Free Republic

Israel claims to have found about 50 cross-border tunnels underneath the boundary between Rafah, in the Gaza Strip, and Egypt — tunnels that could have been used by Hamas terrorists to smuggle in weapons to use against Israel. The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies noted on Friday: Israel went public on May 17 with the discovery of 50 smuggling tunnels leading from the southern Gazan city of Rafah to Egypt. Defending Israel against South African-filed genocide allegations at the International Court of Justice, attorney Gilad Noam devoted part of his remarks to the ongoing military operation in Rafah, a...

Just as 9/11 and the space shuttle disasters showed failures at the relevant agencies, the 10/7 pogrom has exposed a failure of leadership at all levels of government and society.Derek Hunter often writes to the effect that when one thinks that Democrats could not go any lower, they whip out their shovels and keep digging deeper and deeper. I was reminded of his insight when I saw a headline this morning. It’s not enough that the US chose not to send ammunition to Israel during a hot war. It was still not enough to threaten not to send certain critical...

To be a college president, you have to go through the faculty ranks with one fear: you do not want to get on the wrong side of left-wing students and left-wing faculty. They're not just Democrats; they're hard left now and are predominantly taking over the general education curriculum. It's a diversity, equity, and inclusion ideology. You see the Columbia president, someone promoted not on merit but on the idea that they are acceptable to the hard left and will continue this drift. The problem they're having is that the nation hadn't seen this. The nation just thought, "Well, it's...

These infantile campuses have a rendezvous with adult accountability, both public and governmental. And they won’t like what is coming. Anti-Israel/pro-Hamas campus protests have engulfed hundreds of college campuses. But the more coastal, blue-state, and supposedly elite the campus was, the more furious the violence that sometimes followed these demonstrations. Even rowdier and more vicious street analogs shut down key bridges, freeways, and religious services. Protestors often defaced hallowed American monuments, national cemeteries, and iconic buildings. Visa-holders were among the worst perpetrators, adding ingratitude to their criminality. The vast majority wore masks, not to protect from infection but to hide...

Deputy of NYC Mayor Eric Adams calls out Washington Post for article on wealthy Jews' advocacy for Israel.

President Biden applauded a call for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip Sunday while attending the commencement of Morehouse College in Atlanta on Sunday. Valedictorian Deangelo Fletcher, who spoke before Biden’s commencement address, stopped short of any direct rebuke of the president but called for an “immediate and a permanent ceasefire.” “It is only right for the class of 2024 to utilize any platform provided to stand in solidarity with peace and justice,” Fletcher said while evoking the activism of Morehouse alumnus Martin Luther King Jr.

Russia and China are “manipulating” public opinion in Britain by promoting online pro-Palestinian influencers in an effort to stoke division, Whitehall sources believe. Senior Government figures fear rogue states are promoting polarising online narratives about the Israel-Hamas conflict using an army of fake social media accounts. Analysis of some of the leading pro-Palestinian social media influencers in the UK, who have ballooned in popularity in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, has revealed that many of their followers are fake. Experts said such a boost from fake profiles would disproportionately amplify pro-Palestinian voices – the more...

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s plan for the “day after” in Gaza includes providing weapons to local figures tied to the Palestinian Authority with international oversight, according to a report in Israel Hayom. In an explosive speech on Wednesday, Gallant stated that he will not consent to Israeli civil or military governance of Gaza, and that governance by non-Hamas Palestinian entities, accompanied by international actors, is in Israel’s interest. The newspaper report claims that Gallant’s plan, backed by the defense establishment, is to provide such groups with guns, which will be electronically monitored by Israel to prevent them being used by...

Earlier this month, the Biden administration floated a trial balloon, suggesting "senior officials across several federal U.S. agencies have discussed the practicality of different options to resettle Palestinians from Gaza who have immediate family members who are American citizens or permanent residents." No other Middle Eastern country is crazy enough to want large numbers of Gazans to enter their country. The history of Palestinians in Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria suggests that the refugees would look to overthrow the government or launch terrorist attacks against Israel from within their borders. This apparently isn't deterring Joe Biden. Perhaps it should. Pinhas Inbari,...

Financial planning guru says providing a safe place for the event is a gift to friends from Israel.. Personal finance expert Dave Ramsey is rescuing a pro-Israel conference from cancellation after a Nashville hotel backed out from hosting because of alleged threats by anti-Israel activists. When Ramsey heard that a Nashville hotel revoked access for the Israel Summit, an event scheduled for next week that will feature prominent Christians and Jews, organizers say Ramsey got in touch and offered not only to host it, but also to help make it even bigger. “Dave Ramsey reached out and said, ‘You’re going...

As the weather has warmed, it’s time for that time-honored tradition — protest season. Because everyone knows the plight of the disenfranchised is best solved at 70°F. Setting up winter camp in a college quad seems unpleasant — the revolution will take place at a time, place and temperature that’s convenient for America’s poetry graduate assistants. Campus protests are nothing new in America. They’ve been a feature of university life since at least the Vietnam War and beyond. And sure, it’s fun to get wrapped up in a romantic cause you only just learned about and of which you have...

The “floating pier” built by the U.S. Navy off the coast of Gaza was completed on Thursday, and connected to the shore by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops. President Joe Biden announced the port project in his State of the Union address in March to augment land routes to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. He promised that there would be no American “boots on the ground”; the U.S. is relying on the IDF to provide onshore security for the port. Today at approximately 7:40 a.m. (Gaza time) United States Central Command personnel supporting the humanitarian mission to deliver additional humanitarian...

Rafah isn’t just the last stand for Hamas, but for an entire foreign policy establishment.The desperate effort to keep Israeli soldiers from going into the last Gaza stronghold of the Islamic terrorist organization is about more than the sum of the geopolitical parts.After nation building failed in Afghanistan and Iraq, and everywhere else it’s been tried, the radioactive ‘Palestinian’ nation building experiment from over 30 years ago is its last hope.Long before George W. Bush tackled nation building after 9/11, his father began the era of turning Muslim terrorist groups into countries with the project to give the PLO a...

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) shared drone footage Tuesday of terrorists in a United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) compound in Rafah, near several United Nations (UN) vehicles, including gunfire by the terrorists.Israel's foreign minister, Israel Katz, said that the UN was working with the terrorists, and called on UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini to resign (as Katz has done in the past).The IDF released a statement:During IDF operational activity in eastern Rafah on Saturday, terrorists were identified in UNRWA's central logistics compound alongside UN vehicles.In the footage, a number of terrorists and gunfire can be seen near UN vehicles...

The Biden administration is urging Arab states to join a "peacekeeping" force which would control Gaza once the war ends, the Financial Times reported. The initiative aims to fill the vacuum which would be created in Gaza once Hamas is toppled and until a "credible Palestinian security apparatus" could be established. Among the countries the US has been discussing its plans with are Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Morocco, all of which are "considering" the initiative. The US has also spoken to Saudi Arabia about the plan, but the Saudis are unwilling to deploy their own forces to the...

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Monday that President Joe Biden's administration does not view the killings of Palestinian Arabs in Gaza by Israel in its war with Hamas as genocide, Reuters reported. Sullivan said the United States wants to see Hamas defeated, adding that Gazans caught in the middle of the war were in "hell" and that a major military operation by Israel in Rafah would be a mistake. "We do not believe what is happening in Gaza is a genocide. We have been firmly on record rejecting that proposition," he said. .....

The Biden administration informally notified congressional committees Tuesday that it planned to move forward with more than $1 billion in weapons deals for Israel, said U.S. officials familiar with the matter, a major transfer of lethal aid that comes a week after the White House paused a single shipment of bombs because of concerns that a planned assault in southern Gaza could cause immense civilian casualties. The arms deals allow for the potential transfer of $700 million in tank ammunition, $500 million in tactical vehicles and $60 million in mortar rounds, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of...

A group of Palestinian rioters vandalized Joshua’s Altar in the West Bank, a site revered by millions of Jews and Christians. The altar, which is located at Mount Ebal, was damaged after the rioters burned tires on its remains and spray-painted Palestinian flags and Arabic inscriptions on the stones last week, according to a report in the Jerusalem Post. According to a report from TPS, the site is under joint control with the Palestinian Authority and has been the target of vandalism on numerous occasions, part of a larger problem of attacks on Israeli archaeological sites under Palestinian control. “Unfortunately,...

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Tuesday that it had killed 15 terrorists, at least 10 of whom were from Hamas, in a strike on a “war room” that they had set up at a United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) school. In a joint statement, the IDF and the Israel Security Agency (ISA, or “Shabak,” or “Shin Bet”) said: Based on IDF and ISA intelligence, the IAF carried out a precise strike on a central Hamas war room commanders embedded inside an UNRWA school in the area of Nuseirat. The war room was used by terrorist operatives in...

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israel began toned down Independence Day celebrations at sundown on Monday, with hopes for an end to the seven-month-old Gaza war dim, anti-government protests growing and internal divisions festering. As the country marks its 76th year, firework displays were cancelled and the traditional torch-lighting ceremony at the Jerusalem national cemetery will be taped for TV audiences instead of livestreamed. Opposition lawmakers blasted the move as an attempt at stifling protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has come under attack at live events from hecklers furious about his failure to bring home the 128 hostages still held by...