Free Republic

A massive new US embassy complex in Lebanon is causing controversy for its sheer size and opulence in a country where nearly 80% of the population is under the poverty line. Located some 13 kilometers (about 8 miles) from the center of Beirut, the US’ new embassy compound in Lebanon looks like a city of its own. Sprawling over a 43-acre site, the complex in the Beirut suburb of Awkar is almost two-and-a-half times the size of the land the White House sits on and more than 21 soccer fields. Many Lebanese on Twitter questioned why the US needs such...

The UN Security Council on Monday published a statement expressing its "dismay" over Jewish settlement activity in Judea and Samaria during a briefing on the situation in the Middle East. The statement, which received the support of all 15 members of the Security Council, including the US, reads: “The Security Council reiterates that continuing Israeli settlement activities are dangerously imperiling the viability of the two-state solution.” The statement is non-binding, unlike a resolution which was proposed last week, which would have demanded that Israel "immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory." That resolution was shelved...

Republican Congressional members have urged President Joe Biden to veto an anti-Israel resolution slated to be brought before the U.N. Security Council on Monday."As the UN Security Council once again moves to consider another one-sided, biased, anti-Israel resolution, it is imperative that the United States maintain its position that only direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians can yield progress," Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy wrote in a letter to the president.The missive was co-signed by Steve Scalise, the Majority Leader and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul."If the U.N. Security Council takes action on Monday to punish Israel,...

Prof. Alan Dershowitz and other experts tell JNS they would disband the U.N. agency. BY BRADLEY MARTIN (February 7, 2023 / JNS) On his recent trip to Israel, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke often about the importance of security and stability in the region. Following a terrorist attack in which seven Israelis were murdered, he told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israelis should know that America’s commitment to their security is “ironclad.” But several legal analysts told JNS that Blinken’s pledge of roughly $50 million in U.S. additional assistance to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine...

* The Arab-Palestinian Alkam Khairy carried out Synagogue Massacre Shabbat evening - he waited outside the synagogue to slaughter and when people ran away, he chased after them.* Many celebrations erupted among masses of racist Arabs.* Terrorist's father from hell praised him, that he was a devout Muslim and this is for him a joy like his wedding.* While worldwide condemnation poured in, Abu Mazen blamed ... Israel, and his Fatah actually hailed the massacre.___________GND @GND_arabic Tweeted:Jan 27, 2023.https://twitter.com/GND_arabic/status/1619068069141446656The Israeli citizen Abdelrahem Haj Yahya shares a story with a bemused smile and an impression (due to the attack): "This is...

Led by a respected former PM, and given a lot of resources by the Russian State, meet the Imperial Orthodox Palestine SocietyThe Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society, a humanitarian NGO founded in Russia 140 years ago, now plays a key role in expanding Russian influence in the Middle East and beyond. As relations between Russia and the Western world plunge, Middle East and African countries engage in developing ties with Moscow. It is also quite remarkable that this rapprochement is based not so much on political foundations as on the common values and moral foundations. The Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society (IOPS)...

UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Association, announced a number of resolutions just before the weekend started. One, submitted by the Russian Federation, called for defining UNESCO’s role in safeguarding and preserving Palmyra and other Syrian World Heritage sites. Another was about “Enhancing UNESCO’s contributions to promote a culture of mutual respect and tolerance.” A third was simply entitled “Occupied Palestine” and addressed the Jerusalem Old City hotspot that Jews refer to as the Temple Mount and Muslims call Haram Al-Sharif, the Noble Sanctuary. Except that the Jewish link to the site, considered the holiest place for Jews,...

Senior Hamas Official Mahmoud Al-Zahar: The “Army of Jerusalem” Will Not Liberate Palestinian Land Only; the 512 Million Square Kilometers of Planet Earth Will Come Under a System with No Zionism, No Treacherous Christianity #Hamas #Palestinians.

In a significant move, the United Nations has voted to remove Iran from a prominent women’s rights body for the remainder of its 2022-2026 term for the regime’s brutal crackdown on women-led protests against the theocracy. The decision comes into effect immediately, the United Nations said. The move, proposed by the United States, to expel Iran from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women was hailed by activists in Iran and all across the world. Twenty-nine members of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) voted in favour, eight countries voted against and 16 abstained.

Today (Sunday) the UN Special Representative for children's affairs, Mrs. Verginia Gamba, arrived in Israel, her purpose was to check if the IDF harms (sic) children. In a personal and poignant letter sent to her by Shai Glick, CEO of B'tsalmo, he initially congratulates her for coming to Israel but attacks her for meeting only with the Palestinian side and not with children and organizations. The letter reads: "First of all, welcome to the State of Israel. The only democracy in the Middle East. The State of Israel and the Land of Israel is the vision of the fulfillment...

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday said Jerusalem must be a city for Israelis and Palestinians, and anything else will harm Israel’s identity and security. “The United States continues to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, as the President also said in his visit, Jerusalem is central to the national visions of both Palestinians and Israelis and must be a city for all of its people. Anything that takes us away from two states is detrimental to Israel’s long-term security and its long-term identity,” Blinken said during an address at the the left-wing J Street’s national conference in Washington....

Israel’s amb. to UN launches first exhibit showing Jewish expulsion from Iran, Arab countriesBy Halwy Cohen, The Jerusalem Post, November 30, 2022.https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-7236831947-1948 - Forced transfer or mass escape?Ha’aretz claims that 800,000 Arabs were expelled from the country by the Jews during the War of Independence. The purpose of this lie is to hide the shameful truth: the great majority were not deported but fled on their own initiativeHanan Amior, Presspectiva, 29.11.22https://presspectiva-org-il.translate.goog/1947-1948-%d7%98%d7%a8%d7%a0%d7%a1%d7%a4%d7%a8-%d7%9b%d7%a4%d7%95%d7%99-%d7%90%d7%95-%d7%91%d7%a8%d7%99%d7%97%d7%94-%d7%94%d7%9e%d7%95%d7%a0%d7%99%d7%aa/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=enThe fate of the Jews in Arab countriesConrad Myrland, Miff.no, June 28, 2022.https://miff.no/jodenes-skjebne-i-arabiske-landhttps://miff-no.translate.goog/jodenes-skjebne-i-arabiske-land?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=enFrom Hitler to Putin: Palestinian habit of always backing ‘wrong side’Opinion: In 1940s, then-Palestinian leader Mufti Hajj Amim...

A statement by the UN Human Rights Office claimed “All information we have gathered … is consistent with the finding that the shots that killed Abu Akleh and injured her colleague Ali Sammoudi came from Israeli security forces and not from indiscriminate firing by armed...

Administration seeks to soften blow of FBI investigation into Palestinian-American reporter's killing, Israeli official says, speculating that ramifications will be minimal The White House informed Israeli counterparts that it was not involved in the decision to open an FBI investigation into the killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, an Israeli official told The Times of Israel on Wednesday. The message appeared aimed at blunting Israeli fury over the investigation...

The Biden administration weaponizes the FBI against Israel As in the Dreyfus affair, there are no Jewish criminals here, and everyone knows it. The Biden administration has ordered the FBI probe into Shireen Abu Akleh’s death because it wants a crisis with Israel. Nov 16, 2022 The Biden administration is feeding Israel to the wolves. That is the only reasonable way to understand Channel 14’s bombshell report on Sunday that the FBI has opened an investigation of IDF soldiers in relation to the death of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh. Abu Akleh died on May 11 in Jenin while...

Is Israel now a mad-dog tyrannical state, arresting Palestinians in numbers that far exceed the arrest numbers In other democracies, or do the statistics show that the Israeli police arrest far fewer people than are arrested elsewhere ? More on this can be found here: “Israel haters lying with statistics, part 1: Arrest statistics,” Elder of Ziyon, November 13, 2022:Someone named Laith Hanbali, of Al-Shabaka -The Palestinian Policy Network, tweeted “Israel arrested 690 Palestinians in October. That’s about 1 Palestinian arrested every hour for a whole month!”Sounds awful, doesn’t it? Over 1300 people [who tweeted in response] thought so.This is...

Knesset member Ahmad Tibi is expected to fly to the United States to participate in a conference of a Palestinian-American organization under the title "End Apartheid". Tibi himself will speak on the panel about the issue of the Temple Mount.MK Ahmad Tibi, chairman of the Hadash-Ta'al faction, will participate next week in an anti-Israel conference to be held in the city of Chicago in the United States, under the title: "End (so-called) apartheid". The conference on behalf of the "Organization of Muslims in the United States for Palestine" on November 24-26, where MK Tibi is expected to speak alongside a...

Rich countries must sign a pact with poor countries on the climate or "we will be doomed" - that's the warning from UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres. Speaking ahead of the COP27 climate summit in Egypt, Mr Guterres said wealthier countries must help emerging economies to speed up their transition to renewable energy. "COP27 must be the place to close the ambition gap, the credibility gap and the solidarity gap," he said. "It must put us back on track to cutting emissions, boosting climate resilience and adaptation, keeping the promise on climate finance and address loss and damage from climate change."...

Politics in the state of Israel has never been more complex. One coalition is held together by the slimmest of reeds: opposition to one man — Benjamin Netanyahu. It’s a collection of liberal, conservative, and Arab parties that was formed primarily to defeat Netanyahu last year with Yair Lapid as its leader. Some oppose the two-time former prime minister for his alleged corruption. Others blanch at his policies in the Palestinian territories. But because the only real unifying factor for the opposition is hatred of Netanyahu, the governing coalition lasted only a few months. Netanyahu’s Likud coalition is a mish-mash...

After a decade, the E.U.-Israel Association Council met. Although ties are improving, the question of Palestinian statehood persists. Government ministers from Israel and the European Union met on Oct. 3 for the first “Association talks” since 2012. Intelligence Minister Elazar Stern headed the Israeli delegation at the E.U.-Israel Association Council session in Brussels. Established in 1995 and first operating in 2000, the group has not met since July 2012, in part due to differences in views over Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, commonly known as the West Bank. Bouts of violence between Palestinians and Israel, along with the COVID-19...