate warned that authorities need to pay attention to aggressive and violent protests before another Washington shooting occurs. By Michael Starr. December 5, 2025. Foreign actors backed protests like the Wednesday Los Angeles synagogue demonstration, claimed the Israeli Los Angeles consulate, also warning that unless authorities checked belligerent behavior, it could lead to another Washington embassy staff terrorist attack. Some of the protesters at the Innovating Safety, Empowering Communities public safety event at Wilshire Boulevard Temple’s Audrey Irmas Pavilion had no connection to the Israeli-Palestinian...

Yasser Abu Shabab, an Arab militia commander who collaborated with Israeli forces in eastern Rafah, was murdered on Thursday in a violent scuffle in territory that is under Israeli military control. Defense officials estimate that the fight stemmed from internal disputes in the militia, which escalated over the past few weeks and became out of hand. Abu Shabab was punched and kicked by the members of his own militia. The defense establishment stresses that "Hamas terrorists were not involved." During the scuffle, Abu Shabab's second-in-command, Rasan a-Dahini, was injured. The two were evacuated to Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon. A-Dahini...

Representative Jim McGovern (D-MA), Ranking Member of the House Rules Committee and Co-Chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY), and Representative Joaquin Castro (D-TX), Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee's Western Hemisphere Subcommittee, have introduced a War Powers Resolution to block the Trump administration from engaging in hostilities within or against Venezuela absent congressional authorization. The Constitution does not permit the executive branch to unilaterally commit an act of war against a sovereign nation that hasn’t attacked the United States,” said Rep. Massie.

For two decades, Muhammad Abdulrahman, 58, lived with his wife and his beehives on a remote hillside in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. But in May, Israeli settlers set up camp about 200 yards away and took control of the road leading to Mr. Abdulrahman’s home, blocking him from returning, he said. Israeli soldiers then evicted him and his wife, Suha Abdulrahman, the couple said. The Israeli military said that Mr. Abdulrahman left voluntarily, but he said that he has still been unable to return home. Last month, a video shared by an Israeli lawmaker on social media showed his house...

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - A bomb exploded in western Venezuela near the frontier with Colombia on Wednesday, damaging the headquarters of a local ranchers' association which had denounced cross-border activity by leftist Colombian rebels, witnesses and police said. No one was injured in the early morning explosion which tore through the car park and the entrance of the building in San Cristobal in Tachira state, shattering windows and scattering debris. Officials said two men were arrested in connection with the explosion. The blast came four days after a bomb badly damaged a Caracas office building where Venezuelan government and opposition...

US President Donald Trump warned Israel via social media on Monday against destabilizing Syria and its new leadership, shortly before holding a phone conversation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “It is very important that Israel maintain a strong and true dialogue with Syria, and that nothing takes place that will interfere with Syria’s evolution into a prosperous State,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, days after a deadly operation by Israeli forces in the south of the country. Trump said he was “very satisfied” with Syria’s current performance under former Islamist rebel President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who made a historic...

Special forces went into hostile village of Beit Jan in Syria to arrest two known terrorists, ambushed, six IDF injured, three badly. 16 jihadis killed, two terrorists arrested. Airlifted, and lost humvee blown up on the way out to prevent it being taken by enemies. Footage from conflict. Friend of Ashkar, fellow vet, speaking from party similar to Burning Man. Transcript linked below video.

The aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford and three warships have been sent to the Caribbean, where they are joining a dozen Navy warships already off the coast of Venezuela, in an unprecedented show of military force. President Trump and his administration are taking aim at the administration of Nicolas Maduro, over his alleged role in the drug trade which presents a national security threat to the United States. It’s clear that if the US succeeds in destabilizing and displacing President Maduro’s regime, it would be a blow to the region’s drug traffickers. What is less known is that it would...

A strange week in which Nicolás Maduro was reduced to hoping that Mark Kelly could bail him out. The president warned everyone to avoid the airspace over or alongside Venezuela this week. “To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY.” We have positioned a serious armada on that country’s shore. Among the explanations for these moves the most plausible I can find is Jeff Childers', who once again documents his views with credible links. The Caribbean communist country is practically daring us to do something...

Tens of thousands rallied in Paris on Saturday to show support for Palestinians in Gaza, as protesters accused Israel of violating a fragile US-brokered ceasefire and demanded tougher international action amid soaring death tolls and ongoing restrictions on aid. Gaza’s health ministry, run by Hamas, said Saturday that more than 70,000 people have been killed since the war began. “Gaza, Gaza, Paris is with you.” Marking the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, tens of thousands of people, according to organizers, marched in Paris on Saturday to show support for Palestinians in Gaza, devastated by more than two...

Hamas gathered sensitive information on IDF movements, bases and weaponry from IDF soldiers’ social media accounts—and used that information to train for and execute the October 7 massacre. That’s according to a disturbing scoop by @Doron_Kadosh . I’ll break down his main findings. During the October 7 massacre, Hamas terrorists “managed to disable [IDF] tanks in the Gaza border area and render them unusable.” How? “The terrorists knew about a secret button in the tank which, when pressed, disables the tank for a certain period.” This left Israeli officials wondering: how on earth did Hamas have such sensitive information on...

In a significant shift in the Middle Eastern power dynamics, Iranian officials have admitted that their once-loyal proxy force, the Houthis in Yemen, is increasingly defying Tehran's orders. Reports indicate that the Houthis, who have long served as Iran's strategic arm in the ongoing conflicts against the United States and its allies, are now acting independently, much to the dismay of their former benefactors. A senior Iranian official disclosed that the Houthis have distanced themselves from Iran. “They have gone rogue for a while and are now really rebels,” the official stated, reflecting concerns within the Iranian regime as they...

Although WWII is fast (and dangerously) becoming a misty memory, it’s probable that most people still know about the infamous “Tokyo Rose” (actually a collective of English-speaking Japanese women) who would broadcast reports intended to demoralize troops fighting the Japanese. In England, Lord Haw-Haw (another collective) broadcast false news intended to demoralize troops fighting the Nazis. Indeed, Wikipedia has a long list of famous fake-news spouting propagandists during wartime.Image created using AI.Today, propagandists don’t use radios; they use social media, but the tactic is the same: disseminate false material to demoralize the enemy. Yesterday, X, whether intentionally or not (I’ve...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) killed Haytham Ali Tabatabai, Hezbollah’s chief of staff, in Beirut, calling him a "mass murderer" responsible for attacks on Israelis and Americans. Netanyahu framed the strike as part of Israel’s ongoing effort to dismantle Hezbollah’s leadership and prevent the group from rebuilding its arsenal after recent operations. He warned that Israel would not tolerate future threats from Lebanon and urged its government to disarm Hezbollah. "A few hours ago, the IDF eliminated Ali Tabatabai, the chief of staff of the Hezbollah terrorist organization," Netanyahu said. "Tabatabai is...

Nov 18 (Reuters) - Hamas rejected the United Nations Security Council passing a U.S.-drafted resolution endorsing U.S. President Donald Trump's Gaza plan, saying it fails to meet Palestinians' rights and demands and seeks to impose an international trusteeship on the enclave that Palestinians and resistance factions oppose. "Assigning the international force with tasks and roles inside the Gaza Strip, including disarming the resistance, strips it of its neutrality, and turns it into a party to the conflict in favor of the occupation," the group added.

In the hope of shifting the debate on divestment from Israel to the real issue—the nature of the divestment campaign—and not the specious accusations regarding University President Lawrence H. Summers’ speech on the issue, I would like to suggest why I believe the campaign is properly characterized as “anti-Semitic in effect, if not in intent.” I would like to look carefully—if necessarily briefly—at the strategy of the campaign and the rhetoric of the petition, in order to show how it implicitly demonizes Jews. Supporters of the divestment campaign insist they seek to protest the policies of the Sharon government, and...

The potential for a military clash between Turkey and Israel is growing. There are several colliding points, and each one of them has the potential to become a full-scale war, despite mechanisms designed to avoid conflict. The most obvious is the Syrian front. Reports indicate that Turkey plans to help Syria’s transitional government develop a military force of approximately 200,000 personnel (approximately 10–15 divisions). Turkey has assumed the role of protector of Syria’s president, Ahmed al-Sharaa (al-Jolani, his nom de guerre). Israel, for its part, has assumed the role of protector of the Druze minority in southwestern Syria, an area...

Exposing Hezbollah: IDF claims terror group murdered prominent Christian-Lebanese critic. Hezbollah's Unit 121 abducted the politician, poisoned him, and staged his body to look like he died in a car accident, the IDF claimed. Christian Lebanese politician, Elias Hasrouni, was assassinated by the Hezbollah terror group he opposed, the IDF confirmed on Friday. Known for his staunch criticism of the terror group, Hasrouni worked as the Secretary-General of the Lebanese Forces central council in Bint Jbeil when he was killed in an ambush last year.

A skewed Trump speech edit, a Gaza film built around a Hamas operative’s son, and repeated factual distortions have plunged the BBC into a credibility crisis. Conservatives are celebrating, Trump is threatening a major lawsuit, and the network faces a steep political cost There is no need to attribute superpowers to Donald Trump. No American president, not even a narcissist in White House mode, can shake a public broadcaster in another country and continent and trigger the resignation of its director general and head of news. The BBC misled the public about Trump. It deceived viewers who had always regarded...