Free Republic

Medics treating protesters in Iran said they were seeing a difference in the type of injuries inflicted on men and women by the security forces — with the female activists often being shot in their faces, breasts and genitals.. multiple doctors and nurses who have been surreptitiously caring for wounded demonstrators during months of unrest said it appeared that officers tasked with stopping the protests have been targeting specific body parts in women. One doctor from Isfahan province speaking to the outlet on condition of anonymity said he believed the authorities “wanted to destroy the beauty of these women.” Iran...

Iran was slapped with fresh sanctions Friday after carrying out its first execution over demonstrations that have shaken the regime for nearly three months, as activists called for fresh protests. Mohsen Shekari, 23, was hanged Thursday after being found guilty of "moharebeh", or "enmity against God", (except).. (excerpt)The judiciary said Shekari was arrested after blocking a Tehran street and striking a member of the Basij paramilitary force linked to the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps with a machete -- a wound that required 13 stitches

group of 1,200 university students in Iran were struck down by food poisoning the night before a wave of anti-regime protests were set to be held throughout the country. Students at Kharazmi and Ark universities experienced vomiting, severe body aches, and hallucinations, the national student union claimed Thursday. At least four other universities reported similar outbreaks.

Part 2 of the discussion of current events in the middle east and how it fits with long-term goals of various countries, ethnic groups and religious factions. Too many topics covered to easily summarize. The video is 1 hour long and went by very quickly when I watched it last night.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday said Jerusalem must be a city for Israelis and Palestinians, and anything else will harm Israel’s identity and security. “The United States continues to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, as the President also said in his visit, Jerusalem is central to the national visions of both Palestinians and Israelis and must be a city for all of its people. Anything that takes us away from two states is detrimental to Israel’s long-term security and its long-term identity,” Blinken said during an address at the the left-wing J Street’s national conference in Washington....

In 2014, the world learned about my hometown, Kobane, and my people, the Syrian Kurds, when we dealt the Islamic State its first major defeat in partnership with the United States and the Global Coalition. The alliances we forged there led to the end of the ISIS caliphate in 2019.Today, Kobane is again under threat — and all the gains of those partnerships are also in danger.This time, the threat comes not from Islamic State terror, but from a U.S. ally and a member of NATO. For more than a week, the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has...

Israel’s amb. to UN launches first exhibit showing Jewish expulsion from Iran, Arab countriesBy Halwy Cohen, The Jerusalem Post, November 30, 2022.https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-7236831947-1948 - Forced transfer or mass escape?Ha’aretz claims that 800,000 Arabs were expelled from the country by the Jews during the War of Independence. The purpose of this lie is to hide the shameful truth: the great majority were not deported but fled on their own initiativeHanan Amior, Presspectiva, 29.11.22https://presspectiva-org-il.translate.goog/1947-1948-%d7%98%d7%a8%d7%a0%d7%a1%d7%a4%d7%a8-%d7%9b%d7%a4%d7%95%d7%99-%d7%90%d7%95-%d7%91%d7%a8%d7%99%d7%97%d7%94-%d7%94%d7%9e%d7%95%d7%a0%d7%99%d7%aa/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=enThe fate of the Jews in Arab countriesConrad Myrland, Miff.no, June 28, 2022.https://miff.no/jodenes-skjebne-i-arabiske-landhttps://miff-no.translate.goog/jodenes-skjebne-i-arabiske-land?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=enFrom Hitler to Putin: Palestinian habit of always backing ‘wrong side’Opinion: In 1940s, then-Palestinian leader Mufti Hajj Amim...

As a United Nations body prepares to take an unprecedented vote on whether to expel Iran from the U.N.’s top gender equality body, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Thursday the regime should “never” have been a member of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in the first place. Noting that she recently joined “a group of women leaders” calling for Iran’s ousting from the CSW, Clinton told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that removing the regime from the U.N. body dealing with the advancement of women would be “the right thing to do.” “They should never have...

The U.S. ambassador to Lebanon is facing criticism within the State Department for wearing a hijab earlier this month during meetings with pro-Hezbollah officials at a time when Iranian protesters are rallying against such draconian religious displays. Dorothy Shea, who has served as the top U.S. diplomat in Lebanon since 2020, was recently pictured in regional media outlets meeting with Lebanon’s Higher Shiite Islamic Council, a religious body that experts view as allied with Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed terror group that wages outsized political influence in Lebanon. One senior diplomatic source told the Washington Free Beacon the gesture undermines U.S. efforts...

Iranian Empress Farah Pahlavi and her granddaughter Princess Noor Pahlavi, the eldest daughter of Prince Reza Pahlavi, were special guests of the French Senate Tuesday during special conference, “Woman, Life, Freedom! Iran, Revolt or Revolution?” which included French senators declaring their support for the Iranian national uprising against the Islamic Republic.“Empress Farah Pahlavi, Princess Nour Pahlavi, I would like to say that we are extremely honored to be your host in the Senate this afternoon,” said French Senator Bruno Retailleau in his opening remarks.“Your presence gives greater weight to the message of support that this conference aims to send to...

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday on CNN International’s “Amanpour” that the Biden administration should not negotiate with Iran. Anchor Christiane Amanpour said, “So on Iran because clearly the whole world is watching the very brave women and girls there stand up for their rights. And we’ve also seen the crackdown. We also know that this is all sort of complicated for the United States with all sorts of other policy, trying to get Iran, you know, to come back into the nuclear accord, which, by the way, it was a US president who brought the world out...

The Iranian government is stepping up its efforts to eliminate the opponents of the regime who have fled the country. The Washington Post reports that the Iranians are offering hundreds of thousands of dollars to mercenaries...

The U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team defeated the Iranian team on Tuesday in a must-win game. Now the American team moves on the playing The Netherlands on Saturday. There was a little extra sweetness in celebrating the U.S. victory this year because of the political protests going on in Iran now. Iranians in support of the protesters celebrated the U.S. victory in Iran. One woman spoke on the condition of remaining anonymous from her home in southern Iran. “Mahoora” said, “It’s not just some people in Iran, it is the majority of people in Iran that want the U.S. to...

On September 13, 2020, a little more than two years ago, President Trump announced the first of the Abraham Accords deals. The UAE agreed to recognize Israel, exchange diplomats, and begin economic cooperation. Over the next four months, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan were added to the list of countries making peace with the Jewish State, and we were told that other countries wanted to hop on the peace train. The Foggy Bottom rumor mill suggested that the big fish, Saudi Arabia was on the edge of joining the accords. But on January 20, 2021, the process ended as soon as...

The United States booked their place in the last-16 of the World Cup in Qatar with a nerve-shredding 1-0 victory over Iran on Tuesday. Gregg Berhalter's side went into the clash knowing a win was the only result to take them through, and Christian Pulisic's first-half goal was enough to seal three points. The US will take on the Netherlands in the last 16 on Saturday.

President Biden on Tuesday cheered the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team for its win over Iran in the World Cup at an event in Michigan to promote his economic agenda. Biden, who had wrapped up his speech in Bay City and was mingling with attendees, walked back to the microphone to tell the crowd that the U.S. had won, 1-0. “USA! USA! That’s a big game, man,” Biden said. “When I spoke to the coach and the players, I said, ‘You can do this.’ They went ‘eh.’ They did it, God love ’em. Anyway, just thought you might want to...

You don't have to like soccer to maybe have a little interesting in the Tuesday match between the USA and Iran in the World Cup, in a loser leave town match. I was never a hockey fan until the USA team with a bunch of college players defeated the hated Russians in the 1980 Winter Olympics, I was throwing things at the TV when the hated Russians defeated the USA basketball team in the 1972 Summer Olympics, in an obvious case of cheating. International sports competitions are a lot more fun when the nations playing each other have a hatred...

The Islamic Republic of Iran (the Radical Government) tried to turn the win-or-go-home World Cup Match with the United States today into something of a religious battle. How ironic their team was knocked out today by Christian Pulisic, who scored the only goal of the contest by literally sacrificing his body to give the United States a 1-0 lead....

Twenty-four hours ahead of a must-win World Cup group stage match against Iran following two draws, U.S. men’s national team coach Gregg Berhalter and team captain Tyler Adams had to have expected a line of tough questions, but it’s hard to imagine that they thought this is how things would go on Monday. Berhalter and Adams were hit with an intense line of questioning regarding systemic racism in the United States, strict visa rules in place against Iranian citizens and what an American fleet is doing in the Persian Gulf, among other things. These questions all came from journalists from...

The huge protests engulfing China right now against lockdowns have left a lot of people wondering if these are just protests. The size, and scope, and vehemence, and fearlessness of the Chinese public against their very oppressive communist masters has made them appear to be a mass movement. In Shanghai, they are calling for the ouster of the entire Communist Party of China. When a billion-strong nation rises up on a cause that has unified them such as this, there's clearly the scent of revolution in the air. The New York Times did a huge spread on the matter this...