Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has decided that the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees is not immune from being sued, reversing the U.S. government’s position that the organization was protected from civil liability.The Justice Department revealed its new stance in a letter it filed in federal court in New York on Thursday as part of a lawsuit that aims to hold the agency, known as UNRWA, accountable for the Oct. 7, 2023, deadly attack on Israel by Hamas. The change in position underscores the hardened perspective toward the agency under the Trump administration following allegations by Israel that some...

Sen. Ron Johnson is actively investigating 9/11. A day after the Wisconsin Republican went on a far-right podcast promoting conspiracy theories about the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, a spokesperson for Johnson said the lawmaker is currently seeking information and documentation in order to hold hearings on the event nearly 25 years later. He would do so in his capacity as chair of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, one of Congress’s most storied and powerful panels with far-reaching jurisdiction that gives its chair wide latitude to probe a diverse array of matters. It has...

Iraqi politician: Talks ‘very advanced’; IRGC-linked factions may lay down arms to prevent targeting by US airstrikes, say Iran told them to take whatever decision they deem necessary.BAGHDAD — Several powerful Iranian-backed militia groups in Iraq are prepared to disarm for the first time to avert the threat of an escalating conflict with the US Trump administration, 10 senior commanders and Iraqi officials told Reuters.The move to defuse tensions follows repeated warnings issued privately by US officials to the Iraqi government since US President Donald Trump took power in January, according to the sources who include six local commanders of...

Iran is beating a retreat from Yemen, where it has backed the Houthi rebels, who in turn have launched missiles and drones against Israel, and have also attacked international shipping in the Red Sea, as well as western naval vessels. The reason: U.S. President Donald Trump has launched a relentless assault on the Houthis while also restoring a “maximum pressure” campaign of sanctions that makes it impossible for Iran to sustain its overseas terror proxies. The UK Telegraph reported on Thursday: Iran has ordered military personnel to leave Yemen, abandoning its Houthi allies as the US escalates an air strike...

Reports this week indicated that US President Donald Trump may visit Saudi Arabia in the coming months. This is important because it would be his first trip abroad as president. It will also be a repeat of a trip he took during his first term. During his first term, in May 2017, he travelled to Saudi Arabia for the US-Arab-Islamic Summit. He met with Saudi King Salman and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi during that trip, among other leaders who attended During the May 2017 trip, Trump said, “I stand before you as a representative of the American People, to...

– “The brave nations and the proud youth” of the region are labeled as “proxy” forces by western officials, “whereas the Israeli regime is the only proxy force in the region, which works on behalf of colonialist forces to violate the territories and sovereignties of countries.” – “The Zionist regime, as a proxy of the colonizers, incites fire, commits genocide, and perpetrates crimes, and if it gets the chance, it violates [the territories of] other countries, just as it is violating Syria’s today.” – “If others defend their rights or their land, they are labeled ‘terrorists;’ yet, [it is] the...

A U.S.-led coalition airstrike killed the second-highest-ranking leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) Thursday, officials revealed hours before President Donald Trump announced additional targets. The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said its forces — together with Iraqi Intelligence and Security Forces — “conducted a precision airstrike in Al Anbar Province, Iraq, that killed the Global ISIS #2 leader, Chief of Global Operations and the Delegated Committee Emir – Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rifai, alias ‘Abu Khadijah’, and one other ISIS operative.” “Today the fugitive leader of ISIS in Iraq was killed,” President Trump posted on Truth Social. “He...

The remains of 32 Yazidis murdered by the Islamic State were discovered in a mass grave in Iraq. They are finally having a funeral after 10 years.. It's crazy how little the world cares about persecuted non-muslim minorities in the Middle East. .... So heartbreaking most people don't know that the Yazidi are Christians. IDF rescued a beautiful Yazidi girl from the Evil Tyranny of Gazan's & got her safely back to her family ... Well I’m at least mournfully glad they were able to give them dignified proper final rest. And for the families to have something to bury....

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Navy on Saturday revealed a new underground missile facility along the country’s southern coast, AFP reported, citing footage aired by state television. The unveiling comes just two weeks after the force showcased an underground naval base. "Hundreds of cruise missiles capable of countering enemy destroyers' electronic warfare are stationed in these underground cities," the Iranian report stated. The facility, whose exact location was not disclosed, houses missile systems stored "hundreds of meters underground" and capable of being deployed swiftly. "These systems and missiles can be armed and fired from hundreds of kilometers away and can hit targets...

Trump met Erdogan at a Nato meeting early in June. Their discussions were very friendly, and after they ended, Trump thought they had made a deal: Trump would ask Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to release a Turkish citizen, Ebru Ozkan, arrested because of alleged terrorist links to Hamas, and then Turkey would release pastor Andrew Brunson, who was arrested in Turkey on October 2016 on charges of espionage, which the US considers are bogus charges. So on July 14, Trump called Netanyahu and requested that Ozkan be released, and she was released the next day. But Brunson was not...

PRESIDENT CLINTON: Good evening. Earlier today, I ordered America's armed forces to strike military and security targets in Iraq. They are joined by British forces. Their mission is to attack Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs and its military capacity to threaten its neighbors. Their purpose is to protect the national interest of the United States, and indeed the interests of people throughout the Middle East and around the world. Saddam Hussein must not be allowed to threaten his neighbors or the world with nuclear arms, poison gas or biological weapons. I want to explain why I have decided,...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Israel must withdraw its forces from Syria or it will cause “unfavorable outcomes for everyone.” “The aggressive actions of the forces attacking Syrian territory, Israel, in particular, must come to an end as soon as possible,” he said during a meeting of his party in Ankara. “Everyone should take their hands off Syria and we, along with our Syrian brothers, will crush the heads of Islamic State, the YPG and other terrorist organizations in a short time.”

Oy veh — it’s gonna get mashugana out there. In the waning days of the Biden administration (which also coincides with the waning days of Joe Biden), a few uncomfortable truths have emerged. First, Biden is destined to be remembered as one of the least consequential presidents in American history. His tenure was a speed bump -- a thin slice of bologna that’s sandwiched between the two Trump terms. For a guy like Biden, who so clearly covets adulation, recognition, and public praise, that’s gotta sting. Two, it’s now apparent that Biden’s presidency coincided with a national realignment. The public...

Multiple reports from northern Syria on Thursday indicated the U.S. military is reinforcing its presence in Syrian Kurdistan, or Rojava, potentially building a new base in the city of Kobani.The regional outlet Kurdistan 24 reported on Thursday that “a convoy of 50 trucks carrying Bremer walls entered Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)-controlled areas in northeastern Syria (Rojava) on Thursday.” Citing the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a non-governmental organization (NGO), Kurdistan 24 reported that the convoy was headed to the Kurdish city of Kobani, on the Turkish border.“Sources from the observatory indicated that the delivery is part of ongoing efforts...

It is welcome news that Sweden’s Aid Minister, Benjamin Dousa, has said that Sweden will no longer fund UNRWA, apparently satisfied with Israel’s evidence that it has been a HAMAS front. The Arabs there need not worry, though, because Sweden is going to increase the amount of its aid, only using other agencies. Lucky for them. However, Israel could help itself by going further and attacking the very idea that the recipients of UNRWA largesse are “Palestinian refugees” entitled to such aid when there are virtually no refugees among them. And in any case, there is nothing Palestinian about them....

Call it the dark side of liberation. America’s most loyal allies in Syria, the Kurds, are now facing the wrath of Turkish proxies that helped topple Bashar al-Assad’s tyranny earlier this month. As of now neither President Joe Biden nor president-elect Donald Trump have offered any guarantees for the survival of the 200,000 Kurds who are now at risk of being cleansed from the northeastern city of Kobani and surrounding areas. “We feel betrayed,” Ilham Ahmed, a Kurd who serves as the de facto foreign minister for the North and East Syrian administration, told The Free Press in an interview...

Israeli Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Minister Amichai Chikli called for the internartional coomunity to grant and recognize the independence of Kurdistan as Kurdish regions in northern Syria face attacks from Turkey and Turkish-backed rebel groups. "Kurdistan must be granted independence, while Erdoğan should be expelled from NATO and left to crown himself as the caliph of an Islamic state, ruling alongside his friends in ISIS and Al-Qaeda," Chikli wrote on X. Chikli's comments were made in response to an interview given by a Kurdish journalist in Syria with Israel's Kan News channel. .....

SYRIAN despot Bashar al-Assad traded his country's military secrets with Israel in exchange for safe passage out of the country, it has been claimed. The murderous tyrant allegedly handed over coordinates for weapons depots which Israel is now using to drop bombs on Syrian targets in a cowardly last act.

Negotiations fora prisoner swap-ceasefire deal with Israel are nearing conclusion, the Hamas-affiliated Quds network reported. According to the report, "the negotiations between Israel and the organization are now in their final stages." "A discussion is ongoing regarding the names and sentences of the Palestinian prisoners who will be freed as part of the deal," the report added. According to the sources, "the prisoners with heavier [sentences] will be exiled to Turkey and Iran, while the rest will be released to Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip." On Tuesday, a senior Palestinian Authority official gave an interview to the BBC and...

Israel disputed allegations Monday by Cindy McCain, the widow of the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and the director of the United Nations’ World Food Program (WFP), claiming only two of its aid trucks entered Gaza in November. McCain made that claim on CBS News’ Face the Nation on Sunday, and also accused Israel of deliberately “targeting” humanitarian aid workers. She also implied that Israel, not Hamas, was to blame for the looting of aid trucks in Gaza.