Exposing Myths about the Jews and an Interview with Joel Rosenberg

So, what are the most common myths about the Jewish people, and what on earth is happening in Israel, and what does Joel Rosenberg have to say? 866-34-TRUTH.

That's 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Well, it's Thoroughly Jewish Thursday. We're going to have a great broadcast today. Bottom of the hour, going to be joined by Joel Rosenberg, best-selling author. His latest volume, The Beirut Protocol, just arrived on my desk, yeah, a little while ago. So, eager to dig into that. He's going to tell us about the Israeli elections, give us some insight as well.

So, that'll be bottom of the hour. I'm going to open up the phone lines wide until then. 866-348-7884.

Any Jewish-related question of any kind. Now is a great time to call. I get to as many calls as I can in the first half hour. Also, just to remind you, do you get my emails? I'm not sure. Well, you get like two a week, three a week.

That'd be it. You'll get an update of every new article that I've written with a summary of it. You'll get a listing of every new video we've put out. You'll get special notices, a brand new book, and here's how to pre-order a signed copy, or here's a resource package we put together for Passover slash Easter. So, if you don't get my emails, take a minute, maybe 30 seconds.

Now, if you're driving, just wait till you stop. Go to askdrbrown.org, A-S-K-D-R brown.org, and you'll just see, fill in your email, so your name, email address, that's it. And you'll immediately, you'll get a few emails that you'll really enjoy, more of my testimony background, the three R's of our ministry and what those are about, and then you'll hear from us weekly.

So, make sure you take a minute and sign up. Okay, before I take your calls, something really interesting happened this week. I had sent out an email to, I don't know, maybe 180 people or something, a select group of those who had pre-ordered the signed copies, signed numbered copies of my latest book, Christian Antisemitism, Confronting the Lies in Today's Church. And what happened was this, we had played some clips from someone that we had exposed in our book and really taken apart factually, scripturally, some of the bogus claims in a video that had gone viral online. So, this pastor now counterattacks after we've exposed the errors in his video, in our book, just factually, systematically, and he attacks me and attacks the book and so on. And all you have to do is read the book, research what I wrote, compare it to claims he made.

It's really simple, where the truth lies. But what happened was, after he attacked us, attacked the book, and gave misinformation to his people, we just noticed that these one-star reviews started popping up on Amazon. Not a review from someone who read the book and said, all right, I take your issue with here, I differ on this page, I think you're wrong here.

No, people clearly hadn't read the book and just, it's trash, false profit, they're just doing it for money, whatever, you know, silly stuff like that. So, I just shot a note out because we want to come by lies with truth. Human opinion is immaterial. I live for God's evaluation, I live for God's approval, I live for God's smile. And if he's pleased, we're good. If everybody hates me, God's pleased with you, we're good.

Same with you. If everybody hates you, but God's pleased with you, you're good. Conversely, if everybody's pleased with you and God's displeased with you, you're not good.

So, that's the issue to me. But we also combat lies with truth. That's the reason I've written some books, to expose lies and say, here's the truth. And these lies can be dangerous lies. They can lead to hatred, they can even lead to violence.

So, let's expose them with truth. So, in the same way, let's just say you work for years putting out a really good product that was going to save a lot of people's lives. Maybe, you know, a new health development, a medical development that's going to save a lot of people's lives. And people began to get your product and they post reviews on your website or wherever else the product is sold saying how it's changed their lives and how good it is and how helpful it is. And then someone who was a rival to you, someone who didn't like you and was trying to get their product out before yours and yours was patented and beat them and now you're selling yours and they've got no market for this. They don't like you. So, they recruit some of their friends to start posting lying reviews about your product.

I tried it and it hurt me and, you know, whatever. Just lies. Well, for the sake of truth, so people could see honest reviews, you'd want to combat that and you try to eliminate the false reviews.

Just being a good steward and you'd encourage others to speak the truth and to get the message out. So, interestingly, one gentleman wrote back and I was sent a copy of his email and he said, well, I'm finding more things out about the Jews. One of these initial gentlemen that had gotten the book pre-ordered, he said, I'm finding out more things about the Jews and it's disturbing me. He said, for example, I just found out that you cannot get married in Israel without DNA tests proving you're Jewish. And that's very disturbing.

Isn't that racist? That's the first time I've heard that in my life. It's a complete myth. It is a complete and total and absolute myth. Period. End of subject. It is a myth. That's it. Now, were DNA tests done on, say, like the Lemba tribe in Zimbabwe that claims to be descendant of Israel? Were tests done to legitimize that?

Yeah. In other words, people claiming Jewish descent that want to see, hey, can we prove this through our DNA and can we be welcome to Israel as Jews? Because if you're Jewish, you automatically can become a citizen in Israel.

Yeah, that's understandable. In other words, they want to prove their lineage. But they did a DNA test to get married. No, absolute, total and complete nonsense. But these things circulate and they have some air of credibility, whatever. And then people believe them. Or you may get one website that quotes somebody and, oh, he's reliable here. And before you know it, you have these Internet myths. So there's a book on different myths about the Jewish people. And I just pulled it up.

You actually downloaded from the ADL website, the American Deformation League. And take a look at this. I just want you to show you. We'll just go in the table of contents of the book here. Some of the most common myths that are widely believed to this day. Six are listed here. Did I say 10?

Six are listed here. Jews are cheap, greedy and materialistic. Jews are good with money. Myth two, Jews control the banks, media, Hollywood, even the US government. Jews have a secret plot to take over the world.

So you can really subdivide these into multiple myths. Myth three, Jews are responsible for the death of Jesus. So all Jews, all time, are responsible for the death of Jesus. Myth four, Jews think they are better than everyone else. Myth five, Jews are erased under religion.

Myth six, Jews, Israel, perpetrated or had advanced knowledge of the 9-11 terrorist attacks. Let's leave these up here for a moment and understand what anti-Semitism is. It is falsehoods about the people as a people. For example, if I was a white racist and I was looking down at other groups, I would look down as blacks as a people, as inferior. I would look at Asians as a people, as dangerous. I would look at Jews as a people, as wicked.

That you view the people as a people. Now look, there are jokes, you know, in basketball, white men can't jump. So certain athleticism it seems that black basketball players have over white basketball players are often that's been the case. So you have these jokes and things like that, but other things are vicious and other things are caricatures. Black Americans suffered for that through generations, caricatures, evil things spoken about them as a people.

The Africans are inferior, the Africans are cursed. In the same way lies, stereotypes are created and then the people as a whole are demonized. So first myth, first myth, Jews are cheap, greedy, and materialistic. Jews are good with money. So all you need to perpetuate that myth is, you know, Jewish kids I went to in school, their parents were wealthy or they lived in a nicer neighborhood. Or yeah, the Jewish kids, I knew they were much better with money than the gentile kids. Or you know, a Jewish businessman that's greedy and stingy and so on and cheap.

Now it becomes the stereotype for everyone. And that's when these things become dangerous and destructive. And look up Jewish philanthropy one day, just for your curiosity, Jewish giving percentages and tendencies, and then go around the world and see when their tragedies, you know, massive, massive natural disasters and see which are some of the first people to get there. Oh yeah, you'll have your Christian relief organizations and Israelis and Israelis.

Well, it's kind of different than being cheap, greedy, materialistic to be the first ones there with relief and service. Jews control the banks, media, Hollywood, even the US government. Jews have a secret plot to take over there.

Okay, we can take that down off the screen. All you need is a few prominent Jews. Steven Spielberg, oh, Jews control Hollywood.

Mark Zuckerberg, right? Jews control social media. And all you need is a prominent Jew here, prominent Jew there, and then it perpetuates the stereotypes. You know, for example, when anti-Semites, and I expose this in my book, Christian Antisemitism, and by the way, if you've read the book and it's been a blessing to you, by all means, post a review on Amazon and let folks know the truth.

And if you read the book and you really looked at it and categorically have differences and feel I'm wrong on points, well, post the points where you differ. We want fairness. We want truth. We want honesty.

That's what we're striving for. So let me say this last thing, and then we'll take a break and start taking your calls. 866-348-784. I won't be taking calls the second half of the show because I'll be speaking with Jill Rosenberg. So now's the time to get in.

866-344-TRUTH. But let me say this last thing. If I now give a list of Gentiles who are prominent in an area, it's allegedly Jews. Well, it doesn't matter because you just have one or two Jews.

That's enough. So one of the lies that we refute in the book spoken by recent, quote, Christian anti-Semites is that Jews are responsible for the sexual revolution, that the Jews are behind pornography, these gross, ridiculous laws. So when you say, well, the man called the father of the sexual revolution, Alfred Kinsey, then him but a Jew raised in a strict Christian home.

Then the man that would follow after that is the next father in the sexual revolution, Hugh Hefner. He was also raised in a strict Christian home. Neither of these men Jews. How is it that Jews are all, but there was a German Jew and he also, in other words, all you need is one to perpetuate the myth.

That's the thing. Let us learn from the destructive work of negative stereotypes. And by the way, Jews being a race, not a religion, it's both and. It's ethnic and it's religious.

That's why people from all ethnicities have converted to Judaism, hence the ethnic diversity within the Jewish people. All right, back with your calls. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural and spiritual revolution. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome, welcome to Thoroughly Jewish Thursday. This is Michael Brown, 866-34-TRUTH is the number to call. All right, let's go to our friend Zach in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Welcome to the line of fire. Aloha, thanks for taking my call. You're welcome.

Happy belated birthday, too. Well, thanks. Much appreciated.

You're very welcome. Cool. So my question is for you. I was watching Infowars a few days ago, and Alex Jones was showing footage of a bunch of Haredi Jews just, like, you know, like, gathered around, like, in this circle. There's, like, dozens of them, and, you know, and the police were just, like, harassing them, like, pushing them, and it was crazy. But I have no idea what it was all about, he wouldn't say, so I'm wondering if you know anything about that.

I don't know the particular footage, but you could select many, many, many, many, many, many possible scenes that's happened over and over again. You have within the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community many who are completely hostile to the modern state of Israel, because it is basically a secular state as opposed to a complete Torah-observant religious state. Even though it's a Jewish state, they would still consider it secular. They consider the leaders secular. They're waiting for the Messiah to come and truly establish Israel the way it's supposed to be. So it's kind of a love-hate relationship that they have, and they are often at odds with the government. They've been at odds with the government over handling the COVID and vaccine issues and things like that. So you'll have, periodically, things happen where you'll have a large crowd of Haredi Jews. Let's say, for example, it's a funeral for one of their beloved leaders who maybe died of COVID, and maybe you've got multiplied thousands of them body to body marching down the street without masks, and this is when the population is supposed to be wearing masks. So you're going to have a conflict with the Israeli police and the Haredi community, but it's happened many, many times over the years.

So there'd be any number of possible scenes that could have been, I'm not aware of the most recent or if Alex Jones or Infos was showing something recent, but yeah, it's not uncommon. So this is a Jew versus Jew conflict is what you're dealing with. But the ultra-Orthodox community is its own community, and in that respect, lives by its own rules and laws, so if they have a conflict between their laws and national laws, they're going to follow their rabbis.

Right. Yeah, and I know a lot of them are anti-vaxxers, and they don't believe the masks work, and there's the videos of rabbis basically talking trash about that and everybody who supports it, essentially. Yeah, think of it in this parallel term that pastors who are saying, hey, we want to meet, we should meet, the government does not have the right to tell us we can't sing. So their mentality would be, God's called us to learn Torah together, God's called us to pray together, and God's called us to train our children together, and to not do this as sinning against God, it's better to obey God and let him take care of us. Now, on the flip side, because they live so closely together, many of the family's very poor, not uncommon to have 10, 12 children or more, and living just above the poverty level, so lots of people in small communities, and then studying together the men and children side by side, day after day, that there were much higher rates of infection and much higher rates of fatality in the Haredi community, so it's been a tough blow in that respect.

But yeah, these are conflicts within Israel, and they are not unique between religious communities and more secular government and leadership, but they play out a certain way in Israel. 866-34-TRUTH. Let's go to Ellsworth in Richmond, Virginia. Welcome to the Line of Fire. Yes, how are you doing Dr. Brown? Doing well, thank you. Thanks for taking my call.

I was just calling, I haven't read any of the books, I'm going to order one of your books, but I wanted to let you know that each time I've heard you on your program, you're always approaching in a fair way. You give each side, and then once you give each side of the argument, then you come with a reason, a conclusion that you have. And even though, you give each side of course and everything like this, and you're not screaming at us and talking down to us or hollering. And so even though some of the clues that you might come to, I don't, I may not agree with. I feel like I could at least come sit down, talk, have a cup of coffee, and we could debate if we needed to. And we can at least say, hey, I agree with that, or I don't agree with that. I am so tired of all of the, you know, it's got to be this way or that way. Some things, yes, I understand, but other things, I think the truth of the matter will come out. Period.

And the truth should be respected. Well, Sarah, I appreciate that, and that's, that is my heart. You know what I'm saying? It's not a show that I'm putting on.

It is my heart. And look, we each have convictions, like you said, that we'll die on those hills, you know? On the other hand, we recognize that even with those convictions, that people may differ with us and they may not be monsters. They may differ with us just because of different perspective or different information they have. And the biggest mistake we could make is to only be in our own little echo chamber where everything I believe is reinforced and all the other guys are so bad.

And then you go on the other side and it's the exact reverse thing. You think, wow, right? So it doesn't mean that you can't have a conviction, but it means first you've got to be a decent human being. You know, let's start there, be honoring and respectful of others. And then, and then second, if you're not willing to let your position be challenged, if you're not willing to let it be scrutinized, then how secure are you in your views?

Right. And the other, you know, the last thing is we know that all of us have certain levels of blind spots just through life experience. You know, so here doing live radio, talk radio for 13 years, callers have enlightened me on areas where I didn't have life experience.

One of my good black friends has said to me, man, there's not a racist bone in your body, but there's a lot you don't know. It's like, yeah, there's a lot. So fill in the blank spots, you know, and then we do it one for another.

And then we process it. See, I had to do this from day one because I got challenged as a Jew by my family and rabbis, you know, challenge what I believe. So I had, I said, look, Jesus, I know you changed my life, but they're giving me strong arguments. So I've got to be able to love God with my heart and my mind. And, and you can be dogmatic, but then Jesus says, blessed are the peacemakers.

They'll be called children of God and the wisdom from above Jacob James, the third chapter, we should be approachable. So that, that means a lot to me and my brother. I appreciate it. And I'm not a coffee drinker, but I'll have, I'll have some water.

You have some coffee. We'll sit down, have a friendly discussion, find some area we don't agree on and sharpen each other. It would be a joy. Okay. All right then. Well, thank you so very much. Thank you, sir. I really do appreciate it.

866-342. Hey, let me, let me stay there for a moment and turn this back in to, to Thirdly Jewish Thursday. So that was a broader statement, uh, by, by our, our friend Ellsworth there. So let, let me, let me broaden this and, and get, get to a Jewish related issue. There's a verse in Proverbs that you've, you've probably seen, maybe memorized and it'd be translated a couple of different ways, uh, tzaddik herishon b'nivoh, that, that the, the one who comes first with his argument is right.

U'vah e'ehu v'hakarot. And then his companion comes and examines it or examines him. In other words, I give my argument, Oh man, you are right. You are so right. That's brilliant.

Okay. Well, wait for the second person to get up and challenge it. And then see how right it is. I don't watch a lot of TV news, but years ago when it was Hannity and Combs on Fox, late Alan Combs, who's liberal and Sean Hannity conservative, they did a show together. And I would watch it a couple of times and find it fascinating because Hannity would, would get up and make his opening statements, you know, strong conservative arguments like, man, he is so right. He has such good examples and excellent and true. And then, and then Combs would come on with his liberal arguments. It's like, Ooh, those are good arguments also.

Those are strong. That's a good comeback. You realize, well, they're, they're two sides to this story.

That doesn't mean you can't have a conviction. It doesn't mean that one isn't more right than the other means let's, let's hear this out. Let's, let's reason together. By the way, Isaiah 1 18 come now let's reason together is that's really not the best translation there.

As I'm doing my essay, a commentary and, and, and working on a translation of the book of Isaiah as well. That's, that's not the way I would render it. It's it's wrong. Let's, let's argue this out. And then there's a point it's, it's fascinating with the overall argument is it's not what we often think, but anyway, we'll come back to that another day.

There's the joke. If you have two Jews in a room, you have three opinions. So there are just certain things because we're educational background, religious background, different things. It's very common to be opinionated and to, to have these arguments back and forth, but it's, it's a way to get sharper. I encourage you for the key things that you believe in hold to spiritually, morally, ideologically, I encourage you to be so grounded, so secure in what you believe that you're willing to take the challenge that you're willing to sit down with others who differ, that you're willing to be exposed to other sources of news and other information, and then sift it and say, let's see how solid my position is and let's see where it needs some fortifying or let's see where I may have some blind spots.

It's a good way to grow. So, Hey, trust me, I know how to be dogmatic and on the fundamentals, those are hills I'll die on. But even there, may I present things in a way with grace and wisdom. It's one thing that's important too.

May I learn where I need to learn and keep growing. All right, we'll be right back with Joe Rosenberg. All of us deal with guilt and shame. There are parts of our lives we keep hidden away.

Sharon Hirsch says that does not help us with relationships. It didn't take me too long to figure out we don't carry our secrets. They carry us. Living authentic, transparent lives in our marriage. This week on Family Life Today. Have you read. How great is our God.

It is thoroughly Jewish Thursday. Michael Brown, welcome to the line of fire. Have you read any of the New York Times best-selling Middle East novels by Joe Rosenberg? Novels that kind of unfold as things around us are happening. It's almost seemed like they're prophetic novels. The latest, The Beirut Protocol. Mine just arrived today, so I'm holding it in my hands, bringing it home. Joel Rosenberg, The Beirut Protocol, a Marcus Riker novel.

This is hot off the press, just came out a few days ago and it's already taken off. Joel's on the line with us, want to talk about the novel and get an understanding of what in the world is happening with the Israeli elections. Joel, great to talk with you on the line of fire.

Michael, great to be in the line of fire from Jerusalem, the epicenter of all lines of fire, apparently. Yeah, really, talk about it. Hey, a quick question.

It's related but slightly off topic. Someone that helped really get your books out initially and launch them to the public, then from there the books sold themselves, was Rush Limbaugh. And you worked with him years ago, but wrote an article saying that you feel that he had a genuine conversion at the end of his life. He did, Michael.

It was very exciting, very dramatic. I first met Rush in the fall of 1993. I was working for then-former Secretary of Education, Bill Bennett, and my wife Lynn was working for Concerned Women for America, and she was pregnant with our first child. And I went into Bill Bennett's office, and I said, Dr. Bennett, you know, now I understand why you call this non-trans, it's like I can't, you know, survive on these wages.

And I, you know, my wife was pregnant. And he said, I just had dinner with Rush Limbaugh. He's looking for a research director based in Washington. Would you be interested? You'd be perfect.

I said, I would love that. So I met Rush, was interviewed by him in the fall of 93. He gave me the job in the winter of 94.

I worked for him for a number of years as research director and then ghostwriter for a number of his projects, and just stayed in touch, stayed friends for the next, you know, whatever it's been, 25 years. And tried to share the gospel with him a number of times. He was raised in a Christian home. His brother's a very strong believer, a very strong evangelical. But I was never convinced that Rush had had a personal relationship with Christ, but he was, you know, he just couldn't have been more supportive of my novels when they started coming out. He literally drove them up the New York Times bestseller list.

So enthusiastic, so encouraging. But I always had that fear, that the verse, of course, from Jesus saying, what would profit a man to gain the whole world but to forfeit his soul? And I was in no position to be sure, but that compelled me to pray for him, try to be a witness to him, and wrap that up to say, he invited me to come down and see him last year when I had a novel out called The Jerusalem Assassin in Palm Beach. He wanted me to come and say hi because I knew he was dying. We'd been in touch as we regularly were. But when I got there, I just waited in the hotel day after day and he kept apologizing to me by email, today's not a good day.

Today's not a good day. And in the end, we never got to spend time in person. But I did learn on that trip that he had given his life to Christ and that everything had changed. And I began hearing him talk about it on the air when he was well enough to be on the air. And this was just so thrilling for me personally. But of course, it was not my story to tell until he passed.

And I thought, you know what, people who love him and care for him, millions of them would want to know this. And I think it's fair now to say it. And yeah, so very, very exciting development.

And I look forward to seeing my friend again one day. Yeah. And really, you could be the richest, most influential person on the earth.

But if you don't know the Lord personally, what's it all worth? So yeah, amazing grace, amazing grace. All right, Joel. Yeah, thank you for asking me about it.

Yeah, sure thing. When I read your article on it, it was a moving article. So I wanted to start there. All right, before we're done, I do want to get your insight on the Israeli elections. But how is it that someone like you and the political front and researching and fact-based and all this and getting data, how do you go from there to writing novels? But then the novels, they're not just novels, they're kind of history and advanced novels at a certain level.

How do you move into this? Yeah, so this new one is called the Beirut Protocol. And it's just sitting in the USA Today bestseller list after just a few days out.

So we're very excited about it. But yeah, if you dial back the clock, I spent 10 years in Washington, again, working for Raj, working for Bill Bennett, but also working for a number of US and Israeli candidates, all of whom lost. Like if I worked for them, they lost. And the last one I worked for was then former prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu. He had been the prime minister from 96 to 99. He lost his reelection. But in the fall of 2000, he put together a small team of advisors to plot a comeback.

So I was hired by Bibi on his comeback campaign team. Now, anybody that knows Netanyahu's career knows that he didn't come back for nine more years, that would get one more campaign, a brief campaign that didn't seem to go anywhere when I was around. But after working for Netanyahu, I decided to sit down and write a political thriller, my first one ever, based on a premise that Netanyahu talked about a lot, which is, American leaders don't understand the threat of radical Islamism. And if they don't take it seriously, the same dangers and terrorists and terror states that attack Israel are going to attack America.

And God forbid America should be blindsided by a threat they don't see coming. And I decided to take that that that kernel of that premise and say, let me play that out in a thriller and imagine what if radical Islamist terrorists hijacked the jet plane, flew it into an American city, and this set into motion a war between the United States and Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein from power. Now, I know that sounds eerily similar to what happened. But I wrote that novel nine months before September 11, 2001. I was actually finishing it on the morning of 9-11. And I was not trying to be prophetic or, you know, people have called me a modern day Nostradamus.

I'm not. I was taking an idea and I was projecting it forward like a war game. What if, what if, what if we get hit?

How might they hit us? I got eerily closer to what really did unfold than I intended or expected. I certainly wasn't predicting it. But that book, The Last Jihad, is the first novel I ever wrote. It's the one that Rush Limbaugh read, loved, endorsed, had me on the air. And you know, Michael, Rush didn't have anybody on the air except the President of the United States and Mr. Newt, he used to call, you know, the Speaker of the House.

Like, otherwise, he just didn't, he didn't have former staff people. Oh, listen, I tried, I tried over the years. I would, you know, David Limbaugh and I were in touch somewhat, you know, and he knew me as a messianic Jewish leader, etc. He's been on my radio show. I'd say, hey, I've got this book.

I think you'd really like it. Can I send you a copy? Yes. I said, hey, can I send you an extra copy for Rush? Well, didn't get a response.

In other words, everybody and their uncle was trying to get something and I realized, okay, that's, yeah, so to have had that promotion, it's obviously the favor of God in there. But what did you, the new book, The Beirut Protocol, can someone just start here or do they need to read the whole series to get here? So, I've actually written a series of series.

So, that first one I'm talking about last time, that was almost 20 years ago, that was part of a series. But the current series is Marcus Riker. Marcus Riker is, yes, you could start with The Beirut Protocol today.

You could just download it on your phone or your e-reader or get a hardcover copy from anywhere. The Beirut Protocol is about a guy named Marcus Riker. Riker is a former Marine, wounded and decorated in combat for valor in Afghanistan, in Iraq. He goes on to work for the US Secret Service, rises to the top of the boots, and this is in previous novels in the series. A tragedy in his life causes him to leave the government service and then later he's drafted back into the CIA, almost against his will, but he becomes one of the top operatives in the United States. And in The Beirut Protocol, he's on the Israeli-Lebanon border doing an advanced scouting trip, security trip, for the incoming Secretary of State who's coming, who's worried that Iran and Hezbollah, the terror franchise of Iran in southern Lebanon, might be trying to cook up some mischief.

And sure enough, there actually is a terrorist attack. Marcus, and this is just chapter one, Marcus and his team are captured and dragged in deep behind enemy lines, deep into Lebanon. And while they're being tortured and interrogated, a missile war, a third Lebanon war erupts above ground. And suddenly there's a whole new crisis in the Middle East and Marcus is in the thick of it. And you can start that novel, The Beirut Protocol, without knowing anything about the past, but there are three novels that go before it. And if you do get interested, if you get hooked, then yes, I would encourage people to go back to the Kremlin Conspiracy, the Persian Gamble, and then last year's novel, The Jerusalem Assassin. All right. And I want to get into some details, things you've written in novel form, but that have actually come to pass.

They've actually unfolded. How did you feel on the day of 9-11? I mean, obviously tragedy hit home for many of us. My wife's brother was killed in the Twin Towers. It jarred all of the nation.

But here you're writing a book and you're predicting, it's just a novel, you're writing of this, something like this could happen. How did you feel when it happened? We've just got a minute before the break, but how did that affect you personally? It shook me because I was living in Washington, D.C. with my wife and kids. And I, and I, you know, at friends who worked at the White House, I had just been at the World Trade Center for lunch with the Treasury Secretary and some Wall Street executives just weeks before this all happened. So it was all very real. And my first instinct, Michael, was not, oh my gosh, my book is coming true. My instinct was what everybody else's was.

Our country is under attack. But it was eerie. And as the days unfolded, I thought, that's just, it's creepy eerie that I would write a novel like this. No one had ever written like this. And then it starts to come to pass. And then when we started to go to preparing for war with Iraq, that got even stranger still.

Yeah. So, so friends, that's the interesting thing about this, by Joel focusing on certain realities in the Middle East and realities of radical Islam, it allows him to write these novels. They're great reads. I mean, for me, I just every so often, I just got to chill and just read something enjoyable. And I don't have to worry about it's all filled with profanity and sex, but it's exciting.

And so here's a great way to do it. Joel doesn't need my recommendation. He's got a ton of them. The Beirut Protocol, the newest in the series of novels by Joe Rosenberg. We'll be right back. Talk about Israeli elections and more about Joel's books. It's the line of fire with your host activist, author, international speaker, and theologian, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution.

Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome friends to Thoroughly Jewish Thursday. This is Michael Brown speaking to Joe Rosenberg, New York Times best-selling author, his newest book, which I'm holding in my hands here, eager to start reading The Beirut Protocol, a Marcus Riker novel. Joel's with us from Jerusalem.

By the way, something else is just truth being stranger than fiction. So you've got Marcus Riker here. When I leave the studio today after radio, I'm going to my home to do a workout. My workout partner is a committed Christian, but he is a professional wrestler, former Marine, and he wrestles under the name Jackson Riker. I like this. He probably doesn't know this exists, so I've got to tell him he'll be fascinated by his long-lost brother there.

That's right. So Joel, I want to get back to the question about writing things that, again, you're not claiming prophetic inspiration or be some kind of Nostradamus, but a lot of things are written before they happen. Before we go back to that, the Israeli elections, just give us the big summary. What's good?

What's bad? What can we take away? Yet another election called for with the government and able to move forward.

What's at stake? Yeah, Michael, I've been a US-Israeli dual citizen for seven years now. This is my fifth election since I've been here. We are the only real democracy in the Middle East here in Israel, but boy, we really love elections. It's happening because they're essentially, you have one of the greatest prime ministers in the history of Israel, certainly the longest serving, is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Now, full disclosure, like I said, I worked from 20 years ago, but I haven't, I don't know him really, and I haven't met with him in years now. So I know his team and I know many of the other leaders as well, but basically this election is not coming down to a left versus right campaign. This is a pro BB versus anti BB election. Now, the left wing in Israel, of which it's not that big here, but not like in the United States, but the left wing of course hates Netanyahu. But what Netanyahu's problem is, and the reason we keep going back to election, is for all the really remarkable good things that he has done, keeping Israel safe, unleashing our economy, four Arab-Israeli peace deals just last year, I mean huge, huge Nobel Prize winning thing, but he has very badly mishandled the COVID crisis. We have more than 6,000 people dead here in Israel. That's more than all the wars and terror acts of the last 25 years here in Israel. And neighboring countries haven't had nearly this bad. There's a lot of mismanagement in it. Now, and of course, and the economy is shot and there's been a lot of problems. But the second thing is, BB's personal style of leadership is abrasive.

It's just to be charitable. And it's not just the left wing leaders that say, I'll never serve with them. It's centrist leaders. And now more and more right wing political leaders saying, I've had it. It's enough.

He's done good things, but I can't work with him anymore. And this is narrowing Netanyahu's path. And we really may see next week. I'm not predicting it, but I'm just saying Americans who love Israel and only know the name Netanyahu practically could be in for a huge shock next week if somebody else begins to emerge as the prime minister.

And we'll see. I really don't count out BB Netanyahu. He is a shrewd political cat. But that's what you have to know is that he's in real political trouble here and for some good reasons.

So we'll see how he and the nation handle it. And then Likud versus Blue and White. They were basically even the last election in the form of this coalition government, which never really unfolded.

Where does it stand now? What's Paul saying about Likud versus the next strongest party? Right.

So Netanyahu's party is the Likud party. It will definitely be the largest faction. It currently has 36 seats. It may only get around 30 seats this round. We'll see. Maybe a couple more.

But it'll definitely lose some ground. Blue and White has imploded because its main leader is Benny Gantz. He's the defense minister. I know Gantz.

I've interviewed him. The short version is Gantz agreed with Netanyahu to form a national unity government last time. So we wouldn't go to a fourth election.

But Netanyahu essentially, and I say this with respect, but for Bibi and his accomplishments, Bibi stabbed Gantz in the back and reneged on their agreement, didn't pass the budget and forced Israel to go back to a fourth election because Bibi doesn't want somebody else. They were doing a rotation government. Right. So he started and then he never turned it over.

Got it. So Blue and White imploded because Gantz basically looked like he compromised or sold out. Right. And many people think he did the right thing, but his political base abandoned Gantz because they say it's time for Bibi to go. And that's the divide here. It's not really left and right. It's really, do you think Netanyahu is flawed but still a good man who can do great things? Or he's flawed and he's got to go. Got it.

Got it. Well, I appreciate the overview and we'll be praying for God's will. Most of the time when it comes to Israel, I say, God, your will, because things get so complex and muddled.

God, you're best for the country. We need sons of Issachar who knew, understood the time and knew what Israel should do. And that's, we don't have that right now, most people think.

Yeah, it's so needed. 1 Chronicles 12, 32, that was just cited. All right, Joel, we've got a few minutes left. The new book, The Beirut Protocol. What are some of the things that you wrote in novel form, so again, you're not writing here the prophecies of Joel Rosenberg being published, but the things you wrote about as novels in these last 20 years or so that have actually come to pass historically?

Yeah, happy to go through a few real quickly. And let me just say, I should have mentioned, I started a new website last September called All Israel News. We are tracking all these campaign events and everything else that's going on in the region. So I commend that to your attention, Michael, and your listeners, because we are covering these things day by day, minute by minute.

So All Israel News, you can find it at allisrael.com. That being said, okay, here's a few examples. So after the first novel, The Last Jihad, seems so prophetic.

Again, I'm very sensitive. I don't call it prophetic. I call it an educated guest and a war game. But the next book was called The Last Days. Now, US News and World Report calls me a modern day Nostradamus because of that book. And they wrote about what I'd written about in The Last Jihad and how those things have come true. But then they noted that The Last Days novel opened with a US diplomatic convoy heading into Gaza as part of the peace process, when it's suddenly attacked by a terrorist group. Now, six days before The Last Days release, US News reported, a US diplomatic convoy heading into Gaza was attacked by terrorists. So they wrote all that and then they said, now watch out Yasser Arafat because Rosenberg offs you on page whatever it was, 43. And 13 months later, Arafat was dead. And that caused a lot of people to go, okay, your novel is about the last days of Yasser Arafat.

How did that and the sort of civil war inside the West Bank and Gaza that erupted. The next novel, I won't go through all of them, but I'll do one more at least. The Ezekiel Option. Now that novel was premised on the idea, what if the war of Gog and Magog from Ezekiel 38 and 39, what if that came true in our lifetime?

We don't know that it will, but what if it did? But inside that novel, where a Russian dictator is rising to come against Israel, I have an Iranian leader that builds an alliance with the Russians. And that Iranian leader says in part of the Ezekiel Option at one point, we're going to wipe Israel off the map. Now the day the Ezekiel Option was published in 2005, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected that day in Iran as president.

And a few months later, he actually did say, we're going to wipe Israel off the map. It's the series of those kinds of kinds of things over time that cause people to go, come on, what kind of crystal ball do you have? And well, I believe in prophecy and I study it and I believe God speaks to people, but I'm not using that to write novel.

What I'm doing is I'm studying the lies and the teachings of our worst enemy. And then I believe them. And then I go write a novel about what if the things that are worst enemies say they want to come true?

What if they did come true? That's how I plot out these political thrillers. But I believe in good and evil. And I believe the Bible teaches that you can better understand your enemy when you look at the world, not just through political or economic lenses, but through the third lens of scripture and in fact Bible prophecy as well. And I wrote a book called Damascus Countdown about how Damascus might be wiped out as a city. The Bible says in Isaiah 17 and Jeremiah 49 that that will happen. It hasn't happened yet, and I'm not saying it will happen the way I've written about it. But some of my novels, not all, not the current series, but some of my novels deal with what if this particular biblical prophecy were to happen in our lifetime? How might it look?

And that's a way both to hook people who've never thought about prophecies, or as well as people who think that prophecy is kooky, but think, that's kind of an interesting premise, you know? And we've sold five million copies. Amazing. Amazing. Hey friends, I'm signed up to get newsletters and emails from allisrael.com. Hey, this is a way not just to keep current, but to stay ahead of the news. The new book, Joel Rosenberg, The Beirut Protocol.

I start reading mine tonight. Hey, thanks for joining us, man. God bless you. My pleasure. Thank you.