Free Republic

New music video by Yaakov Shwekey.

Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak called on the international community Saturday to tighten sanctions even further on Iran, warning it is essential to halt the Islamic Republic's nuclear development activities. Speaking to reporters in Tokyo following meetings with Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and other Japanese officials, Barak said, “I think there is consensus now in most of the world's capitals that Iran should not be allowed to become a military nuclear power.” He added that at least in the West, and in North American, “no option should be removed off the table in regard to dealing with the threat” of...

(Reuters) - Two Iranian naval ships have sailed through Egypt's Suez Canal into the Mediterranean, in a move likely to be keenly watched by Israel. "Two Iranian ships crossed through the Suez Canal (on Thursday) following permission from the Egyptian armed forces," a source in the canal authority said Friday. The destroyer and a supply ship could be on their way to the Syrian coast, the source added. Iran and Syria agreed to cooperate on naval training a year ago, and Tehran has no naval agreement with any other country in the region. Two Iranian warships sailed along the strategic...

Officials in key parts of the Obama administration are increasingly convinced that sanctions will not deter Tehran from pursuing its nuclear programme, and believe that the US will be left with no option but to launch an attack on Iran or watch Israel do so. The president has made clear in public, and in private to Israel, that he is determined to give sufficient time for recent measures, such as the financial blockade and the looming European oil embargo, to bite deeper into Iran's already battered economy before retreating from its principal strategy to pressure Tehran. ......................................................... But other official...

Turkey will never allow any third country, particularly Israel, to use intelligence obtained by a NATO radar system, its foreign minister said on Friday. "We will never allow any third country to use any NATO facility. Our position will be even more clear if it is particularly Israel," Davutoglu told a joint news conference with visiting NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen in Ankara. His remarks came after some media outlets reported that the United States and Israel have carried out a joint missile test by using intelligence gathered by a NATO radar system based in eastern Turkey. Last year Ankara...

Turkey-Greece engage in mock dogfights over Cyprus as Israeli PM arrives GREEK AND Turkish jets tangled in mock dogfights in Cypriot airspace yesterday just as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was arriving on the island, reports said. According to Sigma, around 11am three Greek Mirage-2000 fighters began shadowing two Turkish F-16 jets after the latter flew between Rhodes and Crete on their way from the eastern Mediterranean where Turkish ships were conducting wargames with live ammunition. The Turkish military exercise, the Foreign Minister said earlier, took place within Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone, in waters south of the island and close...

Accusing Iran of being the world's "biggest exporter" of terror, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today asked the global community to draw a "red line" against Tehran's alleged support to acts of terrorism following a series of blasts in India and Thailand. "Iran is the biggest exporter of terror in the world. Iran's terror operations are now exposed for all to see," Netanyahu said during a Knesset (Israeli parliament) plenum, a day after a botched terror attack in Thailand, which Israel believe was meant to target its ambassador in Bangkok. "Iran is undermining the world's stability and harms innocent diplomats....

Gabriel Kohan is a former Israel Government Fellow and Mark Donig is a former Dean’s Fellow at the Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya’s Program for the Diplomatic Corps. In 1967, after the UN Emergency Force (UNEF) in the Sinai Peninsula abandoned its position as Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser postured toward armed conflict with Israel, then-Israeli Ambassador to the U.N., Abba Eban, compared UNEF to “an umbrella that is taken away as soon as it begins to rain.” The international community, rather than use its leverage, willingly cowed to Egypt, and war soon followed. Today, Eban’s sentiments could be aptly applied to...

Crunch time is coming in Iran, but President Obama and his men act as if they’re at the senior prom, trying to dance the minuet without anyone to dance with. The White House is trying desperately to rewrite Leon Panetta’s interview with David Ignatius of The Washington Post, where he was said to believe Israel is likely to bomb the Iranian nuclear-weapon works “in April, May or June,” before Israel enters a “zone of immunity.” This is girlie-man language for “before it’s too late.” “Very soon,” the columnist wrote from his notes of the interview, “the Israelis fear the Iranians...

The New York Times' new Jerusalem bureau chief, Jodi Rudoren, stepped into her new role this week -- or crashed into it, more aptly -- by publicly Tweeting solicitations to a couple out-and-out Israel bashers, telling one she'd "heard good things." Outrage, panic, talking points and damage control ensued, as any observer of Israel-related media might have supposed. Forgetting the specifics of this incident, what came to my mind was Rudoren's background, not as a reporter, but as a Jew. In and of itself, the fact that she's Jewish means nothing. But considering that her predecessor, Ethan Bronner, is Jewish,...

At a crucial time in the standoff over Iran's suspect nuclear weapon, President Obama is sending his national security adviser to Israel from February 18-20 to discuss that tense showdown as well as the bloody crackdown in Syria, the White House announced Friday. Tom Donilon will meet with senior Israeli officials to discuss "a range of issues, including Iran, Syria," the White House said in a statement. The statement also noted that Donilon's visit "is the latest in a series of regular, high-level consultations between the United States and Israel, consistent with our strong bilateral partnership, and part of our...

IMI Explores an Air-launched Derivative of the Extra Rocket Israel Military Industries (IMI) is exploring a new air launched application of the 300mm Extra guided ballistic surface launched rocket, enabling air forces to perform autonomous, precision standoff attack, at extended ranges, well outside the effective protected range of even the most advanced air defense systems. The Extra rocket was developed by IMI and IAI MLM division as a surface launched guided rocket, capable of attacking fixed or relocatable targets from distances of 160 km, using an aerodynamically guided, roll stabilized rocket. EXTRA - Extended range Rocket System. Photo: IMI The...

Israel to buy Italy's M-346 jet trainer for $1b S. Korea threatens to cancel deals because Israel did not choose its T-50 Golden Eagle. The Ministry of Defense has decided to buy the Alenia Aermacchi M-346 jet trainer for the Israel Air Force, rather than South Korea's T-50 Golden Eagle, jointly developed by Korean Aerospace Industries Ltd. (KAI) and Lockheed Martin Company (NYSE: LMT). The ministry notified the companies of its decision, after the Air Force decided that it preferred the M-346 on the grounds that its performance was better than the T-50. The deal is worth around $1 billion....

WNN/CGN): NY, NEW YORK: As I listen to sound bites of news, a swarm of words sting me: Iran, Israel, nuclear, Palestine-Israel at a standstill, Muslims kill Jews, and Jews kill Muslims. As a Muslim woman who teaches classes about the Holocaust at a Catholic college, I am constantly frustrated by the media coverage of the Middle East which overwhelmingly serves to highlight and entrench national and religious tensions, prejudice and conflict. A recently-aired documentary by filmmaker Karen Ghitis, on Al Jazeera, was an extremely heartening exception to the rule. The film, Jerusalem SOS, showed Jews and Muslims saving each...

JERUSALEM — After bombs went off near Israeli embassies in New Delhi and Tbilisi, and a man with an Iranian passport accidentally blew himself up in Bangkok, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu couldn’t let the opportunity pass. Yediot Aharonot, the country’s most widely read newspaper, reported Wednesday: An updated list of talking points distributed by the national advocacy desk in the Prime Minister’s Office sought to connect the wave of terror with the international community’s efforts at tightening sanctions on Iran, and also to prepare the ground for a military option to stop Iran’s nuclear program. According to Yediot,...

When American troops removed Saddam Hussein from power, Muslim extremists took over Iraq. They launched a campaign of genocide against Iraqi Christians, and most Christians fled from Iraq, with many of them living in Syria as refugees. Syrian Christians make up 10 percent of the population of Syria, and belong to one of the oldest traditions of Christianity in the world. Remember that Saul of Tarsus converted to Christianity when he was on his way to Damascus, Syria, to persecute Christians. He changed his name to Paul, after Jesus knocked him off his horse. Paul wrote half of the New...

This information is, of course, kept silent from us by the “correct” mass media: In Syria, things are going, as anywhere else in the Arab “Spring,” according to the seizure of power by political Islam. As the “Catholic Magazine for Church and Culture” reports, persecution of Christians in Syria are on a massive increase. Behind the so-appearing “freedom” battle is hiding a religious conflict: “Islamistic” Sunnis have Christians and Alevits in the crosshairs. 80 percent of Christians have already fled from Muslim and mixed neighborhoods. Update: Al-Qaeda is joining in the battle in Syria against the “anti-islamic” regime! (By Michael...

Israeli library uploads Newton's theological texts February 15, 2012 By ARON HELLER , Associated Press Israeli library uploads Newton's theological texts (AP) Israel's national library, an unlikely owner of a vast trove of Newton's writings, has digitized his theological collection, and put it online. More at the link...

Centuries of persecution before Israeli "occupation." In the voluminous commentaries on the Middle East today very little attention has been given to the sad fate of Christians in the Arab and Muslim countries. Even less attention has been paid to the contrast between the treatment of Christians in Israel and their treatment in Arab countries. In Israel Christians have religious freedom and their numbers have increased. In Arab countries the religious freedom of Christians is restricted and their number has been reduced because of harassment, fear, and persecution. It is well to remember the words of Martin Luther King: "In...

I never thought I would say this, but those of us on the Israeli Right owe a debt of gratitude to Mahmoud Abbas. I never thought I would say this, but those of us on the Israeli Right owe a debt of gratitude to Mahmoud Abbas. By forging a unity agreement with Hamas earlier this month in Doha, Qatar, the Palestinian Authority president has inadvertently corroborated one of the central tenets of our political philosophy: the Palestinians cannot and must not be granted a state. Ever since the signing of the Oslo Accords in September 1993, we have warned against...

Jews must be allowed to visit Temple Mount; will not remain silent and let Muslims expropriate what is lawfully and rightfully ours. The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) issued a press release on February 13, imploring the Israeli government to stop police and Muslim Wakf discrimination against Jews on the Temple Mount. The statement came in response to the recent incidents banning Jews from visiting the site following confrontation with Muslims regarding flyers that were discovered in the area in support of the Likud party and declaring that “healthy leadership begins with total control over the Temple Mount.” In recent...

One has come to expect anti-Israel activity thinly disguised by a veneer of academic posing from this venerable Ivy League institution. On March 3, 2012, Harvard University will host a two-day conference on the “One State Solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Featured guests include academics who seek to delegitimize the Jewish state, the founder of Electronic Intifada and an ex- Palestinian official. No one remotely sympathetic to Israel is identifiable. Tragically, this is the sort of anti-Israel activity thinly disguised by a veneer of academic posing that one has come to expect from this venerable Ivy League institution. In recent...

The ink has barely dried on the New York Times announcement that Jodi Rudoren will replace Ethan Bronner as Jerusalem bureau chief, and the move is already generating controversy. As Jonathan wrote yesterday, Bronner was attacked by Israel-bashers for having a son who formerly served in the Israel Defense Forces. And now Rudoren is apparently reaching out to these same anti-Israel activists, the Washington Free Beacon’s Adam Kredo reports: Already, Rudoren is beaming out cutesy missives to prominent, self-described anti-Zionist players such as Ali Abunimah, co-founder of Electronic Intifada, a website that contains a treasure trove of writings highly antagonistic...

The debate about the appalling effort by the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee to stifle discussion about Israel continues to simmer. As I wrote yesterday, the “Unity Pledge” promoted by the ADL and the AJC is aimed at removing Israel as an election issue in the upcoming presidential contest. Considering President Obama’s record on Israel has been the subject of non-stop debate since he took office, the pledge simply doesn’t pass the political smell test, as it would give him immunity for three years of picking fights with Israel’s government and tilting the diplomatic playing field in the...

Nicholas Kristof’s sanctimonious “advice” to Israel in today’s New York Times sounded eerily familiar. Not the sentiment–“helping” Israel by bashing it repeatedly is a time-honored tradition among Israel’s “friends” in the media–but the actual language used. “Friends don’t let friends drive drunk,” Kristof says, imploring Israel to stop building homes for Jews in Jerusalem. That sort of clichéd silliness had a distinctly Friedmanesque ring to it. And so it was. Here was Thomas Friedman last year reacting to the news Israel planned to build more homes for Jews in Jerusalem: “Friends don’t let friends drive drunk.” There are many reasons...

A sudden new wave of anti-Americanism is thriving in Cairo. ... In Egypt today, all major political forces — the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, or SCAF, the Muslim Brotherhood and the government — are embracing anti-American populism. The new atmosphere in Egypt leaves the Obama administration — and Congress — with some stark choices. Washington can employ the nuclear option — cut the assistance and test the durability of the U.S.-underwritten 1979 Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty — or continue to fund an increasingly hostile and unstable state in hopes that democracy will take root. In this environment, prospects...

Palestinian Authority prime minister Salam Fayyad said Wednesday his administration is actively defying Israel and operating in eastern Jerusalem. "The PA is continuously trying to allocate resources inside the city, which Israel occupied in 1967," Fayyad said in his weekly radio address from Ramallah. "The Israeli government is trying to impose its policies to control Jerusalem and its institutions, which is contrary to international law and signed agreements," Fayyad said. “This all won’t change the truth that East Jerusalem is the main part of the occupied Palestinian territories," Fayyad said in his weekly radio address, which focused on Israeli policy...

Regimes come and go but the bribes remain the same. US aid to Egypt is guaranteed by the Camp David Accords and stopping it would be a violation of that treaty, a high-ranking Muslim Brotherhood lawmaker said Sunday.Essam El-Erian, who also serves as chairman of the Egyptian parliament’s foreign affairs committee, said that should aid from Washington be cut, the Brotherhood would consider changing the terms of Egypt’s 1979 peace treaty with Israel.El-Erian told the London-based newspaper Al-Hayat that the US needs to understand that “what was acceptable before the revolution is no longer,� and that should the aid provisions...

J.B. Pritzker is one of the richest members of America’s one percent and a staunch pro-Israel Democrat. After backing Hillary Clinton in 2008–in opposition to his sister, Penny Pritzker–J.B. helped raise money for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. Among other civic and philanthropic causes, Pritzker is heavily involved in the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which promotes a strong U.S.-Israel relationship. He has served on AIPAC’s national board, regularly chairs AIPAC events in Chicago, and attends the organization’s annual Policy Conference in Washington, D.C. Given his devotion to a strong U.S.-Israel alliance, it is extraordinary to discover that Pritzker also...

While Republican presidential contenders Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich vie with each other in expressing ever-stronger support for Israel, polls show Romney has a better chance of unseating President Obama in the November election. It is for this reason that many Israel supporters would like contender Rick Santorum to withdraw from the Republican race to ensure Romney is chosen over Gingrich. Be that as it may, it would be enlightening to briefly review the main point on which the two leading candidates agree regarding Israel, the U.S., and Hamas-Fatah. Romney said, “The best way to have peace in the Middle...

Last week’s meeting between Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal highlighted their common strategic goal, despite their bitter rivalry in recent years: The PLO’s Phased Plan aimed at the establishment of a Palestinian state in all of what was 'Palestine' within the Ottoman/British Mandate borders. On August 14, 2009, Mahmoud Abbas concluded the Sixth Convention of Fatah, which ratified its platform, calling for the continued struggle – through peaceful and armed means – to eradicate the Jewish state. Fatah’s policy is founded on the demand for return of the1948 Arab refugees, self-determination, an independent state, and...

Officers and border guards violently burst into the Torah study hall of the town of Givat Asaf and began assaulting the students. The Rabbi approached the commanding officer and asked him why be violent in a holy place, and was assaulted and thrown to the ground and beaten. Four students were taken into custody including one on crutches, accused of rock throwing and fleeing the scene. A pregnant woman was also assaulted...

Computer experts from Europe and the United States said on Tuesday that they believe engineers in Iran’s nuclear program were able to completely neutralize their computer systems from the Stuxnet virus which seriously damaged Iranian nuclear equipment about two years ago. According to the experts, the virus was implanted in the computer systems already in 2009 and disrupted...

I saw other threads about this story, but didn't see the video posted. Video is at the bottom of the story.

Hamas announced the sole power plant in Gaza went dark after it ran out of diesel on Tuesday. "The Gaza power plant has completely stopped working because of the shortage of fuel entering the Gaza Strip, and the depletion of diesel it needs to work," said Ahmad Abu al-Amrin, an official from Gaza's energy authority. He called on Egypt "to assume its historical responsibility in supporting the resistance of the Palestinian people by ensuring they had all the necessary fuel to operate the plant". .....

An Israeli Cabinet minister says his country will "settle the score" with the perpetrators of a bombing attempt in Bangkok. An Iranian man fleeing wounded from an explosion at a rented Bangkok house lobbed a grenade at police that rebounded and blew off one of his legs Tuesday in a series of blasts. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the explosion, which wounded four civilians, was an attempted terrorist attack backed by Iran. Israel has also blamed Iran for a pair of attacks on Israeli diplomatic targets in India and Georgia on Monday. Tehran has denied responsibility for those attacks.

The Iranian State media just announced that another high ranking Revolutionary Guard commander, Ahmad Sodagar, has died of a heart attack. Sodagar, a major general, had served as the head of security and intelligence of the Guards’ Khatam-al-Anbia Base and was the chief commander of the Guards’ Prophet Mohammad Division. He had served in the Iran-Iraq war and, at the time of his death, was the head of the program “Defaeh Moghadas” or Holy Defense. This is the fifth Guard commander to die because of a heart attack or stroke in the past month. Those reported to have died before...

The Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE) has announced that its President Chakib Ben Makhlouf has visited the Gaza Strip on an extended tour where he visited Hamas facilities, praised Palestinian “martyrs, and visited the grave of Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yasine who was killed by Israel. According to the FIOE announcement: Mr Chakib Ben Makhlouf the president of FIOE visited Gaza Strip in an extended tour where he inspected the conditions of Palestinians and their civil institutions after three years since the Israeli war on the strip. During his visit, the FIOE president expressed the commitment of...

The Palestinian Authority wants UNESCO to declare the Patriarchs’ Cave and Rachel’s Tomb as its heritage sites while Israel is excluding them from its own list. A government committee headed by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is meeting Tuesday morning to decide on adding 10 more sites to Israel’s official list of heritage sites, but the Bible-based Patriarchs’ Cave and Rachel’s Tomb are not among them Rabbi-Professor Daniel Hershkowitz, Science and Technology Minister and head of the Jewish Home party, issued an urgent appeal to Cabinet Secretary Tzvi Hauser that the two sites be included. The government committee on heritage sites...

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned Israel on Monday of potential economic instability, AFP reported. According to the report, the IMF said the instability was due to the high unemployment and deep poverty among Arab-Israelis as well as hareidi-religious Jews. The warning was made in an IMF report on the Israeli economy. “Severe poverty is concentrated in these groups,” the IMF report was quoted as having said, adding that only 40 percent of hareidi men have jobs, and only 20 percent of Arab-Israeli women are employed. The report noted that their wage levels are low compared to other Israeli groups....

For the second straight year, President Obama is seeking to decrease funding to joint U.S.-Israel missile defense programs. Tucked within Obama’s 2013 budget proposal is a request to reduce the amount of money Israel receives for its critical missile defense systems by $6.3 million relative to the 2012 budget proposal. Among these defense systems are Arrow and David’s Sling, both of which are jointly operated with the U.S. Publicly, the president has referred to himself as a stalwart champion of the U.S.-Israel military alliance. But administration efforts to reduce the amount of missile defense aid that Israel receives appear to...

In the context of the social justice movement, it is instructive to learn from Greece, a country facing economic collapse. Last summer’s demonstrations in Israel have brought to the forefront socioeconomic issues. It was largely due to an increased sensitivity to the somewhat nebulous concept of “social justice” that enabled the Histradrut labor federation to launch a general strike last week for contract workers’ rights. The horrid treatment of these outsourced, temporary employees has been going on for years. But it was only after the summer’s demonstrations, which managed to mobilize record numbers of average Israelis to take to the...

Jerusalem Police on Sunday again barred entry to the Temple Mount to all non-Muslims, citing the latest case of potential anti-Jewish incitement, according to Israel Radio. The announcement came after Moshe Feiglin, head of the Manhigut Yehudit (Jewish Leadership) faction in the Likud party, said that he intended to go up to the Temple Mount on Sunday, something he claims to have done on the 19th of every Jewish month for the past 10 years. According to the Israel Radio report, police said they will not allow any religious representative to use the Temple Mount or Western Wall for political...

The Arab League has instructed its members to deny citizenship to Palestinian Arab refugees (or their descendants) “to... protect their right to return to their homeland”. Read how they are treated by their brothers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Thcy2xDGmQc&feature=related

Assailants targeted Israeli diplomats in India and Georgia in near-simultaneous strikes Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed on archenemy Iran, and its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah. Iran denied responsibility for the attacks. The bombs, which wounded four people, threatened to ratchet up already high tensions between Iran, which has been accused of developing a nuclear weapons program, and Israel, which says such a program would be an existential threat to the Jewish state. The violence came as recent comments by Israeli officials have raised concerns Israel might be preparing an imminent strike on Iranian nuclear facilities. U.S. and other...

As part of the "Academic Boycott of Israel," BDS professors speak about how to most effectively demonize Israel in "every classroom." In a breakout session of the “Academic Boycott of Israel” initiative, Amy Kaplan, professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania spoke about how teachers can most effectively demonize Israel in every classroom as well as the "positive aspects" of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

NEW DELHI –The wife of an Israeli diplomat in New Delhi and her driver were injured on Monday when the car they were traveling in was bombed, officials said. A second attempted bombing was defused outside the Israeli embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia, at about the same time. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately blamed Iran, which has vowed revenge for the recent assassinations of several scientists involved in Iran’s nuclear program. Hezbollah, which receives funding and strong support from Iran, also had promised to avenge the assassination of one...

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday that the PA will not meet Israel’s demand that it recognize Israel as the Jewish State, Kol Yisrael radio reported. According to the report, Abbas explained this statement using the reasoning that once that the PA agrees to this requirement, there would be no value to the million and a half PA Arabs living in Israel, and no refugee would be allowed to come back to Israel, in keeping with the PA demand that Israel allow millions of Arab refugees to return to their old homes in Israeli cities as part of...

Any good armchair general with a good search engine and time on their hands can figure out in a hurry that the song and dance about Iran being unable to close the Strait if Hormuz for long is just a plain crock. Worse than a crock. Yet, this big Orwellian lie persists, so once again I have to set the record straight. Iran has the capability of not only closing the Strait for some time, but creating a world of hurt for the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet. Iran possesses a build up of anti-ship weapons called Sunburn missiles, which it...