Free Republic

Tensions between the two countries have risen over Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan’s Kunar and Helmand provinces. Afghanistan’s Taliban government has claimed that nine civilians, including women and children, were killed in the strikes and 11 others were injured. Pakistan, meanwhile, has said that its airstrikes targeted terrorist hideouts and that, according to initial reports, 22 terrorists were killed. The claims of both sides have not been independently verified. According to the Balochistan online news network The Balochistan Post, Afghan government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said that the strikes carried out on Wednesday night targeted three houses in Chogam in Kunar’s Shultan...

Discipline them physically by lightly hitting them to show them who is in charge... A London mosque with charitable status is under investigation for posting sermons that tell husbands to hit disobedient wives and setting out execution methods for gay men, including being thrown from tall buildings. The lectures were not smuggled out of a private meeting. They sit on the Hackney Islamic Community Centre’s own YouTube channel, delivered from the mosque also known as Masjid Daar Al-Hadeeth. The National Secular Society referred the material to the regulator. The Daily Mail published the tapes. Britain’s official response is a case...

The Left’s cries of “genocide” against Israel ring hollow when many of its loudest critics ignore the far bloodier histories of their own ancestral homelands. On October 7, 2023, Hamas killers slaughtered 1,200 people, more than two-thirds of them civilians, inside Israel. For the ensuing three weeks, they refused Israel’s demands to turn over the 251 hostages and to surrender the architects of the massacre. No matter—within a day of the attacks, when Hamas gunmen were still fighting Israeli troops on Israeli soil, the American Left was already screaming “genocide!” They did not mean Hamas’s intended genocide of Jews, a...

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a terrorist organization formally belonging to the Iranian armed forces, published a 26-page open letter to the American people on Tuesday inviting Americans to visit the Strait of Hormuz, insisting “death to America” did not mean Iran wished death on America, and suggesting the September 11, 2001, jihadist attacks were a “false-flag operation.”“It should be fairly obvious that the phrase ‘Death to America,’ which Iranians have been chanting since the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, does not in any way express any ill will toward the American people,” the IRGC officials wrote. “Death to...

To the honorable people of the United States of America—the scholars, the students, and the members of the media, We begin this letter by saluting the noble souls of God’s greatest prophets—Noah, Abraham,Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad, may His peace and blessings be upon them all. … …it should be fairly obvious that the phrase "Death to America," which Iranians have been chanting since the triumph of the Islamic Revolution… is a prayer for the eradication of the diabolical ruling elite whose seat of power is the White House. The men enthroned at the White House oppress both Iranians and Americans....

The Omani copilot who stabbed the pilot on the flydubai flight yesterday discussed killing Jews on social media, an Israeli official tells The Times of Israel.The official adds that the attacker asked the Emirati crew members to kill him, citing conversations with passengers on the flight. “This was a person who was willing to commit suicide,” says the official. “His social media accounts [say] clearly that he has been radicalized into jihadist ideology. He talks about killing Jews.”“We can’t say for sure until the investigation’s over,” the official continues, “but it certainly seems like he was a suicide actor who...

"He was going to down that plane." Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - בנימין נתניהו breaks down the harrowing details of the Flydubai terrorist attempt: • The copilot had undergone radical Islamist indoctrination. • He abandoned his seat to jam the instruments and force the plane down. • An Israeli hero plumber broke into the cockpit and yanked him away. • Crew restrained him using headset cords before plastic ties were secured. • While subdued, the attacker shouted "Kill me, kill me". Investigations are ongoing, but early indications point directly to a prevented suicidal terror attack, the prime minister says.

A series of open miracles on the flydubai flight that very nearly went down with a plane full of passengers. Miracle 1: A plane full of people survived an attempt by the copilot to crash their aircraft. Passengers and crew broke into the cockpit and subdued the attacker after he stabbed the captain. Miracle 2: Two off-duty flydubai pilots happened to be on board. They took control of the plunging aircraft and landed it safely. Miracle 3: The plane plummeted and spun out of control - spiraling some 17,000 feet. It ultimately touched down with a chunk of its rudder...

A senior American official confirmed to Channel 14 News on Wednesday that the United States is prepared to provide investigative and intelligence support to Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia upon request. The offer follows the dramatic thwarted hijacking aboard flydubai Flight FZ1073, as intelligence agencies across the Middle East coordinate to uncover the motives and potential state-backed terror networks behind the Omani first officer's assault.

Democratic Maine Senate hopeful Troy Jackson complained that Jewish residents of his state have been reluctant to label Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip a genocide, saying that hesitation was “only because they’re Jewish.”Jackson, who has faced pressure from his left flank to more forcefully condemn the Jewish state, made the comment Tuesday to Portland’s NBC affiliate. “It’s unfortunate that there are people here in Maine that don’t like to use that term only because they’re Jewish and what that means to them, with the Holocaust,” said Jackson, according to Jewish Insider. “[Israel’s war in Gaza] fits that...

Yaniv Hayun, who returned to Israel with blood on his shirt, says he dragged the suspected attacker from the cockpit, then used his aviation experience to pull back on the controls until another pilot took over. Itamar Eichner|09.30.26 “I grabbed the attacker, put him in a chokehold and pulled him out. I called the Israelis who were with us, jumped back in and pulled the controls. I started pulling them back.” That was how Yaniv Hayun described the extraordinary moments inside the cockpit of Flydubai Flight FZ1073 after landing at Ben Gurion Airport on Wednesday evening, his white shirt still...

UK PM: Iran behind RAF base incident. Andy Burnham says Britain believes Iran was involved in the RAF Fairford incident, marking the first official confirmation of Iranian involvement in what amounts to an attack on British soil. Trump criticises decision to release suspects on bail.

Defense Minister Israel Katz says the incident aboard the flydubai plane today “was a jihadist terrorist attack attempt.” The copilot of the Dubai-Tel Aviv flight allegedly stabbed the pilot in a suspected attempt to crash the aircraft, which later made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia. “The grave incident on the flydubai plane was a jihadist terrorist attack attempt, which was thwarted only thanks to the bravery of several Israeli passengers who broke into the cockpit, overpowered the terrorist and, with their own hands, restored control of the plane to another flight crew who was present there,” Katz says in...

Flydubai Flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv abruptly diverted to Saudi Arabia earlier today after a reported fight between the pilots triggered a distress alert, sources told CNN. Flight-tracking data from Flightradar24 shows Flydubai Flight FZ1073 diverted over Jordanian airspace toward Saudi Arabia and rapidly descended 17,400 feet in just minutes around 0120 ET. Israeli fighter jets were scrambled. According to Amit Segal of Israel’s Channel 12 News: Following situation assessments and passenger testimonies, Israel is treating the incident as a full-fledged terrorist attack. It appears that the co-pilot repeatedly stabbed the captain. Once the attack began, several crew...

This is not an easy undertaking. ... The SR-71 program was scrapped decades ago. There are few people alive who remember how the engines were designed and built. And yet, it seems NASA is getting the gang back together: ... Mike Relja, a retiree in his late 70s, received an unexpected job offer from NASA about a month ago. The assignment: Help put a former NASA-operated Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird back in the air after a nearly 27-year hiatus. Relja, an ex-U.S. Air Force and NASA test engineer for the SR-71A, could not believe his ears. David Ash, a former U.S....

No one would claim that the Iran War has been a political godsend for President Donald Trump and the Republican Party. But some Israel-First conservatives are willing to say—and lately have been incessantly saying—that the Iran War hasn’t been a political scourge. Those Israel-First conservatives are wrong, even if the devil is, at least partly, hidden in the details. The Iran War has damaged Trump’s approval ratings, consumed his presidency, and darkened the GOP’s prospects in the upcoming midterm elections. A chief proponent of the argument that Trump hasn’t suffered all that much from the Iran War is Ben Shapiro...

US secretary of state Marco Rubio has said unequivocally that a foreign actor was involved in the suspected UK bomb plot at RAF Fairford, hours after the five suspects arrested close to the airbase were released on bail. “What could have happened in the UK over the weekend is a ‌very serious situation,” Rubio said in an interview with Fox News on Monday evening, adding that it “clearly involves the hands ‌of a foreign actor.” Rubio provided no evidence for his claims. The five men, all British nationals from London in their early 20s, were ⁠detained early on Sunday after...

For months, Hamas has been releasing the names of "martyrs," including doctors, aid workers, and "journalists"; that fact has been screamed from the rooftops by independent journalists. More "mainstream" journalists have looked the other way, after spending years peddling the lie that Israel has been targeting journalists for execution in Gaza. Much has been made of the fact, and it is part of the ongoing propaganda campaign against our ally. Now, finally, the story is getting picked up, and the Beeb is "urgently" reviewing its coverage. The BBC has reported the deaths of 53 “journalists” in Gaza who have been...

But it brings a dangerous moment for the U.S. DUBAI—Iran’s ability to choke off oil flowing through the Strait of Hormuz—and use that as leverage in talks with the U.S.—is breaking down, raising the risk it will resort to military escalation to bolster its position. The erosion of Iran’s position comes as the U.S. Navy and Gulf oil producers have become better at fending off or evading Iranian attacks, allowing more tankers to cross the strait. Middle Eastern crude exports rebounded this month to around their highest level since the war began in February, oil data trackers say. Shipments via...

Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has moved back toward pre-war levels ... [Iranian] Oil exports have also collapsed ... Inflation is nearing 70%, food prices have more than doubled, and unemployment is above 9% ... youth unemployment at 20.1%