Free Republic

A document released in late May by pro-Muslim Brotherhood clerics incited the Egyptian population to “strive for the complete elimination” of their current government, according to a new report. Calling the military-backed government a “criminal and murderous regime,” the radical clerics said public figures associated with it should be put to death, in accordance with Sharia law. The document also demands the release of Morsi, who it refers to as the “legitimate elected president.” […] “According to the Sharia, it is the duty of the ummah—its leaders and its people—to oppose this regime and strive for its complete elimination by...

In Jerusalem flyers were spread throughout the old city claiming to be ISIS.The bulletin which had the ISIS logo demanded that all Christian Arabs must leave eastern Jerusalem by the end of Ramadan accused of being “Israeli collaborators”. ISIS also demanded that in the case the Christians refuse to leave that Muslims in eastern Jerusalem are mandated to kill all the Christians living there.Photo Credit: Islamic State / JerusalemAl-Quds (Jerusalem Newspaper), the main Arab newspaper there had posted a reply from Theodosios (Hanna) of Sebastia, the Archbishop from the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. In his reply the Archbishop condemned the...

Uproar in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has relieved Gen. Qassem Soleimani,the Al Qods Brigades chief and supreme commander of Iranian Middle East forces, of his Syria command after a series of war debacles. He was left in charge of Iran’s military and intelligence operations in Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon. This is revealed by exclusive Iranian intelligence sources. Since Soleimani last visited Damascus on June 2, in the aftershock of the historic town of Palmyra’s fall to the Islamic State, the situation of President Bashar Assad and his army has gone from bad to worse. The Iranian general’s...

MOSCOW, June 16 (UPI) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Tuesday Russia's nuclear arsenal would be would increase by 40 intercontinental ballistic missiles in 2015. Speaking at Army-2015 Expo, an international military trade show near Moscow, Putin said the new missiles could "overcome even the most technically advanced anti-missile defense systems," adding a new long-range early-warning radar "to monitor in the western direction" was also being prepared. It was a reference to plans by NATO to permanently place troops and heavy armaments in Poland, a Russian neighbor and former Warsaw Pact country. In reference to apparent plans to reinforce NATO's...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel is still considering an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, even if Tehran and world powers sign a historic deal to curtail Iran's nuclear program next week. "Whatever happens, Israel will always defend itself, and the Air Force plays a major role in this," Haaretz daily quoted Netanyahu as saying at a pilots' course graduation ceremony. Netanyahu again expressed concern over the agreement and the concessions the world is prepared to do in order for Iran to sign the deal.

The Vatican officially recognized a Palestinian state on Friday by signing a treaty and said it hoped the step would promote peace with Israel. Vatican Foreign Minister Paul Gallagher said he hoped the Holy See's recognition "may in some way be a stimulus to bringing a definitive end to the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict." He signed the treaty with his Palestinian counterpart, Riad al-Malki, and said it could be a model for other Middle Eastern countries. Israel expressed its disappointment last month when the Vatican announced a final agreement on the treaty, regulating the Catholic Church in Palestinian territories. The Israeli...

The Vatican on Friday signed an historic first accord with “Palestine,” two years after officially recognizing the Palestinian Authority (PA) as a state. The accord, a treaty covering the life and activity of the Church in Judea and Samaria, was the first since the Vatican made the controversial step of recognition in February 2013. It also recognizes the PA as having authority in eastern Jerusalem, the undivided capital of the Jewish state. […] Signing international treaties unilaterally is a breach of the 1993 Oslo Accords which created the PA. […]The agreement appears to ignore the fact that Christians have been...

Under President Barack Obama, the US has implemented policies toward Iran that are catastrophic for Israel specifically, for US Middle East allies more generally and for US national security itself. Consider, first, the known details of the soon-to-be- concluded nuclear deal. In an article published by The New York Times this week, Prof. Alan Kuperman explained that Obama’s central justification for the agreement – that it will lengthen Iran’s breakout time to the bomb from the current two months to 12 months – is a lie. Based on nothing more than the number of centrifuges Iran will be allowed to...

TEHRAN, Jun.25 (MNA) – Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will depart for Vienna on Saturday, June 27th, to attend the nuclear talks. US Secretary of State John Kerry will also fly to Vienna on Friday to take part in the nuclear talks ahead of a self-imposed June 30 deadline Iran’s Deputy FMs Seyed Abbas Araghchi and Majid Takht Ravanchi have hold meetings with 5+1on drafting a final agreement on Wednesday. The deadline for Iran and 5+1 to finish writing the text of the final agreement is June 30. However, Iran has announced recurrently that its goal is achieving a...

Bishop Fears Extremist Jews Pose Increasing Threat to Christians in Israel After Church Attack at Site Where Jesus Performed Miracle Christian Post June 24, 2015 A Roman Catholic bishop in Jerusalem says he's afraid that Jewish extremists are now posing an increasing threat to Christians in the Holy Land after an arson attack last Thursday at a local church in Tabgha, an area believed to be where Jesus performed the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000. The warning "all idols will be smashed" — an extract from a Jewish prayer — was also sprayed in red paint on...

The state of Israel is blocking the release of details on the recent arson attack against a historical Catholic church by the Sea of Galilee, namely the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fish in Tabgha. It resides at the site where Christ miraculously multiplied loaves and fish to feed 5,000 people.Aside from being damaged by the fire, the church was also vandalized with Hebrew graffiti messages such as "Death to non-Jews" and "False idols will be eliminated." The incident marked the second time since last year the building has been attacked.Sixteen Jewish seminary students were arrested,...

Plans to set up a formal twinning agreement between Amsterdam and Tel Aviv have been dropped because some members of the city council oppose the idea, the English-language website Dutch News reported Thursday. According to the report, Amsterdam Mayor Eberhard van der Laan withdrew the plan due to pressure from the left-wing green party GroenLinks, the Labour party and the Socialists, who said they would not support the twinning program. The mayor was also under pressure from a number of other pro-Palestinian Arab organizations, which claimed the move is inappropriate because of Israel’s “occupation” of Judea and Samaria. …

The coming days represent a fateful stage in U.S.-led attempts to reach a diplomatic solution with Iran over its nuclear program, and disturbing signs are emerging that the Obama Administration is prepared to relinquish demands by the international community for Iranian transparency.Negotiators from the five permanent United Nations Security Council countries, plus Germany (known as the P5+1 countries) had hoped for a smooth final round of talks leading to a comprehensive agreement.Instead, they find themselves facing a firm Iranian refusal to allow international inspectors to visit military installations in Iran where suspected work had been carried out on a military...

Working title for John Kerry's memoirs: The Art of the Disastrous Deal . . . On today's Morning Joe, former CIA Director Michael Hayden said he was "stunned" to hear Kerry recently say that the Iranians' work toward weaponizing a nuclear device is not as important as some are suggesting and that they don't have to come clean before an agreement. Hayden later said that the US must walk away from the deal unless Iran agrees to "anytime, anywhere" inspections, something that for now the ayatollah's agents are refusing. The alarm Hayden sounded today is in line with the letter...

As our own Rick Moran reported yesterday, liberal media have used a new study by the New America Foundation to pretend that white Americans pose a bigger threat to national security than Muslim radicals. Rick explains that this conclusion can’t be drawn from the report at all: it’s only possible to say so when one ignores the failed terrorist attacks by Islamic extremists. If those are included, Islamists are far more dangerous than “white Americans.” However, that didn’t stop Mediaite from publishing an article blasting white Americans (as I wrote two days ago, white self-hate is now officially politically correct)....

In the context of the EU-coordinated P5+1 negotiations with Iran, Secretary Kerry will be joined in Vienna, Austria, on June 26 and onwards by Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, Under Secretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman, and the U.S. negotiating team. The full U.S. delegation list for Vienna follows: The Honorable John Kerry, Secretary of State The Honorable Ernest Moniz, Secretary of Energy The Honorable Wendy Sherman, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Robert Malley, Special Assistant to the President and White House Coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa, and the Gulf Region, National Security Council Jonathan Finer,...

The debate over why Jews vote the way that they do is an old one, but it’s rarely backed by much data except the estimates of the Jewish vote from the last election. There is, however, one piece of data that currently predicts the Jewish vote. It’s religious attendance. 60 percent of Jews that attend weekly religious services disapprove of Obama. Only 34 percent approve. Among those who don’t attend religious services, approval of Obama stood at 58 percent to 38 percent. There are really two Jewish votes; the religious Jewish vote and the secular Jewish vote. ... When we...

Israel’s first Irish dancing competition (feis) is currently the subject of a major effort calling for the event to be canceled as part of the cultural boycott of Israel. The feis, set to take part this August in Tel Aviv, is organized by The Carey Academy Israel, a new branch of the highly successful Carey Academy in Birmingham, England. Performances of Riverdance in Israel led to an up-growth of interest in Irish dancing in Israel. The announcement of the feis has seen a major backlash, especially on social media, as supporters of Palestine protest Irish dance being performed in the...

The UN report into possible war crimes in last summer’s Gaza conflict should not be taken to the Security Council or used in other United Nations work, the US said on June 23, challenging the fairness of the Human Rights Council that commissioned the inquiry. State Department spokesman John Kirby said that Washington viewed the UNHRC as having a “clear bias” against Israel, tarnishing the report released on June 22, which accused both Israel and Palestinian militants of possible war crimes during the 50-day Operation Protective Edge last summer. “[W]e challenge the very foundation upon which this report was written,...

Judy Mozes is a media personality and is married to Israeli interior minister Silvan Shalom, who also serves as Israel’s Vice Prime Minister. Shalom has been has been tasked with coordinating the Israel-Palestine peace process. On Sunday, Mozes tweeted a racial joke about President Obama which, although quickly deleted, was captured and shared by Vox: