Free Republic

Defense minister says Jerusalem assists insurgents in exchange for promise Druze will be kept out of harm’s way Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said Monday that Israel has been providing aid to Syrian rebels, thus keeping the Druze in Syria out of immediate danger. Israeli officials have previously balked at confirming on the record that the country has been helping forces that are fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad. Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign up! During a briefing with Israel’s diplomatic correspondents at the IDF’s headquarters in Tel...

By publishing a video from within the terror tunnels on Iranian television, The al-Aqsa Brigades has continued pushing their own brand of psychological warfare against the Israeli people. A year after the beginning of Operation Protective Edge, the al-Aqsa Brigades published a video from inside a terror tunnel allegedly leading from Gaza to the Israeli border. In the video posted Sunday on Iranian television, one of the terrorists seen in the video said the tunnel measures 3.5 kilometers wide and is made entirely of concrete. The reporter in the video suggested that the underground tunnel crossed over the Israeli border...

It’s no surprise that the Iranian nuclear program talks are shaky; Guy has detailed the long, tedious, and sometime frustrating timeline of these diplomatic talks. So, given that we’re approaching the June 30th deadline–with the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei issuing demands that the U.S. could never agree to–what’s the military option, if there is one? The answer is MOP, or “Massive Ordnance Penetrator;” the largest and most powerful nonnuclear bomb we have in our arsenal (via Politico): …at least three times in the past year, a B-2 stealth bomber has taken off from an Air Force base in Missouri...

Young American came to Israel alone to serve in the IDF, but ended up enthralled in a conspiracy to blow up the Dome of the Rock. He made aliyah from United States as a lone soldier, served as a fighter in the Givati Reconnaissance Battalion, was wounded in Operation Protective Edge, and was a short time away from being released and returning to his family in Los Angeles. But that was when he began his troubled path. ...

An indictment filed last week in the Nazareth District Court against a resident of the town of Majdal Shams on the Golan Heights for espionage and assisting the enemy during wartime portrays Sudki Makat, a Druze supporter of the Assad regime in Syria, as the first Facebook spy caught in Israel..... claims in the indictment relate to things Makat posted on his Facebook page. The Israeli media also broadcast the recordings of interviews he gave from the Golan to Syrian television. The main claim against him in the indictment is that the information he posted — on the Internet and...

Hezbollah is seeking to depict a narrative in which it is protecting minorities such as Christians, Druse, and Alawites in the ongoing Middle Eastern sectarian conflict so as to conceal the ideological sectarian and revolutionary ambitions that it shares with Iran. Hezbollah, a Shi’ite organization, is presenting itself as the defender of the multi-ethnic Lebanese state and minorities against Sunni jihadists. For example, Hezbollah announced that it condemned last week’s killing of 20 Druse by al-Qaida’s Nusra Front in the village of Qalb ...

During a radio interview Sunday, former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren reinforced his position that President Obama’s relentless outreach to the Muslim world may be motivated by Obama’s being abandoned by two Muslim father figures. Last week, Oren had speculated Obama’s purported abandonment issues may have caused him to seek acceptance from the Muslim world. Sunday, Oren maintained “it’s a legitimate question” to ask whether the “abandonment” of Obama’s Kenyan Muslim father and Indonesian Muslim stepfather have been partially driving Obama’s policy toward Islam , the Middle East, the war on terrorism and Iran.

Arrest that reporter for attempting to commit blatant act of flagrant journalism! The Washington Free Beacon today carried a report from Adam Kredo about the State Department removing him from a briefing on the Iran nuclear talks in Vienna, Austria. He was even threatened with arrest by security. Here is how the State Department of "most transparent administration in history" dealt with Kredo: VIENNA—Officials with the Department of State threatened to call security Monday on a Washington Free Beacon reporter who was attempting to report on a briefing held by senior Obama administration figures in Vienna on the eve of...

John Kerry on crutches while shaking hands w/Zarif, Iranian negotiator. Hmmm...Not the best symbolism... ”

Officials with the Department of State threatened to call security Monday on a Washington Free Beacon reporter who was attempting to report on a briefing held by senior Obama administration figures in Vienna on the eve of an expected nuclear agreement with Iran. Two State Department officials booted the Free Beacon from a room where Wendy Sherman, the undersecretary of state for political affairs, was talking to reporters, despite the Free BeaconÂ’s being credentialed by the Austrian government for the ongoing Iranian nuclear talks. Western observers present in Vienna for the talks linked the State DepartmentÂ’s behavior to jitters over...

During recent meetings with Chinese officials, Secretary of State John Kerry agreed to establish a "U.S.-China Civil Space Cooperation Dialogue." A State Department spokesman says the first meeting will be held before the end of October, but could not provide any other details. The lengthy list of "outcomes" from the seventh round of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) held in Washington, DC June 22-24, 2015, includes a section on cooperation in science, technology and agriculture. Under that heading, the two countries agreed as follows: "101. Space: The United States and China decided to establish regular bilateral government-to-government consultations...

These days Obama following the law would be news. Obama not following the law is just business as usual. So this is another case of Obama doing what he can to help terrorists while ignoring the limits on his powers.No wonder he likes the PLO. It too is run by an unelected dictator.Here's what the issue is... Two lawmakers are warning the Palestinian Authority (PA) that its economic assistance from the United States could be suspended because of its decision to initiate charges against Israel at the International Criminal Court (ICC).“By formally submitting allegations against Israeli forces to the...

AIRO — Egypt’s top prosecutor died on Monday of wounds he sustained when a powerful bomb detonated next to his car as he was driving to work, state news media reported. The prosecutor, Hisham Barakat, is the most senior Egyptian official to be killed since insurgents began a wave of violent attacks against the military-backed government nearly two years ago. At least seven other people, including two bystanders, were hurt in the attack, which incinerated several cars, in a residential area of the capital’s Heliopolis neighborhood. Gen. Osama Bedeir, the head of Cairo security, said the explosive device was planted...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Sunday, June 28: “We are seeing a clear retreat from the red lines that the world powers set recently and publicly." Addressing the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem and later the Knesset, he added: “There is no reason to rush to sign this bad agreement which is getting worse every day.” Netanyahu was referring to three major concessions approved by President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry in the final stage of negotiations for a comprehensive nuclear accord with Iran. They are outlined here by debkafile: 1. After barring International Atomic Energy Agency...

VIENNA, Jun. 29 (MNA) – US Secretaries of Energy and State have wrapped up their gist of nuclear negotiations along with difference points with Iran, awaiting a final verdict by president Obama. Mehr News International correspondent in Vienna reported that John Kerry had been residing in Vienna thanks to a fractured femoral bone. But Mr. Kerry would not be off the working desk; rather, he and Mr. Ernest Moniz await a final decision by president Obama. During Vienna 8 (8th round of talks held in Austrian capital) held in last November, Barack Obama issued a last-minute directive mandating extension of...

TEHRAN, Jun. 29 (MNA) – An Iranian MP revealed that Barack Obama has sent a secret message to Iranian authorities just a few days ahead of recent nuclear negotiations in Vienna. Iranian daily Hamshahri reported on its Monday issue that US President Barack Obama has sent another secret message to Iranian authorities through leaders of one of Iran’s neighboring countries. The newspaper has quoted Tehran’s representative and Parliament Board member Mehrdad Bazrpash as saying that the message has been delivered in recent days by the leader of Iran’s neighbor and highlighted that the letter has been on nuclear issue. While...

Mark Dankof, a Lutheran pastor and political activist, declared the Jews to blame for the Supreme Court's ruling on Friday which declared any law to ban gay marriage unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters from Iran's Press TV, Dankof insisted that Jewish influence and money were being used to destroy Christian culture and values globally. "It should not be ignored that the victories for abortion on demand and LGBT rights are reflective of the disproportionate influence of Jewish power, money, and activism in the United States," he declared. “The key Jewish role played in the mainstreaming of abortion, LGBT, and pornography in...

Israel's embassy in France has formally complained to the French government, following an Arutz Sheva report which revealed Paris is funding at least one of the extremist organizations involved in coordinating the anti-Israel "Freedom Flotilla III" to Gaza. The flotilla is attempting to breach the IDF's blockade of the Hamas-ruled territory, which the 70-odd anti-Israel activists taking part claim is "illegal." In 2011, however, the UN's Palmer Report ruled that the blockade was in fact an entirely legal means for Israel to prevent weapons and rocket-making equipment from being smuggled into Gaza. Last week Arutz Sheva revealed that among the...

After MK Basal Ghattas (Joint Arab List) sent Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu several letters protesting the IDF’s intention to prevent the Freedom Flotilla III, the Prime Minister is sending back letters to members of the flotilla. In his letter, Netanyahu says to flotilla members that they apparently “got lost.” “Welcome to Israel, but if it’s freedom you have in mind, maybe you meant to sail to another destination not far from here—Syria. There, the government is murdering and slaughtering its citizens daily, with the support of Iran,” the letter says. The letter lists the large amount of medical and other...

A report released by the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday called for alleged Israeli war criminals like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be arrested and tried for having led attacks against Palestinian civilians. Orders for the report to be prepared were initially given on July 23, 2014, just 16 days into the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict that started when Hamas began firing rockets into Israel. It also named as its start date June 13 — the day after Palestinian thugs kidnapped and murdered three Israeli teenagers. Furthermore, creation of the report was directed by Mary McGowan Davis,...