The following is an excerpt from COMMENTARY’s symposium on the threat to free speech:

The real question isn’t whether free speech is under threat in the United States, but rather, whether it’s irretrievably lost. Can we get it back? Not without war, I suspect, as is evidenced by the violence at colleges whenever there’s the shamefully rare event of a conservative speaker on campus.

Free speech is the soul of our nation and the foundation of all our other freedoms. If we can’t speak out against injustice and evil, those forces will prevail. Freedom of speech is the foundation of a free society. Without it, a tyrant can wreak havoc unopposed, while his opponents are silenced.
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More than a decade ago, a diverse focus group of Americans was asked to describe a typical Italian house. Words like “lush, food, cooking, maternal, welcoming” quickly rolled of the tongue. The same group was asked about an Israeli home and a very different vibe is described: “concrete, strict, ultra-religious, middle-aged ultra-Orthodox men.”

Not exactly a country they were keen on visiting — or supporting.
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Ankara is reportedly pouring millions of dollars into east Jerusalem, the Old City and the Temple Mount in a concerted effort to position itself as a Muslim power in the city • As Turkey attempts to restore Ottoman glory, Jordan’s influence is waning.

Women of the Murabitat organization, funded by Turkey

A century after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, Turkish foundations and organizations are making a concerted effort to enhance the country’s prominence as a Muslim player in Jerusalem by funneling millions of dollars to the eastern section of the city and the Temple Mount area, Israel Hayom has learned.

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The Saudi king’s decision to elevate his son Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 31, to crown prince and heir to the throne, in place of his cousin Mohammed bin Nayef – as part of a broad reshuffle, is not merely the internal affair of the royal hierarchy, but a game-changing international event.

DEBKAfile’s analysts see it as the outcome of a global and regional process initiated by Donald Trump soon after he settled in the White House in January. With his appointment as de facto ruler of the oil kingdom, the Saudi king’s son is ready to step into his allotted place in a new US-Arab-Israeli alliance that will seek to dominate Middle East affairs. Israel will be accepted in a regional lineup for the first time alongside the strongest Sunni Arab nations who all share similar objectives, especially the aim to stop Iran.
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New Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s appointment as Saudi Arabia’s heir apparent was only a matter of time. The “boy,” who will mark his 32nd birthday in August, has been leading the country de facto anyway. He already calls the shots on foreign policy. Many expect that in the not-too-distant future, King Salman, who is ill, will step down and hand the scepter to his son.

Bin Salman has been undergoing training for the throne since Salman’s coronation two and a half years ago, both through foreign missions carried out on behalf of his father, and also through the war in Yemen that – as defense minister – he planned and carried out (albeit not particularly successfully).

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You can skip the first 9 minutes. You may not believe much of what follows but you can;t ignore what she says.

The threats to our constitutional order posed by the special counsel investigation.

The appointment of Robert Mueller, James Comey’s BFF, as special counsel stinks to high heaven. Forget the bipartisan encomia to Mueller’s “ethics” and “professionalism” and “integrity” and all the other usual question-begging praise the elite shower on each other to justify their power and privilege. Such mutual admiration and reciprocal puffery is just one of the ways that DC is “Hollywood for ugly people,” given that both industries are in the business of selling sows’ ears as silk purses. We heard all the same praise about Comey, who has been exposed as self-righteous, conniving, and cowardly, his ethics trimmed to his careerism. He proves that all political appointees and “public servants” should be judged guilty until proven innocent.
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T. Belman. Contrast this article with Trump White House Tries to Build Support in D.C. for Mideast Peace Talks in which it was reported that Greenblatt assured the OU and the RJC “that while the United States is committed to helping the parties reach an agreement, ultimately the parties must agree to the terms of the agreement and that the U.S. will not impose a deal on either party.” But apparently it doesn’t mean that Trump won’t force Israel to stop building and to allow Arab construction even in Qalqilya. To my mind this is imposing an agreement on Israel.

Day before Kushner visit to Israel and as Netanyahu meets Trump envoy, finance minister Moshe Kahlon says U.S. feels deal is possible, but notes ‘sides not ripe’ for peace

Minister Moshe Kahlon gestures as he speaks at an event in Ofakim, southern Israel May 29, 2017.

A day ahead of the arrival of U.S. President Donald Trump’s senior adviser Jared Kushner in Israel for talks in Jerusalem and Ramallah, Israel’s finance minister said that the American administration is pressuring Israel to move forward on reaching a peace deal with the Palestinians.

“There’s mounting American pressure to advance a deal,” Moshe Kahlon told a conference in central Israel on Tuesday. “Something has happened. The American government feels it can reach an agreement, maybe because the good ties with the Israeli government allow Trump more influence than was possible during Obama’s term,” he said.
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Tweeting first and asking questions later is not a good way to make policy. In a recent salvo, President Donald J. Trump took credit for a decision by one set of American partners — Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates — to sever relations with another, Qatar. It risks deepening a spat that could undermine the fight against the Islamic State. And it highlights the fragility of a proposed Middle Eastern alliance that Mr. Trump touted as the major achievement of his first foreign trip.
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Communication channel between Washington and Moscow to be suspended immediately

Russia has shut down a vital communication line with its U.S. counterparts in Syria, threatening to target any aircraft operating above Russian and Syrian regime-controlled territory in the country.

Moscow outlined the changes in Syria war policy via a terse statement by officials from the Russian Ministry of Defense released Monday, local news reports state. The moves were taken in response to Sunday’s shoot-down of a Syrian military aircraft by a U.S. fighter.

The shoot-down took place near the Syrian town of Ja’Din, located south of Tabqa dam, the coalition’s main logistics and air support hub for the ongoing assault to drive the terror group known as ISIS or ISIL from their self-styled capital of Raqqa, says a Pentagon statement.
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Plan to show the documentary late at night on a weekday raises questions about the state media’s sincerity

Public outrage has forced the leading German broadcaster ARD to air the Antisemitism documentary that had previously been censored.

The 90-minute documentary, commissioned by the French-German TV network ARTE and Germany’s WDR — both funded by the German government, had previously been shelved. The film highlights the prevailing Antisemitism in Europe’s growing Muslim population and exposes European and Germany government’s financing of antisemitic and anti-Israel groups posing as charities and NGOs.
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In an interview with the Register, Egyptian Greek Melkite Jesuit Father Henri Boulad explains why he believes Islamist terrorists are applying what their religion teaches them, and why the Church fails to address this because she has fallen prey to a leftist ideology that is destroying the West.

The Church should not defend Islam “at all costs” and seek to “exonerate it from the horrors committed every day in its name” or else “one ends up betraying the truth,” a leading Jesuit scholar of Islam has asserted.

Greek Melkite Jesuit Father Henri Boulad believes that when it comes to dealing with Islam, the Catholic Church has succumbed to a “liberal left ideology which is destroying the West” based on the pretext of “openness, tolerance and Christian charity.”
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America: They’re coming to take down your president.  They’re calling it the noble mission of an impeccably honest and above-board ‘special’ investigation, mounted by the Robert Mueller ‘Dream Team’, without anyone saying that the fix was in long before the Big Hunt got underway.

It’s an initiative whose narrative is being written by the full-of-hate Democrats in defeat, disseminated, world-wide by the mainstream media.

Find your situational awareness and be prepared to take cover because Mueller’s handpicked Dream Team is the nightmare from which it will be impossible to shake yourself awake.

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Golden Girl Megyn Kelly vs. The Most Hated Man in American Media

This was not how it was supposed to be. The most hated man in American media has dealt a serious and potentially knockout blow to the career of the woman who thought she was all set to take him on and proceed unimpeded on the fast track to maybe becoming the next Oprah.

The battle pitting the two well-known personalities commenced two weeks ago when Megyn Kelly, the golden girl of 21^st century TV infotainment, started pursuing controversial talk show host and Infowars founder Alex Jones as the next big interview “get” for her new prime time NBC television network news magazine show, Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly.

T. Belman. When you think about it, these authorities are right. If you have a Muslim name you are more likely to identify as Muslim. This is a sound policy to strengthen Islam. Before the liberalization of American Jews, Jews invariably gave their children biblical names. In a way giving you son a bris also helps to maintain the triber.

Parents in Egypt who give their newborn children “Western”names such as “Diana”, “Peter” or “Mark” could soon face fines and/or imprisonment under new legislation being considered in the country.

Lawmakers have heard that abandoning traditional Arabic names will lead to an “undesired and radical change” in the Muslim majority nation and should therefore be expunged from society.

The Egpytian Parliament’s Complaints and Suggestions Committee met on Tuesday to discuss the draft law. It was introduced by MP Bedier Abdel Aziz, and seeks to prohibit the usage of “foreign” names for newly born babies in Egypt, according to the Egypt Independent.
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