Free Republic

Gilad Schalit is home. And that is wonderful. The terrorists Israel released in exchange for the IDF soldier held hostage by Hamas for more than five years are running around Judea, Samaria and Gaza promising to return to terror. And that is a nightmare. But so far, the Israeli public is happy with the outcome. Indeed, the polling data on the government’s decision to swap 1,027 terrorists for Schalit are stunning. According to the New Wave poll carried out for Makor Rishon, for instance, 75.7 percent of the public supported the deal and only 15.5 percent opposed it. In a...

Reports said that Hamas had beefed up its forces along the Gaza border fence Monday night. Terrorists belonging to the Izzadin al-Qasam brigades had taken up positions near the border fence as a precaution against an Israeli attack before the release of terrorists in exchange for Gilad Shalit. Reports said that IDF planes and drones have been hovering in the skies over Gaza for several days, and that Hamas fears an Israeli “trick”to rescue Shalit without releasing terrorists.

In a fatal decision made by the Israeli government, unless opponents get the Highest court in Israel to overturn the leadership move, 1,027 terrorists will be freed... It doesn't matter where those terrorists are going to live, but the fact of the matter is that they will continue doing, planning evil, and will not stop until they get the price for their liberty paid in Jewish blood. No matter how many times one has read that the Netanyahu government has reached an agreement under the auspices of Egypt and that they will swap IDF soldier Gilad Shalit for 1,027, reading...

This is the consequence of the lopsided trade that Israel is about to conclude with Hamas for Gilad Shalit, There will be no more IDF soldiers captured by Hamas. Even if the IDF has to kill them itself. This is known as the IDF's Hannibal Protocol.

No one denies the long suffering of the Schalit family. Noam and Aviva Schalit and their relatives have endured five years and four months of uninterrupted anguish since their son St.-Sgt. Gilad Schalit was abducted from his army post by Palestinian terrorists and spirited to Gaza in June 2006. Since then, aside from one letter and one videotaped message, they have received no signs of life from their soldier son. There is not a Jewish household in Israel that doesn’t empathize with their suffering. It isn’t simply that most Israelis serve in the IDF and expect their children to serve...

Hamas leaders are telling Arabic media that Israel agreed to release terrorists in exchange for Gilad Shalit without a commitment from the terrorist group to stop kidnapping soldiers. Israel tried to get a commitment, but agreed to go ahead without one, according to sources quoted by the pan-Arabic paper Al-Hayat. Hamas also claimed that they managed to extract a promise from Israel not to harm the more than 1,000 terrorists to be released in exchange for Shalit in any way. The report contradicts what Shin Bet head Yoram Cohen said about the planned prisoner release. Cohen told journalists that the...

Forces from the Israel Police and IDF Civil Administration raided the outpost of Givat Gal Yosef, not far from Shilo in the Binyamin region north of Jerusalem, Wednesday evening. Jewish residents were not caught by complete surprise, as large forces had been seen leaving the Shaar Binyamin police station in the direction of Hizme and other junctions in the Binyamin area. These forces were apparently put in place in order to prevent Jewish reinforcements from joining the residents of Givat Gal Yosef and making the demolition more difficult. MK Michael Ben Ari (National Union) reacted to the destruction and said...

Egyptian officials are expressing fears that Israel may seize control over the Sinai Peninsula. The warning came from Egyptian Ambassador Yasser Othman, Cairo's representative to Ramallah, who told the Bethlehem-based Ma'an news agency that recent remarks by Jerusalem officials indicate “the presence of an Israeli plan aimed at controlling the Sinai.” Othman added, “We should be ready for the Israeli plan to take Sinai in the coming period.” The Egyptian envoy's remarks followed interviews by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak on the eve of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashana, in which both characterized the situation...

The invisible economic war against Israel has already begun. Some countries are planning to impose new sanctions against Israeli products, while others will raise tariffs and make trade more difficult. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called this week for the nations of the world to “put pressure” on Israel to force them to make concessions in the name of peace. This is a deliberate attempt to destroy Israel’s economy. This is new warfare for the modern age—before the rockets fly and the tanks roll, and the boycotts and economic sanctions fall. The OPEC nations are using their vast oil wealth...

IDF Confronts Terrorism, Islamic Jihad in Israel As Abbas Declares Palestine At UN (photo) The PLO's ambassador wants an Apartheid Palestine. No Jews or Christians, a state based on Islamic Sharia law. By Joel Leyden Israel News Agency New York --- September 23, 2011 .... Dozens of Palestinians, awaiting Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' speech to the UN, have attacked an Israel security checkpoint between Jerusalem and Rahmallah. The IDF has responded with the use of non lethal tear gas to disperse the demonstrators at Kalandiya. The IDF and ISA have intercepted several suicide bombers at this security checkpoint in...

Frustrated by the restrictive no-fire orders handed down by IDF attorneys, local rabbis and leaders are asking the Chief Rabbis of Israel to take the rare step of issuing a direct contradiction. While the Rabbinate avoids involvement in military affairs, the rabbis said that in this case, the orders are a case of “pikuach nefesh,” life and death. A letter from Rabbi Shalom Dov Wolpe, Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, and Professor Hillel Weiss reads: To the Honorable Chief Rabbis of Israel, Rabbi Shlomo Amar, And Rabbi Yona Metzger As the new year begins, we wish you a good and sweet year,...

As part of its preparations for possible mass riots among Judea and Samaria Arabs, the IDF is taking one of its more effective riot control methods and helping it go airborne. The “Skunk” crowd control substance can now be sprayed on violent mobs from above. By bringing the Skunk to the skies, the IDF is hoping that mobs that attempt to storm Jewish communities or IDF checkpoints can be turned back before coming within weapons range of their target, thus averting violence. The Air Force has already conducted a successful practice run, which it termed “Flying Skunk.” The Skunk went...

The IDF has called up a relatively large number of reservists over the week's end, for an open-ended period of duty, in anticipation of possible large scale violence after the expected rejection of a Palestinian Authority bid for United Nations recognition as a state. Arutz Sheva has learned that the reservists have been instructed to maintain "restraint and alertness" but have not been given specific instructions regarding scenarios that could unfold. For example, reservists reported asking what to do if an Arab woman carrying a baby tries to break into a community. "Do we open fire?" They were told: "Open...

HERZLIYA, Israel: Israel will develop and defend gas platforms recently discovered in its waters, Energy Minister Uzi Landau said on Sunday after Turkey vowed to boost naval patrols in the eastern Mediterranean in a deepening diplomatic feud.

Several residents from Migron have signed a petition thanking a soldier who refused orders to demolish homes in the town. They called on other soldiers to do the same. The petition accused the government of turning the IDF “from the Israel defense army to a political army, thus dealing a blow to human rights and our rights as citizens.”

The IDF has begun training Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria in advance of an expected Arab onslaught in September, ultra-leftist paper Haaretz reported Tuesday. Arabs are expected to try and march en masse on Jewish communities, hoping to overwhelm the Jews and provoke them into shooting at the Arabs. Video of Jewish settlers shooting into an Arab crowd can then be used for propaganda purposes to portray Israel in a demonic light, in the classic cat-and-mouse-and-videocam manipulative tactic used by Arabs against Israel to great effect for many years. The mass marches are to be part of a Palestinian...

Military sources tell AP Israeli Navy dispatched two additional warships to maritime border with Egypt following intelligence indicating viable terror threat.

Less than two weeks after a multi-pronged terror attack on August 18 that killed multiple Israelis, the IDF is bolstering the defense on the Israel-Egypt border and near the southern Gaza Strip due to intelligence regarding another terror attack. According to a report on the IDF website, there is a “concrete warning” regarding a planned attack in the region from Palestinian terror group Islamic Jihad. As a result, early Monday morning the head of the IDF, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, ordered the reinforcement of IDF forces in the area.

The IDF has conducted detailed work to determine a “red line” for each settlement in the West Bank, which will determine when soldiers will be ordered to shoot at the feet of Palestinian protesters if the line is crossed. It is also arming settlers with tear gas and stun grenades as part of the defense operation. The IDF is currently in the process of finalizing its preparations for Operation Summer Seeds, whose purpose is to ready the army for September and the possibility of confrontations with Palestinians following the expected vote in favor of Palestinian statehood at the UN General...

Do you remember the jihadist terror campaign that ravaged Malmo, Sweden’s third largest city? Do you recall the bombings, the suicide-hijackings, and the random assassinations that finally coerced the city to surrender to Islamization? No? Funny, I don’t remember them either. Yet there is no question that Malmo has surrendered. Large enclaves of the city, like similar enclaves throughout Western Europe, have earned the dread label “no-go zone.” They are unsafe for non-Muslims, particularly women who do not conform to Islamist conventions of dress and social interaction. They are especially perilous for police, firefighters, and emergency-medical technicians. Why would a...