Free Republic

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said in an October 19, 2022 address that was aired on Channel 1 (Iran) that in the past, the West had dismissed Iran's missile and drone technologies, but that today admits that they are very dangerous and complains about Iran supplying them to "so-and-so." It should be noted that Khamenei's statement may be a reference to recent reports that Russia has been using Iranian-made drones in Ukraine. Khamenei also said that the drones are the pride of Iran. Later in the address, he said that industrial use of nuclear energy has increased throughout the world,...

Poltical rivals express similar sentiment in separate interviews; Kyiv's envoy to Israel says defense minister canceled an upcoming call with his Ukrainian counterpart In a rare expression of units between coalition and opposition figures, Defense Minister Gantz and opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday both expressed an unwillingness to alter Israel's policy of not sending defense equipment to Ukraine. 'We are not selling weapons to Ukraine," Gantz told the ultra-Orthodox Kol Chai radio station, noting instead the humanitarian aid Israel has been providing, and vowing to continue such shipments months into Russia's invasion of Ukraine... Meanwhile, in an interview on...

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is begging Israel for military aid in the form of sophisticated air defense systems in order to prolong their conflict against Russia.“Today, Ukraine will send an official note to the government of Israel with a request to urgently provide Ukraine with anti-aircraft systems and to start high-quality cooperation on obtaining appropriate technologies for Ukraine,” Kuleba said, adding that he does “not see any objective reasons why” Israel shouldn’t bail his country out like so many others are doing.“Iran is a red line for Israel, and after Iran has directly, in fact, become complicit in the...

For eight years, NATO has supported puppet rulers in Ukraine, funded attacks in the Donbass, repeatedly violated the Minsk agreements, supported the ban on speaking Russian in the Luhansk and Donetsk republics, and helped to destroy the democratic opposition and free media in Ukraine. The result was a one-party government, essentially owned and funded by the United States, and run by American operatives. And no halftones and subtleties. Yet, somehow, the United States managed to convince the population of its country and other Western countries that Russia is a “bad boy”, that it is out of control and must be...

Nine different law student groups at the University of California at Berkeley’s School of Law have begun this new academic year by amending bylaws to ensure that they will never invite any speakers who support Israel or Zionism. In America, more and more college campuses, heavily influenced by Muslim students, are trying to become “Israel-free zones,” free of the taint of what virulent anti-Semites like Congressmuslim Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), slander as an “apartheid state.” Jewish Journal – Kenneth L. Marcus (h/t Mary C) If it wasn’t so frightening, one might be able to recognize the irony in the sight of...

Soon after he rose to power 22 years ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin cracked down on the open antisemitism that nearly all of his predecessors had either encouraged, tolerated or ignored. Now, as Russia’s war effort in Ukraine founders, openly anti-Jewish rhetoric is entering the country’s mainstream media, with a popular talk show host naming Jews on air as being insufficiently patriotic and a think tank accusing a prominent Jewish philosopher of siding with Ukraine out of greed. The shift in rhetoric about Jews in Russian media began about two months ago, according to Roman Bronfman, a former Israeli lawmaker...

Russia has just finished a Potemkin referendum conducted in the illegally occupied Ukrainian oblasts (provinces) of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson (see Vladimir Putin to Address Russia; Annexation of Ukraine Provinces and Mobilization Seem to Be on the Table). The “voting” began on September 23, and the question is whether those provinces wish to be annexed to Russia.There are complicating factors. All four oblasts are on the front line of a war between Putin’s invading army and the armed forces of Ukraine. Many, if not most, of the residents, are refugees. The voting began within 48 hours after the announcement....

As Russia pummels Ukraine in an invasion waged on Thursday, Moscow’s Deputy Ambassador to the UN, Dmitry Polyanskiy, leveled the same type of sentiment at Israel as the Kremlin did towards Ukraine. “We’re concerned over Tel Aviv’s announced plans for expanding settlement activity in the occupied Golan Heights, which contradicts the provisions of the 1949 Geneva Convention. Russia doesn’t recognize Israel’s sovereignty over Golan Heights that are part of Syria,” he tweeted. Putin refused to recognize republics Donetsk and Luhansk as sovereign Ukraine like the Golan. Interestingly, Polyanskiy referred to Israel’s capital as Tel Aviv rather than Jerusalem. Russia has...

The United Nations is a completely corrupt organization that gives cover to tyrants and pedophiles, and that has made destroying Israel its primary focus. On Wednesday, even as Russian troops were massed on Ukraine's border, the U.N. Security Council found time to hold a debate on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Just to show how farcical the United Nations is, despite Russia being poised to attack Ukraine, the U.N. Security Council nevertheless followed its usual leadership rotation, making Vladimir Putin the Security Council chairman. Thus, Russia helmed the meeting regarding the U.N.'s obsession: Israel.The meeting occurred just a few hours after Israel announced...

State Department pushes back on signature Trump admin foreign policy decision The Biden administration is walking back the United States' historic recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the contested Golan Heights region along Israel's northern border, a significant blow to the Jewish state and one of the Trump administration's signature foreign policy decisions. The Trump administration declared the territory—seized by Israel from Syria in 1967 and later annexed by the country—to be wholly part of the Jewish state in 2019. Then-secretary of state Mike Pompeo took a trip to the area in 2020 and reaffirmed that America formally abandoned a decades-long...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has confirmed plans to construct a new settlement in the Golan Heights named after President Trump. The funding for “Trump Heights” was approved on Sunday, which will allocate $2.3 million towards the settlement. This big move expressed gratitude for President Trump’s decision to steer clear from prior foreign policies that actively worked against the state of Israel. “Today, we will begin practical steps to construct the settlement ‘Trump Heights’ in the Golan Heights, which Israel’s sovereignty over it was recognized by President Trump,” stated the prime minister. (more at link)

Syria’s air defenses responded to an Israeli attack in the Damascus countryside, according to state media. The report comes after a blast near Israel’s nuclear plant, which IDF pinned on a missile launched from Syria. The Israeli strike reportedly targeted a site in al-Dumayr, located some 24 miles (40km) from the Syrian capital, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported early on Thursday morning. The country’s air defenses were said to have intercepted “most of the enemy missiles,” according to a military spokesman. “The Israeli enemy carried out an air aggression with bursts of missiles from the direction of the...

Syrian and Russian warplanes on Tuesday carried out military drills amid increasing Israeli strikes, according to a military statement released by Syrian defense ministry. The drills and patrols took place near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights in southern Syria and also in the northern and eastern parts of Syria. Two Russian SU-35 jets and six Syrian MIG warplanes took part in the drills...

President Joe Biden told the United Nations on Wednesday the Palestinians are “entitled” to their own state, a day after the U.S. State Department announced $64 million in aid to the U.N. agency for so-called Palestinian refugees. “We will continue to advocate for a lasting, negotiated peace between the Jewish and democratic state of Israel and the Palestinian people,” Biden said during his address at the U.N. General Assembly.

Germany’s public broadcaster, Deutsche Welle, has revised its code of conduct to require support for Israel’s right to exist, and employees who fail to do so may now be fired. The move announced Sept. 1 preceded a court order last week that DW reinstate a former employee fired who was fired after the company determined she had made comments about Israel that could be construed as antisemitic. In all, seven employees from the broadcaster’s Arabic service were let go last year on similar grounds, and so far two have successfully sued DW for reinstatement. The revised conduct code appears to...

After the fighting between Israel and Hamas in 2012, Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki announced that he wanted to visit Gaza.“I congratulate Ismail Haniyeh (the Hamas prime minister) on the victory in Gaza,” he said.Marzouki had previously met with delegations from Hamas and Islamic Jihad. His support for the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist group was so blatant that even the PLO had warned him not to come to Gaza. After leaving office, Marzouki boarded the Hamas flotilla invading Israel. When the flotilla was intercepted, Israel deported him. These days, Tunisia doesn’t want him either.But Massachusetts does.More recently an arrest warrant was issued...

What was an Orthodox Jewish man doing working for Recep Tayyip Erdogan, arguably the world’s most vocal antisemite?17 when Orthodox Jewish lobbyist Nicholas Muzin was paid millions of dollars to lobby for the Emir of Qatar to introduce him to the leaders of right-wing pro-Israel organizations, in an effort to curry favor with a Qatar-weary Donald Trump. Some of the most important right-wing activists for Israel were later ensnared in the controversy, exposed by national media outlets and in a huge investigative story by The Wall Street Journal. All said that they were traveling to Doha for Israel, even as,...

PM Mishustin would become acting president and elections would be held, but experts say the substance of a post-Putin Russia is tough to predict. In recent months, the health of Russian President Vladimir Putin has been the subject of much speculation, with claims that he has cancer, Parkinson’s, or has even survived an assassination attempt. But so far, no doctor’s note has been produced. “He can stay in power for 10 years or more if he wants, it really depends on the circumstances,” political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya told Al Jazeera. “I wouldn’t really pay too much attention to the problem...

Government appears to turn blind eye to sale, opting not to torpedo deal for ‘advanced defensive technology’ that Defense Ministry has barred companies from supplying to Kyiv. An Israeli defense contractor is supplying anti-drone systems to Ukraine’s military by way of Poland, The Times of Israel’s Hebrew sister site Zman Yisrael reported Monday. A source in the firm told Zman that the equipment was being sold to Poland to circumvent Israel’s refusal to sell advanced arms to Ukraine. The company reported to the Defense Ministry that the sale was to Poland and appeared to be claiming not to be aware...

The visit, which comes at the invitation of the Russian Foreign Ministry, will last for several days and aims to discuss prospects for bilateral relations to serve the Palestinian cause. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with a delegation of the Palestinian movement Hamas, headed by political bureau chairman Ismail Haniyeh, in Moscow on Monday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. "On September 12, … Lavrov hosted … Haniyeh, who is in Moscow as the head of the delegation of this Palestinian movement. During the conversation, the main attention was paid to the development of the situation in the Middle East...