Free Republic

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has endorsed Ilhan Omar over her more moderate opponent in a hotly contested primary race for Minnesota’s 5th congressional district scheduled for August 11. Despite Pelosi’s endorsement, Omar’s challenger, Antone Melton-Meaux, has managed to garner a substantial war chest and has out-funded Omar by wide margins. He draws support from more moderate Democrats who view Omar with suspicion and have been turned off by her toxic rhetoric, questionable ethics and anti-Semitic commentary. Omar has raised the ire of moderate Democrats who view her malign commentary as a liability to the Democratic Party. She has also...

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN) participates in a news conference at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, Feb. 7, 2019. Photo: Reuters / Jonathan Ernst / Files.Antisemitic sentiments and incidents continue to rise worldwide, particularly in the West. Sometimes this form of bigotry is perpetrated by far-right elements, other times at the hands of far-leftists and Islamists. It is rare to see both extremes unite for any cause except for their mutual disdain for Israel or Jews. It is even rarer to see them applaud and defend an American politician.But that is exactly what’s happening as Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s anti-Jewish tropes...

Ilhan Omar says it's 'exciting' her controversial views on Israel are sparking debate Washington (CNN)Freshman Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota is defending her controversial views on Israel as they come under scrutiny in Washington, telling CNN that "it's not surprising" her positions are generating attention and that she finds it "exciting" to be sparking debate. "It's not surprising. I think it is actually exciting because we are finally able to have conversations that we weren't really willing to," Omar told CNN on Tuesday. "It is really important for us to get a different lens about what peace in that...

Despite battling accusations of anti-Semitism, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn) is due to speak this month at a fundraising event alongside a senior charity official who has published social-media posts praising the killing of Jews. Islamic Relief USA is hosting a fundraising dinner for aid to Yemen on Feb. 23. Omar is due to speak alongside senior Islamic Relief USA official Yousef Abdallah, who was widely criticized in 2017 after the Middle East Forum found that he had expressed violently anti-Semitic ideas on his social-media accounts. Subscribe to The JNS Daily Syndicate by email and never miss our top stories Abdallah,...

A week and a half ago President Obama gave the order for the U.S. to abstain on UN Security Council Resolution 2334, thereby—effectively—voting in favor and allowing the resolution to pass. As I noted, the resolution goes beyond “moral equivalency” by obfuscating Palestinian terror and incitement while branding Jewish life beyond the 1949 Armistice Lines a “flagrant violation under international law” and a “major obstacle…to peace.” But the administration wasn’t through with Israel. A few days later, with the Middle East aflame from Yemen to Iraq to Syria to Libya to Sudan and Iranian expansionism on the march, Secretary of...

If any doubts remained about Obama’s malignant narcissism, historical ignorance, and geopolitical cretinism, the lame-duck-in-chief dispelled them with his abstention at the Security Council vote on a resolution slandering Israeli “settlements” as the foremost obstacle to peace. Undoing this despicable abandonment of a crucial ally should shoot to the top of incoming president Donald Trump’s to-do list. Israeli intelligence has demonstrated that this diplomatic drive-by was orchestrated by Obama himself. “From the information that we have, we have no doubt that the Obama administration initiated it, stood behind it, coordinated on the wording and demanded that it be passed,” said...

The anti-Israel U.N. resolution of December 23, 2016, which the United States abstained from, is the crowning glory of an anti-Semitic and anti-American administration. It is the coda to a dismal eight years from a radical leftist regime that holds a Hanukkah lighting ceremony at the White House while seeking to obliterate the Jewish homeland. It is totally to be expected from a president whose seething animus for all things Jewish was evident from his very first days in office. It will remain a moment of shame for America. On November 10, 1975, U.N. ambassador Daniel Patrick Moynihan eloquently showed...

Some Senate Democrats have issued scathing statements against President Barack Obama and his administration’s decision to break with longstanding tradition to veto anti-Israel resolutions, choosing, instead, to abstain from voting in a United Nations Security Council vote. The vote called for a halt to Israeli construction in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem. Among the Democrats are Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Bob Casey (D-PA), Richard Blumenthal (D-VT), Mark Warner (D-VA), and Chris Coons (D-DE), all of whom echoed Republican President-elect Donald Trump’s call just one day earlier for America to veto the resolution

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...

Black Lawyers for Justice President Malik Zulu Shabazz argued that the Baltimore Police Department is an occupying force, like Israel on Tuesday’s “Hannity” on the Fox News Channel.

Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu needed to “contain himself” and stop criticizing President Barack Obama’s proposed nuclear deal with Iran.Feinstein said, “I don’t think it’s helpful for Israel to come out and oppose this one opportunity to change a major dynamic, which is downhill, a downhill dynamic in this part of the world.”

WASHINGTON — The White House is stepping up its antagonism toward Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu despite his victory in this week’s elections, signaling that it is in no rush to repair a historic rift between the United States and Israel. The sharpened tone indicates that the Obama administration may be re-evaluating its relationship with its closest ally in the Middle East, having lost patience with Mr. Netanyahu in the closing days of an election campaign in which he spotlighted deep disagreements with President Obama over a Palestinian state and a nuclear deal with Iran. “You reach a tipping point,” said...

Tough day, sport — despite your colleagues’ best efforts: Tightness of exits in Israel suggests Bibi's shameful 11th hour demagoguery may have swayed enough votes to save him. But at what cost?— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) March 17, 2015 First Twitter response: “You mad bro?” Yup. Keep in mind that this lamenter of demagoguery is the same guy who ran a campaign that accused Mitt Romney of giving a woman cancer, blessing scurrilous charges of tax evasion, and darkly warning Ohio voters that Obama’s opponent wasn’t “one of us.” You’d think he’d respect a ruthless, win-at-all-costs (successful) strategy. Instead, he’s...

Arizona Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) California Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) — “I am disappointed Speaker Boehner chose to irresponsibly interject politics into what has long been a strong and bipartisan relationship between the United States and Israel. As President Obama has noted, it is inappropriate for a Head of State to address Congress just two weeks ahead of their election. I agree that Congress should not be used as a prop in Israeli election campaigns, so I intend to watch the speech on TV in my office.” Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-CA) — “Rep. McNerney is not...

According to the Israeli version of YNET News, the State Department has issued a travel warning to Israel, specifically to Jerusalem. Below is the Google Translate version of the article: The US State Department issued a travel warning for Americans who travel to Israel, with an emphasis on visits to Jerusalem. “The security situation can change from day to day, depending on the state and regional peace. There is a danger of political tension and violence in Jerusalem and the West Bank will bring your injuries and even death American citizens,” reads the warning. American publication states that the security...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has conveyed messages to the Americans to the effect that “he didn’t know” the invitation extended to him to speak before the US Congress was anything but genuinely bipartisan, Israel’s Channel 10 news reported Friday night. Netanyahu remains determined to go ahead with the address, to highlight the dangers of a deal that would leave Iran as a nuclear threshold state, but is making an effort “to soften” the Obama administration’s anger, and that of many Democrats, over the March 3 speech, the TV report said. The report added that some 40 Democratic legislators are currently...

Vice President Joe Biden will not be attending Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech before a joint session of Congress next month, news agencies reported. A statement released by aides to Biden, who is usually in his seat whenever a foreign leader addresses the legislature by dint of his position as president of the Senate, indicated that the vice president will be traveling abroad during the speech. "We are not ready to announce details of his trip yet, and normally our office wouldn't announce this early, but the planning process has been underway for a while," an official in the vice...

Joe Biden won’t be there to welcome Benjamin Netanyahu to a joint session of Congress — or even shake his hand. The vice president will miss only his second address by a foreign leader to a joint session of Congress next month, when he’ll be out of the country while Netanyahu makes what’s become an increasingly controversial speech warning against the Iran nuclear deal. The vice president’s office on Friday confirmed the plans to skip the March 3 speech. “We are not ready to announce details of his trip yet, and normally our office wouldn’t announce this early, but the...

WASHINGTON (CNN) —Several influential senior Democratic senators said Wednesday they and other senators are considering boycotting an upcoming speech to Congress by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to protest the decision by House Republicans to disregard protocol and invite the foreign leader without the involvement of the White House. The White House has a standing policy of avoiding the appearance of favoritism by not visiting with foreign dignitaries when an election in their country is imminent. Netanyahu's speech comes just days before an Israeli election. "Colleagues of mine are very concerned about it and I'm troubled by it. I won't...

The messy politics surrounding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s scheduled joint address to Congress continue to play out in a less than private way, as Democrats try to show discontent for how the speech ended up on the congressional calendar while not turning their back on Israel and the powerful political lobby it controls. “There’s a lot of unnecessary drama occurring when we should be focusing on the substance of the negotiations with Iran and the outcome of those negotiations,” said Rep. Steve Israel, the new chairman of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee. “Israel” — the state, that is...