Free Republic

Israel Welcomes Pope FrancisBy Joel Leyden Israel News AgencyJerusalem --- May 24 ... Within 24 hours, the fourth Pope to visit Israel will arrive in the Holy Land. Pope Francis is under no obligation to visit Jordan, Israel and the Palestinians. He is not running for office. He is not closing a business deal. Nor is he seeking to find a cheaper source of gas for the Vatican from the newly discovered gas and oil fields off the shores of Israel. The Catholic church was not always welcoming of Jews and of Israel. For centuries, Jews were portrayed as the...

A terrorist "lawyer" from eastern Jerusalem, who had been charged with passing messages to jailed terrorists, committed suicide in his home on Tuesday. The "lawyer," Safadi Amjad, was on house arrest on a local court's orders when he put an end to his life. Amjad had been charged for transferring money and messages from Hamas terrorists imprisoned in Israel to their family members. The ersatz lawyer was one of six who were arrested in late March, after security forces busted their "legal practice" dedicated to aiding Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists. The six had used their cover of a legal...

It's hard not to admire Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's brazenness. Two weeks ago, Abbas signed on to fifteen international agreements that among other things require the PA to respect human rights and punish war criminals. And this week, he signed a unity deal with two genocidal terror groups all of whose leaders are war criminals. Every leader of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the two parties who signed the deal with the PLO are war criminals. Under the Geneva Conventions, which Abbas signed onto just a couple of weeks ago, he is required to put them on trial, for their...

Palestinian terrorists open fire on Israeli cars en route to Passover meal; IDF troops launch massive manhunt in area; Hamas, Jihad praise attack. * * * Hamas and Islamic Jihad both praised the attack, although neither organization claimed responsibility. A spokesman for Islamic Jihad called the attack "a natural response to Israeli crimes," while Hamas said the shooting was "the response to the crimes of the occupation, and the repeated assaults on the Al-Aqsa Mosque and against our prisoners in Israel jails."

Dozens of rockets as well as mortar rounds were fired from the Gaza Strip Wednesday at southern Israeli towns. Hours later the IDF fired tank shells at what it termed “terror targets” in the Strip. Israeli reports put the number of rockets at over 60, and Islamic Jihad, which took responsibility for the attack, said it had fired 90 rockets at Israel. The organization said in a statement that it had launched an ongoing “military operation,” which it termed “Breaking the Silence.” No Israeli casualties were initially reported in the largest attack from the Strip since Operation Pillar of Defense...

Both the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror groups welcomed Sunday’s attack on a bus in the central Israeli city of Bat Yam. Neither group, however, claimed responsibility for the bombing, in which one officer was lightly wounded. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said in a statement quoted by the Palestinian Authority-based Ma’an news agency that the organization welcomed the attack, which he said was a "response to the crimes of the occupation." A source with the Islamic Jihad group told Ma’an he hoped the attack "could usher the resumption of suicide attacks." He added that the attack was "a sign that...

Three Palestinian residents of Ramallah, Mohammad Adawi and his two sons Naser and Nasim, arrived in Canada in 2010 requesting refugee status. According to Adawi, he was forced to flee Samaria following death threats from armed members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The three recently applied for a judicial review of a 2012 decision that refused them refugee status and claimed their story was likely fabricated, reports Shalom Toronto. The federal courts involved in the review canceled the earlier decision and opened a new hearing of their case. Adawi reports that his eldest son refused to help Hamas and Islamic...

Sudan Prepares Major Military Offensive To Divert From Internal UnrestBy Joe OdabyJuba, South Sudan — September 30, 2013 … The leading South Sudan think-tank, The Fashoda Institute of Strategic and Regional Studies, has published a strategic analysis of the recent military buildup in the neighboring Sudan. Northern Sudan, from which the South has seceded in 2011 after a long civil war, is led by the Islamist government of President Omar al-Bashar who was indicted in 2010 by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. The Fashoda Institute points out that “the escalating fuel riots in Khartoum, and increasingly other...

Palestinian Islamic Jihad has warned that it may respond if Israel enters any war in Syria, as expectations rise of a possible US strike on Syria. A high-ranking official from Islamic Jihad told Al-Monitor that — upon request from Iran and Syria — Islamic Jihad may lob rockets at Israel if the events develop toward an all-out war against the Syrian regime and if Israel enters the war. The source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, “Up until now, there has been no decision within Islamic Jihad to bomb Israel in response to an aggression on Syria. But that may...

The ouster of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has enabled Hamas to begin to restore its strained relations with Iran, according to Arab journalist Ali Hashem. .... Hashem noted that not of all Hamas’s bridges were burned in Tehran, despite the rift over Syria, thanks to a few officials in Gaza who decided on their own that relations with Iran shouldn’t halt. One of those, wrote Hashem was Ahmad Jaabari, who maintained strong ties with Iranian officials and had his own lobby within the political bureau. Jaabari was killed by Israel in what started the counterterrorism Operation Pillar of Defense in...

•EGYPT VICE PRESIDENT ELBARADEI ANNOUNCES RESIGNATION: AFP •MURSI BACKERS SHOOT, KILL 4 POLICEMEN IN CAIRO STATION: REUTERS More on the resignation of the long-suffering ElBardei: Egypt's interim vice president, Mohamed ElBaradei, resigned on Wednesday after the security forces violently broke up protest camps set up by supporters of the deposed president, Mohamed Mursi.

Palestinian Authority TV continues to promote Islam-based hate speech and Antisemitism, voiced by little children. In this latest example, two sisters recited a poem that included the following demonization of Jews: (video at link) "You who murdered Allah's pious prophets (i.e., Jews in Islamic tradition) Oh, you who were brought up on spilling blood You have been condemned to humiliation and hardship Oh Sons of Zion, oh most evil among creations Oh barbaric monkeys, wretched pigs."   The poem also taught that Jerusalem is not for Jews, because Jerusalem "vomits" out the Jews who are said to be "filth" and...

<p>An Idaho company has developed a new brand of ammunition it hopes will deter Islamist terrorists from undertaking violent actions they believe will end in their martyrdom.</p> <p>South Fork Industries claims that its Jihawg Ammo, which is coated with pork-infused paint, will keep those who are acting violently in the name of Islam from paradise by sending them straight to hell.</p>

Celebrations of Mohammed Assaf’s victory on “Arab Idol” lasted in the Gaza Strip for just under 24 hours. A volley of rockets fired from Gaza Sunday night and Monday morning at several targets in Israel marked a return to routine in the Strip. The Israeli response wasn’t long in coming: bombs on installations associated with Islamic Jihad, which was apparently responsible for the rocket fire, and on the tunnels in Rafah, and a closing of the border crossings between Israel and Gaza. But this time, after 40 days of total quiet, the motivation for launching the missiles is not related...

Muslim Persecution of Christians: March, 2013. Sweden to send Iranian Christian asylum seekers back to Iran to be tortured and possibly executed for the crime of leaving Islam. Also, the Nigerian government recently did go on the offensive to try to contain the jihadis [of Boko Haram], only to be chastised by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, saying he was "concerned by credible allegations that the Nigerian security forces are committing gross human rights violations" against the jihadi mass murderers. The Islamic jihad against Christians in Nigeria is proving to be the most barbaric ... Indonesia: Authorities demolished a...

Bloggers beware. And those who use email, too. And those on Facebook. And Twitter. And anyone else using social media: Diss a Muslim and the Department of Justice will be on your case with the full weight of federal law. The Obama administration, which is launching a series of Muslim Outreach Summits so that Islamists can tell federal officials how they better can serve that community, says it also is holding educational outreaches to let people know that Internet postings that violate civil rights are subject to federal prosecution. Ads by Google Will You Boldly Proclaim"I am a Christian"? Sign...

Fundamentally Freund: President Barack Obama and much of the Western press seem to have difficulty saying in close proximity to one another: ‘Islamic’ and ‘terror.’ The past few weeks have been difficult ones for the United States and its allies, as they received some painful reminders that the war on terror is far from over. In a dastardly attack on April 15, two bombs went off at the Boston Marathon, killing three people, wounding 264 others and leaving more than two dozen amputees. A week later, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced that they had arrested two people in a...

David Cameron is planning new powers to muzzle Islamic hate preachers accused of provoking terrorist outrages such as the killing of soldier Lee Rigby. The Prime Minister wants to stop extremist clerics using schools, colleges, prisons and mosques to spread their ‘poison’ and is to head a new Tackling Extremism and Radicalisation Task Force (TERFOR) made up of senior Ministers, MI5, police and moderate religious leaders. The high-powered group will study a number of measures, including banning extremist clerics from being given public platforms to incite students, prisoners and other followers – and forcing mosque leaders to answer for ‘hate...

Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah cheered the Boston Marathon bombings shortly after the bombs exploded. Israel National News reported: Jerusalem, Israel — April 15, 2013 … Shortly after terror bombs exploded and murdered over 12 people at the Boston Marathon, members of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah were reported to be dancing in the streets of Gaza, handing out candies to passerbys. A number of Palestinians had danced in the street in celebration of the 9/11 attacks in 2001 on the World Trade Center and Washington resulting in the deaths of thousands of Americans. The head of an Islamic terror...

Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah Celebrate Boston Terror AttackBy Israel News Agency StaffJerusalem, Israel --- April 15, 2013 … Shortly after terror bombs exploded and murdered over 12 people at the Boston Marathon, members of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah were reported to be dancing in the streets of Gaza, handing out candies to passerbys. A number of Palestinians had danced in the street in celebration of the 9/11 attacks in 2001 on the World Trade Center and Washington resulting in the deaths of thousands of Americans. The head of an Islamic terror organization in Jordan - the Muslim Salafi group...