Free Republic

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell distanced himself from other Republican lawmakers who have called for the National Guard to be sent in to break up the antisemitic riots and demonstrations that have taken over multiple university campuses throughout the US over the last week and a half. “What needs to happen, at least at the beginning, is these university presidents need to get control of the situation, allow free speech, and push back against antisemitism,” McConnell told Margaret Brennan on the CBS 'Face the Nation' program. “I thought that was largely gone in this country, but we’ve seen a number...

Israeli troops foiled an attempted stabbing attack near the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba, the military said Wednesday. The Israel Defense Forces said a female Palestinian assailant tried to stab troops of the Kfir Brigade’s Shimshon Battalion, who were stationed at an army post at a junction near the settlement. “The troops engaged and opened fire at the terrorist who held a knife and charged toward the force,” the military said. The woman was killed, the army said. No troops were hurt in the incident. The official Palestinian news agency WAFA identified the alleged assailant as Maimouna Abdel Hamid...

A North Korean delegation led by the cabinet minister for international trade is visiting Iran, the North’s official media says in a rare public report of an exchange between the two countries believed to have secret military ties. The minister for external economic relations, Yun Jong Ho, left Pyongyang on Tuesday by air leading a ministry delegation to visit Iran, the North’s KCNA news agency says. It gives no other detail. North Korea and Iran have long been suspected of cooperating on ballistic missile programs, possibly exchanging technical expertise and components that went into their manufacture.

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi claimed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is an “obstacle” in a two-state solution between Israel and Gaza and said he should resign. In an interview with RTÉ’s Six One News during a visit to Ireland, Pelosi spoke about the aftermath of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel and Netanyahu’s deadly counteroffensive that has left more than 34,000 Palestinians dead, according to local health officials. “We recognize Israel’s right to protect itself. We reject the policy and the practice of Netanyahu,” she said. “Terrible. What could be worse than what he has done in response?” “He should...

The Israeli military's intelligence chief has resigned, saying he took responsibility for the failures before Hamas's attack on Israel on 7 October. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Major General Aharon Haliva would retire once his successor was selected. He acknowledged in a letter that his intelligence directorate "did not live up to the task we were entrusted with". He is the first senior figure to step down over the attack, which was the deadliest in Israel's history. Israeli military and intelligence officials missed or ignored multiple warnings before hundreds of Hamas gunmen breached the Gaza border fence that day...

Sen. John Fetterman reiterated his criticisms of activists calling for cease-fire in Gaza, and slammed fellow Democrats for their “crazy” response to the attacks Iran has launched against Israel, in an interview with Fox Digital. “It is not appropriate or legal or helpful to advance your argument if you show up in a Starbucks with a bullhorn and start yelling at people,” he told Fox News Digital in a Friday interview. He also claimed such protests don’t “make you noble.” “It just makes you an (–*&*(,” Fetterman (D-Pa.) said. Since the onset of the war between Israel and terrorist group...

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli strikes on the southern Gaza city of Rafah overnight killed 22 people, including 18 children, health officials said Sunday, as the United States was on track to approve billions of dollars of additional military aid to Israel, its close ally. Israel has carried out near-daily air raids on Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million has sought refuge from fighting elsewhere. It has also vowed to expand its ground offensive against the Hamas militant group to the city on the border with Egypt despite international calls for restraint, including from...

MOSUL, Iraq, April 21 (Reuters) - At least five rockets were launched from Iraq's town of Zummar towards a U.S. military base in northeastern Syria on Sunday, two Iraqi security sources told Reuters. The attack against U.S. forces is the first since early February when Iranian-backed groups in Iraq stopped their attacks against U.S. troops.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to announce sanctions against the IDF’s Netzah Yehuda Battalion in the next few days, according to three American sources. The sanctions are a result of human rights violations against Palestinians in the West Bank. This will be the first time that the United States government has imposed sanctions on an Israeli military unit for its activities in the West Bank. The sources stated that the American sanctions will prohibit the transfer of US military aid to the Netzah Yehuda Battalion, will prevent its soldiers and officers from taking part in training with...

Actress Susan Sarandon — who was dropped last year from a talent agency over her anti-Jewish rant — and Shellyne Rodriguez, the ex-professor who threatened a Post reporter with a machete, were both spotted at an anti-Israel protest at Columbia University Friday. The Oscar-winning “Thelma and Louise” star was seen strolling among demonstrators with “Free Palestine” signs while sporting a grin and an odd leather coat jacket decked out with an image of Bart Simpson on its red leather sleeve. The 77-year-old celebrity has rocked the same quirky get-up at other anti-Israel demonstrations in recent months.

The European Council decided today to list four persons and two entities under the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime. "The listed individuals and entities are responsible for serious human rights abuses against Palestinians, including torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and for the violation of right to property and to private and family life of Palestinians in the West Bank," the EU stated. "The listed entities are Lehava, a radical right-wing Jewish supremacist group, and Hilltop Youth, a radical youth group consisting of members known for violent acts against Palestinians and their villages in the...

A Muslim man in eastern Uganda is suspected of killing his mother last week by putting pesticide in her food for refusing to leave her Christian faith, a relative said. Sulaina Nabirye, 50, of Kamuli, Kamuli District, put her faith in Christ on Feb. 10, and since then her 31-year-old son had tried to persuade her to return to Islam, said the relative, whose name is withheld for security reasons. “During the month of Ramadan, she complained of her son pressuring her to stop attending church and revert back to Islam since he was studying to become an imam at...

An Assyrian Orthodox Church bishop who was stabbed during a livestreamed church service in Sydney had spoken critically about Islam in a video recorded four months ago. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was preaching at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley in Sydney's west just after 7pm on Monday when a 16-year-old boy walked up to the altar and allegedly stabbed him multiple times. On a separate video of the aftermath of the alleged terror attack, the boy said in Arabic 'If they didn't insult my prophet, I wouldn't have come here. If he didn't involve himself in my religion,...

Sydney has been shaken by another stabbing attack with a priest and worshippers assailed by a knife-wielding man Monday in a suburban church. Bishop Mari Emmanuel was preaching a live-streamed sermon at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in the city’s west when a man dressed in black approached the altar and allegedly stabbed the Christian Orthodox priest multiple times. Horrifying footage of the incident, which was being broadcast live on the church’s YouTube page, shows Bishop Emmanuel look up in astonishment as the attacker suddenly rains down blows on his face and head, news.com.au reports. The local Sydney-based outlet goes...

A large crowd of angry Christians gathered outside the Assyrian Church in Sydney, Australia, where police are holding the man who stabbed four people during a church service. People are in a near-riot outside the church, seemingly wanting to lynch the knifeman, who is now in police custody. Restrained by parishioners, the apparent Islamist terrorist who attacked Assyrian Orthodox Bishop Mar Mari reportedly said in Arabic: ‘if He wasn’t criticizing my Prophet (Muhammad) and my religion (Islam), I wouldn’t have come or attacked’. Following the attack on Assyrian Bishop H.G Mar Mari Emmanuel in Sydney, a crowd of hundreds of...

Tehran, IRNA- Reports say that the Yemeni armed forces have launched several drones toward Israel simultaneously with the firing of a barrage of missiles and drones by Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps against the Zionist regime. Three Yemeni drones arrived in the skies of the occupied Palestinian territories at the time Iran launched a massive missile and drone attack on Israeli positions in response to the regime’s attack on the Iranian embassy in Syria, English maritime security company "Ambri" was cited by the media. Ambri claimed that the "drones were launched with the coordination of Iran." However, the Yemeni army...

Iran launched a significant drone attack on Israel on Saturday, which is expected to take hours to reach its targets, as reported by Israel's military and confirmed by Iranian state media quoting Iran's revolutionary guards. Iran's Revolutionary Guards have stated that Operation 'True Promise' is a response to Israeli actions and is part of their strategy to punish Israel for its perceived crimes. According to a report by Israel's Channel 12 TV, Iran has also launched cruise missiles at Israel, with a shorter flight time than a drone. According to two regional security sources, Jordan has positioned its air defences...

Ireland is close to formally recognizing a Palestinian state and would like to do so in concert with Spain and other like-minded countries, its new prime minister Simon Harris said on Friday after meeting his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez, reported the Reuters news agency. “Let me this evening say our assessment is that that point is coming much closer and we would like to move together in doing so,” Harris said after meeting Sanchez, the first premier to visit Dublin since Harris became prime minister this week. “When we move forward, we would like to do so with as many...

U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said Wednesday he looks around the world and sees so much suffering for the followers of Islam it causes him pain. The veteran Portuguese Socialist issued his lament for Muslims in a post on X to mark the end of Eid al-Fitr, which concludes the fasting month of Ramadan. He said, “Every year, I express my best wishes for #EidAlFitr to the Muslim community around the world. “My heart is broken knowing that in Gaza, Sudan and many other places – because of conflict and hunger – so many Muslims will not be able to...

Activists from the Im Tirtzu movement filed a complaint with the police on Wednesday against Dr. Anat Matar, after she praised convicted terrorist Walid Daka, who died in prison on Sunday. Daka, a convicted terrorist, was imprisoned following his role in the kidnap, torture, mutilation, and subsequent murder of IDF soldier Moshe Tamam in 1986. In May of 2023, there was a renewed attempt to have Daka released from prison as he was ill with terminal brain cancer, but the motion did not pass and he was not released. Dr. Matar, a professor of philosophy at Tel Aviv University, eulogized...