Free Republic

The world's first pandemic, known as the Plague of Justinian after the sitting Byzantine emperor, killed an estimated 25 to 100 million people between a.d. 541 and 750... historical sources from the period suggest that it may have begun around Pelusium, Egypt, before spreading rapidly throughout the Middle East and the Mediterranean world. According to a statement released by the University of South Florida (USF), researchers participated in an interdisciplinary study that has uncovered -- for the first time -- direct genomic evidence pinpointing the bacterium Yersinia pestis as the cause of the plague. The team sequenced genetic material from...

Pope Leo XIV met Sept. 4 with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, calling for swift action to end hostilities in Gaza and ensure urgent humanitarian access to the most afflicted areas. According to the Holy See Press Office, the meeting — held at the Vatican Apostolic Palace — addressed escalating tensions in the Middle East and reinforced the Vatican’s long-standing support for peace built on justice and dialogue. The statement described the discussions as “cordial” and noted they focused on the broader political and social instability across the region, “with particular attention to the tragic situation in Gaza.”The Holy See emphasized...

Israeli defense minister Israel Katz issued an ultimatum to Hamas: surrender, release all hostages, and disarm, or see Gaza City — the group’s last stronghold — destroyed. Katz’s statement came in apparently response to a statement by Hamas that it would be willing to release all of the hostages in return for Israeli withdrawal from Gaza — which would leave the group armed and in charge, ready to prepare for war again. The Times of Israel reported: “Defense Minister Israel Katz warns that Hamas will soon face a stark choice: either accept Israel’s conditions to end the war — including...

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) closed out the radical “People’s Conference for Palestine” in Detroit Sunday by boasting of her congressional power and Palestinian resilience, telling cheering attendees, “Now we’re in Congress, and we’re in every corner of the United States. We aren’t going anywhere. We are just getting started,” and declaring that their grassroots activism is winning against the “decaying halls of the empire in Washington, DC.” The weekend-long conference, organized by a coalition of radical pro-Palestinian groups, drew scrutiny for featuring extremist voices alongside Tlaib, including convicted terrorists and anti-American activists who openly called for dismantling U.S. institutions. One...

President Donald Trump is reportedly reviewing a proposal to offer Gaza residents $5,000 each to voluntarily leave the region, as part of a larger plan to redevelop Gaza into a tech and trade hub backed by Israeli and Gulf investment. The 38-page plan, reported by The Washington Post, outlines a temporary relocation of Gaza’s two million residents, either to other countries or into secure zones within Gaza during reconstruction. Those who own land would be compensated with digital tokens that could be used to finance relocation or redeemed for housing in newly built “smart cities.”The proposal, known as the GREAT...

The White House is reportedly considering a plan to pay Palestinians $5,000 to relocate for 10 years while the Gaza Strip is transformed into the “Riviera of the Middle East” envisioned by President Trump. The Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration and Transformation (GREAT) proposal would establish a trusteeship for control of the 25-mile-long strip of land that would be administered by the US for at least 10 years, while reconstruction – financed by billions of dollars in public and private-sector investments – takes place, according to the Washington Post. Gaza’s entire 2 million population would need to be temporarily relocated for...

Abraham Accord shtunk! (peaceful regional coexistence is odiferous) Free worshippen shtunk! (all unbelievers must be taught the error of their ways)...das Juden! Ohhhhhh das Juden! Snort! Shtunken shtanken shtinken shtunken sthink! (his excellency is speaking of the Jews) as the helicopters land in the Syrian Capitol to defend the Druze and Christians from the latest assaults, and Julani backs away from the Abraham Accord he was previously making kissy faces at. Lots of on-the-scene footage. Transcript linked below video.

As Israel begins its offensive in Gaza City, Hamas is preventing the city's civilian population from evacuating in order to "exploit" the Israeli military's efforts to avoid civilian casualties, according to a Tuesday report. "Hamas is preparing for the IDF's entry into Gaza City by threatening Gazans in the area and ordering its fighters to block exit routes," Israel's Channel 12 journalist Amit Segal reported, citing his colleague Nitzan Shapira. Shapira added that after an Israeli airstrike accidentally struck Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis and caused civilian casualties on Monday, Hamas "has further recognized that it can exploit the IDF's...

US President Donald Trump on Monday claimed that the Gaza war will reach a “conclusive ending” in the next two or three weeks, saying that there was a serious “diplomatic push” underway to end the nearly two-year conflict. “I think within the next two to three weeks, you’re going to have pretty good, conclusive — a conclusive ending,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. What Trump based his prediction on was unclear, given that Israel has indicated it is not interested in the phased ceasefire proposal that Hamas agreed to last week. Rather, the Israeli government has instead been...

Peter Baum @baum_p: Palestinians steal the cultures of others because they have no culture of their own. They even call themselves Palestinians even though they speak Arabic though there is no letter ‘P’ in Arabic . So in Arabic the pronunciation is Filastin which means Philistine - or uncouth uncultured heathens……seems appropriate.

Israel attacks presidential palace, Egypt is moving with tanks and sh!t to block Palestinians fleeing Gaza via Rafah as Israel takes control of Gaza City, explosions in Iran, video of fat, happy kids in western Gaza eating at restaurants, playing arcades, etc., celebrating birthdays. Media won't show this, only bombed out shells of cities. Lots of contemporaneous phone videos of Gaza and Yemen. Transcript linked below video.

The nonprofit's activities are being well-received by the people in an area south of most of the violence 11/23/03 JEFFREY KOSSEFF Mercy Corps aid workers in Iraq have survived explosions near their homes and gunshot warnings as they drove between cities. They know the nation contains Iraqi insurgents eager to stop reconstruction and return control to the Baathists. They see other nonprofit humanitarian groups pulling out quickly as bombings and violence continue throughout the nation. But Portland-based Mercy Corps is staying put in southern Iraq, helping communities rebuild their schools, sewage systems and hospitals. The 25 workers, from the United...

The removal of the Jews from the Arab world has been all but ignored, says Tom Gross It is not surprising, given the sheer scale of the Holocaust and its sadism, that it has dominated contemporary discourse among Jews and others. But, while the extermination of European Jews has rightfully (though belatedly) generated a great deal of study and research, the removal of the Jews from the Arab world has been all but ignored. This ignorance extends to policy-makers at the highest level. Some journalists and politicians I have spoken to have expressed surprise when I even mentioned that Jews...

Latest DevelopmentsAid Trucks Looted: Data from the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) showed that between May 19 and August 5, more than 2,600 trucks carrying humanitarian aid crossed from Israel into Gaza. However, only 300 of these trucks reached their intended destinations in Gaza during that period, with some 2,309 trucks being “intercepted” and looted along their delivery routes — undermining the recent claim of Tom Fletcher, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, that “the vast majority of the aid gets to civilians.” UNOPS’s data did not distinguish between the parties responsible for the interceptions, noting only that...

Some viral videos this month claim that Spain’s humanitarian aid dropped in Gaza contained pork or allegedly stale food. The controversy started after a clip, posted by a Palestinian journalist named Alam El-Din Sadiq, showed a young boy opening a bag of aid in Khan Yunis, alleging the supplies were mouldy and later sold in markets for over NIS 300 (about €75). Other reports claim that Spanish humanitarian aid in Gaza included ‘pork meatballs’ and pork, a food that the Islamic religion prohibits Muslims from eating. Spanish authorities’ response: “It’s halal-certified!” Over the last two months, Spain has dropped roughly...

COGAT @cogatonline: 🚨WATCH: 5 Armed terrorists operated under the cover of a fake emblem of @WCKitchen placed on a vehicle in Gaza - and were eliminated from the air. The terrorists deliberately affixed the emblem and wore yellow vests in an attempt to conceal their activity and avoid being targeted, cynically exploiting the status and trust afforded to aid organizations. Representatives from #GazaCLA verified the information with the WCK organization, which confirmed that the vehicle seen in the Gaza Strip bearing the organization’s emblem had no connection to its operations.

This is the tale of how a footloose, unfocused Algerian boy, son of a war hero, evolved into a terrorist. How he planned an attack against Americans on the eve of the new millennium. How he nearly got away with it. And how, since Sept. 11, he has been one of the U.S. government’s best resources in the war on terror. Algerian Ahmed Ressam was captured on Dec. 14, 1999, in Port Angeles, Wash., on his way to detonate a bomb at the Los Angeles International Airport.THE MAIN CHARACTERS Several people in this story are key to understanding the roots...

Minneapolis-AP -- He was identified years ago as a terror suspect -- but he was still able to get a licence to haul hazardous materials in Minnesota. Minnesota officials say they didn't know that the man (Mohamad Kamal Elzahabi) was suspected of having al-Qaida links when he applied in early 2002 for a commercial license to drive a school bus and haul hazardous materials. Sources tell the Star Tribune of Minneapolis that the F-B-I identified him as a suspected terrorist before Nine-Eleven. He was charged recently with lying to federal authorities about helping to ship portable field radios to Pakistan...

A federal judge in New York has ordered a Lebanese national transferred to Minneapolis to face two counts of making false statements to federal investigators. The U.S. attorney's office in Minneapolis says Mohamad Kamal Elzahabi is charged with lying about his role in sending radio and communications equipment to Pakistan and elsewhere. He's also accused of lying about his role in helping another person illegally obtain a Massachusetts driver's license. That person was later convicted in Jordan in a bombing plot. The charges revealed Friday deal only with accusations of lying — not with the underlying crimes Elzahabi allegedly lied...

The Saudi Al-Hadath news channel reports: "Iran sent messages to Hezbollah last night, stating that it will start channeling additional funds to the organization through various countries around the world, as well as transferring weapons and means of warfare to Lebanon – with the aim of effectively taking control of all parts of the country and establishing a new coalition in Lebanon where Hezbollah is the sovereign."