Free Republic

The debate over free speech and content policy on Twitter– like on other social media sites— is often centered on issues relevant to political and cultural debates in the United States, where the company is headquartered. Yet this discussion of hypothetical censorship obscures the fact that company policies today are already used to silence important voices— journalists reporting from Kurdistan, who provide key information on political and military developments there at great personal risk.  While Twitter is a safer platform for Kurdish reporters and supporters of the Kurdish cause than sites like Facebook— which ban pages and accounts for posting photos of the...

Why has the media and much of the political establishment made the presumed murder of an Islamist Saudi dissident on Turkish soil a defining issue in American foreign policy? Jamal Khashoggi is not a U.S. citizen, despite his past residence in Virginia, nor is he a lover of liberty, despite his criticism of Saudi Arabia’s despotic regime. He previously served that regime as a mouthpiece for, and adviser to, the alleged al-Qaeda-tied Saudi intelligence leader Turki bin Faisal. Khashoggi mourned the death of Osama bin Laden, whom Khashoggi had been granted unusual levels of access for numerous interviews. Khashoggi was...

American and western intelligence sources believe Iran has been increasing its shipments of advanced weaponry to Hezbollah, and that the deliveries now include Global Positioning System (GPS) components to make previously unguided rockets into precision guided-missiles, increasing the threat to Israel, Fox News reported on Friday. One of the Iranian flights arrived in Lebanon three days ago, officials told the news channel. Iran’s Fars Air Qeshm flight number QFZ-9950 departed Tehran International Airport on Tuesday at 9:33 a.m. local time, and flew to an unknown destination, according to flight data obtained by Fox News. Later in the day, the Boeing...

During the Obama presidency, the U.S. administration was wary of the Muslim Brotherhood, which had come to power in Egypt after the country’s first-ever free elections. Despite his declared support for democracy and change in the Arab world in the wake of the Arab Spring, then-President Barack Obama did not take a strong position and reject the coup against President-elect Mohamed Morsi. The coup, as we know, led to the military’s return to power in the largest Arab country — along with tyranny, repression, corruption and mismanagement. That is the conclusion that David D. Kirkpatrick arrives at in his excellent...

The United States on Thursday downgraded the status of its main diplomatic mission to the Palestinians by placing it under the authority of the U.S. Embassy to Israel. The move, which was immediately denounced by the Palestinians and hailed by Israel, is the latest Trump administration decision to align with Israeli government views and a victory for U.S. Ambassador David Friedman. He had long sought to end the Jerusalem consulate’s independent status but had faced resistance from within the State Department. Friedman’s push picked up steam in May after the Trump administration moved the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem...

The Trump bandwagon is swinging into top gear--with Jordan in the box seat and the PLO left flailing way behind. Any lingering thought that the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) would have any role to play in President Trump’s soon to-be-released peace plan has vanished - after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that $165 million had been deducted from funding to the PLO because of its continuing “pay for slay” policy in breach of the Taylor Force Act. Jordan has now signalled its preparedness to replace the PLO by publicly supporting Trump in an article written in the Jordan Times...

If you get your news from the media, then you will have heard that Jamal Khashoggi was a heroic reform who sought freedom for the region, and was brutally murdered to the strains of hip-hop music by a legion of Saudi assassins. And it was all recorded on his Apple Watch. If you're interested in the facts, instead of the fake news, you probably already know that Jamal Khashoggi was a Muslim Brotherhood leader and an old friend of Osama bin Laden. He's being mourned by the media that backed the Muslim Brotherhood.

....Israel does not need the love of the Arabs nor does it need to convince them of its right to exist in their midst. It knows that its existence is outside the context of history and logic and that it came into being by force, it will live by force and it will die by force. Consequently, it will have to live with its finger on the trigger... ....this doctrine is still alive. It is exactly what the current Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is implementing so faithfully in Gaza today, in the footsteps of his predecessors. In brief, and...

Colonel Richard Kemp: UN Encourages Terrorism Against Israel By Joel Leyden Israel News AgencyJerusalem, Israel — May 21, 2018 … Speech made by Colonel Richard Kemp at the emergency session of the United Nations Human Rights Council on the deteriorating situation in Gaza on 18 May 2018. Col. Kemp, decorated for his bravery with the UN Protection Force in Bosnia, tells the United Nations Human Rights Council: “Your failure to admit Hamas is responsible for every drop of blood spilt encourages their violence and use of human shields, makes you complicit in further bloodshed.” VIDEO CAN BE VIEWED AT: http://israelnewsagency.com/un-terrorism-gaza-hamas-iran-jihad-human-rights-israel-idf/...

Hamas tests the limits of Israel’s patience. On Wednesday, at approximately 3:40 a.m. Israeli time, sirens blared throughout the southern Israeli city of Be’er Sheva (Beersheba) shattering the stillness of the night. In what is considered to be a major escalation, Gazan-based terrorists fired a single rocket at the city, which is located approximately 25 miles from Gaza Strip. Miraculously, the projectile, which landed in a courtyard, caused no casualties but five people were treated for shock. Israel responded by hitting 20 military targets throughout Gaza. The Israeli Air Force also launched a precision strike against a group of terrorists...

“The Palestinians are not a UN Member State or any state at all. The United States will continually point that out in our remarks at UN events led by the Palestinians,” Haley said. The United States does not recognize Palestine as a state, its envoys said on Tuesday as they opposed United Nations General Assembly move to enhance the stature of the Palestinian Authority. “The Palestinians are not a UN Member State or any state at all. The United States will continually point that out in our remarks at UN events led by the Palestinians,” US Ambassador to the United...

President Trump on Wednesday said the U.S. has requested audio and video from Turkey related to the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. "We've asked for it, if it exists," Trump said in the Oval Office. Trump told reporters he is not sure if a recording exists, but conceded it "probably does," and indicated it could play a role in assigning blame for his fate. "We will probably know that by the end of the week," Trump said regarding the Khashoggi case. The president spoke as grisly details emerged about the Saudis alleged interrogation of Khashoggi inside their consulate in Istanbul...

"I just spoke with the King of Saudi Arabia who denies any knowledge of what took place in regard to as he said 'his Saudi Arabian citizen'....and he firmly denies that.... ...it sounded to me like these could have been rogue killers, who knows....." President Trump speaks outside the White House 10/15/2018- President Trump Does Sword Dance In Saudi Arabia 5/20/2017- "This country has been living in the pocket of the Saudi despotism for decades. Our crazy policy in Syria, of supporting jihadis we would lock up if we found them in Birmingham, was adopted to please the Saudis. We...

Demonstrators at the march hoisted symbols in support of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. BERLIN – A march estimated by police to have included 100,000 demonstrators took place in Germany’s capital on Saturday to protest right-wing extremism. Speakers urged the obliteration of the Jewish state and support for the BDS campaign against Israel. The Jerusalem Post reviewed a video showing two speakers who called for the “liberation of all of Palestine 48” and “We must take a stand and boycott Israel. BDS.” The slogan to “liberate all of Palestine” refers to the founding of the Jewish state...

Major General Herzi Halevi, the Commanding Officer of the IDF Southern Command, slammed the Hamas terrorist organization following the rocket attack on Be'er Sheva early Wednesday morning. "Hamas pretends to govern in Gaza, and tells the Gazan population that it seeks to improve their lives. However, in reality, Hamas specializes in riots at the border fence and in using explosive devices, incendiary and explosive balloons, and, as we saw last night, rockets," Gen. Halevi said in a statement. "Hamas worsens the lives of ordinary Gazans and last night took actions which forced us to strike a range of weapon production...

Israel and the United States sent a secret military delegation to Ukraine to test the Russian-made S-300 missile defense system, which Moscow recently provided to Syria, Hadashot TV news reported Monday, citing Syrian and Russian news outlets. There was no comment on the reports from either Israel or the US. According to the reports, members of the Ukrainian military instructed their US and Israeli counterparts on the capabilities of the system, as well as running through various possible scenarios. One Russian report said that F-15 planes are training in Ukraine against the S-300 as part of an international exercise that...

By: Hassan.Mahmoudi On October 9, Asadollah Assadi an Iranian official working under diplomatic cover Extradited to Belgium by German authorities, a day later, Belgian prosecutors said that Assadi was charged along with the other three Iranians with planning to bomb the annual meeting of the NCRI in Paris. However, the Iran's regime international behavior of state sponsor terrorism is followed by domestic repression and we need to take both the structure of the international and the domestic behavior into account. On Sunday, October 14, according to NCRI report: "noble teachers across the country went on strike and refused to go...

The Palestinian Authority President delivered his statement on Sunday as pressures mount on Saudi Arabia following the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas issued a statement on Sunday in which he voiced "full confidence" in Saudi Arabia and praised its leaders for their support for the Palestinians. The statement, which was published by the PA president's office, quoted Abbas as saying he has "absolute confidence" in Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman. "Palestine was - and shall remain - on the side of Saudi Arabia," Abbas said....

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio said President Trump must respond with more than “just words” if Saudi Arabia is found to be behind the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi or it would undermine the United States’ reputation as a champion of human rights. “I’m glad the president didn’t tie his hands in terms of exactly what we are going to do. But it needs to be very strong and meaningful, it can’t be symbolic, it can’t just be words,” the Florida lawmaker said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” Trump has threatened “severe consequences” against Saudi Arabia but hasn’t gone...

While Iran’s economy is collapsing, and this will eventually be forcing poor people into disastrous condition and when the Trump administration is pushing its “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran into overdrive, with Tuesday’s announcement that the State Department is aiming to cut off all Iranian oil exports by November. While the Iranian rial has lost more than 85 percent of its value against the US dollar in recent months. last week Iran faced with Social unrest and Protests such as truck driver and merchants strike. Today Following calls for a strike on October 14 that was widely circulated on social...