Free Republic

The IDF remains vigilant on the Gaza border six years following Operation Protective Edge. Reconnaissance operations take place at all hours of the day, including technologically advanced intelligence gathering and air force activity. Arutz Sheva toured IDF positions along the Gaza border to see those preparations.Soldiers at the IDF observation tower can see Hamas positions only a few hundred meters away, just across the security fence. Traveling along the border with Gaza reveals how advanced and significant the fence is. The barrier extends dozens of meters above and below ground to prevent the construction of cross-border attack tunnels. While the...

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu revealed in a Knesset committee meeting that former US President Barack Obama requested Israel not send ground forces into Gaza during 2014’s Operation Protective Edge. The meeting’s purpose was to critique how Israel fought Operation Protective Edge, and use that to see how to make the progress of the next war against Hamas, if needed, better. Netanyahu related, “I explained to President Obama that if they continue not accepting the ceasefires, we will have no choice but to send in ground forces. He told me, ‘I am asking you not to send in ground forces.’...

Jewish comedian Jackie Mason has strong words for Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders, calling him a “self-hating Jew” in a radio interview. The segment, which aired Sunday, was previewed exclusively by Breitbart Friday. Mason spoke during his his regular segment on “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio,” a popular talk radio program broadcast weekends in New York and Philadelphia. Klein is also Breitbart’s senior investigative reporter and Jerusalem bureau chief. Mason, who considers himself “the ultimate Jew”, took Sanders to task for repeated exaggerations and accusations levelled against Israel. When asked whether Sanders’s comments would be taken differently if they were made...

Grossly inflating casualty figures, Jewish Democratic presidential candidate condemns Israel's defensive actions in Gaza. Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders has accused Israel of killing over 10,000 innocent civilians during 2014's war with Gazan terrorists - in a gross inflation of the casualty statistics enough to make even Hamas's own propaganda chiefs blush. Sanders, who trails Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton by a significant margin, made the comments in a meeting with the New York Daily News editorial board, a transcript of which was published Tuesday. Despite being the only Jewish candidate in either party (and despite a stint as a youngster...

The Israeli embassy in Germany, led by Ambassador Ya’akov Hadas, has decided to come forward and reveal the shocking German anti-Semitism it is subjected to on a daily basis. Channel 10 reports that a Berlin newspaper this week published a video of Hadas reading to reporters anti-Semitic letters sent to the embassy every day, which have swelled in number in the months since Operation Protective Edge to at least 20 letters and e-mails daily. “Israel murders,” “I’m happy Hitler destroyed you,” and “humanity will live in peace when the last Jewish rat is in a grave” are just a small...

Pierre Krahenbuhl, Commissioner-General of UNRWA, the UN body tasked with aiding "Palestinian refugees," admitted on Wednesday that Hamas terrorists hid weapons at UNRWA facilities during their terror war against Israel last summer. "We were the ones who found the weapons caches in our facilities during inspections," Krahenbuhl told Yedioth Aharonoth in an interview. "The reason that the whole world knew about it is that we told them." Krahenbuhl's reference is to at least three separate occasions in which rockets were found at UNRWA facilities. After the first finding of rockets at an UNRWA school, UNRWA workers reportedly called Hamas to...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu hails report from top military officers vindicating Israel's conduct during Gaza war. Video srael will be vindicated, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu vowed during his weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday morning, ahead of the UN fact-finding mission's report on the IDF's conduct during Operation Protective Edge in Gaza. "We will expose the truth: that Israel has not committed war crimes," Netanyahu said. "We will work everywhere, for as much as it takes, to deal with false claims and anti-Israeli initiatives," he continued. "This report shows the true facts and proves that the actions carried out by the IDF...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Saturday evening released a strong statement of condemnation on the International Criminal Court (ICC) decision last Friday, in which it chose to launch a preliminary probe into charges of Israeli "war crimes." “Israel rejects the absurd decision of the ICC prosecutor," said Netanyahu. "It’s absurd for the ICC to ignore international law and agreements, under which the Palestinians don't have a state and can only get one through direct negotiations with Israel." Reportedly Netanyahu spoke with US Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday night, requesting American support in preventing the ICC action against Israel....

The IDF has confirmed that Hamas fired yet another rocket from Gaza towards the Red Sea Thursday morning. It is the fourth such launch in the past two days alone, part of a series of tests by the Islamist terrorist group to improve its rocket capabilities. "Moments ago, #IDF Active Defense system identified a rocket launch from central #Gaza into the sea for the 4th time in the past 24 hours," the IDF announced on its Twitter feed earlier this morning. "Indication suggests #Gaza terrorists are experimenting in order to increase rocket launching capabilities." Since the end of Operation Protective...

Minister of Construction and Housing, Uri Ariel of the Jewish Home, estimated Thursday that his party will not leave the government anytime soon. Regarding the differences of opinion within the Security Cabinet in the course of the war, Ariel told IDF Radio: “I do not think our criticism was illegitimate. Every minister has his opinions and his points of interest and I think that after we voiced our support for the operation, if there are opinions, they should be stated.” "There are so many things that we still have to do, that I believe we will not leave the government,”...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday night attempted to respond to the outpouring of criticism for his unilateral decision the night before, in which he sealed a ceasefire deal with the terrorist group Hamas. "With the establishment of the ceasefire I can say that this is a great military and diplomatic achievement," claimed Netanyahu, accompanied by Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon and IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz. Netanyahu stated "Hamas has been hit critically and didn't receive any of the demands it set." Palestinian Authority (PA) officials revealed that in the deal Gaza received an immediate ease of the blockade...

The IDF has declassified a new special report detailing Hamas's "illegal use of civilian infrastructure" throughout the course of Operation Protective Edge, which began July 8. The report was released on Tuesday, the same day that Hamas breached a ceasefire, and presents an irrefutable case against the terror organization utilizing intelligence maps, photographic and video evidence. According to the report, during the course of its recent terror war on Israel, Hamas has fired over 1,600 rockets from civilian sites, cynically using UN facilities, schools, graveyards, mosques and power plants, among others. The declassified report can be seen here in slideshow...

Six soldiers were wounded on Tuesday evening by a barrage of mortar shells in the Gaza Region. The condition of the six wounded soldiers has not yet been made public. Yesterday, four soldiers were killed by mortar shells near Israel’s border with Gaza: Staff Sergeant Eliav Eliahu Chaim Kachlon, aged 22 from Tzfat; Corporal Meidan Maimon Bitton, aged 20 from Netivot; Corporal Niran Cohen, aged 20 from Tiberias; and Sergeant Major Adi Brigga, aged 23 from Beit Shikmah. Earlier on Tuesday night, at around 8:20 p.m. sirens were heard in Beit Shemesh, the communities comprising the Mateh Yehudah region, and...

Please join the leaders of Christians United for Israel on an emergency conference call briefing with Israel's Ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer, tomorrow night (Thursday July 10th). Ambassador Dermer will share with us the latest news regarding Israel's Operation Protective Edge in Gaza. Before being appointed Ambassador, Dermer was one of Prime Minister Netanyahu's top advisers. He remains one of the Prime Minister's closest confidants. Conference Call Tomorrow night, Thursday July 10th, at 8:30 EDT PM with Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer Eastern = 8:30 PM, Central = 7:30 PM, Mtn = 6:30 PM, Pacific = 5:30 PM We...

Operation Protective Edge may look like its predecessors--Operation Cast Lead in 2008-9 and Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012--in that it is a response to Palestinian terrorism launched from Gaza against Israeli civilians.

As in 2009, Hamas is using Shifa Hospital to hide its leadership, and as in 2012, it is using the hospital as part of its war effort (link in Hebrew) (Hat Tip: Shaul). This one is only three short paragraphs, so I will translate it and then ask a question. A journalist source who is close to security sources in the Middle East says 'Hamas' leadership is taking advantage of the underground structures underneath the Shifa Central Hospital in Gaza as a hideout for commanders and Hamas leaders to protect them against attack by the Israel Air Force. "In...