Free Republic

Today, President Donald J. Trump will award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Jim Jordan. This prestigious award is the Nation’s highest civilian honor, which is awarded by the President to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors. In 1994, Jordan was elected to the Ohio State House of Representatives and 8 years later to the State Senate. For the past 14 years, he has served the people of Ohio’s 4th district. In 2007, Jordan was appointed...

Iran’s state media has alleged that in addition to the United States, several countries, including Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Germany and Britain, had played a role in the assassination of its senior military leader Qassem Soleimani. Soleimani was killed in a US drone strike on January 3, 2020, while visiting Baghdad. According to DEFA Press, more countries would be added to the list once the investigation into Soleimani’s killing is completed. “We must learn from this experience, which came at a great price, and we must make every effort to preserve national unity and cohesion that was achieved...

Among those attending the meeting were Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Rep. Jody Hice (R-GA.), Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), and Trump Campaign lawyer Rudy Giuliani. Four representatives-elect who will take their seats on Jan.3 2021 also committed their support: Barry Moore (R-AL), Bob Good (R-VA), Madison Cawthorn (R-NC), and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA.) They discussed logistics, such as what the objection language for each state would look like and how the floor proceedings will work. Gaetz announced his intentions publicly at Turning Point’s Student Action Summit in Florida this weekend. When Greene exited the...

If Donald Trump doesn’t take the Oath of Office on January 20, 2021, one principal but little-noted reason for this may be that he crossed one of the most powerful and least accountable forces in the nation: the military-industrial complex. As Trump said last September, “the top people in the Pentagon…want to do nothing but fight wars so that all of those wonderful companies that make the bombs and make the planes and make everything else stay happy. But we’re getting out of the endless wars, you know how we’re doing.” Now, however, that Joe Biden has been anointed “President-elect”...

The decision by three Arab states to make peace with Israel can be credited both to efforts by the Trump administration and the recognition by these Sunni states that their security would improve against the ongoing threats they face from Turkey and Iran. Iran and its proxies interfere with Arab states while promoting their Shi’ite revolutionary ideology; likewise, Turkey pushes its Sunni revolutionary ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood throughout the region. Turkey and Iran look to overthrow the Sunni Arab states that do not align with them, such as Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states. The normalization deals between the...

The message was clearly aimed at Gulf states and others that are partnered with the US. Iran has sought to reach out to its Arab neighbors, with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif warning them that US President Donald Trump will be leaving in 70 days, but Iran’s regime will remain “forever.” He urged them to realize that “betting on outsiders to provide security is never a good gamble.” In Arabic and English, he called for dialogue and to work together. The message was clearly aimed at Gulf states and others that are partnered with the US. Iran was offering them...

Israeli Settlements Minister Tzachi Hanegbi warns that a Biden presidency could ignite war in the Middle East, while Egypt fears Biden would aid the resurgence of Islamists in the region. Hanegbi pointed out that Biden has indicated he will resurrect America’s nuclear agreement with Iran which was cancelled by the Trump administration. For Israel, this would represent an existential threat to national security and drastically increase the chances of war with Tehran. “If Biden stays with that policy, there will, in the end, be a violent confrontation between Israel and Iran,” said Hanegbi. Meanwhile, other Middle Eastern countries such as...

Lebanese president's daughter 'doesn't mind' conditional peace with Israel "I defend the interests of my country Lebanon first. Are we required to remain in a state of war?" • Maronite leader: "Lebanon should be the last Arab country to normalize its relations with Israel." Claudine and Mireille Aoun, daughters of Lebanon's President Aoun arrive for a state dinner given at the Elysee palace in Paris (photo credit: STEPHANE MAHE / REUTERS) Claudine Aoun Roukoz, daughter of Lebanese President Michel Aoun and head of the National Commission for Lebanese Women, stressed that she would "not mind" if Lebanon makes peace with...

Paris (AFP) — France’s largest employers’ federation on Monday urged companies to “resist the blackmail” over a product boycott by Arab countries as a backlash widens over Paris’s hardened stance against radical Islam. French President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to take the fight to Islamic radicals after the October 16 beheading of a history teacher who had shown cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed to pupils in a class discussion on free speech. But his comments triggered protests in Muslim-majority countries at the weekend, with people burning pictures of Macron in Syria and setting fire to French flags in the Libyan...

The leader of Turkey is calling on citizens to boycott French products after French President Emmanuel Macron defended a teacher who was murdered by an 18-year-old radical Islamist, vowing to crack down on radical elements in France. "Never give credit to French-labelled goods, don't buy them," Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan said Monday during a speech in Ankara, according to the BBC and CNN. "European leaders must say 'stop' to Macron and his campaign of hatred," he added. His remarks come amid a deepening dispute between Turkey and France over the treatment of Muslims in France. French authorities argue they are taking...

Israel's minister of regional cooperation said Wednesday that he expects normalize relations with another Arab state before the U.S. elections. Reuters reported that Ofir Akunis, who is also a member of Israel's parliament, the Knesset, told Army Radio that the announcement would come before Nov. 3. "I have a reasonable basis to believe that the announcement will come before November 3 - that, if you'll permit me, is what I understand from my sources," he said, according to the news service. "I will be very happy if the announcement will happen - and before the elections in the United States,"...

Had the terrorists targeted non-kosher establishments with non-Jewish victims, Amman would likely have been cooperative.” An FBI “Most Wanted Terrorist” poster for Palestinian terrorist Ahlam Ahmad Tamimi, one of the masterminds of the Aug. 9, 2001 bombing of the Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem that led to the deaths of 15 civilians, two of them Americans. Speak to policy analysts or policy-makers about the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and you’ll frequently encounter a series of truisms. For example, that Jordan is both a friend of the West and a vital, respected component of the Arab world. Or that Jordan’s peace treaty...

A Russian fighter jet on Sunday reportedly came dangerously close to an Israeli passenger aircraft while on route from the Greek island of Rhodes to Tel Aviv's Ben-Gurion Airport. The incident occurred when the Israir flight entered Cypriot air space. No casualties or damage were reported. The Russian Sukhoi Su-27 came to within a mile from the Israir Airbus A320, a distance considered unsafe, for several minutes before air traffic controllers in Cyprus warned it away. Russia has fighter aircraft stationed in nearby Syria, where it is assisting the Assad regime in the civil war, leading to crowded skies in...

A joint American-Israeli delegation landed in Bahrain Sunday, where officials will be signing a number of bilateral agreements following an announcement last month to normalize relations. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's national security adviser, Meir Ben-Shabbat, led the delegation that flew out of Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport on Sunday morning. Ben-Shabbat said ahead of departure the visit will ‘translate plans to actions and concrete agreements’ with the signing of a range of deals involving finance, investment, trade, tourism, communications, technology and agriculture.

Lebanon and Israel, formally still at war after decades of conflict, launch talks on Wednesday to address a long-running dispute over their maritime border running through potentially gas-rich Mediterranean waters. The U.S.-mediated talks follow three years of intense diplomacy by Washington and were announced less than a month after the United States stepped up pressure on political allies of the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah. They also come after the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain agreed to establish full relations with Israel, under U.S.-brokered deals which realign some of Washington’s closest Middle East allies against Iran. Hezbollah, which fought a five-week...

Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan, one of the most widely recognized and respected Saudi officials in the world, gave a three-part interview to the government-controlled Al Arabiya news network and proceeded to tear down 70 years of myths about the leadership of the Palestinian national movement. Bandar spent 22 years as a Saudi ambassador to the U.S. and is known to speak for the government. It was an extraordinary series of interviews — a brutal assessment of the numerous self-inflicted wounds by Palestinian leaders going all the way back to the 1930s. It was broadcast in Arabic with English subtitles...

A spokesperson for the EU responded today (Thursday) to the report according to which the European Union links aid to PA to financial ties with Israel. According to the report, European Union leaders told the Palestinian Authority that they will refuse to provide financial aid as long as it refuses to accept tax revenues collected by Israel. "The EU and its Member States are and continue to be the largest international financial supporter of Palestinians. The EU is a firm supporter of the Palestinian Authority", the spokesperson said to Arutz Sheva. "The EU and many partners in the international community...

Trump has reduced the U.S. military footprint abroad, choosing to punch hard while pulling back. The Islamic State’s so-called caliphate in the Middle East has been destroyed. Syria and Iran are on notice. The two biggest terrorist leaders alive when Trump took office, the Islamic State’s Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani, are now dead. The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have recently signed major diplomatic agreements with Israel, a breakthrough engineered by the Trump administration and the first such pact between the Jewish state and its Arab neighbors in 25 years. The president has focused the...

“To the people of Lebanon, Israel means you no harm. But Iran does.” Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the annual forum of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly on Tuesday, September 29, 2020. In his speech from Jerusalem (due to Covid-19, worldwide leaders delivered their speeches via videos, not in person in New York City), he devoted the lion’s share of the time to the threat Iran poses to the international community and especially in the Middle East. He said that, “Iran is the greatest enemy of peace.” He also pointed out on a large map, the location in Beirut where...

“The Arab world now says that relations with Israel is more important than the Palestinian issue, which cannot be solved by Abu Mazen, for the foreseeable future.” The constellations of moderate Sunni Arab states which are on track to normalize relations with Israel view Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas as irrelevant, a former top Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) official has told The Jerusalem Post. Former head of the counter-terrorism division for Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria Arik “Harris” Barbing told the Post on Sunday that, “the Palestinian issue is not a focus of the Arab states.” Harris said that, “Abu...