Free Republic

Defense Minister Israel Katz briefed the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, chaired by MK Yuli Edelstein, at the Kirya military headquarters, detailing Israel’s pre-emptive actions during the 12-day “Am K’Lavie” war against Iran, which ended with a ceasefire on June 24. Katz revealed that Iran had planned a surprise attack, stating, “The Iranians planned to strike first and launch between 400 to 500 missiles in the opening strike. If we hadn’t acted first, it would have been much harder for us.” ... “We met 100% of the operational objectives in Iran, and the Americans helped a lot in the end,”...

France's military actively intercepted Iranian drones targeting Israel in the days leading up to this week’s ceasefire, Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu confirmed Wednesday evening. Speaking before Parliament during a debate on the Middle East, Lecornu said the French army engaged in defensive operations as Iran launched a large-scale assault on Israel."I can confirm that the French army intercepted fewer than 10 drones over the last few days, during Iran's military operations against Israelhttps://www.jfeed.com/news-israel/iran-israel-conflict-analysis, either through ground-to-air systems or using our Rafale fighter jets," Lecornu stated

In a devastating IED attack in Khan Yunis, Gaza, seven IDF combat engineers were killed when terrorists exploited vulnerabilities in Israel’s Puma armored vehicle. The incident exposes critical flaws in the APC’s defenses, raising urgent questions about battlefield preparedness as asymmetric warfare escalate.... The attack’s ease is infuriating. IEDs, crafted from scavenged explosives and triggered by cell phones or timers, are stealthy and simple to attach, likely slapped onto the Puma’s underbelly or flank, its weakest armored points, during a crowd or brief halt. The Puma’s design lacks add-on defenses like slat ("cage") armor, leaving it vulnerable to shaped charges...

During the current conflict, Iran has launched about 500 missiles and over 1,000 drones at population centers. Iran launched a barrage of missiles at northern, central and southern Israel this morning (Monday), triggering air raid sirens across much of the country. According to the IDF, 15 missiles were fired toward Israeli territory, with the majority successfully intercepted by Israel’s missile defense systems. Despite the widespread alarms, no injuries have been reported. MDA CEO Eli Bean in a live broadcast on Galei Tzahal reported that there are no casualties as a result of the 4 barrages.... disruptions in electricity supply are...

"Ali returns to Khaybar": Khamenei's tweet raises concerns in the Jewish community in Iran. June 20, 2025 Khamenei's new tweet hinting at the extermination of Jews as Ali did in Khaibar marks a dangerous escalation and raises concerns that the Jewish community in Iran is in clear danger. The Jewish community in Iran received a chilling reminder of its insecurity when, on June 16, 2025, at the same time as ballistic missiles were launched at Israel, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei posted a post on Twitter that included a poem threatening to recreate the massacre of Jews in Khaybar. The tweet,...

Mr Biden made the declaration with Israel's Prime Minister Yair Lapid on the second day of his visit there.... The US and Israel have long accused Iran of state-sponsored terrorism in the Middle East and further afield. Iran provides funding, training and weapons to Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah movement, and the Palestinian groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip. Iran denies that it sponsors terrorism and says the organisations it backs are resistance groups fighting Israeli and US aggression... Iran is embroiled in a crisis with the US and other Western countries over its nuclear programme. It has breached...

A senior Israeli source speaking to Israel Hayom today (Tuesday) says that a "significant" Middle Eastern country - not Israel - has asked President Trump to join the war against Iran's nuclear program to end it quickly. According to the source, the country - which is a bitter foe of Iran - is concerned that Israeli strikes on Iranian economic targets, especially their oil and oil processing facilities, could send prices skyrocketing and harming their economy. At present, the United States is maintaining a defensive posture, providing Israel with weapons and defensive tools, but refusing to attack Iran unless Iran...

The Israel-Iran conflict has entered its fifth day, casting a shadow over Washington as Democratic lawmakers, led by Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, move to curb President Donald Trump’s authority to wage war against Iran without congressional approval.... Israel’s Operation Rising Lion, launched on June 13, 2025, struck over 100 Iranian targets,...The underground Fordo facility, however, remains largely unscathed, fueling speculation about further Israeli or U.S. action. In response, the U.S. bolstered its regional presence, deploying 12 F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II jets, supported by 30 KC-135 and KC-46 tankers, to bases like Al-Udeid in Qatar, as reported by...

Today (Tuesday), the White House posted on X, quoting President Trump: “Iran should have signed the ‘deal’ I told them to sign. What a shame, and waste of human life. Simply stated, IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. I said it over and over again! Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!” Trump’s rhetoric has oscillated between advocating for diplomacy and issuing threats of military action. For instance, he has pushed for a new nuclear deal since taking office in January 2025, As Iran passed the 60 day limit Trump had given them to come to a deal regarding their nuclear...

June 5, 1967 was a day that will live in glory in the annals of Jewish history. On that day in 1967, the Israeli air force destroyed on the ground and in the air the Arab air forces, and gained full supremacy in the air, and ultimately on the ground and at sea. This was the Six Day War—52 years ago. It was one of the greatest victories in Jewish history, and a seminal event in Israel’s history. It all began a month earlier. The Egyptian dictator Gamal Abdel Nasser made bellicose statements on the Voice of the Arabs radio...

“The Quran gained a popular readership among Protestants both in England and in North America largely out of curiosity,” says Denise A. Spellberg, a history professor at the University of Texas at Austin and author of Thomas Jefferson’s Qu'ran: Islam and the Founders. “But also because people thought of the book as a book of law and a way to understand Muslims with whom they were interacting already pretty consistently, in the Ottoman Empire and in North Africa.” When Jefferson bought his Quran as a law student in 1765, it was probably because of his interest in understanding Ottoman law....

A powerful figure has emerged in the Muslim world, and his newly founded religion is gaining followers worldwide. Shockingly, on Easter Sunday, his followers declared him to be the new pope, and the next day, the Vatican announced that Pope Francis had passed away. Abdullah Hashem Aba Al-Sadiq, commonly known as Abdullah Hashem, was born in 1983 in Indiana to an Egyptian father and an American mother. He is an Egyptian-American and the founder of the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light (AROPL), not to be confused with the Ahmadiyya community discriminated against in Pakistan. He claims to be the...

He had no doubts at first, but slowly they emerged. He was struck, he says, by the fact that the first coins bearing Muhammad’s name did not appear until the late 7th century — six decades after the religion did. He traded ideas with some scholars in Saarbrücken who in recent years have been pushing the idea of Muhammad’s nonexistence. They claim that “Muhammad” wasn’t the name of a person but a title, and that Islam began as a Christian heresy. Prof. Kalisch didn’t buy all of this. Contributing last year to a book on Islam, he weighed the odds...

That's how it all started. The "opening shot" of the Jewish-Arab blood battle for this land was heard on Passover 93 years ago, in the forgotten events of the 19th century - the first significant defining event in the national and religious struggle between the two peoples. Nadav Shragai. Israel Hayom. 24/3/2013. [...]. The time was approximately 11:30 a.m., April 4, 1920 (15 Nisan 5680), the first day of the Chol HaMoed of Passover holiday in Jerusalem. The death of a threatening crowd was heard from afar. The Arabs in the nearby markets of the old city rushed to close...

Muhammad cracked the list for the top ten names for baby boys in New York City for the first time ever according to health officials. Muhammad tied with Michael for the 9th most popular name for baby boys in the Big Apple. Chart via 1010 WINS Radio NYC According to the QGazette. While most of the names in the top ten from 2022 stood their ground, new names made their way to the top of the 2023 list. Sofia returned to the top ten after being bumped by Esther the previous year. Isabella and Amelia moved up a few spaces,...

Jack Poso 🇺🇸 @JackPosobiec ‘Muhammad’ cracks top 10 names for baby boys in New York City From thepostmillennial.com 11:30 AM · Dec 28, 2024

New information from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has revealed that the top baby name for boys in 2023 has changed. Muhammad has become the most popular baby name in England and Wales. The name has been in the top 10 since 2016 before becoming the second most popular boy name in 2022. Now, the Arabic name, which means "praiseworthy" or "commendable", has overtaken Noah, which was the most popular name in 2021 and 2022. The data for the most popular names are compiled according to registered live births in England and Wales, and every year the data is...

Gabriel Shin described the attack at the hands of another San Francisco firefighter. "The whole time I was yelling at him, I said, 'Robert, stop, what's wrong with you, stop,' you know, and he just didn't stop. He was relentless." Shin is talking publicly for the first time about a brutal attack that he says ended his career. Another firefighter stands charged with beating him with a hydrant wrench. -snip Connected to this attack, Gabriel Shin has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit that asks a basic question. Why was the victim forced out of the San Francisco Fire Department...

[Excerpts of excerpt of over 2700 word article] in the first days of the Yom Kippur War, when Golda Meir descended into her darkest hour,...the problem of resupply weighed on her mind, she called her ambassador to the U.S. at three in the morning and told him to wake up Kissinger and Nixon to get things flowing. In her memoirs she explained her behavior. “I knew that President Nixon had promised to help us, and I knew from my past experience with him that he would not let us down,” she writes. “Let me, at this point, repeat something that...

A coalition of Arab nations, led by Egypt and Syria, had surprised the Israeli military with a coordinated, all-out assault on the Jewish nation as it observed the holiest day of its year, Yom Kippur. Armed with the latest in Soviet weaponry, Arab forces quickly destroyed Israeli warplanes and tanks in numbers so shockingly large that a complete conquest of Israel — previously unthinkable — suddenly seemed all too possible. In desperate need of rearmament, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir sent multiple appeals to the United States for military aid. Some of President Richard Nixon’s military advisors counseled against such...