Free Republic

Army commanders are in a quandary over the scenario of hundreds of nationalist "refuseniks," mainly religious soldiers who have swelled the ranks of junior officers the past few years. General Dan Halutz, new IDF Chief of Staff, again has repeated warnings that insubordination will not be tolerated when orders are given to soldiers to back up police in the planned evacuation of Jews from their homes in August. Major General Dan Harel, head of the Southern Command, said the army will "have to act in creative ways" to combat insubordination. Dispatching the Golani soldiers to the dangerous duty of entering...

U.S. immigrant Avi Bieber declared, ‘A Jew does not expel a Jew’ and refused orders after seeing his officers beating Jewish residents yesterday. Twelve of his comrades have now followed suit. Bieber, a soldier in the 603rd Combat Engineer Battalion, approached his commander a week ago, and informed him that he is unable to take part in the implementation of the Disengagement Plan. Avi's father Ralph told Arutz-7 that the commander dismissed the 19-year-old, telling him that the matter would be discussed two months from now, when the actual expulsion of Jews from Gaza and northern Samaria is due to...

Hundreds of IDF reserve soldiers and officers gathered in Jerusalem’s Binyanei HaUmah Convention Center Tuesday to call upon their fellow soldiers to refuse to take part in the Disengagement Plan. The audience also included several elite unit soldiers in uniform and the parents of a Druze soldier already sitting in prison for refusing to train for the uprooting were in attendance. Many of the reservists tore up draft notices in front of the television cameras. They instead accepted orange “call-up notices” symbolizing their enlistment in the struggle against the planned withdrawal from Gush Katif and northern Samaria. “There are those...

MIAMI (AP) - The family of a severely brain-damaged woman who died after her feeding tube was removed in March said Friday they still have not been told where her remains will be laid to rest. Terri Schiavo's parents and siblings, who waged a lengthy court battle over her end-of-life wishes, said on Fox's "Hannity & Colmes" show that her husband is keeping her remains from them. "They were supposed to tell us, and we still have not heard from ... Michael Schiavo where Terri's been laid," said Terri Schiavo's brother, Bobby Schindler. "Our family expected this. Michael has disobeyed...

Israeli-forces cadet sees Gaza pullout as capitulation to Palestinian terrorism KFAR TAPUACH, WEST BANK – In a bombshell interview here, the enlisted son of the police chief responsible for overseeing the withdrawal of Jewish settlements from Gaza and parts of the West Bank told WorldNetDaily he thinks the disengagement plan is "wrong," and he will refuse orders if his unit is called to participate in the withdrawal. Rafi Bar Lev, son of police commander Uri Bar Lev, told WND yesterday, "I think [the withdrawal] is wrong and I will say to my commander that I want to do something else,...

Petitions signed by at least 10,000 IDF soldiers and officers opposed to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's withdrawal plan are to be presented to Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz next month. Noam Livnat, the brother of Education Minister Limor Livnat and spokesman for the Homat Magen [Defensive Shield] group, has released the text of the petitions it says thousands of standing army soldiers and officers, as well as reservists, have already signed. Attorney General Menachem Mazuz has announced that he has launched a police investigation against Noam Livnat, as well as Kedumim Mayor Daniella Weiss for encouraging soldiers to sign such petitions....

The phenomenon of IDF soldiers declaring their intention to refuse orders to expel Jews from their homes continues to spread. IDF officers from the Adam military training installation met with Commander of IDF Ground Forces, Major-General Yiftah Ron-Tal Wednesday, informing him that many of the soldiers under their command would refuse to carry out orders to expel Jews from their homes. This, according to a report in today’s Yediot Aharonot Hebrew daily. According to the report, one company commander from the Haruv battalion told Ron-Tal: “I have many soldiers in my company who say point-blank that they are unable to...

North Korea says it does not need food aid Pyongyang, North Korea, Aug. 14 (UPI) -- North Korean officials say their nation does not need humanitarian aid from the United Nations next year or later, the Kyodo news agency reported Saturday. Pyongyang's message was conveyed by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on Friday, with no explanation as to why it no longer needs the U.N. aid. U.N. aid officials said they are baffled by North Korea's latest move since they believe that nation is suffering from an acute food shortage.

Disney says NO to distributing Michael Moore's new Bush-bashing movie, "Farenheit 911"

CBS News Mark Strathman reports that before Jessicas death, the family was asked whether Jessica's heart and lungs would like to be redonated.The family refused, and wanted another doctors opinion about keeping her on life support.In North Carolina the familys consent is not needed to take someone off of life support.

Troops fear jab more than germ war JASON ALLARDYCE jallardyce@scotlandonsunday.com MORE than half of all British troops will go to war in Iraq without anthrax vaccinations because they fear the side-effects on their health more than the risk of germ warfare, Scotland on Sunday can reveal. Thousands of members of the Royal Navy, army and Royal Air Force have rejected the MoD’s strong recommendation that they accept jabs to protect against chemical and biological attacks. If war breaks out, the majority of forces personnel who would fight in the Gulf would do so without protection against an anthrax attack....

The parents of a Lakewood Middle School student Thursday will ask the School Board to fire the teacher who told the student to leave the classroom for refusing to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.Victoria Kearney said she will ask Lakeport Unified School District board to dismiss David Laven becase she is dissatisfied with the district's handling of the complaint about Lavin's treatment of her son, Jim Woodbury.Laven told Woodbury to stand outside the classroom when he wouldn't say the Pledge of Allegiance in his U.S. History and Constitution class last semester.