Free Republic

The 1996 terrorist attack on Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 United States airmen was among the defining events of America’s recent experience in the Middle East. But there has been no judicial accountability. With the reported arrest of the man accused of masterminding the crime, a resolution of the case may be closer. The truck bombing at the eight-story dormitory near the Dharan Air Base was the deadliest such attack on American forces since the 1983 bombing of the Marines’ barracks in Beirut that killed 241 American service members. In 2006, a federal court concluded that elements...

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus wants to torpedo all the talk about a shrinking U.S. battle fleet. Republican presidential candidates are pushing a “narrative,” Mabus said, that President Barack Obama has weakened the military and, in particular, the Navy, at a time of growing demands on American power around the world. But in an interview with POLITICO, Mabus fired a salvo at critics he said don’t know what they’re talking about. “I have this funny thing about facts,” he laughed in his office on the Pentagon’s E-Ring, surrounded by paintings of classic warships. “I like to get facts into the equation.”...

Tune in live on Tuesday via the below LiveStream feed, direct from Senator Gillibrand’s office, at 780 Third Avenue. The rally is from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM on Tuesday evening.

Iran's judiciary chief has urged the United States not to interfere in cases of detained Americans, days after US Secretary of State John Kerry said a jailed Marine should be freed. Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani's remarks followed the fourth anniversary of Amir Hekmati's imprisonment in Tehran on what Kerry called "false espionage charges." Hekmati was visiting relatives in the Islamic republic when he was arrested. Larijani, quoted in Iranian media on Tuesday, said Iran examined legal cases "including those accused of spying for America, with absolute composure and dignity, based on duty and procedure." "The judiciary does not need American officials...

Someone needs to buy Patrick Murphy a history book. The Democratic congressman from Florida, who is running for Senate in 2016, came out in support of the Iran deal Monday, unironically declaring the agreement between the world powers and Iran would bring “peace in our time.” “I believe deeply in the unbreakable bond between the United States and Israel,” Murphy said in a statement. “This debate has proven to me that America and Israel are fortunate to have so many passionate, diverse voices who all want the same things: a nuclear-free Iran, a secure Israel, and peace in our time....

On August 16, the Israel Defense Forces revealed that Iran has been directing terrorist attacks from Syria against Israelis in the Golan Heights region. Nobody paid attention. Four days later, Iranian-sponsored rockets from Syria struck Israel’s Upper Galilee. Is anybody listening now? ADVERTISEMENT For weeks, supporters of Israel have been warning that the emerging Iran agreement would give Tehran funds that it could use to wage war against Israel through its proxies. But now it turns out that Iran is already waging that war. The question is, who is paying attention? On August 16, a “senior IDF Northern Command officer”...

Speaking to fellow supporters of the Iran nuclear deal outside his Long Beach, Calif. office last week, Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.) said President Obama “didn’t deserve” the Nobel Peace Prize when he was first elected, but he “deserves it” now for the Iran nuclear deal. “This is a very complex world we live in. I’m just so grateful that we’re moving towards diplomacy and peaceful resolution of conflict, and the ability to have the most effective non-proliferation nuclear treaty with inspections,” Lowenthal told 200 activists on what they billed as a “No War With Iran Day of Action.” …

An Israeli submarine that sank 47 years ago probably went down due to a technical failure, according to a report released by the navy yesterday. The report was released at a gathering of the families of the 69 sailors killed when the Dakar went down. Exactly what happened in the critical moments before the submarine sank remains unknown. But yesterday the navy released all the reports drafted after the incident, which had hitherto been classified, as well as a document summarizing all the efforts to search for the sub and any other information the defense establishment has about it. According...

In a special interview to Ynet, Batn El Ghoul, also known as Timothy Paul Jacobs Wordsworth, tells the story of how a British man ended up tagging the walls of former ISIS positions in Syria with Breslov Hasidic chants. ...

An Israeli court charged two Druze from the Golan Heights with murder Monday in the mob killing of a Syrian rebel who was being taken to an Israeli hospital for treatment. The grisly attack in June highlighted the anger and suspicion among Israel’s Druze that Israeli hospitals may be treating Islamists ...

Israel’s Supreme Court on Monday confirmed a one-year jail sentence handed down to a Druze former MP for visiting Syria, an “enemy country”. ... He went in 2007 to Syria, with which Israel is technically still at war, as part of a delegation of 300 Druze religious leaders. ...

President Barack Obama said people who attack Jews who support the Iran nuclear deal are like African-Americans who differ with him on policy and then conclude he's "not black enough." [Snip] Obama didn't mention any specific critics or targets by name.

The United States and Iran have been locked in an adversarial relationship since the 1979 hostage crisis. Having worked for President Jimmy Carter, I viewed the country through the prism of that experience when I served in the Clinton administration. Nevertheless, as secretary of state I felt it important to explore the possibility of developing a less chilly relationship with Iran. During my time in office, we offered to engage in dialogue, but the Iranians were not ready. In the end, although we improved the relationship on the margins, we failed to make much of a dent in the thick...

A survey of the natural gas field off the shore of Haifa is to be released Thursday evening in the United States. According to the Globes financial journal, the field has been discovered to be even larger than previously thought. The field's estimated size has grown several times as more surveys are conducted. In mid-2009, Yitzchak Teshuva, controlling shareholder who invested in developing the field, originally said the gas reserves could allow Israel to be self-sufficient in energy for two decades, but now it seems that this was a conservative estimate. Teshuva said Thursday, "The results indicate that in addition...

It's always been about oil when it comes to the Middle East. From the borders drawn by the British and French after the Great War to the current flare-up in Iraq, the simple fact is that not one drop of western blood would have ever been shed were it not for Persian Gulf crude. However, this does not mean that the United States is unjust in acting or alone in dealing with the petulant behavior of the oil producing countries in the region; it just means that we are the latest country to go back in force to bring stability...

Russia has begun its military intervention in Syria, deploying an aerial contingent to a permanent Syrian base, in order to launch attacks against ISIS and Islamist rebels; US stays silent. Russian fighter pilots are expected to begin arriving in Syria in the coming days, and will fly their Russian air force fighter jets and attack helicopters against ISIS and rebel-aligned targets within the failing state. According to Western diplomats, a Russian expeditionary force has already arrived in Syria and set up camp in an Assad-controlled airbase. The base is said to be in area surrounding Damascus, and will serve, for...

There are 28 Jewish members of Congress: 26 Democrats, one independent who caucuses with the Democrats and one Republican. Nine of them are senators and 19 are representatives. Thirteen back the Iran deal, seven oppose it and eight are undecided. Backing the deal Senate Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, House Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., Rep. Susan Davis, D-Calif., Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., Rep. Alan Lowenthal, D-Calif., Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Ky., Opposing the deal...

Over the weekend, the undecideds in Congress got another confidence-builder from Iran on the nuclear deal that Barack Obama and John Kerry insist they support. If Congress approves the deal, it carries legal weight in the US, at least for the next 16 months or so until the next President takes office. The Iranian parliament must be rushing to provide the same level of legal commitment, right? Right? Er … no, not really: President Hassan Rouhani said Saturday he opposes a parliamentary vote on the landmark nuclear deal reached with world powers because terms of the agreement would turn...

Amid frequent chants of “No deal,” up to 1,000 people gathered outside the Massachusetts State House on Sunday in protest of the proposed Iranian nuclear deal. Congress has until September 17 to either support or reject the controversial deal, which has been a fault line in the American Jewish community this summer... ...Opening with the Pledge of Allegiance, the rally was filled with speakers and signs referencing “Munich 1938,” when Europe’s governments attempted – and failed – to avoid war by appeasing Nazi Germany. As the only elected official to speak, state representative Shaunna O’Connell lambasted the Obama administration for...

Former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and his daughter Liz are blasting the nuclear deal between Iran and the six world powers, likening it to the Munich agreement signed in and which paved the way to World War II. The harsh criticism of the deal came in a joint op-ed the two wrote for The Wall Street Journal on Friday. The two write that “despite the explosive spread of terrorist ideology and organizations, the establishment of an Islamic State caliphate in the heart of the Middle East, the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and increasing threats from Iran, China, North Korea...