Free Republic

What’s bad for Syrian President Bashar Assad is bad for Israel, and vice versa, the dictator’s cousin told The New York Times Tuesday. Rami Makhlouf, a wealthy tycoon, warned that instability resulting from the growing and stubborn protest movement against Assad could have severe repercussions for Israel. Many analysts have said that toppling Assad would weaken the Iranian regime and possibly reduce the nuclear threat from Tehran, but the Times interview did not mention the Islamic Republic. “If there is no stability here, there’s no way there will be stability in Israel,” he told the newspaper in an interview conducted...

According to a report in Canada's National Post newspaper yesterday, the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board has decided to reject the immigration request of a man from southern Lebanon due to his past role as a spy for Israel. The man, who allegedly spied on the Hizbullah terrorist organization from 1998 to 1999, sought asylum in Canada after Israeli forces withdrew from southern Lebanon and he was fingered as a Mossad informant by a former superior, putting his life in jeopardy. However, the Canadian IRB decided to deny the unidentified petitioner refugee status on the grounds that he had committed...