Free Republic

When Englishman Thomas Pellow was 27, he led a slave-hunting expedition to the West African coast. His orders were to plunder the villages, kill the adults and capture the children. But Pellow was not a mercenary employed in the transatlantic slave trade, which sent millions of its victims across the ocean. He was a slave himself – taken prisoner as a child by the Moroccan Sultan Moulay Ismail. And 300 years ago, he was far from alone. The sultan owned an estimated 25,000 European slaves, many seized in raiding expeditions on the south coast of England as well as countries...

Former US president Barack Obama is to be interviewed live on stage for two events in Dublin and London. The 63-year-old, who became the first black US president when he took office in 2009, will be interviewed by TV historian David Olusoga at London’s The O2 on Wednesday 24 September. He will then be interviewed by journalist Fintan O’Toole at Dublin’s 3Arena on Friday 26 September. An Evening with President Barack Obama will see the former president speak about his experiences in the role and the future for the US. …

Friedrich Merz knows how important uncontrolled mass migration was at the last election, so has promised to crackdown on the vast pull factors encouraging people to move to Germany. Yet much like his pledge to get a grip of illegal migration, this alleged crackdown appears to consist far more of rhetoric than of action. As such, Germany’s Federal Employment Agency is actively promoting Bürgergeld—the citizens’ benefit paid to those with no income or who do not earn enough money to support themselves—to young migrants. A page on its website is written in English “for people from abroad,” and leads with...

Senate Democrats have undergone a steady tonal shift on Israel, with a recent vote to block arms sales to the Jewish State giving a glimpse at the evolution on the Hill. More Democrats in the upper chamber than ever before voted alongside Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., to halt the $675 million sale of thousands of bombs and guidance kits for the bombs and to block the sale of automatic rifles to Israel. […] “What’s going on is unacceptable, and Israel has the power to fix it,” Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, told Fox News Digital. Like Sanders, King typically caucuses with...

Three-quarters of UN members have already or soon plan to recognize Palestinian statehood, with Australia on Monday becoming the latest to promise it will at the UN General Assembly in September. The Israel-Hamas war, raging in Gaza since the Palestinian militant group’s attack on 7 October 2023, has revived a global push for Palestinians to be given a state of their own. The action breaks with a long-held view that Palestinians could only gain statehood as part of a negotiated peace with Israel. According to an AFP tally, at least 145 of the 193 UN members now recognize or plan...

Americans’ support for Israel’s military actions in Gaza is dropping rapidly, prompting pro-Israel Democrats and some of President Donald Trump’s long-time allies to warn that the country could permanently damage its standing in the United States. A Gallup poll released this week found that just 32% of US adults support Israel’s military actions in Gaza — a record low since the war was launched in response to Hamas’ October 7, 2023, terror attack. The poll also found the strongest partisan split yet: Support among those who identify themselves as Republicans remained strong, at 71%. But just 8% of Democrats and...

Israel's military said it killed Al Jazeera journalist Anas Al Sharif in a strike on Gaza City on Sunday, accusing him of heading a Hamas cell. "Anas Al Sharif served as the head of a terrorist cell in the Hamas terrorist organization and was responsible for advancing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops," the military said in a statement.

U2 frontman Bono has said in a statement that he feels “revulsion” for the “moral failure” in Gaza, adding that he has tried to “stay out of the politics of the Middle East”. The singer, who had been criticized for not speaking publicly about Gaza, and his decision to accept the Medal of Freedom from then-US President Joe Biden earlier this year, said in the statement that his lack of commentary came from “uncertainty in the face of obvious complexity”. He said that “Israel’s revenge for the Hamas attack appeared more and more disproportionate and disinterested in the equally innocent...

Despite grappling with fears for a son held hostage in the middle of a deadly war zone, Yehuda Cohen still holds onto hope. "I have three children, I'm going to have three children until the last day of my life," he said. "Nimrod will come back and complete our family." It is a sentiment which is obviously fuelled by a father's love, but it is also borne out of necessity — a sense of purpose, even as the window of opportunity for his family to be reunited with one another seems to be getting narrower by the hour. A photo...

Call it the twilight of the West. ... British police are facing heavy scrutiny after they threatened to arrest a Christian preacher after a group of Muslims heard him preach and threatened to stab him and punch his wife. The incident occurred in Bristol when Pastor Dia Moodley was preaching in the city center. Moodley was talking about the differences between Islam and Christianity and was holding a Quran as he did so. In response, he says a Muslim bystander threatened to stab him, while another tried to punch his wife. Moodley said he was then pinned to the ground...

Both the General Assembly and the Security Council are broken because the alliances upon which they were founded no longer exist.The world is insane, but that’s its normal state. We now have al-Qaida leaders who are about to be released from prison, the United Kingdom, France, and Canada are about to recognize a Palestinian “state,” and a hostage held by Hamas was photographed digging his own grave. In Inside the Asylum I specifically warned that the UN was employing terrorists, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. There is famine in the Gaza...

A 47-year-old Moroccan man has been arrested in Paris for lighting a cigarette using the Eternal Flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier under the Arc de Triomphe. French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau confirmed the arrest calling the act “indecent and pathetic.” He stated that the man has been identified and taken into custody and admitted to lighting his cigarette from the sacred flame. “I am filing a case immediately with the Paris state prosecutors so that this man will be found and sanctions imposed to make an example of him,” Patricia Miralles, the minister for veterans and remembrance,...

Former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo, former Shin Bet chief Ami Ayalon, and former deputy IDF chief Matan Vilnai on Sunday announced they had sent a letter to US President Donald Trump requesting that he compel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the current war. This information was provided to The Jerusalem Post ahead of other media. These top officials, along with top former police and foreign ministry officials, lead the Commanders for Israel’s Security (CIS) group – which now makes up over 600 former senior security officials – in making that call on Trump to intervene. 'Stop the Gaza War'...

In many of the countries we’re drawing migrants from, women are treated like second-class citizens, like objects to be used, abused, and discarded at some man’s will. These are not just isolated attitudes; they’re deep-seated cultural norms. And yet, we continue to welcome this disgusting mindset into our country under the left-wing banner of “tolerance and diversity.” This isn’t just reckless behavior; it’s dangerous and deadly, to boot. ... The latest case out of Minnesota proves that yet again. A 42-year-old Somali man was convicted of raping a 12-year-old girl. That’s horrifying enough on its own. But what’s even more...

Palestinian statehood comes at the end of negotiations for a two-state solution and that process can no longer be held in abeyance, Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said Thursday. “A negotiated two-state solution remains the only path that can offer people on both sides a life in peace, security, and dignity,” he said in a statement issued shortly before his trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories, as reported by Ynet News. “For Germany, the recognition of a Palestinian state comes more at the end of that process. But such a process must begin now.” Wadephul’s remarks follow a string...

* Halt to Gaza Evacuations: France will deport a Palestinian student from Gaza and halt all further evacuations from the war-torn enclave after she allegedly posted antisemitic content on social media. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said on August 1 that 25-year-old Nour Atallah “must leave the country. She does not have a place in France,” adding that “no evacuation of any kind will take place until we have drawn the consequences of this investigation.” * “Kill the Jews Everywhere”: A now-deleted social media account belonging to Atallah contained an image of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler with the caption “kill...

US envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff visited Hostages Square in Tel Aviv on Saturday, speaking with families of hostages. During his visit, he stated that Hamas is prepared to disarm as part of a ceasefire agreement. In response, Hamas issued a statement denying Witkoff’s claim and emphasizing that “the resistance and its weapons are a national and legal obligation as long as the occupation continues.” According to Hamas, armed resistance is a right “enshrined in international conventions and custom, and it cannot be relinquished until all our national rights are restored, foremost among them the establishment of an...

The Netherlands’ counter-terrorism authority has included Israel in its latest report as one of the state actors assessed to pose a threat to the country’s security. The country is thus placed alongside Iran, North Korea and Turkey, among others. The Netherlands’ National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security (NCTV) published on July 17, 2025, its annual report “Assessment of threats from state actors 2025” (Beoordeling Dreigingen door Staatactoren 2025), where Israel is listed for the first time as a security-threatening actor. Israel’s placement on the list is linked to assessments that the country uses informal methods to influence public opinion and...

The world’s Arab countries for the first time have joined unanimously in the call for Hamas to lay down its weapons, release all hostages and end its rule of the Gaza Strip, conditions that they said could help the establishment of a Palestinian state. The surprise declaration, endorsed on Tuesday by the 22 member nations of the Arab League, also condemned Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, which set off the devastating war in Gaza. The statement came at a United Nations conference in New York on a two-state solution to end the decades-long conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. “In...

An Islamic center in Minnesota penned a gushing letter of support for a Somalian migrant convicted of raping a 12-year-old girl. Qalinle Ibrahim Dirie, 42, was convicted in May of first-degree criminal sexual conduct after he was found guilty of abducting the girl from her backyard and raping her in June 2024. Following his conviction, Dirie's local Islamic center, Al-Ihsan Islamic Center in St. Paul, submitted a heartfelt letter begging Hennepin County District Court Judge Michael Burns to consider the convicted criminal's 'character' before delivering a sentence, Alpha News reported. The letter, titled 'Community Support Letter for Qalinle Dirie,' was...