Free Republic

Let’s take a little break from poop swastikas and other campus micro/macro aggressions to examine a real conflict from abroad. France has finally found something in the clash of cultures to take a stand on…wine. Ahead of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s landmark European trip kicking off this weekend, French officials reportedly nixed plans for a formal meal in Paris with President François Hollande following a dispute over the menu. The Iranians, according to France’s RTL Radio, insisted on a wine-free meal with halal meat — a request based on Islamic codes that amounted to culinary sacrilege in France, a nation...

A lunch between the French and Iranian presidents in Paris was scrapped today because France refused to remove wine from the menu. Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has been on a tour of Europe, signing billions of pounds worth of business deals with different nations, after economic sanctions against the country were lifted. He was due to dine with President Francois Hollande at an upmarket restaurant in the French capital.

Munther Isaac, the Arab "Palestinian" Bethlehem-based Lutheran pastor routinely platformed by Western media as a voice of Christian conscience in the Holy Land, has been sharply exposed—including by Rev. Johnnie Moore of the Congress of Christian Leaders—as "the high priest of antisemitic Christianity." This designation, echoed across sources underscores his consistent pattern of abusing theology to delegitimize Jews and Israel, excuse racist-Arab terrorism, and push antisemitism under the guise of "concern." Isaac has repeatedly framed Israel's existence and policies as the root cause of violence, rather than condemning acts of terror outright. In a sermon delivered just one day after...

Iran’s Foreign Ministry announced on Saturday that it has designated the navies and air forces of all European Union (EU) member states as terrorist organizations, the Xinhua news agency reported. The move was described as a response to the EU’s recent decision to label Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) a terrorist organization, which Tehran called “unlawful and unjustified." In a statement, the ministry said the EU decision is “in contradiction with the fundamental principles and rules of the United Nations Charter and international law." The statement added that the Iranian government acted in accordance with a 2019 law, under...

Police in Queensland, Australia, have charged a 32-year-old man with a hate crime after he allegedly drove into the entrance gates of Brisbane’s largest synagogue on Saturday. According to authorities, security footage shows the vehicle reversing into the synagogue’s gates, knocking them down before the driver sped away. No injuries were reported in the incident. The charge comes amid heightened tensions following last month’s deadly attack at Bondi Beach during Hanukkah. In response to that massacre, in which 15 people were killed and 29 others injured, including two police officers, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the creation of a state...

Canada's woke, female , DEI Minister of Defence announces the hiring of foreign nationals into the Canadian Military for the purpose of attacking and destroying provincial oil infrastructure , and the waging of war against its own citizens, especially in Alberta and Saskatchewan. This is a chilling move disguised from the public by military recruitment code numbers.Stirling Thomas does an incredibly accurate reveal as to where the tyrannical liberal elites are prepared to take Canada in order to preserve their protective tariff economy from being an open market, as well as preparations to have foreign military willing to wage war...

In yet another reckless move by the far-left Liberal government, Canada is now throwing open the doors of its military to foreign nationals, offering them a fast-track path to permanent residency.Under Prime Minister Mark Carney’s regime, skilled immigrants from around the world can now snag jobs in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) as doctors, nurses, or even pilots, and get expedited immigration status in return.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee suggested in a recent interview with Tucker Carlson that, under a biblical interpretation, Israel could claim a right to territory spanning much of the Middle East. ''' Driving the news: In a "Tucker Carlson Show" interview released Friday, Carlson confronted Huckabee about his interpretation of biblical verse Genesis 15:18, which describes God promising Abram, later called Abraham, and his descendants land "from the Nile to the Euphrates." Supporting that verse, Carlson said, would suggest Israel could claim a right to land including "basically the entire Middle East," including countries like Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, as...

Mike Huckabee's analogies regarding land rights and defense, specifically his suggestion that if a people like the Irish can defend their land, they can keep it—have been viewed as a significant rhetorical own goal that complicates the very pro-Israel stance he intended to defend. Critics and media analysts have highlighted several major ramifications of this logic and analysts have noted the internal contradiction in Huckabee's argument. By shifting the justification from a divine mandate (the Promised Land) to a right of conquest/defense media commentators pointed out that the Irish analogy is particularly fraught. If land ownership is determined solely by...

On the first Friday of Ramadan, while practicing Muslims will be performing the Tarawih prayer in the center of Times Square, New York dog owners and lovers plan to also take over Times Square for a Pawty of epic proportions. The "Times Square Dog Lovers Gathering" will be hosted from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. ET, promoted as a sea of Paws and Positivity.To recoin an 80s-ism, New Yorkers are telling Democrat Socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani to "Talk to the Paw."This is absolutely glorious. Between the call to prayer that is being blasted around New Yorkistan and Muslims once again...

Mohammed was the original feminist. The moderate Islamic terrorist state of Talibanastan (they must be moderate, after all we did a deal with them and we’re still negotiating with them) has explained that in its moderate approach to Islamic law, beating women is encouraged, but they draw the line at breaking bones. Truly, Islamists in America have told us that Mohammed was the original feminist. The Taliban has passed a law that allows men to beat their wives as long as it does not cause “broken bones or open wounds”. The Telegraph obtained the 60-page penal code – signed by...

Taliban “supreme leader” Hibatullah Akhundzada recently approved a novel criminal code, multiple outlets reported this week, that dramatically expands the legal ability for men to physically abuse women and children and provides for the creation of a formal “slave” class in the country. The Taliban is a radical Islamist terror organization that currently operates as the uncontested government of Afghanistan. The Taliban returned to power on August 15, 2021, following former President Joe Biden’s decision to extend the 20-year-old Afghan War beyond the deadline of May 15 of that year that President Donald Trump had previously agreed to. The Taliban’s...

In stop-start efforts since November, Taliban officials have cracked down on women and girls in the western city of Herat who have been ignoring the hardline group's rules by showing their faces. Enforcement agents are preventing them from entering hospitals and seminaries and pulling them out of public transport. Initially, women and girls were punished for not wearing a burka — the Afghan burka is typically blue, has a netted opening for the eyes and drapes down around the body, largely constraining the woman wearing it. Later, after what residents described as pushback, officials enforcing the rules relented and allowed...

A 36-year-old Lebanese man in Malmö has been charged with two counts of assault after allegedly attacking both his wife and a doctor at the health center where she works as a nurse. According to prosecutors, cited by the Samnytt news outlet, the woman sought treatment at her own workplace in early December after suffering a head injury that required stitches in an alleged assault by her husband, 36-year-old Salaheddine Hamze. Colleagues became concerned when she arrived bleeding and in shock, although she initially denied that her husband was at fault. Investigators later concluded she had been struck with an...

An annual gathering of top international security figures that last year set the tone for a growing rift between the United States and Europe opens Friday, bringing together many top European officials with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and others. The Munich Security Conference opens with a speech by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, one of 15 heads of state or government from European Union countries whom organizers expect to attend. The many other expected guests at the conference that runs until Sunday include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. In keeping with the conference's tradition,...

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot tells lawmaker the French government demands UN Rapporteur's resignation after her latest hateful rant against Israel. “France unreservedly condemns the outrageous and reprehensible remarks made by Ms. Francesca Albanese, which are directed not at the Israeli government, whose policies may be criticized, but at Israel as a people and as a nation, which is absolutely unacceptable," Barrot said. He stated that Albanese's remarks “target not the Israeli government, whose policies can be criticized, but Israel as a people and as a nation, which is absolutely unacceptable," and that they "add to a long list of...

Mayor Zohran Mamdani committed a cardinal sin last week by dissing millions of area Catholics as the first city mayor in nearly 100 years — and possibly ever — to skip the local archbishop’s installation. Ronald Hicks, 58, on Friday became the 11th archbishop of the New York Archdiocese since 1850, accepting the reins of power from Cardinal Timothy Dolan at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in a packed historic ceremony steeped in ritual. One of the event’s traditions — dating back to at least 1939, when then-New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia attended the installation of famous top clergyman Francis Spellman...

In the mountains of Pontos in Anatolia another Byzantine / Roman state clung on for years after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. But, the Empire of Trebizond was conquered by the Ottomans on August 15, 1461, after over 250 years since it became independent from Constantinople. They had been a unique Roman refuge in Anatolia, surviving the threats of Seljuks and Mongols. They remained as the rest of Anatolia was conquered by the Turks. But they had got on the list of targets of Sultan Mehmed II, and they were destined to be under the rule of Constantinople again...

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...

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.