Free Republic

While the US State Department’s refusal to recognize Jerusalem as being part of the State of Israel is well-known and was even the subject of a US Supreme Court case, it seems that the official US visa information and appointment services website has erased Israel completely. […] Curiously, while the website lists dozens of nations around the world, including rogue states like Iran, with their flags, there is no mention of Israel or the Israeli flag. Instead, two separate listings are made under the Middle East section: one for Jerusalem and one for Tel Aviv. Israel is, in fact, the...

A German court has forbidden a woman from having her six-year-old son circumcised because of a risk of psychological damage. The decision comes a year after a similar ruling sparked an international outcry. In July 2012, a court in Cologne said religious circumcision of male infants was tantamount to grievous bodily harm, a criminal act subject to prosecution—prompting furor around the world. In response, German lawmakers were forced to clarify that circumcision was legal. But now a court in Hamm in North Rhine-Westphalia has said a woman was unfit to decide whether doctors performed the religious rite on her six-year-old...