Free Republic

President Joe Biden plans to introduce a resolution at the United Nations Security Council calling for a temporary “ceasefire” and demanding Israel refrain from conducting an attack on the last Hamas battalions in Gaza that are the key to winning the war. Israel has been adamant that it must attack Hamas in Rafah, a city in southern Gaza on the Egyptian border, to win the war. Rafah is the last stronghold of the Palestinian terror organization, and also the key to smuggling routes into and out of Gaza. The White House has said publicly that it would not support an...

British Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer on Sunday called for a ceasefire “now” between Israel and the Islamist Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip. Appearing before a Scottish Labour conference in Glasgow on Sunday, Sir Keir Starmer once again tried to thread the needle on the Israel issue, calling for a ceasefire to the conflict, while not going so far as the far-left and Muslim factions within his base would likely wish. Sir Keir said according to the BBC that there needs to be an end to the fighting “not just for now, not just for a pause, but...

With the mayor’s tie-breaking vote, the Chicago city council passed a resolution Wednesday calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and condemning Israel, even as the Windy City continues to suffer the daily death toll from an out-of-control murder rate and as a rising rate of antisemitism plagues the city. The council tied on its vote, with 23 in favor and 23 against. But Chicago’s self-proclaimed “progressive” Mayor Brandon Johnson jumped in and supplied the tie-breaking vote to pass the attack on Israel, according to the Times of Israel. Johnson had signaled his support of the resolution last week.

After hours of public comment, the Santa Cruz City Council voted not to adopt a cease-fire resolution on Tuesday night. The city council was slated to vote on a resolution that would've called for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. The three-page resolution also affirmed the city's "commitment and support for ceasefire and peace." After hearing more than nine hours of public comment with support from both sides but overwhelming support for passing the resolution as is, the city council voted to adopt a substitute motion that had more watered-down language. The substitute motion states that the city recognizes the...

Hamas terrorists and their allies in Islamic Jihad have shot down Egypt's ceasefire proposal. While still open to bartering with the lives of Israeli hostages in order to temporarily stave off annihilation, the terror groups appear unwilling to surrender control over Gaza or make other concessions per the terms of the proposal. Egypt developed the ceasefire proposal with the Hamas-friendly Gulf state of Qatar and presented it to Israel, Hamas, the U.S., and various European governments on Monday, reported Al Jazeera. The proposal asks that Israel fully withdraw from Gaza and for the establishment of a technocratic Palestinian regime to...

resident Vladimir V. Putin’s confidence seems to know no bounds. Buoyed by Ukraine’s failed counteroffensive and flagging Western support, Mr. Putin says that Russia’s war goals have not changed. ***But in a recent push of back-channel diplomacy, Mr. Putin has been sending a different message: He is ready to make a deal. Mr. Putin has been signaling through intermediaries since at least September that he is open to a cease-fire that freezes the fighting along the current lines, far short of his ambitions to dominate Ukraine, two former senior Russian officials close to the Kremlin and American and international officials...

The warring sides in the long-running conflict in Yemen have committed to steps towards a ceasefire and engage in a United Nations-led peace process, according to the UN special envoy for Yemen. The announcement by Hans Grundberg on Saturday marks the latest step to end a nine-year war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people and triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Following a series of meetings between the Saudi-backed Yemeni government and Iran-aligned Houthis in Saudi Arabia and Oman, a statement by Grundberg’s office said he “welcomes the parties’ commitment to a set of measures to...

The United Nations on Tuesday demanded an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war after more than three-quarters of the 193-member General Assembly backed the move, which had been vetoed by the United States in the Security Council last week. Washington does not have a veto in the General Assembly. It voted against the draft resolution, along with Israel and eight other countries. The text garnered 153 votes in favor, while 23 countries abstained from the vote.

It’s time to acknowledge that the U.S. isn’t going to risk World War III to maintain Ukraine’s 1991 borders.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is in Washington this week, once again pressuring U.S. lawmakers to dole out tens of billions of taxpayer dollars for his war effort. At issue is a $110 billion national security supplemental the Biden administration has requested that includes about $61 billion for Ukraine, as well as more funding for Israel, humanitarian aid for Gaza, and money to secure the U.S.-Mexico border.Senate Republicans last week sensibly blocked a vote to advance the bill because it doesn’t include changes...

Progressive firebrand Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez lashed out at the Biden administration for opposing a UN resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza. Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) called the White House reaction “shameful” in a post on X after the US vetoed a measure backed by almost all other Security Council members and dozens of other nations demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza. “The Biden Admin can no longer reconcile their professed concern for Palestinians and human rights while also single-handedly vetoing the UN’s call for ceasefire and sidestepping the entire US Congress to unconditionally back the indiscriminate bombing of Gaza,” she wrote.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States vetoed a United Nations resolution Friday backed by almost all other Security Council members and dozens of other nations demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza. Supporters called it a terrible day and warned of more civilian deaths and destruction as the war goes into its third month. The vote in the 15-member council was 13-1, with the United Kingdom abstaining. The United States' isolated stand reflected a growing fracture between Washington and some of its closest allies over Israel's monthslong bombardment of Gaza. France and Japan were among those supporting the call...

The United States on Friday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would have called for an immediate ceasefire in the intense fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. The United States' deputy representative at the UN, Robert Wood, said the resolution was "divorced from reality" and "would have not moved the needle forward on the ground." Follow our live blog for all the latest developments.

Speaking to ToI from wrecked town outside Jabaliya in northern part of Strip, commander of reserve battalion says ‘there isn’t a single house here without weapons’ Two weeks have passed since a temporary truce between the Israel Defense Forces and Hamas in the Gaza Strip began, and exactly a week since it ended. Shortly after the terror group made clear that it was not abiding by the ceasefire agreement on December 1, the military resumed fighting in the Palestinian enclave. But a senior officer now reveals that Hamas broke the truce much earlier, in fact just 15 minutes after it...

Last Thursday a temporary pause or ceasefire in the fighting between Israel and Hamas was extended for another 24 hours. But even as that happened it seemed Hamas was eager to resume hostilities. Two Hamas militants drove to a bus station in Jerusalem and opened fire on a group of civilians, killing three people. The shooters, who were brothers with a long history of Hamas affiliation, were both killed at the scene. But Hamas claimed credit for the attack and openly celebrated it.Hamas also launched rockets at Israel that day and by Friday Israel announced the ceasefire was over and...

A public menorah lighting has been canceled by an arts festival in Williamsburg, Virginia, over concern that observing the Jewish holiday would amount to endorsing Israel’s policies in its war against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza. The Virginia Gazette News reported: A menorah lighting was scheduled for the 2nd Sundays Art and Music Festival on Dec. 10. Each month from March to December, the community event hosts artisans, street performers and food vendors, and Jewish leaders were told that the board was not comfortable allowing the lighting at the festival. …

United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain compared Israel to the fascist nations of World War II in a tweet Friday celebrating the union’s call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, after the Palestinian Hamas terror organization violated a seven-day truce.

Arutz Sheva-Israel National News spoke to MK Dan Illouz (Likud) and asked about the world demanding a complete ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in exchange for the release of all hostages. “After what we've seen on October 7, we've been very clear to the whole world that Israel cannot continue living with Hamas on its border. Hamas needs to be completely eradicated. On October 7, we saw the face of evil. We saw Hamas not only murder a large number of our citizens, 1,200, but also we saw the tactics that they used. We saw them behead people, burn babies...

To use Antony Blinken’s phrase, credit the war to Hamas — again. Over the previous 24 hours, the terrorist government of Gaza took credit for a murderous attack at a Jerusalem bus stop that killed three people, failed to provide a list of hostages to release today, and then fired “several” rockets back into Israel.Having received the message, Israel returned to full-scale war operations earlier today:The Israel Defense Forces resumed its military offensive in the Gaza Strip on Friday after a week-long truce as the Hamas terror group broke the ceasefire, firing rockets into Israel and failing to provide a...

Israel spent its recent seven day cease-fire gaining intelligence to plan “surgical air strikes” to avoid civilian causalities, and its military spokespeople promised Hamas will receive the “mother of all thumpings” following the end of the cease-fire. Minutes before the cease-fire was set to expire at 7 a.m. Friday morning, Israeli forces said they shot down a Hamas rocket fired from Gaza, breaking the fragile agreement and leading to the shelling of the area. Government spokesperson Eylon Levy said Friday that “Hamas will now take the mother of all thumpings” after it failed to release all the female hostages promised...

“Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.” — George SantayanaThere are many who have been advocating for and praising the so-called “ceasefire” agreement between Israel and the Islamic terrorist organization Hamas. I know that the families of those held hostage want to have their loved ones released back to them, especially the elderly and little children. How utterly savage and barbaric, but that is to be expected from a terrorist organization whose existence is dedicated to the extermination and eradication of the Jewish people and their homeland . . . a continuation of Adolf Hitler’s final...