Free Republic

Iran is facing a mounting crisis, one that is driving their nation to the brink of disaster. This disaster is not the result of Israel or the United States dropping bombs on Iran, nor the result of crippling sanctions. The catastrophe Iran is facing is an unprecedented drought. The skies are shut up, the clouds are dry, the reservoirs are empty, the land is parched, and catastrophe looms. Here are some of the sobering facts about this deepening crisis, which constitutes the worst drought in the nation’s recorded history. Iran has suffered six consecutive years of drought. 10% of the...

President Donald Trump designated Saudi Arabia a major non-NATO ally on Tuesday, opening opportunities for more defense trade and security cooperation between the United States and its key partner in the Middle East. Trump made the announcement at a dinner for visiting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, after they held talks that included the signing of a strategic defense agreement “Tonight, I'm pleased to announce that we're taking our military cooperation to even greater heights by formally designating Saudi Arabia as a major non-NATO ally," Trump said in a speech at the gathering. Saudi Arabia becomes the 20th major...

Jesus, of course, was born and raised in Palestine. Like his apostles and earliest disciples, he was a Middle Eastern Jew. Christianity emerged from a Hebrew matrix, drawing on stories of prophets and patriarchs firmly set in the Middle East. All Christians know this, as does anybody even slightly acquainted with the Christian story. Yet we sometimes fail to understand the historical implications of Christianity’s Middle Eastern origins. An Egyptian friend relates an anecdote that illustrates our point. He once surprised a European visitor to his country by identifying himself as a Christian. “Who converted your family?” the European tourist...

Indonesia has trained up to 20,000 troops to take on health and construction-related tasks during a planned peacekeeping operation in the war-torn enclave of Gaza, the defense minister said on Friday. The world’s most populous Muslim nation, Indonesia is among the countries with which the United States has discussed plans for an International Stabilization Force (ISF) in Gaza, which include Azerbaijan, Egypt and Qatar. Last week, Reuters reported a draft readied by Washington for such a force that would authorize it to “use all necessary measures” to demilitarize Gaza, secure its borders, protect civilians and aid delivery, and support a...

Donald Trump is often described as a “populist,” a “nationalist,” or as someone who sits outside the traditional ideological categories. However, when one examines his foreign policy closely, a different picture emerges. Trump is, in practice, a neoconservative. He is not a neoconservative in the sense we once knew: he does not cloak American interventions in the language of democracy promotion, human rights, or universal values…What makes him distinctive is not the substance of his policies, but the way he frames them, stripped of the moralizing tone. Oddly enough, this makes his foreign policy more transparent—and perhaps, in some ways,...

Like a ‘friendly’ poker game, the ‘peace process’ was an end in itself. The president decided to win.In the 77 years since the formation of the Jewish state, and for the 2,000 years since the destruction of the Second Temple, the West has understood peace in the Middle East—peace between Arabs and Jews—as impossible.Semantically, the “Peace Process” was the continuing enjoyment of a process which could be ended only by peace. What, then, have the West, the world and the United Nations been doing in regard to the Mideast since 1948?The terrorist Yasser Arafat was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize...

“Many of us Jews feel these evangelicals love us for the wrong reasons. Because of their end-times views, they want to bring us all here so that a global war will come, we will be killed, and their Messiah will arrive.” She paused, then gave an image so striking I will never forget it: “It feels like a man who fattens a duck, feeding her daily and taking care of her—not because he loves her, but so that one day he can slaughter her.” Her words capture the deep suspicion and unease many Jews feel toward the false love of...

The short answer to why both the Biden and Obama administrations failed to achieve peace in the Middle East is that they took actions opposite to Trump’s current efforts, which have led to a ceasefire. First, consider Iran. Iran was flush with cash, on a trajectory toward a nuclear weapon, and arming Israel’s “ring of fire” enemies: Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. The radical Islamic world of the Middle East was convinced that Israel would be doomed eventually. Yet both Democratic administrations let Iran profit from oil sales. They talked of delaying, but not ending, Iran’s nuclear program. And they...

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New York magazine wondered aloud about the success of President Donald Trump in achieving a peace deal in the Middle East while the Biden administration was an utter failure in that regard. That puzzlement was reflected in the title of Ross Barkan's Tuesday Intelligencer section column, "How Did Trump Get a Peace Deal Done Where Biden Could Not?"Barkin struggles with the idea of Trump's success by denigrating him as merely a transactional deal maker in the real estate mode as well as being primarily motivated by a desire to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Yes, such mockery is to be...

In a landmark diplomatic achievement, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and President Donald Trump jointly signed a peace agreement to end the war in Gaza during the opening day of the Sharm El-Sheikh Peace Summit. The high-stakes gathering, co-chaired by President El-Sisi and President Trump, brought together more than twenty global leaders with the shared goal of halting hostilities and launching a new chapter of peace in the Middle East. Speaking at the summit, President Trump praised President El-Sisi as “a great leader,” commending his pivotal role in de-escalating the conflict in Gaza. “President El-Sisi is a great leader and I...

As I write this, the people of Israel, Gaza, and the world hope that the Gaza war is finally coming to an end. Will there be more delays? Probably. Has Hamas been removed? Over time, will Hamas be reborn or will a Hamas-like entity rise to take its place? The heart of terror is hatred, and this war has not snuffed that out. Still, the present peace deal appears to be an enormous achievement for President Trump and his administration. It has been praised from such divergent points of view as former Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and Condoleezza Rice....

Unveiling the Bias: How Israel's Systems Favor Arabs Over JewsThe provided sources argue that Israel’s legal, social, and administrative systems exhibit preferential treatment toward Arabs over Jews, particularly in religious freedom, construction, land allocation, legal enforcement, and access to resources.1. Religious Freedom and Access to Holy SitesIn a Jewish state, Jews face unjust restrictions on accessing and praying at the Temple Mount, their holiest site, due to court rulings prioritizing Arab sensitivities over Jewish religious rights (Weber, 2006; Weiss, 2023). Weber notes that the Supreme Court, under Aharon Barak, limited Jewish access to avoid Arab unrest, undermining the fundamental right...

Two years after the outbreak of the war against the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Israeli authorities have released a new overall toll of military and civilian casualties. According to Channel 12, the Ministry of Defense, the National Insurance Institute, and the Eran (Emergency Psychological Assistance) association have released "unprecedented numbers" of victims, injuries, and people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Since the conflict began on October 7, 2023, 1.152 Israeli military and security forces personnel have died, 42 percent of whom were under the age of 21. The victims include 1.035 members of the Israel Defense...

On August 10, Circassian activists in Moscow picketed the offices of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Emergency Situations Ministry and the Migration Service. The initial request to hold a protest rally was turned down by the Moscow city authorities, so the activists reverted to one-person pickets that cannot be banned under Russian legislation. The activists demanded that the Russian government give a clear response to the plight of the estimated 150,000 Circassians in Syria, who have been in danger since the hostilities began there. Only about 400 Circassians have managed to relocate to the North Caucasus over the past several months,...

Jonathan Roumie is a prominent American actor recognized for his portrayal of evangelist Lonnie Frisbee in the 2023 film “Jesus Revolution” and his iconic role as Jesus in “The Chosen”. Roumie’s heritage is rich and diverse. His father hailed from Egypt, being a first-generation descendant of Syro-Lebanese ancestry, while his mother has Irish roots. Nick Shakoour, known for his role as Zebedee, the father of James and John on “The Chosen,” is an American actor of Lebanese origins. During an interview on the 700 Club with Ashley Key, Shakoour revealed how his portrayal of Zebedee provided him with a unique...

A Brief History of Tucker Carlson – From Conservative Star to Qatar’s Mouthpiece Following the passing of conservative legend Rush Limbaugh and the fall of Bill O’Reilly, Tucker Carlson emerged as a leading voice on the American right. His popularity soared during the COVID-19 pandemic, largely due to his anti-establishment rhetoric and combative style. For a time, he filled a vacuum in conservative media, channeling public frustration into high ratings for Fox News. However, Carlson’s trajectory shifted in 2023 when he was abruptly ousted from Fox News. The dismissal followed a series of controversies—including a high-profile lawsuit by a former...

Amir, an underground church leader in Iran, told Iran Alive Ministries of being stopped at a police checkpoint with dozens of Bibles in tow, a crime punishable by imprisonment and death. Police confiscated the Bibles but let Amir go free. When he arrived the next evening at the house church that expected the Bibles, the books were already there, delivered by none other than the police official who had confiscated them. “He (the police official) divulged that he is a Christian,” Iran Alive Ministries founder Hormoz Shariat told Baptist Press of the event that happened earlier this year. “And he...

Syria is home to the world’s oldest existing Christian communities, which trace their lineage back to Apostolic times. According to Syriac Christian tradition, the Syriac Kingdom of Osroene was the world’s first political entity to declare Christianity as its state religion. King Abgar V — known as Abgar the Black — adopted the Christian faith after being healed from a devastating illness by the disciple Thaddeus in 33 AD. * On the road to Damascus, the former persecutor of Christians, Saul of Tarsus, was transformed into the Apostle Paul, further rooting Christianity in Syrian soil. * Syria has played a...

6/22/04 - NEWARK, NJ) — A man was arrested Tuesday and charged with trying to sell parts for sophisticated military fighter jets to Iran without a license. Hamid M. Butt, 71, formerly of Humble, Texas, was arrested Tuesday afternoon after getting off a flight from Malaysia that had landed at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Christie said. A Pakistani native, Butt had been living in Malaysia for several years, and was arrested upon his return to the United States. He also is a naturalized U.S. citizen, authorities said. The criminal complaint against Butt was signed...