Free Republic

Judges overseeing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's trial urge prosecution to drop bribery charge in Case 4000, demand to expand trial schedule to five days a week. The panel of judges presiding over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's corruption trial - Judges Rivka Friedman-Feldman, Moshe Bar-Am, and Oded Shaham - announced Monday that their view regarding the difficulties in proving the bribery charge in Case 4000 remains unchanged even after Netanyahu's cross-examination. The judges said they have returned to the position they first expressed in June 2023, when they recommended that the State Attorney's Office consider withdrawing the bribery charge in Case...

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz suggests to a classroom full of youngsters that Donald Trump has been “humiliated” by his war in Iran – and the President cancels deployment of the long-range missile systems around which Germany had planned its defense strategy for the coming decades. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez observes a strict neutrality on Iran, declaring his country’s bases out of bounds – and Trump urges Spain be kicked out of NATO. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hesitates to sacrifice his country’s navy in a war on which he wasn’t consulted – and Trump mocks him in public for...

Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought told Congress the Iran conflict has cost "about $30 billion," six days after his own agency asked lawmakers for $67.1 billion to cover the same conflict's costs.Neither Vought nor lawmakers reconciled the two figures during the June 30 hearing, even as Congress weighs a request that works out to about $412 for each of the nation's estimated 162.8 million individual income tax filers, according to IRS data. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., asked Vought during the hearing how much the conflict, formally called Operation Epic Fury, has cost. "We've spent about $30 billion,"...

Embedded video of "CNBS Exclusive" interview with Trump. US President Donald Trump gave an interview to CNBC on Thursday, in which he commented on the situation vis-a-vis Iran and stated that Iran has agreed to “just about everything we need". “We were in Afghanistan for like 10 years. We were in the Korean War forever. We were in, I don't even mention World War I and World War II, they're biggies, but you know what, stuff like this could have led to it. But we were in many, many years in every war," Trump said. “I've been [in Iran] for...

The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) is considering moving its military bases’ operational systems in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia to Israel in order to increase their distance from further Iranian missile and drone attacks, The Wall Street Journal reported last Thursday. The US Navy may revamp its base in Bahrain, which has suffered severe damage since late February up until the recent US-Iran ceasefire. Bahrain has been home to the US Navy’s central forces in the Middle East for over 50 years. One option is to establish a new base in the Negev big enough to hold the American...

Ukrainian troops will receive cash bonuses for capturing or destroying enemy personnel under the first stage of a sweeping overhaul of the Defense Forces, the Ministry of Defense announced on June 29. The awards stem from the Cabinet of Ministers Resolution, which launched an experimental project introducing additional payments for combat results, according to the ministry. The ministry described the measure as part of the first stage of the Defense Forces’ transformation. It framed the payments as a way to reward front-line service members for confirmed action against enemy personnel. The ministry set two award levels: roughly $2,200 for taking...

President Donald Trump's Board of Peace announced on Wednesday that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for "Palestine Refugees" can not partake in rebuilding Gaza. The Board of Peace shared a post on X by the US Mission to the UN stating: "UN Member States have a choice: Fund incitement, terrorism, and stagnation with pledges to UNRWA. Or fund the Board of Peace, giving Gazans a path to peace and prosperity. History will not forget." The Board of Peace added: "UNRWA has no place in the new Gaza. We are turning the page on the complex of perpetual aid...

The Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding tells Iran that Hezbollah survives and Israel leaves. The Trilateral Framework says that Hezbollah disarms and that, until it does, Israel stays in Lebanon. The negotiations with Iran were led by Vice President JD Vance, who never wanted this war and made no secret of his wish to end it cheaply. He produced the Islamabad MOU, the paper Iran's regime wanted to hear. The Trilateral Framework was created by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has spent his career treating Iran's proxy network as a threat to be dismantled rather than soothed. Iran negotiated the...

US-Saudi relations have significantly deteriorated in recent months amid anger in Riyadh over Washington’s decision to launch a war against Iran that has caused massive blowback for the rest of the region, a Middle Eastern intelligence official tells The Times of Israel, confirming a Wall Street Journal report. Saudi Arabia refused to allow the US to use its bases in order to conduct Project Freedom, which was aimed at breaking Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz by escorting stuck ships out of the channel. Saudi bases and airspace were critical to the operation and Riyadh’s refusal to cooperate forced...

A historic former Catholic convent near the burial place of Saint Patrick in Northern Ireland was devastated by a deliberate fire Sunday night, forcing more than 70 firefighters into an overnight battle to save the adjacent parish church. The blaze, according to a report from Life Site News, broke out at the former Convent of Mercy in Downpatrick, County Down, at around 7 p.m. on June 28. By the time emergency crews arrived, the building was already engulfed in a well-developed fire. The Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service said the cause is believed to have been deliberate. No injuries...

The political deputy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy was killed in a car accident on Monday, according to reports by both pro- and anti-government sources. Police forces and emergency teams arrived at the scene of the accident, and Akbarzadeh was evacuated to a medical center, where he succumbed to his severe injuries, according to Fars. The reports stated that authorities have launched an investigation into the circumstances and causes of the accident. It was also noted that earlier this month, Akbarzadeh was among those sanctioned by the European Union for supporting measures that restrict freedom of navigation...

A massive wave of armed insurrections and targeted assassinations has erupted across western Iran, leaving multiple regime security forces dead as overstretched IRGC units struggle to contain internal rebellions while fighting a broader regional war. A fresh wave of violence is shaking Iran’s Kurdish west, where Kurdish opposition fighters and Iranian regime forces are now clashing across multiple flashpoints from Mahabad and Baneh to Paveh and Marivan. The sudden intensification of domestic fighting comes at a critical moment for the Islamic Republic, as its elite military forces find themselves highly vulnerable to localized insurgencies. Tehran is forced to divert critical...

Multiple IRGC assassinations in Iran. At least one attack with at least two IRGC taken down on surveillance video.

It's on now, apparently. Good luck, Iranian people. Tousi names names of IRGC baddies getting whacked, and what they did. Transcript linked below video.

Turkey’s Hypocrisy Exposed by Israeli Recognition of Armenian Genocide Israel's recognition of the Armenian Genocide is an important step toward historical truth and exposes the profound hypocrisy of Turkey's genocide accusations against Israel while it continues to deny its own history. Turkey’s Hypocrisy Exposed by Israeli Recognition of Armenian Genocide Key Takeaways: Israel’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide affirms an essential historical truth. Acknowledging one of the twentieth century’s first genocides reinforces the principle that mass atrocities must be remembered honestly, regardless of political convenience. Turkey’s genocide accusations against Israel are undermined by its own century-long denial of the Armenian...

Prof. Mordechai Kedar is one of the world’s leading experts on Islam and Arab society. In this powerful interview, Prof. Kedar explains why Western models keep failing in the Middle East, why the Palestinian Authority is doomed, and how Israel should adopt the successful clan-based "Emirates" model in Judea and Samaria ( the West Bank) to achieve real stability and peace. Chapters: 00:00:00 – Intro 00:00:53 – Middle East Clan System: Why Muslim States Fail or Succeed 00:10:22 – Why the PA Is Doomed to Fail 00:25:52 – The Spiritual War of Islam – Path to Real Peace 00:44:18 –...

WATTERS >> The Democratic Party is getting squeezed and they're not even putting up a fight. This is the new battle. HHS Secretary Bobby Kennedy joins us now. How you doing, Mr. Secretary? RFK >> I'm very good, Jassee. It's good to be back with you. WATTERS>> Good to see you. So, your father, your uncle fought communism hard. How much of a danger do you think this new breed of communism is here in America? RFK>> I'm very concerned. I don't think my father and my uncle would recognize the Democratic party today. And you know all the the...

The United States and Iran “will stand down for now” following an exchange of fire near the Strait of Hormuz over the last several days, a Trump administration official said on Sunday. “Both sides will stand down for now and vessels can move freely,” the official said. It’s not yet clear what Iran’s position is on the matter. The United States and Iran have agreed to meet in Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday for further discussions, according to another US official.

Hezbollah supporters rioted in Beirut over the weekend following the signing of an agreement between Israel and Lebanon on Friday that aims to secure an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory and the disarmament of the Iran-backed terrorist group, according to Lebanese media reports and footage of the unrest. What began as motorcycles driving through Beirut with Hezbollah and Iranian flags eventually turned into tire burnings, blocking off main roads, including those leading to Beirut’s airport, and the burning of signs calling on the prioritization of Lebanese sovereignty. Posters leading to the airport, which previously read “Thank you Iran” but were...

ISIS is bigger, badder, richer, and better organized than any jihadi threat the United States has faced thus far. Its rise represents a foreign policy disaster of the first order. A group more radical than al-Qaeda, better organized, better financed, commanding the loyalty of thousands of dedicated fanatics including many with Western and even U.S. passports? And this group now controls some of the most strategic territory at the heart of the Middle East? Welcome to President Obama’s brave new world. [....] One wishes we had a Republican President right now if only because when a Republican is in the...