Free Republic

"While I did not notice anything on the board behind us at the time, I must say that I am happy to see that repealing the catastrophic Iran nuclear agreement, and moving the American Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, remain important to the administration." — Rabbi Shmuley Boteach [Charisma News] If you are even sporadically following American politics this week, you likely at some point saw a photo of "America's Rabbi," Shmuley Boteach, with White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon—a photo that has since been declared "The Whiteboard Seen 'Round the World." (Photo Credit: Twitter photo) You're also probably well...

Obama admin refused to alter law stopping those born in Jerusalem from listing Israel as birthplace A delegation of more than 50 members of Congress is calling on the Trump administration to reverse a longstanding policy that prohibits Americans born in Jerusalem from listing Israel as their birthplace on official documents, according to a letter sent to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. Congress has been working for more than 15 years to reverse the policy, which former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama followed, citing the possibility that a recognition of Jerusalem...

So, Donald Trump delivers a speech in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day, and the anti-Semites are up in arms. He is not the man they thought he was. In reality, he never was that man, which was more a projection of their own ideology than a right assessment of his. As Sam Kestenbaum reported on the Jewish Forward, “Trump Gives A Holocaust Speech — And The ‘Alt Right’ Screams ‘Betrayal’.” How, exactly, did Trump betray the “alt-right”?In his speech, he said, “The State of Israel is an eternal monument to the undying strength of the Jewish people. The fervent...

Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, said on Saturday night that the White House is now dominated by right-wing pro-Israelis. It should be noted that she intended this to be a negative comment on the new administration Ynet, a Hebrew language Israeli news service, reported that Ashrawi bemoaned the right-wing, pro-Israel stance of President Trump’s administration. “We used to say there were settlers in the Israeli coalition borne of the far right that detests Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims. But today we say there are settlers inside the White House,” she said. “The administration has adopted the extreme...

She will aim to sharply reduce the rampant waste in the UN budget, perhaps starting with the often overlapping, over-the-top pro-Palestinian agencies and programs the UN has established over the years. The Trump administration’s U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, has hit the ground running. She spoke truth to power by strongly calling out the United Nations for its anti-Israel bias and double standards. Her predecessor, Samantha Power, never came close.

President Donald Trump wants to drain the swamp. Well here's the perfect place to start. Remember this name: Ben Rhodes. I’ll get back to Ben in a moment. He is the centerpiece to Obama’s final vicious attack on Israel. Obama made many shocking, damaging attacks on Israel. The list is so long it would take me an entire book to list them all.Need proof? It accelerated in his final days. It was as if he had to show his true hatred for Israel with his last official acts.Many Americans know Obama allowed the United Nations and their anti-Semite representatives to condemn Israel for...

Israel’s prime minister on Sunday accepted an invitation to visit the White House next month in hopes of forging a “common vision” for the region with President Donald Trump that could include expanded settlement construction on occupied territories and a tougher policy toward Iran. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced his plans to head to Washington in early February hours after delaying a vote on an explosive proposal to annex one of the West Bank’s largest settlements, apparently to coordinate his policy toward the Palestinians with the new administration. The move put on hold legislation that threatens to unleash fresh violence...

Israel approved building permits on Sunday for hundreds of homes in three East Jerusalem settlements in expectation that U.S. President Donald Trump will row back on the previous administration's criticism of such projects. The housing projects, on land that the Palestinians seek as part of a future state, had been taken off the Jerusalem municipality's agenda in December at the request of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to avoid further censure from the administration of Barack Obama. However, Israel's right wing believes that Trump's attitude towards settlements built in the West Bank and East Jerusalem—areas Israel captured in a 1967 war—to...

...Pew's new data also show unprecedented polarization when it comes to another top foreign policy issue: Israel. Similar numbers of Republicans and Democrats have sympathized more with Israel than with the Palestinians dating back to the late 1970s. Today, though, 74 percent of Republicans sympathize more with Israel, while just 33 percent of Democrats do the same. And perhaps most notably, for the first time this century — if not ever — Democrats are now about equally split between sympathizing more with Israel (33 percent) and with the Palestinians (31 percent).The change across the political spectrum is clear when you...

Senators Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., are set to introduce legislation Thursday to cut off U.S. funding to the United Nations until the anti-American organization rescinds its recently passed, vehemently anti-Israel resolution. U.S. contributions to the body’s regular and peacekeeping budgets stand at roughly $3 billion a year — about a quarter of the respective budgets. The senators’ Safeguard Israel Act of 2017 seeks to “prohibit voluntary or assessed contributions to the United Nations until the President certifies to Congress that United Nations Security Resolution 2334 has been repealed,” an advance copy of the draft bill obtained by...

JERUSALEM – President Barack Obama on Monday denied betraying Israel by not using the U.S. veto against an anti-settlement resolution at the United Nations Security Council last month. Obama said it was his duty as president “to do what I think is right,” according to an interview he gave on Israeli television. “I did believe it was important to send a signal and to lift up the facts that so often get buried under other news in terms of what is happening with settlements in the West Bank,” he said. “The fact of the matter is that I’m president until...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV), and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) have introduced the Jerusalem Embassy and Recognition Act, which would move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, and therefore recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital city. Currently, the U.S. Embassy is located in Tel Aviv. In a statement, Sen. Cruz said that it was "finally time" to move the embassy. “Jerusalem is the eternal and undivided capital of Israel,” Sen. Cruz said. “Unfortunately, the Obama administration's vendetta against the Jewish state has been so vicious that to even utter this simple truth - let alone the reality...

Netanyahu on Wednesday thanked Trump on Twitter for his "warm friendship" and "clear-cut support for Israel" after the president-elect tweeted that Israel should "stay strong" as his administration approaches. Netanyahu said Kerry's speech was "almost as unbalanced" as the U.N. resolution, which he harshly criticized. He said that peace will not be achieved through speeches or U.N. resolutions but through direct talks. "Israel remains committed to resolving the outstanding difference between us and the Palestinians with direct negotiations," Netanyahu said. He also contended that Kerry spent "most of his speech blaming Israel for the lack of peace."

This lie whitewashes violence against Israeli Jews, and leads directly to the antisemitic delegitimization of Israel. The U.N. Security Council's passage of Resolution 2334, an outrageous act of hostility personally engineered by President Obama against the State of Israel, has rightly evoked great anger across all parts of the American political spectrum. This past summer, the Republican Party’s platform section expressing our unequivocal support for Israel, included a key statement made in anticipation of President Obama’s betrayal of our great ally: “We reject the false notion that Israel is an occupier…” Given the anticipated effects of Resolution 2334, this policy...

The Israeli government’s furious reaction to the U.N. Security Council’s adoption of a resolution opposing Jewish settlements in occupied territory underscores its fundamental and bitter dispute with the international community about the future of the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists that there is nothing wrong with his controversial policy of building Jewish towns in occupied areas that the Palestinians, with overwhelming world support, claim for their state. But Friday’s U.N. rebuke was a stark reminder that the rest of the world considers it a crime. The embattled leader is now placing his hopes in the...

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Saturday night called on the United States to withhold funding to the United Nations, until such time that the global body reverses the resolution condemning Israeli presence in Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem. In a tweet, Cruz said he had spoken with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Saturday night to assure him of the strong support Israel has in Congress in the wake of President Barack Obama choosing to break with protocol and abstain during the vote at the UN Security Council, thus allowing the resolution to be approved. “Spoke w/ Israeli PM @netanyahu tonight...

President-elect Donald Trump Friday slammed the United Nations Security Council's vote to condemn Israel for its settlements in the West Bank, pledging that "things will be different" after his inauguration next month. . . . Trump's tweet marked an unprecedented intervention by a president-elect in the diplomatic affairs of a sitting commander-in-chief — sparking widespread accusations that he was trying to undermine Obama's position.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina warned Friday evening that Washington could cut off funding to the United Nations — as well as to certain member states — if the Security Council passes a resolution against Israeli settlements Friday evening. “If the United Nations moves forward with the ill-conceived resolution, I will work to form a bipartisan coalition to suspend or significantly reduce United States assistance to the United Nations,” Graham said in a statement. The resolution cannot pass if Washington exercises its veto power at the council, though Israel and American officials exchanged blows in the media Friday...

The U.N. was expected to vote today on a resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlement building, and reports indicate that Obama was ready to allow the resolution to pass until Egypt put off the vote. President-elect Donald Trump put pressure on Egypt not to go forward with the resolution, and it seems to have had an effect. Charles Krauthammer said that the resolution could have done serious damage to Israel, making Trump’s involvement daring and effective: More than a slap on the wrist, I think it would have done permanent damage to Israel, which is why even Obama himself...

Haley, 44, is known in Israel for her opposition to the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) movement, and her pro-Israel positions. Last year, she signed into law the first state-wide bill in the United States to block BDS activity in South Carolina.