Free Republic

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Recep AkdaÄŸ has ruled out returning the Syrian district of Afrin, captured by Turkish troops and their allies from Syrian Kurdish forces in March, to the Syrian government, Turkish pro-government newspaper Daily Sabah said. "A free and democratic Syria can only be built without (Syrian President Bashar) Assad. He has killed many of his fellow citizens and brought much suffering to his country," the newspaper quoted AkdaÄŸ as saying. He said that Turkey did not wish to remain in the area for the long term and wanted to return it soon to the Syrian people. "We...

Amidst the screaming headlines about “massacre” and “war crimes” and unsettling pictures of Arab casualties, keep in mind the central question: When is it the right time to do the right thing? That’s the question President Trump faced when considering whether to move the American Embassy to Jerusalem. His three predecessors had used a loophole in the 1995 law requiring the move to give a consistent and increasingly cynical answer of, “Not now, maybe later.” That dodge lasted 22 years, until Trump cut through the nonsense last December with a statement of resounding moral clarity. Now, he said, is the...

Byline: IRANIAN Mullahs have violently cracked down on protesters who mounted a defiant stand against the oppressive regime. Anti-government marches in the city of Kazeroon against the Islamic fundamentalist regime ended in violence after Tehran forces reportedly killed two. Protesters took the streets over the governments plans to change the city’s boundaries, which aims to give more power to recently-elected MP Hossein Rezazadeh. Residents took to the streets in a bid to halt to move over the past few weeks, leading to stronger anti-government slogans and speeches to become more prominent. On Wednesday the government said it would shelve the...

Yazan Tubasi was one of the Palestinians killed in the newest Gaza rioting. His father is happy that his son is a martyr. That, in a nutshell, is what's wrong with Palestinians. Numerous media outlets have referred to what happened in Gaza as a "protest", but it was not a protest. It was a riot. It was violence planned by Hamas. The media coverage of terror group Hamas’ deliberately-crafted border assault on Israel has been egregious: from CNN to MSNBC to The New York Times, mainstream outlets have acted as propaganda vehicles for one of the worst regimes on the...

ABU DHABI -- Arab leaders love the idea that President Trump is ready to give Iran a punch in the nose. But is this White House truly serious about challenging Iranian power in the Middle East? The evidence is mixed, at best. I heard passionate enthusiasm for Trump's decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal from prominent Arabs gathered here last weekend for a conference sponsored by the Beirut Institute. They know that scuttling the nuclear deal could be dangerous, and that the region is already a powder keg. But many Arab leaders don't seem to care. To put...

Tuesday, May 15, 2018 How Not To Get Shot by a Soldier Posted by Daniel Greenfield The following is intended to serve as a useful guide to various activists, protesters and other completely non-violent folk who happen to be packing knives, guns, rocks and grenades. You will encounter various law enforcement and military personnel-- this is how not to get shot by them. First of all it's important to remember that if you attack an armed man in a uniform, he will very probably shoot you. Even given the most restrictive Rules of Engagement in the world which forbid him...

A Hamas official on Wednesday acknowledged that 50 of the 62 Palestinians reported killed during Gaza border riots on Monday and Tuesday were members of the Islamist terrorist group, bringing the total number of known members of terror groups among the fatalities up to 53. “In the last rounds of confrontations, if 62 people were martyred, 50 of them were Hamas,” said Hamas official Salah Bardawil in a television interview. The Iran-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad had said on Tuesday that three members of its Saraya al-Quds military wing were killed by Israeli forces in Khan Younis. The Israeli military shared...

A Malaysian court Monday handed a man who lives in Denmark a one-week jail term for breaking a law against “fake news”, the first person to be punished under the controversial legislation. The law, passed in early April, makes the deliberate dissemination of false information punishable by up to six years in jail and a hefty fine. It has sparked outrage from rights groups, who believe it is aimed at cracking down on dissent. Salah Salem Saleh Sulaiman, a 46-year-old of Yemeni descent, admitted making and posting on YouTube a video accusing emergency services of responding slowly after a Palestinian...

MSNBC reporter Andrea Mitchell said it was "appalling" that the U.S. moved its Israeli embassy to Jerusalem without obtaining any concessions from Israel. Mitchell expressed astonishment at the Trump administration placing the blame for violence solely on Hamas, who instigated riots along the border in Gaza. White House principal deputy press secretary Raj Shah on Monday did not call for Israel to soften its response to the riots, leading Mitchell to decry the administration’s support for Israel. "I've never seen anything like that," Mitchell said. "Even the strongest supporters of Israel in administrations Republican and Democratic would at that point...

NBC White House correspondent Peter Alexander asked the White House Monday if it believed Israel should "kill at will" during questions about violence at the Gaza Strip. White House Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah said responsibility for the violence along the border fence "rests squarely with Hamas," the militant terrorist organization that governs the Palestinian territory. Mass protests have broken out again in response to the moving of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, recently recognized by the U.S. as Israel's capital. Alexander quoted French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who issued a statement Monday calling on Israel to use proportionate...

U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley slammed the United Nations on Tuesday for pushing an investigation into the measures Israel took to secure its border during violent clashes with Hamas-backed insurgents earlier this week. After she concluded her speech, she walked out of the chamber when a Palestinian representative began to speak.

Netanyahu and Erdogan have been trading accusations over the violence in Gaza. Israel has summoned the Turkish consul in Jerusalem after Ankara expelled the country's ambassador. The consul was told to return to Turkey "for consultations for a period of time". After Netanyahu slammed the Turkish president as a "Hamas supporter" earlier in the day, the Turkish Foreign Ministry reportedly advised the Israeli envoy to Ankara to leave the country "for some time." Earlier in the day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Twitter as "one of the biggest supporters of Hamas," thus, responding...

True, and no other country in the region would be expected to act with restraint. Good luck to any Yemenis “protesting” at the Saudi border, for instance. There’d be 10 times as many shot and the UN wouldn’t blink.Her quote about the kite-flying Hamas “protester” is also accurate, although she neglected to mention what else he said. On @NPR, @NPRinskeep just asked a Gazan with a kite w a swastika on it what it means to him. "The Jews go crazy when you mention Hitler." Steve Inskeep asked if he knows the Israelis are using the swastikas to discredit...

A Knock on the Door in the Night Nighttime was especially dangerous on the West Bank – we always tried to get back home to Bethlehem in our little VW Beetle before dark. As foreigners living among the Arabs, we felt vulnerable, although our neighbors were friendly and supportive. But they could do little to help us if anyone wanted to visit harm upon us. Even if we had a telephone (which we didn’t) there were no police to call for help. When the first “Intifada” (Arab uprising) erupted, everything changed. The shadowy radicals who controlled things behind the scenes...

Shortened title. Full title: Former CIA Director John Brennan Blames “Messers Trump and Netanyahu” For Deaths of Hamas Supporters in Gaza In 2010 Barack Obama’s former CIA Director John Brennan called Jerusalem “al Quds” in a public speech. Al Quds is the Muslim name given to Jerusalem. On Monday Brennan lashed out at President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following the deaths of Hamas supporters in Gaza. Four days ago Hamas terror chief Yahya Sinwar announced what he hoped would be hundreds of thousands of protesters storming the Israeli border with Gaza on Monday.

The New York Daily News is known for being a bit tabloidy and not exactly a bastion of hard hitting news, but their latest headline is just shameful. Who let this go to print? Good grief. pic.twitter.com/8DbOF2mgUh— Brit Hume (@brithume) May 15, 2018 The nasty headline leaves out that Hamas helped orchestrate Monday's violent protests. The rioters stormed the Gaza-Israeli border, despite being warned, with firebombs and other explosive devices, so IDF confronted them with force of their own. Over 50 individuals were killed and over 2,000 injured in the exchange. Reports reveal that 10 of those killed were members...

Hamas, desperate over its increasingly precarious situation in Gaza and eager to please Iranian paymasters, has escalated the premeditated, openly violent campaign aimed at breaching the Israel-Gaza border and attacking nearby Israeli communities. This while the news media hypes Hamas-provided casualty counts and portrays the Gaza rioters as peaceful protesters frustrated that there is no Palestinian state and angry that the U.S. moved its embassy to Jerusalem. In doing so, the news media are actually advancing Hamas’s cause.

They attack for $100 a day. And Israeli soldiers fight them for $13 a day. Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical left and Islamic terrorism. Hamas supporters in Gaza held the world’s first peaceful protest with hand grenades, pipe bombs, cleavers and guns. Ten explosive devices were peacefully detonated. There were outbursts of peaceful gunfire and over a dozen kites carrying firebombs were sent into Israel where they started 23 peaceful fires. And Israeli soldiers peacefully defended their country leaving multiple Hamas attackers at peace. "We...

An opinionated tabloid cover can be effective, but only if the point made is so obvious that an entire audience can see and relate to it. It also helps if it is humorous and has a witty headline. What it's not is garbage that looks as though it comes straight from fake news, or compares apples to oranges in the name of promoting the propaganda of some unhappy terrorist group.

Mainstream media is at it again, promulgating fake news. I woke up this morning to a slew of stories about “Palestinian Protestors Killed in Gaza Protests.” The imagery of a man holding up a cardboard sign while getting shot comes to mind, from such a headline, doesn’t it? I became concerned, read further. Turns out, it’s the same ‘ol anti-Israeli fake news. Mainstream media at it again. Headlines:CNN: “37 Palestinians killed in Gaza protests ahead of US embassy opening”ABC News: “Death toll in massive Palestinian protests climbs to at least 41, bloodiest day in Gaza since 2014 war”Washington Post: “Israelis kill dozens of...