Free Republic

<p>After more than four months of war triggered by the October 7 Hamas massacre in southern Israel, it’s all come down to Rafah.</p><p>Since Israel invaded Gaza, more than 200 soldiers have died, the IDF has killed over 8,000 Hamas members, according to their assessment, and another 15,000-20,000 Palestinian civilians have been killed, according to Hamas estimates.</p>

The operation freeing two Argentinian hostages from Nir Yitzhak, Fernando Herman and Louis Norbeto, started with dozens of airstrikes against Hamas's Shabura battalion. The Shin Bet, IDF and special police forces early morning on Monday rescued two hostages from Hamas in the heart of Rafah. Around 1:00 a.m., the operation freeing two Argentinian hostages from Nir Yitzhak, Fernando Herman and Louis Norbeto, started with dozens of airstrikes against Hamas's Shabura battalion so they would not understand the true goal of rescuing the hostages, ages 61 and 70.

"Last night, we brought Louis and Fernando home. In a joint rescue operation by the IDF, the Israel Security Agency, and the Yamam – the special forces unit of the Israel Police, we rescued Louis Har and Fernando Marman, who were kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 from Nir Yitzhak," IDF Spokesperson Rr.-Adm. Daniel Hagari said of the dramatic rescue of two Israeli hostages on Monday morning. "This was a complex rescue operation under fire in the heart of Rafah, based on highly sensitive and valuable intelligence from the Intelligence Directorate and the Israel Security Agency," said Hagari. "We have...

The Israel Defense Forces said that Fernando Marman, 61, and Louis Har, 70, were in good condition after being rescued, following an operation that involved battles with Hamas terrorists and massive Israeli airstrikes in Rafah. The pair had been abducted from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak on the morning of October 7, when Hamas-led terrorists killed 1,200 people and took 253 hostages in a murderous rampage in southern Israel. It was only the second such successful operation of its kind since October 7. The first was the rescue of soldier Ori Megidish in late October. In early December, the IDF attempted to...

What is the Israeli Defense Force supposed to do with a million or so Palestinian refugees as their operations to kill every last Hamas wipes the Gaza Strip from north to south like a giant, well-armed squeegee? The President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who is sometimes mistaken for the President of Mexico, has an answer to that vexing question — and it's something of a completely routine miracle how the mainstream media and the Global Professional Outrage Machine have both ignored it. The essence of el-Sisi's answer is: "Do what you will to the Palestinians, Israel, but they aren't...

Rabbis since the Middle Ages onwards have sought to prove the validity of the Torah and our belief in G-d from the story of G-d’s revelation to the whole Jewish people at Mount Sinai. As explained by Rabbi Judah Halevi in the Kuzari, the logic goes like this: If G-d had not actually appeared to all the Jewish people, then it would have been impossible for someone to write a book that would be adopted as truth by those people. Because Jews of previous generations accepted the Torah as truth and passed it down to subsequent generations, and ultimately to...

Most countries were founded by professionals including lawyers and businessmen. Sometimes they included pharmacists, doctors and inventors. Often they included generals and military leaders. As Palestinians now call for the world to accept a new State of Palestine in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023 massacre, it is worth considering a country whose founding fathers are psychopaths and cowards. Consider that Hamas has ruled Gaza outright since 2007, so every child under 16 years old has only known a land governed by the U.S.-designated terrorist group. On October 7, it assembled well over one thousand people of its army...

Teaching 1: Miles Jones shares his testimony and how he became called to study ancient languages in pursuit of the original alphabet, which he found in the path and time of the Exodus.

No one ever lost money betting on the ability of the Empire of Chaos, Lies and Plunder to construct a “coalition of the willing” whenever faced with a geopolitical quandary. In every case, duly covered by the reigning “rules-based international order”, “willing” applies to vassals seduced by carrots or sticks to follow to the letter the Empire’s whims. Cue to the latest chapter: Coalition Genocide Prosperity, whose official – heroic – denomination, a trademark of the Pentagon’s P.R. wizards, is “Operation Prosperity Guardian”, allegedly engaged in “ensuring freedom of navigation in the Red Sea.” Translation: this is Washington all but...

President Trump would destabilize his reelection coalition if he attacks Iran or Venezuela, supporters and outside observers say, as key administration officials threaten war. Trump is nearly alone inside the West Wing as the voice for military restraint following a phase-out of grassroots backers, five former White House aides say, leaving the often mercurial president with advisers pushing in one direction. Wars often rally the public around a president, but a Trump-led intervention might hurt him.

[CBS' Charlie] D'agata: The UN has said repearedly there is no safe zone in Gaza. Your answer to them? IDF: 'There is.' D'Agata: The Israeli military insists that they've assured safe passage of aid, but trucks are lined up on Egypt's side of the Rafah crossing, waiting to cross. IDF's Elad Goren: And we want to increase the humanitarian assistance. Now if the UN tomorrow will come to us and say, we need 300 trucks, they will get 400 trucks. [...] D'Agata: So how do you move trucks in a conflict zone? IDF's Elad Goren: Rafah is a big place....

University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill – under increasing pressure from both donors and the White House after her disastrous testimony before Congress this week on the school’s failure to protect Jewish students – “voluntarily” resigned her post Saturday, the school announced. “I write to share that President Liz Magill has voluntarily tendered her resignation as President of the University of Pennsylvania. She will remain a tenured faculty member at Penn Carey Law. “On behalf of the entire Penn community, I want to thank President Magill for her service to the University as President and wish her well. “We will...

The White House issued a brutal response Monday to what it said was the "inappropriate" nickname President Biden has been given by critics of his support for Israel amid its war with Hamas terrorists. Dubbed "Genocide Joe," Biden has increasingly become the target of far-left protests across the country, including by some in his own party accusing him of supporting an effort to wipe out Gaza and the Palestinian people. "We're not worried about nicknames and bumper stickers. I mean, it's First Amendment free speech. The president's focused on … making sure that we can continue to support Israel as...

An Israeli ship named “Galaxy Leader” has reportedly been hijacked by Yemen’s Houthi militia in the Red Sea. The ship had 22 people on board, according to reports. Israeli sources said that the Houthis seized a vessel partially owned by Israel in the Red Sea. No Israeli nationals were on board the ship, according to the sources. Earlier on Sunday, Yahya Sarea, a spokesman for the Iran-backed Houthis, said that the group would target all ships owned or operated by Israeli companies or carrying the Israeli flag, according to the group’s Telegram channel.

Palestinian sources report large IDF forces in the southern Gaza Strip ahead of expected operations to widen the Philadelphia corridor, after the High COurt rejected petitions by 13 Palestinian residents in Rafah against the destruction of houses in Palestinian Rafah, reported channel one news Sunday evening. The IDF revealed plans Sunday to create a 60 meter wide underground canal, 20 meters deep that is aimed at preventing the forging of arms-smuggling tunnels from the Egyptian side of Rafah to the Palestinian side. This is one option to widening the Philadelphia Corridor, reported Channel 2 news Sunday. The army is considering...

An Israeli government ministry has reportedly drafted a wartime proposal to transfer Gaza's 2.3 million people to Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. ABC Middle East correspondent Allyson Horn tells The World it's already causing much distress throughout the Arab world.

Israel Is Planning an ‘Inland Suez Canal’ Across Its Desert. At What Cost? Israel's planned high-speed train to Eilat: dream or potential environmental train wreck? In theory, it sounds amazing: a high-speed train to Eilat, the country’s southernmost city on the shores of the Red Sea. This was attested to by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his recent Knesset speech enumerating the new government’s goals, in which he described it as a major national project: “The mission is to develop the country’s infrastructures, including developing a high-speed rail that will travel hundreds of kilometers per hour and connect the country...

I don’t care if you’re out on the street, waving your flag and chanting your slogans. We won’t die silently the way you want us to… I don’t care that you sympathize with Hamas. I know you wouldn’t tolerate any of the things they did to us if they would’ve done it to you. I don’t care that you’re outraged by Israel’s response to the massacre more than the massacre itself. I don’t care that this doesn’t fit neatly into your carefully constructed narrative of ‘Israel as aggressor’ and ‘Palestinian as victim I know you would do everything to eliminate...

No normalization with Saudi Arabia if the cost is to shelve judicial reforms and surrender Jerusalem, Area C. The Knesset should set up a deadline for sovereignty. The Palestinians are building facts on the ground. Wait until when? Surrendering Judea and Samaria will be suicidal for Israel. Hamas will attack Israel from Judea and Samaria as they do from Gaza making normal life in Israel impossible By Ezequiel Doiny On August 18, 2023 Arutz 7 reported "Rabbi of Beit El explains: 'PA trying to choke out Jewish communities'...the Palestinian Authority had a clear plan to strangle the settlements and take...

At first glance, Thursday’s first-ever phone call between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi might suggest the two predominantly Muslim nations are coming together to support Hamas and its war on Israel. But a closer look shows the two leaders were talking past each other. The Saudi prince, known as MBS, wants peace with Israel and his country’s full integration into the world economy, an agenda that puts him fundamentally at odds with Tehran’s drive to destroy Israel and dominate the Middle East through a network of clients and proxies. According to the Saudi readout...