Free Republic

The Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions, with the support of international labor unions, intends to sue Israel for compensation on behalf of Palestinian Authority Arab workers who lost their jobs in Israel since October 7, 2023, when Hamas and civilian Arabs infiltrated Israel en mass and brutally tortured, massacred, and dismembered Israeli men, women, children, and infants. The petition to the International Labour Organization (ILO) focuses on the right to wages and the protection of workers' social rights in accordance with binding international conventions and agreements. Shaher Saad, Secretary-General of the Palestinian Workers Union, told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the...

00:50 — The World Today: Rising Hatred & Global Tensions 01:53 — Brigitte Gabriel’s Childhood in the Middle East 04:19 — Growing Up During the Lebanese Civil War 06:03 — Learning How to Survive in a War Zone 08:42 — How War Shapes Identity at a Young Age 11:41 — Why Israel Became a Lifeline, Not an Enemy 14:11 — What Hatred Really Looks Like Up Close 17:09 — Witnessing the Compassion of Israel Firsthand 19:44 — Lessons the World Refuses to Learn 27:05 — A Wounded Mother & the Journey to an Israeli Hospital 29:42 — Humanity in War:...

An Iranian man from the southern port city of Bushehr released a video in English appealing to US President Donald Trump and Western governments to halt any deal with Iran’s ruling establishment before taking his own life. In the roughly 10-minute video, the man, identified by Iranian media and activists as Pouria Hamidi, said he wanted to draw attention to what he described as a deadly crackdown on protests in Iran and urged Washington not to pursue negotiations with Tehran. “If you’re watching this, then I’m not around anymore,” he said at the start of the video, adding that he...

Aizenberg @Aizenberg55: The Gaza death toll narrative depends on pretending Hamas never kills Gazans. In reality, Hamas & PIJ killed 1000s from internal violence and misfired rockets—then get counted as civilians killed by IDF. Numerous reports and incidents like the one below document this clearly.

Key Takeaways: Headlines claiming the IDF “accepted” Hamas’ 70,000 death toll stemmed from an anonymous briefing remark—not official data—and were later clarified by the IDF as not reflecting its position, yet the narrative spread globally before the correction. Hamas’ published figures lump together combatants, civilians, natural deaths, and deaths caused by Hamas itself, with no breakdown—embedding an estimated ~11,000 natural deaths, ~1,000 errors, and ~4,000 internal or misfire-related killings that are routinely attributed to Israel. Reconstructing the data shows roughly 25,000 Hamas fighters killed and about 36,000 civilians—a civilian-to-combatant ratio of around 1.5:1—undercutting claims of indiscriminate slaughter and revealing how...

It’s all backstage now. This fraught moment, the power centers locked in the coldest cold of the year, the Spanish language lessons of Bad Bunny behind us, all the real action in the battle to save the country is out of sight, moiling and churning in the deep background. Everybody’s on edge waiting for shoes to drop, praying they don’t drop on their heads. You should have seen Senator Mark Warner (D-VA; Vice-chair of the Senate Intel Committee) on Face the Nation Sunday, frothing at the mouth over Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence (DNI). He cannot believe she turned...

Thousands are thought to have been either killed or rounded up and jailed when the protests were brought to an end in a deadly crackdown by the Islamic Republic's guards. Since then, the regime has started dragging prisoners from their jail cells to sit in front of bright studio lights for televised interrogations. According to Arina Moradi, a member of the Hengaw Organisation for Human Rights, detainees are also subjected to 'mock' executions in jail as a form of psychological torture and humiliation. Shervin Bagherian, 18, appeared in one of Iran's televised confessions wearing a bright blue prison uniform and...

Three adult dogs and seven puppies found abandoned near the Gaza border will be flown to the US for adoption by American soldiers who served in the area during the Gaza war. The soldiers discovered the animals and decided they couldn’t leave them behind, according to Israel’s Let the Animals Live association. Let the Animals Live said it was caring for the canines in kennels before they are flown out, while also dealing with the export bureaucracy and ensuring that all shots are up to date. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (International) is funding most of...

A story broke last week that an Arabic journalist named Jamal Khashoggi who was working for the Washington Post had disappeared and was presumed dead. The official story is that Khashoggi was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on the afternoon of October 2. Immediately (and suspiciously) media stories that appeared to be coordinated appeared, pointing the finger of blame for Khashoggi’s disappearance at Saudi Arabia, in general, and at the country’s Crown Prince, Mohammad Bin Salman, in particular. It was alleged by anonymous sources for several days that Khashoggi had been abducted and then killed at...

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Sunday ruled out Tehran ever giving up uranium enrichment in its negotiations with Washington, insisting it will not be intimidated by the threat of war with the United States. Araghchi told a forum in Tehran that Tehran had little trust in Washington, and even doubted that the US side was taking renewed negotiations seriously. “Why do we insist so much on enrichment and refuse to give it up, even if a war is imposed on us? Because no one has the right to dictate our behavior,” Araghchi declared.

Iran’s leadership is edging toward a war scenario not because diplomacy is necessarily collapsing, but because confrontation is increasingly seen as the least damaging option for a ruling system under intense internal and external pressure

In recent days, the news feed has been flooded with all kinds of headlines like “Starlink was shut down in Iran,” “The regime learned how to jam satellite internet,” “Starlink is broken,” and other similar nonsense. Naturally, many journalists and media outlets were happy to exploit clickbait headlines. As a result, many people perceived this narrative as an actually documented fact. Understandably… when such claims are published by well-known media, they surely cannot be false, right?Is Starlink even available in Iran at all?To begin with, a small historical excursus is needed, one that is absolutely essential for understanding the background...

Recent figures from the Central Bank of Iran highlight the scale of the problem. In the Iranian year 1403 (2024/25), the average annual gross expenditure of an urban household reached about 4.69 billion rials, or roughly 391 million rials per month, marking a year-on-year increase of nearly 38%. Of this amount, close to 30% was spent on food and beverages alone. For an average household of 3.2 people, monthly food expenses exceeded 116 million rials.

Iran has supplied millions of rounds of ammunition and shells, according to estimates, which is not the full extent of what Moscow has purchased from Tehran. Tehran has also supplied Shahed-136 kamikaze drones and joint technology that has enabled Russia to produce them domestically under the name Geran-2 as part of a $1.75 billion contract signed in early 2023.... In total, Russia has spent more than the equivalent of $4 billion on Iranian military equipment and weapons since the end of 2021, according to the estimate... Russia is not among Iran’s largest trading partners. China tops the list, with trade...

A US official accusing China of conducting secret nuclear explosions... A drone attack repelled in southern Russia's Rostov Region... Explosions in several Ukrainian cities early Saturday... President Trump tightening sanctions on Iran... An Arizona state judge striking down three abortion laws.. . US Navy Secretary John Phelan was on Jeffrey Epstein's plane... Members of Congress being given access to unredacted Jeffrey Epstein files... President Trump signing an executive order increasing the importation of beef from Argentina... Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu...dismissing any link between Epstein and Israel... Opening Ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Italy... British police searching...

Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey have prepared a draft defence agreement after nearly a year of talks, Pakistan's Minister for Defence Production said, a signal they could be seeking a bulwark against a flare-up of regional violence in the last two years. Raza Hayat Harraj told Reuters on Wednesday the potential deal between the three regional powers was separate from a bilateral Saudi-Pakistani accord announced last year. A final consensus between the three states is needed to complete the deal, he said.

THE separatist militancy, which has gripped Balochistan for the past two decades, now seems to have escalated into a full-blown insurgency. Last week, hundreds of armed terrorists launched simultaneous attacks reportedly in 12 locations, including the provincial capital Quetta. They stormed security installations, set government buildings on fire and looted banks. Highly trained terrorists engaged the security forces in gun battles for hours, revealing their capacity to challenge the state. While the government claims to have killed 145 terrorists and restored order, such large-scale attacks, which breach even high security zones such as the provincial capital and cause many casualties...

While Washington searches for ways to weaken Iran’s murderous rulers, our supposed NATO ally Turkey is working overtime to keep the mullahs alive — and in power. This week’s diplomatic tug-of-war over US-Iran negotiations is a win for Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s Islamist strongman, who has led a cynical campaign to stall for time and block US and Israeli military action against the Islamic Republic after its brutal crackdown on civilian protesters. He’s feigning concern that military action would spark “regional instability,” but his real goal is simple: Keep Iran’s theocracy from falling — and stop the emergence of a...

The U.S. has arrested Zubayr Al-Bakoush, alleged to be one of the leaders of the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced the arrest on Friday. Bondi said that Al-Bakoush was charged with charges of murder, terror and arson, all related to the 2012 attack. "Zubayr Al-Bakoush will now face American justice on American soil. We will prosecute this alleged terrorist to the fullest extent of the law," Bondi said on Friday. "Let this case serve as a reminder: If you commit a crime against...

Army headquarters on fire. Seems similar to explosions set off by Israel last June several days before the airstrikes. Seen on X, but I don't have a link yet. IN other news, a large mortuary in NW Iran was seen totally engulfed in flames. The regime had stated earlier on state run tv that they had no more room for bodies. NOT a coincidence. Their evil knows no bounds.