Free Republic

President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu estimated the intense part of the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran would last four to six weeks. It is now entering the sixth month without a decisive military victory or a diplomatic breakthrough. Now, as Mr. Trump weighs his next steps and the future of roughly 50,000 U.S. troops across the Middle East, two of Washington's closest regional partners are pressing the president with sharply different visions for how the conflict should proceed. The president received input Wednesday from his partner in this war, Netanyahu, as well as from Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin...

Iran’s rulers are not playing to win the war today—they are playing to survive long enough to fight another one tomorrow. We are now in Stage III of the Iran War: the familiar monotony of bomb, talk, bomb. It is now the liberal consensus that the war has failed, if not been won by Iran. We could be entering the war’s final stage, marked by an effort to escalate decisively before disengaging. We know the tired Iranian strategy by now. We might call it “theocratic rope-a-dope.” For the theocrats and their terrorist proxies, survival means outlasting Trump, waiting for the...

Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) on Saturday slammed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s post commemorating two U.S. service members killed in Jordan as a result of Iranian strikes. “Godspeed, heroes. Their sacrifice only stiffens our resolve,” Hegseth wrote on social platform X. Greene said it was inappropriate to deem their deaths a “sacrifice.” “Sacrifice?? What the f— are you talking about?? They did not willingly sacrifice themselves. They were killed because of the war you, Trump, and the admin, are waging on behalf of a FOREIGN COUNTRY, Israel,” Greene wrote in a response on X. “You mean their deaths fuel...

Israel paid at least $50 million to US-based firms to help its standing with Americans, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. The report alleged that the Israeli government had retained at least six firms to help in its efforts to sway public opinion in the United States in its favor. It added that at least three dozen new people, many of them in the marketing industry, have registered as foreign agents for Israel. This comes as 42% of American adults hold an unfavorable opinion of Israeli people, and 69% hold an unfavorable opinion of the Israeli government, a July...

Israel armed Argentina during the Falklands. That is a fact. Between the 2 April and 14 June 1982, Israel sold Argentina air-to-air missiles, anti-personnel mines, anti-tank weapons, replacement parts for jets, radar and communications equipment and fuel. Nesher fighter jets, supplied by Israel, were part of the air attack that destroyed the RFA Sir Galahad in Bluff Cove. Fifty-six British sailors and soldiers died in that raid. So when Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar taunted England for our 2-1 World Cup defeat, that was a continuation of traditional Israeli foreign policy. ‘How does the song go?’ Sa’ar posted. ‘It’s coming...

Former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been put under house arrest by Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps after intelligence authorities uncovered his secret dealings with Israel, The New York Times has claimed. For years, Israel conducted a covert operation aimed at grooming Ahmadinejad as an intelligence asset who could be installed as Iran's new leader, American and Iranian sources told the newspaper. Israel even secretly transferred money to Ahmadinejad for housing and travel, while operatives met him abroad on several occasions. The discovery of the secret relationship is shocking given that Ahmadinejad was known for accelerating Tehran's nuclear programme, calling regularly...

Maine's Graham Platner is hardly the most extreme Democrat candidate running for office. Graham Platner, the oyster farmer running for the U.S. Senate in Maine, was exposed last month for making a number of damning comments on social media — including posts where he apparently identified as a communist, branded rural white Americans as racists, suggested that service members worried about being raped should buy "Kevlar underwear," and smeared all police officers as "bastards." Although he has since covered it up, Platner was also outed for having a tattoo of a skull image similar to that popularized by Adolf Hitler's...

Whenever he gets in trouble — which is pretty often — Graham Platner has a ready response: It’s the Jews! OK, he mostly just says “AIPAC,” and waves at Benjamin Netanyahu ultimately calling the shots, but he’s still making it sound like an international Jewish conspiracy. The Democratic candidate for a Maine US Senate seat has been hit by reports he has a history of abusing women, revelations that he long (and until last month) maintained an active profile on the “Kik” predator app, plus his own admissions to sexting multiple women since his 2023 wedding. All of it after...

California Rep. Ro Khanna once again admitted that he believes the women who have accused Maine Democrat Graham Platner of being physically rough with or mistreating them — but is standing by him nonetheless. Khanna (D-Calif.), who was an early backer of Platner, contended that the oyster farmer had redemption and underscored his goal of ensuring Democrats flip Maine’s Senate seat. “I do believe those women. And I have said that his past conduct was shameful, and I totally condemned it,” Khanna told “Fox News Sunday.” “He did two, three tours of duty in Iraq. He came back with PTSD,”...

Maine Democrat Graham Platner on Friday formally withdrew from his US Senate bid in a letter to state elections officials that signed off with an F-bomb. Platner posted on X a picture of the letter, which did not share any immediate details about who he hoped would succeed him to face Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins in November. The missive touted the 156,084 votes he had received in Maine’s Senate Democratic primary last month, suggesting that his more than 70-percentage-point win showed: “People are desperate for change.” “Mainers voted for a new kind of politics,” the letter read. “One that...

The army's account has one armed man. His tweet has settlers, plural, brandishing rifles. Somebody's description is wrong, and it can be checked. When Shabbat went out on Saturday night, I turned on my phone and found what everyone else in Israeli media found: Ro Khanna – a congressman from California – telling two million people that Israeli settlers with American-made M4s detained him in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), and that when the IDF showed up, the soldiers sided with the settlers and kept him there. My first reaction was anger at the men who blocked that road....

A banner reading “Destroy Israel” was unfurled during the opening ceremony of Spain’s annual St. Fermin Festival in Pamplona, drawing condemnation from Jewish organizations. Video circulating on social media showed the banner stretched above the crowd before the traditional chupinazo rocket launch yesterday that marks the start of the weeklong St. Fermin Festival, known for its encierro (running of the bulls through the town square to the bullring). The banner featured the words “Destroy Israel” alongside an image of an Israeli flag crossed out. The initials “EHKS” appeared at the bottom of the banner, referring to a far-left socialist organization...

After the dramatic implosion of Graham Platner's US Senate campaign in Maine, Morris Katz was dispatched to help deal with the crisis. At 27 years old, the New Yorker has risen quickly in the world of Democratic strategists. The Gen Z media guru serves as Zohran Mamdani's top political adviser and is credited with helping to orchestrate the Democratic socialist's landslide victory in New York City's mayoral election. His skills in harnessing social media and creating savvy digital campaigns have put him in high demand among those vying for power in a party desperate to reengage young voters. Mr Katz...

Yahm Levin is a diehard Democrat who lives in one of the nation's most liberal cities. And yet the 39-year-old Jewish woman from Los Angeles is sometimes afraid to use her first or last name when meeting people — even those who share her progressive politics. Levin has learned from recent experience that being identified as a Jew, especially one who lived in Israel, can trigger uncomfortable questions from fellow Democrats. Or worse. So, she introduces herself by her middle name, Shelly, which she said feels safer.

American Jews view New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani more favorably than Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a new poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research revealed on Tuesday. The survey, carried out on 1,022 Jewish adults nationwide between June 11 and June 17, found that 44% of American Jews view Mamdani either very favorably or somewhat favorably, whereas just 32% of respondents said they have a favorable opinion of Netanyahu.Thirty-nine percent of US Jews viewed Mamdani unfavorably, and 59% viewed Netanyahu unfavorably. A strong majority of US Jews viewed US President Donald Trump unfavorably (70%), whereas only...

Former US Senator Norm Coleman, who was appointed Monday by Pete Hegseth to a position on the US Defense Policy Board, said a year ago that ‘the masters of the universe are Jews.’ (LifeSiteNews) — After the Monday appointment of former U.S. Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota to vice chair of the U.S. Defense Policy Board by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, a year-old clip has resurfaced of his exclaiming “the masters of the universe are Jews.”Coleman, who also serves as national chair of the Republican Jewish Coalition, drew attention for remarks made in April 2025 at the Jewish News...

"As of today, no country has the ability to mount attacks in space. We must be the leading country in the world with this capability," said Katz.Israel is developing space lasers to carry out attacks above the Earth, Defense Minister Israel Katz said Monday.“One of the central goals that the prime minister and I set is that we are recruiting the best minds,” he said in a briefing with military reporters. “As of today, no country has the ability to mount attacks in space. We must be the leading country in the world with this capability.”“If we achieve this, it...

Activists, journalists and politicians around the world have been spied on using cellphone malware developed by a private Israeli firm, it emerged Sunday, igniting fears of widespread privacy and rights abuses. The use of the software, called Pegasus and developed by Israel's NSO group, was reported on by the Washington Post, the Guardian, Le Monde and other news outlets who collaborated on an investigation into a data leak. The leak was of a list of up to 50,000 phone numbers believed to have been identified as people of interest by clients of NSO since 2016. One of those targeted was...

The deadly US strike on a girls school in the Iranian coastal city of Minab happened due to gaps in the Pentagon’s system for analyzing potential targets, Bloomberg has reported, citing people familiar with the investigation.The bombing, in which more than 120 students aged between 6 and 13 were killed in addition to 26 teachers, happened on February 28, the opening day of the American-Israeli military campaign against Iran.The investigation into the incident, ordered by the chief of US Central Command (CENTCOM) Brad Cooper, was completed in April, but its results haven’t yet been made public, Bloomberg said in an...

When American and Israeli warplanes struck Iran on Feb. 28, Israeli officials let themselves believe the alliance was entering a golden age. Four months later, they are bracing for a future where Israel stands more alone than ever. The vice president of the United States set the stage last week, telling Israel it has almost no friends left in the world, and that it should think hard before turning on the one it has. But the problem for Israel is much bigger than JD Vance, according to seven people, including U.S. and Israeli officials and others familiar with the relationship....