Free Republic

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi claimed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is an “obstacle” in a two-state solution between Israel and Gaza and said he should resign. In an interview with RTÉ’s Six One News during a visit to Ireland, Pelosi spoke about the aftermath of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel and Netanyahu’s deadly counteroffensive that has left more than 34,000 Palestinians dead, according to local health officials. “We recognize Israel’s right to protect itself. We reject the policy and the practice of Netanyahu,” she said. “Terrible. What could be worse than what he has done in response?” “He should...

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Israel has to accept a two-state solution if it wants to normalize ties with Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries. Partial transcript as follows: KRISTEN WELKER: Another week of just devastating headlines out of the Middle East – GRAHAM: Yeah, terrible.

Representative Madeleine Dean (D-PA) said Friday on MSNBC’s “José Díaz-Balart Reports” that a two-state solution must come out of the Israel-Hamas war started by the October 7 Hamas terror attack. Dean said, “I would tell you the meeting with the prime minister began and we were warned of this, began with a 20-minute video compilation of the brutality and the horror of a fraction of what happened on October 7. Images that I’ll never forget. Just the absolute barbarism, the burning of people, the beheadings, and then we began our conversation with the prime minister. And so when it came...

US Policy in a Changing Middle East United States Secretary of Defense - James Mattis—remarkably failed to mention “the two-state solution”, or even the “Palestinian-Israeli conflict” in his keynote address—“US Policy in a Changing Middle East”—delivered at the International Institute for Strategic Affairs 14th Regional Security Summit in Manama, Bahrein held between 26-28 October. Mattis’ pointed omissions can only fuel speculation that a “one-state solution”—possibly involving the creation of a Jordan enclave in the West Bank - could now be uppermost in President Trump’s thinking.

Eight European countries at the United Nations, including five Security Council members, on Thursday called on Israel to reverse its decision to demolish the illegal Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar, AFP reported. Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Belgium, Poland and the Netherlands warned that the demolition of the village “would severely threaten the viability of the two-state solution”. “We therefore call upon the Israeli authorities to reconsider their decision to demolish Khan al-Ahmar,” the countries said in a joint statement released ahead of a council meeting on the Middle East. Khan al-Ahmar was built in the 1990s on land belonging...

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says he is willing to work with President-elect Donald Trump to reach a two-state solution to the conflict with Israel. Abbas spoke Saturday at an event marking the anniversary of his Fatah party. He said "We want to emphasize our willingness to work with the newly-elected American administration... to achieve peace... based on a two-state solution." Abbas thanked the U.S. for its U.N. abstention vote last week, which allowed the Security Council to adopt a resolution declaring Israeli settlements in territory claimed by Palestinians illegal.

My weekend column in on the Palestinians’ new intifada, the Obama State Department’s disgraceful response to it, and how Islamists and Leftists continue to push for the “One State Solution”—no more Jewish state—an objective that is helped along by the “Two State Solution” fantasy peddled by the bipartisan Beltway. A related development: A watchdog group, UN Watch, reports that staffers at a major United Nations agency with a long history of encouraging Palestinian terrorism, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), is inciting the latest spate of attacks in Israel. …

While Israeli politicians continue to debate the merits of the “two-state solution,” their Palestinian interlocutors have long moved beyond that model for the solution of the Middle East conflict. For Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, the idea of a “greater Palestine”—that would stretch from “the river to the sea”—is now an official policy. If this policy had until now been elucidated verbally in Arabic, by “minor” government officials—allowing the PA to say that they had been speaking out of turn or voicing personal opinions—it has now taken on a much more official persona. In a series of videos and images...

Irish senators have adopted a non-binding motion on Palestine recognition, as the EU prepares to set out new red lines on Israel relations. The motion, tabled by Averil Power from the opposition Fianna Fáil party, passed without a vote on Wednesday (22 October) after winning cross-party support. It urges the Irish government “to formally recognize the state of Palestine and do everything it can to help secure a viable two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”. Power told the Senate that in the past 20 years “while pretending to talk peace … [Israel’s] illegal settlements in the West Bank have trebled...

The United States on Monday night condemned the rocket fire by Hamas against Israel. Secretary of State John Kerry spoke to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Monday night in the wake of the heavy rocket fire on Israel. Kerry asked Netanyahu to “act with restraint” in his response to Hamas' pounding of southern Israel. With that, State Department spokesperson Jean Psaki said that the US supported Israel's right to defend itself. “We condemn the firing of missiles at Israel and support Israel's right to defend itself.” Kerry, she said, had spoken to Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and asked...

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is being mocked in a new video, part of a campaign by nationalists warning against Kerry’s plans to impose an agreement with the Palestinian Authority (PA) on Israel. The campaign is being co-sponsored by the Yisrael Sheli (My Israel) movement, along with the Yesha Council and the Binyamin Regional Council. The video which was produced as part of the campaign mocks Kerry for his “creative” but useless solutions to Israel’s security problems. Kerry is presented as running a company called “John Kerry Solutions Ltd.”, the motto of which is, “We don’t have good solutions,...

A majority of both Israelis and Palestinians support a peace agreement based on the two-state solution formula, a Hebrew University poll found, though many respondents reported that they were skeptical as to the sustainability of such an agreement in the long term. The study, conducted jointly by the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah, found that 63 percent of Israelis and 53% of Palestinians support the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, the university said in a statement...

Reports of the death of the peace process with Israel have been greatly exaggerated, Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday. In an interview with German television network Deutsche Welle, Abbas said that peace negotiations with Israel have not reached a deadlock, as reported by the Maariv newspaper recently. Abbas would not give details about the negotiations, but said that each side had discussed proposals offered by the other. "The fact is that we're still at the beginning. We still have time to negotiate the issues," Abbas told the German network. .....

So, they don't exactly enjoy paying federal taxes. In preparation for the annual "Land Day" demonstrations, Arab Ra'am-Ta'al party Knesset Member Ahmed Tibi raged against the 'injustices' visited upon the Israeli-Arab sector: "The Israeli society is racist and all of the governments have always demeaned our needs and wouldn't recognize us as a minority in need of services...." Tibi accused Israel of insensitivity and discrimination against the Arab populace by treating them as enemies of the state. Outrageous, indeed! Yet, I fully agree. Wow. Before you rip this article to shreds and burn me at the stake, Tibi accused Israel...

Under the circumstances, the U.S. would do better to tell the Palestinians there is no deal to be had unless they -- both the Fatah and Hamas -- demonstrably accommodate the reality that Israel is a legitimate, permanent part of the region. Otherwise, it is for Israel to determine how best to defend itself from those "challenges over the horizon." At first blush, it might have sounded like praise, but it wasn't. Before meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres, Secretary of State John Kerry pronounced Israel's prosperity an impediment to "peace" with the Palestinians. "I think there is an opportunity...

Israel Installs Jerusalem Excavations Webcams, Exposes Arab Incitement By Joel Leyden Israel News Agency Jerusalem ----- February 15, 2007 .... In an effort to defuse Palestinian and Arab world incitement against Israel relating to excavations in Jerusalem next to Israel's Western Wall, the Israel Antiquities Authority has begun to broadcast live television coverage from the site. In a news release sent to the Israel News Agency, an Israel Antiquities Authority spokeswoman stated that work to install video cameras to enable on-line viewing of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) Mugrabi Gate Reconstruction Project in the Old City of Jerusalem has been...

Ron Paul’s Son Sen. Rand Paul Won’t Comment on Father’s Past Comparison of Gaza to “Concentration Camp”; Israelis Suprised Congressman Made Analogy Supporters of Ron Paul have been trying to make the case their candidate is pro-Israel despite his past statements and opposition to foreign aid to the Jewish state. Their job got a little harder after a two-year-old interview Rep. Paul gave to Iran’s Press TV was recently posted on YouTube in which he compared Israel’s treatment of Gaza to that of a Nazi concentration camp. In the 2009 interview, Paul talks about the “tragedy of Gaza,” comparing it...

(Video at source) Transcript of Ron Paul on the Imus show: "Israel actions are horrible, atrocious" "They are starving people and keeping them in concentration camps"

According to Ron Paul, in order to stop terrible oppressors like China from killing 100 million more of their own people, we need to play ping pong. According to Ron Paul, if you intend to save the country and be credited with bringing it back to a Constitutional Republic, vote for only a few appropriation bills in 24 years, and earmark every nickel for the 14th District of Texas, that way, you are not spending money on frivolous things like the rest of the country. According to Ron Paul, one must agree with the decision of Roe v. Wade because...

On the evening of Sept. 16, 2009, I was invited to a function for Rand Paul’s U.S. Senate campaign at the headquarters of Americans for Tax Reform. I had been invited by a friend of mine via Facebook who was a passionate supporter of Ron Paul. Within minutes of arriving, I saw Rep. Paul enter the room, followed by an entourage of several college students. I immediately walked up to Paul and introduced myself, and Paul smiled at me and shook my hand. I told him that I had always wanted to ask him a question, and that it was...