Free Republic

(IsraelNN.com) President Shimon Peres said recently that he hoped to reconcile the secular and religious communities in Israel in honor of the state’s 60th Independence Day. “There is no Israeliness without Judaism,” he said, according to the weekly paper Mishpacha. Peres denounced scorn for religious and hareidi-religious Jews, saying, “There is no place for condescension, derision, or mockery.” Peres said just weeks earlier that secular Israelis “must stop treating the ultra-Orthodox public with contempt.” In addition, he called on the secular community to “return to our roots” by studying the Torah.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 26, 2007 – Though the surge has worked, that doesn’t mean that extremists – especially Shiia special squads – have been overcome, the commander of the first surge brigade into Iraq said today. Army Col. B. Don Farris, commander of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 82nd Airborne Division, said that when the soldiers first arrived in Baghdad in January, sectarian violence was at an unprecedented level. “Whole-scale murder and displacement of families from both sects was alarming,” Farris said during a briefing with Pentagon reporters from Baghdad. “Al Qaeda remained organized, determined and extremely lethal, and...

BAGHDAD — Sheiks and other influential men of the western Rashid District met at Forward Operating Base Falcon Sept. 3 to discuss the best way toward peace. “This is the first time since the fall of Saddam that Jayesh Al-Mahdi (JAM), Coalition forces, Sunni leaders and Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) commanders have come together to talk of their differences,” said Lt. Col. Patrick Frank, 1st “Black Lions” Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, commander and host of the meeting. “Black Lions are proud of our ISF partners and work hard with the National Police, 1-1 and 1-3 Mech., and our Iraqi Army...

LOS ANGELES, April 2, 2004—Jody Eldred Productions today announced it has just completed filming and is in the final stages of production on an inspirational documentary called, “Changed Lives: Miracles of The Passion,” which will air nationwide Easter weekend. With rave reviews from Diane Sawyer on ABC’s “Good Morning America” and Joe Scarborough on MSNBC’s “Scarborough Country,” this one-hour T.V. special was shot in High Definition and documents the true stories of people whose lives have been forever changed by Mel Gibson’s incredible motion picture “The Passion of The Christ.” “I knew instantly that people’s lives were going to be...