Free Republic

There are some things you just don’t do. It doesn’t matter how unconventional you may think you are or how desperate you are to get a message out there. Some lines are simply not meant to be crossed. Last week, a group of pro-Palestinian Israeli activists chose to demonstrate against Israeli policy in Gaza by spraying graffiti on one of the last remaining walls of Poland’s Warsaw Ghetto. The group, without a doubt, crossed that line. The left-leaning protestors held a rally near the wall and then sprayed graffiti in Hebrew and English calling for all ghettos — including Gaza...

(IsraelNN.com) The first anniversary of Israel's counterterrorism Operation Cast Lead in Gaza is set to be a catalyst for a series of anti-Israel protests worldwide. A mass march to the Erez Crossing between Gaza and Israel is to include several Western VIPs. From December 27 through early January, the dates of Operation Cast Lead last year, international pro-Palestinian groups are set to hold "Gaza Freedom Marches" in North America, Europe and Israel. The Gaza Freedom March in Hamas-controlled Gaza itself is slated for December 31. Organizers of the latter event are expecting around 50,000 local participants, with over 1,000 from...

WASHINGTON – The UN is currently marking the historic date of November 29 1947, the day in which it approved the partition plan separating Israel into two states – Jewish and Arabic. But while in Israel the date is celebratory, as it marks the end of the British mandate and the beginning of independent rule, the UN headquarters in New York and Geneva are holding ceremonies of mourning and solidarity with the Palestinian people.

A campaigner trying to force the BBC to publish an internal report on alleged bias in its Middle East coverage won the latest round of a legal battle yesterday. The Law Lords held by a 3-2 majority that a case brought by London lawyer Steven Sugar under the Freedom of Information Act was wrongly blocked by legal rulings at earlier hearings. The BBC is understood to have spent £200,000 on the case which has been through the Information Tribunal, the High Court and the Court of Appeal. It now returns to the High Court for further argument.

"Israel is an apartheid state," was the most often-heard charge, closely followed by calls for a boycott. The West should cut its economic ties with the Jewish state, the speakers urged, and engage the "democratically elected" Islamists now running Gaza. No, this was not a Hamas rally somewhere in the Palestinian territories. This was Brussels, where the European Parliament last week played host to the "United Nations International Conference of Civil Society in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace." If the conference title's inversion of the truth is reminiscent of Communist-style propaganda, this is no coincidence. The meeting was organized by the...

It seems that everywhere one looks lately, former President Jimmy Carter is hawking his new book, "Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid."  The inflammatory title has not won Carter any new fans from the pro-Israel side of the equation. But for those who buy into the history of the Middle East conflict that's been promulgated through years of anti-Israel propaganda, Carter's use of the term "apartheid" is a confirmation of all they hold dear. The attempt to associate Israel with apartheid era South Africa has indeed been a popular and effective tactic in the arsenal of anti-Israel talking points. It matters little...

As tensions have risen significantly over the last few weeks between Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon and Israel, many Montrealers, myself included, have grown accustomed to the spontaneous anti-Israel rallies that have taken place along the main thoroughfares in downtown Montreal. (Video excerpted from CBC footage aired on July 30, 2006. (launch by external player)Most media reported that the rally had been peaceful.) This Sunday was no exception, as the situation in the Middle East escalated a notch after an IDF-guided missile missed a Hezbollah weapons cache in the southern Lebanese town of Qana, hitting a home where over 50 civilians...

Hamas defies Abbas call to moderate anti-Israeli strategy By Tim Butcher in Jerusalem (Filed: 06/06/2006) The Hamas-led Palestinian government looked certain last night to defy the moderate leader Mahmoud Abbas and reject his demand to soften its stance towards Israel. With no sign of Hamas meeting a midnight deadline to back the so-called Prisoners' Accord, a proposal recognising the right of Israel to exist within pre-1967 borders, the stage was set for a referendum, which Mr Abbas had promised to hold in 30 days if his plan was rebuffed. Tension between armed factions from Fatah and Hamas is expected to...

JERUSALEM – While the U.S. Congress is attempting to push tough legislation aimed at financially and diplomatically isolating the new Hamas-led Palestinian government, WND has learned leftist American Jewish organizations are working to block the anti-Hamas efforts, some arguing the terror group – which has killed hundreds of Israeli civilians – may be willing to make peace with the Jewish state. "We oppose the legislation. The U.S. should be extending carrots to Hamas, and not just slapping them with sticks. We should be trying to encourage Hamas to recognize Israel, not shutting them out completely," M.J. Rosenberg, director of policy...

Karen Hughes, President Bush’s newest undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and the caretaker of America’s image abroad, has her work cut out for her. A Zogby survey of 3,900 Arabs in Morocco, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates has uncovered massive distrust of U.S. motives in the Middle East. Unkindest cut of all, Arabs would prefer that President Chirac and France lead the world rather than us, and, rather than have us as the world’s lone superpower, they would prefer the Chinese. While Arabs are not as rabidly anti-American as in the aftermath of the...

I apologize for the delay in posting this thread. The actual event took place this past weekend, and I had intended on posting some of these pictures earlier in the week, but our (Protest Warrior, NY Chapter) unofficial photographer wasn't able to get in touch with me until recently. In any case, we did make our presence felt on the sidelines of the parade, where we were simultaneously able to enjoy the festivities and counterprotest the PLO-loving, terrorist-sympathizing, fifth columnist rabble that decided to use the day where we celebrate America's most steadfast ally in the Middle East as an...

Activism A Seattle Central Community College campus antiwar group, Students Against War, is in hot water after students chased U.S. Army recruiters off the SCCC campus during an Inauguration Day anti-Bush rally. Nobody was hurt in the incident, in which students ripped up recruiting literature and verbally confronted recruiters. Right-wing bloggers and radio talk shows across the country have gotten hold of the story and are besieging SCCC administrators with demands to discipline the students. The upshot, says Pete Knutson, the students' faculty adviser, was a letter from the administration demanding that the students apologize by Thursday or have their...

Israel is guilty of severe human rights violations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, including "wanton destruction" of houses and infrastructure, according to a United Nations report obtained by The Associated Press. The annual human rights report is to be presented to the UN General Assembly later this month. The 18-page report was prepared by John Dugard, the UN representative for human rights. It charges that while some of Israel's actions in the Palestinian areas can be explained by security concerns, many cannot. During operations in the Gaza Strip, Israel engaged in "massive and wanton destruction of property," the...

Ward Dorrity400 Sky Hawk Drive · Spirit Lake, ID 83869 · warddorrity@starband.net TO: Claude Kistler, KSPS station manager RE: Request for contribution Dear Claude, I received your letter asking me to contribute to Spokane’s ‘public’ television and radio stations.  It was very kind of you to offer me a membership in what I’m sure is an exclusive and sophisticated group, the “Friends of Seven.” But something tells me that I might not fit in. Sure, you mention programming such as “The Antiques Roadshow,” NOVA and “Masterpiece Theater.” Great stuff, mostly. But you failed to mention some of the other programming...

Feb. 13, 2003 British paper says columnist's attack on Israel 'regrettable' By DOUGLAS DAVIS LONDON - The London Evening Standard has apologized to readers who, it says, were "rightly offended" by a vitriolic attack on Israel contained in the regular column of British author A. N. Wilson. The paper said that Wilson unknowingly quoted "notorious white supremacist and Holocaust denier" Michael Hoffman and said it was "a matter of great regret that Hoffman or any of his propaganda was publicized." Condemning its own columnist, the paper said that it "fundamentally disagrees" with the opinions expressed by Wilson, "but, as with...

LONDON British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Syrian President Bashar Assad stepped delicately around their differences over terrorism and Iraq following a two-hour lunch meeting at Blair's official residence at 10 Downing Street on Monday. Speaking to journalists, Assad brushed aside suggestions that Damascus is hosting organizations that support suicide bombers, insisting that they are not terrorist centers but "press offices." The confusion, he said, was the result of misunderstandings in "terminology and idiom." "In our region they are called press offices. They are not called terrorist organizations," he said. "These press offices represent Palestinians who live in Syria and...

EYES ABROAD: The return of Vichyism By Bret Stephens READING ABOUT the recent upsurge in anti-Semitic attacks and anti-Israel feeling in Europe, two points are clear. The first point is that the perpetrators of the attacks are mainly Arab. In Montpellier, France, three Moroccans confessed to throwing Molotov cocktails at a synagogue. In Antwerp, Belgium, 14 Muslims are under arrest for smashing car and store windows in the city's diamond district. In Berlin, Germany, the men who set upon a Lubavitcher are described in a police report as Suedlaendisch - southlanders. The second point is that those protesting Israel are...