Free Republic

IT’s nearly here! The birthday of the selfless one himself. The man, the myth, the legend, saviour of all humanity, Jesus Christ. However, it is actually widely debated that, if he did exist in flesh and blood, his birthday was actually on December 25. One theory suggests that the ‘Star of Bethlehem’ may have been Venus and Jupiter coming together to form a bright light in the sky, a rare event that occurred in June of 2 B.C. Another possibility is that it could have been a similar conjunction between Saturn and Jupiter, which was in October of 7 B.C....

PITTSBURGH — Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn., has emerged as one of the most reliable supporters of the Jewish community in his hometown, which is located a handful of miles from where the deadliest massacre of Jews happened in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh five years ago. This support is changing how many in the state see him. David Knoll, a Pittsburgh-based businessman and Democrat who launched a last-minute quixotic challenge to local county councilwoman Bethany Hallam over her social media posts supporting antisemitism, said, “Fetterman has been better than anyone could have hoped, and honestly did not see that...

It was like a scene in downtown Tehran orchestrated by Iran's ruling mullahs, one of those "spontaneous" protests in Ramallah on the West Bank, or from 1938 Germany as the Nazis whipped up antisemitic hate in preparation for Kristallnacht — and worse. But it was modern-day Los Angeles on Friday night, the second night of Hanukkah, when a mob marched through a largely Jewish neighborhood chanting death threats to Jews. According to StopAntisemitism, the mob also defaced several buildings, including synagogues. Here's a short clip of the mob in action. CLICK ABOVE ARTICLE LINK FOR THE VIDEO People who still...

Far-left billionaire George Soros has funneled more than $50 million to a network of Iran-sympathizer groups whose members have gained significant sway within the Biden White House — pushing to defang US sanctions on Tehran while advocating for a renewed nuclear deal. *** Robert Malley, the former US special envoy to Iran now under FBI investigation for his alleged mishandling of classified material, was the ICG’s president until he joined the Biden administration in 2021. “Soros has continually funded organizations that act as apologists for the Iranian regime – downplaying their severe human rights abuses while working to advance Iranian...

Chilling video shows the moment a suspect set fire to a Jewish-Japanese fusion restaurant in Williamsburg, in what police are calling an antisemitic arson hate crime. The incident occurred on Nov. 18 shortly after 4 am in front of the Shalom Japan restaurant on South 4th Street, according to police Friday. Surveillance video shows a man walking up to the eatery and torching two outside window tarps that cops said featured images of the Jewish Star of David. In the footage, the bearded and bespectacled arsonist is seen casually walking back and forth as smoke begins to spread.

The mayor of Westbrook says he will not run for another term and, in fact, will never run for public office again. Michael Foley, who was just elected last year, tells Maine's Total Coverage he has been harassed, including receiving threatening emails and phone calls related to a recent holiday lights controversy. Earlier this month, the city removed a Star of David from its Riverwalk light display and replaced it with a dreidel. The star is a historic religious symbol in Judaism. Foley says it was removed based on legal requirements that prevent government entities from appearing to endorse a...

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana’s Court of Appeals questioned attorneys this week on exceptions to the state’s abortion ban in a case involving residents who are suing on grounds that it violates a state religious freedom law. The class action lawsuit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana on behalf of five anonymous residents and the group Hoosier Jews for Choice, argues Indiana’s abortion ban violates the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act that was approved by Republican lawmakers in 2015. The suit was originally filed in September 2022 and a county judge sided with the residents last December. Indiana...

California coffee shop workers were filmed denying a Jewish customer access to the restroom after she complained it was filled with antisemitic graffiti — telling her “Free Palestine” and accusing her of wanting to use the facilities because “Israel loves taking private property and saying it’s their own.” Three employees at Farley’s East in Oakland stood in front of the bathroom and told a distressed-sounding woman filming them that she had to leave. “I want to go in the restroom,” the woman repeatedly implores the staffers, who tell her it’s private property even while confirming she was a customer who’d...

Attacks against University of California, Berkeley, students wearing Israeli flags aren't being investigated as hate crimes, said a graduate student who claimed the students were assaulted because of their Jewish identities. In two incidents, assailants aggressively tried to take Israeli flags from students, shoving and cursing at them in the process, videos reviewed by Fox News show. In one, a crowd gathered around a student draped in an Israeli flag who was struck in the head with a metal water bottle. The videos are part of a lawsuit filed last week by the Brandeis Center — a pro-Israel nonprofit —...

CHANUKAH Chanukah also spelled Hanukkah and known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the re-dedication of the Holy Temple (the Second Temple) in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century BCE. Hanukkah (Hebrew: חֲנֻכָּה, usually spelled חנוכה pronounced [χanuˈka] in Modern Hebrew, also romanized as Chanukah or Chanuka), is observed for eight nights and days. According to the Hebrew calendar, it starts on the 25th day of Kislev, which may occur from late November to late December in the Gregorian calendar. #Chanukah Did you know these facts? Hanukkah is less...

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C0O61sqthcx/ I learned from this presentation. Through the last 2000 years, Jews have always been there, no matter how the Romans kicked them out to the Diaspora.

A North Carolina Democratic progressive caucus leader has come under fire for declaring that allowing a Jewish caucus would “end” the party because “they control everything.” Ryan Jenkins, who is president of the state party’s progressive arm, took aim at the North Carolina Democratic Jewish Caucus after Democrats voted last week against recognizing the group as an affiliated organization, WFAE reported. “If the Democratic Party caves to it, that’s the end of the Democratic Party. We’re not Democrats, we’re the Jewish Caucus. We’re a Zionist group. Because they control everything,” he told the outlet Friday regarding the vote.

September 17, 2021 marks 73 years since the assassination of Count Folke Bernadotte, a Swedish diplomat who had worked as a mediator between Jews and Arabs, by the pre-state militia known as the Stern Gang (Lehi). Bernadotte was a member of the Swedish royal family and had worked extensively as a diplomat during World War II. During this time, he had helped free tens of thousands of prisoners held in Nazi Germany and had worked unsuccessfully to negotiate an armistice between the Nazis and the Western Allies, notably without the knowledge of Adolf Hitler.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is committing to defending anti-Israel incumbent members who are facing primary challengers in 2024, Politico reported Thursday. Members of the “Squad,” including Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Cori Bush of Missouri, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Pramila Jayapal of Washington, continue to call for a ceasefire while repeating anti-Israel sentiments after Hamas, a Palestinian terrorist group, attacked the U.S. ally on Oct. 7. Jeffries will attempt to defend the Progressive Caucus members’ seats in 2024, including those of Omar and Bush, who are facing pro-Israel Democratic primary challengers, as...

A suspect has been arrested in connection with the death of a Jewish man in California who died from injuries sustained while counterprotesting a pro-Palestine demonstration, authorities said. Loay Abdelfattah Alnaji, 50, has been taken into custody Wednesday in Moorpark in connection to the death of Paul Kessler, who was involved in a scuffle with pro-Palestinian protestors on Nov. 5, Ventura County Sheriff’s Office announced. He will be booked at the Ventura County Pre-Trial Detention Facility on involuntary manslaughter charges, authorities said.

(AFP) – Many in the majority-Jewish Canadian town of Hampstead worried about the potential for unrest tied to the Israel-Hamas war, but residents of the small Quebec community have been startled by the scale of the outbreak of anti-Semitic incidents in recent weeks. Lorne W., who preferred not to give his last name, told AFP he is “very, very, very much” concerned about the sudden uptick in hate directed at the province’s Jewish community, which is one of the oldest and most populous in Canada. “Myself and my neighbors, we’re very cautious and we’re very hyperaware of what’s going on...

American Federation of Teachers (AFT) PresidentRandi Weingarten was slapped with an X community note after asking where the “women” were during an all-male Jewish prayer service. Weingarten, who said in 2010 she considers herself to be a “deeply religious” Jew, quoted Jewish conservative commentator Mark Levin’s video footage of the minyan — a quorum of Jewish adults, traditionally male, required for certain religious observances — outside the White House. “Where are the women?” Weingarten asked in the post, which has its comments section limited to Weingarten’s followers. The post garnered a response from Levin as well as a community note...

The media in America is destructive, inhumane, utterly immoral, and has no conscience as a group whatsoever, and they are tearing this country apart through their lies and projection. Donald Trump has been the greatest friend Israel and the Jewish people have ever had in the Oval Office, and the only president to have a Jewish family, but to people who don’t like him, he is Hitler. Democrat media outlets like Media Matters and people like Joe Scarborough make a mockery of the Holocaust by calling their political opponents Hitler as they do to Donald Trump, while they repeat Hamas...

Now more than ever with the rise in antisemitism, I feel we have a responsibility as Jews to speak up and speak out, and also know how to protect ourselves because the reality is people don’t seem to want us around, and it’s hard," she said. But it appears that the rise of hate against Jews is changing a lot of minds on the efficacy of the Second Amendment. "I think a lot of people were hoping that we were past that – I know I definitely was – but I think current events have shown us that may be...

National Jewish organizations are calling on Jews from around the country to travel to Washington, D.C., on Nov. 14 for a mass pro-Israel rally they hope will rival major Jewish demonstrations in 2002 and 1987 in size and impact. The March for Israel has three goals, according to Eric Fingerhut, CEO of Jewish Federations of North America, which is organizing the rally jointly with the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. Participants will be demanding the return of the estimated 240 hostages Hamas terrorists abducted during its Oct. 7 attack on Israel, Fingerhut said. They will also be...