Free Republic

RIYADH/JERUSALEM - A historic meeting between Israel’s prime minister and Saudi Arabia’s crown prince has sent a strong signal to allies and enemies alike that the two countries remain deeply committed to containing their common foe Iran. Last Sunday’s covert meeting in the Saudi city of Neom, confirmed by Israeli officials but publicly denied by Riyadh, conveyed a coordinated message to U.S. President-elect Joe Biden that Washington’s main allies in the region are closing ranks. It was the first publicly confirmed visit to Saudi Arabia by an Israeli leader and a meeting that was unthinkable until recently as the two...

HEBRON, West Bank - Jewish settler leaders prayed on Monday for U.S. President Donald Trump’s re-election, citing his support for Israel, during a ceremony at a biblical tomb in the occupied West Bank that has been a flashpoint of conflict with the Palestinians. “We have come to bless President Trump, both for the past, to thank him, but also for the future, that he succeeds in the coming election,” Yishai Fleisher, spokesman for the Hebron settlers, said at the Cave of the Patriarchs burial site. One of those interred there, according to tradition, is Abraham, who is revered by Jews,...

Israeli officials believe Oman is next in line to normalize relations with Israel in the near future, following the Jewish state’s blitz of deals with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and most recently Sudan, according to a report Saturday. Channel 12 said sources in the government claimed an announcement was even potentially possible before the US presidential election on November 3rd, though they stressed it could take more time, as Muscat would likely wait to see where political winds are blowing in Washington before making any major decisions... Meanwhile, Channel 12 also reported that Mossad Chief Yossi Cohen has stated...

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,"...

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...

The Noble Committee gave the 2020 Peace Prize to a yet another nameless, faceless organization that most likely misuses funds intended to feed the needy, rather than President Donald J Trump for his Middle East peace. Men like Trump do not act to win prizes. They see problems and solve them.

President Donald Trump expects “seven or eight or nine” additional Arab states to sign peace agreements with Israel in the near future, including Saudi Arabia, he announced Tuesday during a White House ceremony. Trump made the comments after formally signing peace agreements between Israel, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain. Known as the Abraham Accords, Trump and its other signatories hope it heralds “a new dawn for peace in the Middle East.” Trump also said that he spoke with the King of Saudi Arabia and expects the country to join the agreement “at the right time,” according Agence France...

President Trump slammed the Wall Street Journal's editorial board on Monday, a day after it warned him against being "impulsive" when making decisions on Afghanistan. "The Wall Street Journal Editorial states that it doesn’t want me to act in an 'impulsive' manner in Afghanistan. Could somebody please explain to them that we have been there for 19 years, and while soldier counts are way down now, hardly impulsive," the president tweeted to his 80 million followers. "Besides, the Taliban is mixed about even wanting us to get out," Trump added. "They make a fortune $$$ by having us stay, and...

Riyadh (AFP) - Saudi Arabia has abolished flogging as a punishment, the supreme court announced, hailing the latest in a series of "human rights advances" made by the king and his powerful son. Court-ordered floggings in Saudi Arabia -- sometimes extending to hundreds of lashes -- have long drawn condemnation from human rights groups. But they say the headline legal reforms overseen by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman have brought no let-up in the conservative Islamic kingdom's crushing of dissent, including through the use of the death penalty. The Saudi supreme court said the latest reform was intended to "bring...

A formal review is to be launched into why people from a black and minority ethnic background appear to be disproportionately affected by COVID-19. The move follows calls for the government to investigate the number of deaths of people from the BAME community and those working for the NHS, during the coronavirus pandemic. Sky News analysis found out of the 54 frontline health and social care workers in England and Wales that have died because of COVID-19, 70% of them were black or from an ethnic minority. Our analysis also found that four of the five health trusts in England...

Earlier this week Iranian backed militia killed two US soldiers and a female UK soldier at Taji military base in Iraq. Last night the US responded killing at least 18 militia members in Iraq including Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander General Siamand Mashhadani. The US launched strikes in Iraq against Iranian-backed militias after the militia’s attack earlier in the week killed two US and one UK soldier in Iraq.

Saudi Arabia expanded its flight and travel bans to 12 countries and the European Union on Thursday, hours after U.S. President Donald Trump issued a similar measure for most of Europe. In a statement published by the Saudi Press Agency, the country said it was temporarily suspending "the travel of citizens and expatriates and suspended flights" to European Union member states, Switzerland, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Djibouti and Somalia. Saudi Arabia said it was extending its ban to countries "where the threat of the spread of the novel coronavirus appeared" as part...

ISTANBUL/ATHENS - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan accused Greek security forces on Wednesday of behaving like Nazis for using force against migrants trying to cross the border from Turkey into the European Union. Tens of thousands of migrants have been attempting to get into EU member Greece since Turkey said on Feb. 28 it would no longer keep them on its territory as part of a 2016 deal with Brussels in return for European aid for the refugees. Greek security forces have used tear gas and water cannon to stop the migrants. Athens has suspended asylum applications for a month and...

BEIRUT - Lebanon announced it cannot meet its debt payments and halted a March 9 bond payment of $1.2 billion on Saturday, setting the heavily indebted state on course for a sovereign default as it grapples with a major financial crisis. In a televised address to the nation, Prime Minister Hassan Diab said foreign currency reserves had hit a “critical and dangerous” level and were needed to meet basic needs. He called for “fair” negotiations with lenders to restructure the debt. The default will mark a new phase in a crisis that has hammered the economy since October, slicing around...

TRIPOLI - Three thousand camels have been walked out of Libya’s capital Tripoli in an overnight evacuation after the port where they arrived came under artillery fire. The camels left Tripoli’s port shortly after midnight on Wednesday, and were herded along a highway leading west to the city of Zawiya, some 45 km (30 miles) away, where they arrived on Thursday morning, according to a local merchant. A Reuters reporter saw about 20 camel herders whipping the camels into line as they left central Tripoli, with some camels trying to search for food along the side of the road. Security...

The U.N.'s nuclear watchdog says Iran has nearly tripled its stockpile of enriched uranium over the last three months in violation of its deal with world powers, and is refusing to answer questions about three possible undeclared nuclear sites. VIENNA -- Iran has nearly tripled its stockpile of enriched uranium over the last three months in violation of its deal with world powers and is refusing to answer questions about three possible undeclared nuclear sites, the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said Tuesday. The International Atomic Energy Agency made the statement in a confidential report distributed to member countries that was...

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said “a thousand no’s” Tuesday to the Mideast peace plan announced by President Donald Trump, which strongly favors Israel. “After the nonsense that we heard today we say a thousand no’s to the Deal of The Century,” Abbas said at a press conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah, where the Western-backed Palestinian Authority is headquartered. He said the Palestinians remain committed to ending the Israeli occupation and establishing a state with its capital in east Jerusalem. “We will not kneel and we will not surrender,” Abbas said, adding that the...

CAIRO - Egypt called on Tuesday on Palestinians and Israelis to carefully consider a peace plan announced by U.S. President Donald Trump, with a view to resuming negotiations. “Egypt calls on the two relevant parties to undertake a careful and thorough consideration of the U.S. vision to achieve peace and open channels of dialogue, under U.S. auspices, for the resumption of negotiations,” a statement said.

GAZA - The interim head of the U.N. agency that aids Palestinian refugees on Thursday accused pro-Israel groups of lobbying foreign parliaments to stop donations, even as it struggled to recover from losing United States funding in 2018. Christian Saunders, in an interview with Reuters in his Gaza office, also said Israel was seeking to replace United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) services for Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem with those of its own. UNRWA has faced budgetary difficulties since 2018, when the United States, its biggest donor, halted its annual aid of $360 million. The United States and...

WASHINGTON—The Trump administration is considering a significant expansion of the U.S. military footprint in the Middle East, including dozens more ships, other military hardware and as many as 14,000 additional troops to counter Iran, U.S. officials said. The deployment could double the number of U.S. military personnel who have been sent to the region since the start of a troop buildup in May. President Trump is expected to make a decision on the new deployments as soon as this month, those officials said.