Free Republic

MIAMI (CBSMiami) — Former Florida Governor Charlie Crist will announce his running mate Thursday, according to sources. A Democratic sources close to the campaign said Crist will select Annette Taddeo-Goldstein as his running mate in his bid for Governor. Taddeo-Goldstein is the head of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party and lost in a congressional bid in 2008 against Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. Crist’s campaign has said he would make a major announcement but did not specify what it would be. He is scheduled to make the announcement at The LAB Miami located at 400 NW 26th Street.

With multi-million-dollar land deals, luxury villas and black market fuel from Egypt, Gaza's rulers made billions while the rest of the population struggled with 38-percent poverty and 40-percent unemployment. While the fighting is only expected to worsen the distress of the residents of Gaza, the Strip's economic outlook for the Strip was never good. The unemployment rate in Gaza stood at approximately 40% before the latest conflict, with a similar proportion being classed as living under the poverty line. But while most of the Gaza population tries to deal with the difficulties of daily life, it seems that one sector...

Hamas agreed on Wednesday night to a temporary humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, but not before firing another salvo of rockets towards Israel. "The group agrees to a ceasefire for five hours," starting from 10:00 a.m. local time Thursday, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement quoted by the AFP news agency. "The Palestinian factions agreed to accept the offer from the United Nations for a cooling-down on the ground for five hours starting from 10 in the morning," he told the news agency. Shortly before 2:00 a.m. Thursday morning, however, sirens were heard in the Eshkol region, Hof...

A brief explanation of Israel's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip: --snip-- Why is Israel withdrawing from Gaza? In announcing the "Disengagement Plan" in December 2003, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said the withdrawal was to increase security of residents of Israel, relieve pressure on the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and reduce friction between Israelis and Palestinians --snip-- How will the withdrawal affect the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? The Israeli government expects the withdrawal will reduce Palestinian attacks on Jewish citizens.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi on Saturday in a telephone call that has been kept secret until now, after Quartet special envoy Tony Blair urged the Egyptian leader to become more actively involved in promoting a cease-fire, diplomatic sources told Haaretz. Israel agreed to a cease-fire Tuesday morning and briefly halted its air strikes on Gaza. Hamas did not accept the terms of the truce, however, and continued firing rockets. Several hours later, Israel resumed its attacks as well. The Saturday conversation was the first between Netanyahu and al-Sissi since Israel's Operation Protective Edge began...

Israel resumed its heavy bombardment of Gaza on Tuesday and warned that Hamas would "pay the price" after the Islamic militant group rejected an Egyptian truce plan and instead unleashed more rocket barrages at the Jewish state. Late Tuesday, the military urged tens of thousands of residents of northern and eastern Gaza to leave their homes by Wednesday morning, presumable a prelude to air strikes there. Rocket fire from Gaza killed an Israeli man Tuesday, the first Israeli fatality in eight days of fighting....

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi has thus far turned down appeals from Palestinians and other Arabs to work toward achieving a new ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Palestinian Authority [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas telephoned Sisi and urged him to intervene to achieve an "immediate ceasefire" between Israel and Hamas. Abbas later admitted that his appeal to Sisi and (other Arab leaders) had fallen on deaf ears. Sisi's decision not to intervene in the current crisis did not come as a surprise. In fact, Sisi and many Egyptians seem to be delighted that Hamas is being badly hurt. Some Egyptians are...

The United States is doing "everything in our power" to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday, according to AFP. "Our concern is to have a legitimate ceasefire and see if we can find a way to stop the conflict and killing so we can get to the real issues that are underlying it," Kerry told reporters as he met his counterpart from Luxembourg. "And we're doing everything in our power," said Kerry, adding that he has been speaking to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Arab officials. .....

Palestinian and other Arab commentators are blasting Egypt's cease-fire offer this week in the Israeli-Gazan fighting, saying it was a gift to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who accepted it, and a trap for Hamas, which rejected it. Azmi Bishara, the fugitive former Knesset member who now heads the Arab Center for Research and Policy in Doha, Qatar, wrote in the pan-Arab alaraby.co.uk that the offer gave no relief to Gaza, nor freedom for the Hamas members recently returned to Israeli prisons. "This Egyptian declaration represents a stab in the back to the resistance and the people of Gaza. … [T]his...

Haaretz learned that Lieberman told Borg Brende, Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, who is visiting Israel, that Hamas lied when it said Cairo had not sent it the cease-fire proposal, which Israel initially accepted. He said Egyptian intelligence officials had given the details of the initiative to Mousa Abu-Marzook, head of the Hamas mission in Cairo. Meanwhile, Israel agreed on Wednesday night to a request from Robert Serry, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East for UNRWA, to a five-hour cease-fire on Thursday in order to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. “Hamas was ready to consider the...

Paris police have banned pro-Palestinian activists from demonstrating this Saturday night, an official told AFP Wednesday, after violent protesters blockaded French Jews in a local synagogue and attacked them earlier this week. Saturday night’s protest was planned for the Barbas–Rochechouart metro station near the northern Gare du Nord train station, the official said. However, Paris police oppose the demonstration, citing “serious risks to public order” in “a context of elevated tension,” according to news broadcaster RTL. Protesters have already taken to Twitter, they said, with the intent to “smash the Jews” in Saturday’s protest. “We’ll smash the Jews Saturday,” wrote...

The UK's anti-Israel frenzy knows no bounds. My best friend's wife "Charlotte" (a 5 feet tall 57-year old lady who wants this story publicised but wishes to remain anonymous) was surrounded and assaulted by several Muslim anti-Israel fanatics in the middle of Oxford Street in broad daylight. She was shopping there when the demonstrators came marching down the road shouting "Free Free Palestine and Zionists murderers". The photos she took here are from just before the assault (next bit is an update to the original posting). Charlotte (who is a proud Jew) said: "As they passed by with their disgusting chants I...

Israel agreed Wednesday to halt its airstrikes on Gaza for five hours in order to allow humanitarian aid, following a request from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. It was not immediately clear when the cease-fire would begin. A senior Israeli official who spoke to Reuters said a time for the 6-hour window has not yet been decided, but Israeli Brig Gen. Yoav Mordechai told the BBC that it would occur starting at 10 a.m. local time Thursday. The cease-fire request came from U.N. Special Coordinator for the Middle East Robert Serry, Haaretz reports. After news of the cease-fire...

Israel has accepted a request by UN envoy Robert Serry to enact a six-hour "humanitarian ceasefire" starting Thursday morning. Serry submitted the request to both the Israeli government and Hamas on Wednesday evening in order to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip; while Israel accepted immediately, Hamas has yet to respond. It comes as efforts continue to broker a more long-term truce after Hamas rejected an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire agreement Tuesday morning, and responded by escalating its rocket fire against Israeli civilians. One Israeli man, 38-year-old father of three Dror Hanin, was killed in a mortar attack near the Erez...

One may have believed that the revocation of an esteemed award from human rights activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali by Brandeis University was the lowest level the school could stoop in kowtowing to fascist, racist influences among Brandeis faculty. Yet one would be wrong. In an all-new bombshell uncovered by Brandeis student Daniel Mael, an entire listserv used by Brandeis professors and teachers has been leaked to the public. This email list, entitled “Concerned” contains several exchanges between professors bashing conservatives, Jews, Christians, and anyone who views America as a force for good in this world.Donald Hindley, professor of comparative politics...

Following yesterday's failed cease-fire, an Israeli naval gunboat has reportedly struck seven children near the port in Gaza, killing at least four. One remains in critical condition. Moments earlier, the kids had been playing soccer with a reporter from NBC, who witnessed the attack firsthand. Dozens of other journalists were nearby.

Brandeis University officials are working to distance themselves from a virulently anti-Israel internal listserv that shows a group of professors lashing out at the Jewish state in bizarre terms and attacking Brandeis’ Jewish leadership. Professors on the faculty listserv shared false stories about Israel harvesting organs, claimed the Benghazi attacks were “not terrorism,” and used staunchly anti-Semitic terms to describe Brandeis’s Jewish leaders. Campus activists exposed portions of the “Concerned” listserv on Tuesday, but those releases just scratch the surface of a voluminous email cache that shows longtime Brandeis professors engaging in vitriolic attacks on Jews, Israel, and even the...

If the Palestinians are merely engaged in a nationalist struggle for self-determination, then why are they inciting genocide of Jewry? In the midst of Operation Protective Edge, Hamas released a music video in Hebrew calling for the Palestinians to bomb Israel and kill all Israelis. "Raze it [Israel] to the ground, exterminate the cockroaches' nest, and banish all the Zionists," the lyrics read. Some human rights activists and lawyers may get a sense of déjà vu upon reading these words. Back in 1994, there were several radio broadcasts calling for the extermination of human cockroaches. They were in Rwanda.

Neil Young and Crazy Horse have cancelled a 17 July concert in Israel, citing "tensions which have rendered the event unsafe". As the region shudders with rocket explosions and missile attacks, the musicians said they "look forward to playing in Israel and Palestine in peace". "It is with heavy hearts and deep sadness that we must cancel our one and only Israeli concert," Young and his band said in a statement. Some 30,000 people had bought tickets to the gig at Tel Aviv's Hayarkon Park – the singer's first Israeli show in almost two decades. According to Reuters, the decision...

According to the Israeli government, in this latest round of Israel-Hamas combat, Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system has (so far) intercepted 90 percent of targeted incoming Hamas rockets. Iron Dome is a very sophisticated tactical (short-range) anti-missile and anti-artillery projectile defense system. In terms of combat operations, Iron Dome's "sensor-shooter" system is a drastically scaled-down strategic anti-missile defense system, a mini-ABM system in the mold of the Reagan administration's Strategic Defense Initiative. In fact, Iron Dome is an SDI descendant and a cousin of the current U.S. Missile Defense program. I will return to the cousin connection in...