We got breaking news. Ambassador Huckabee tells American embassy staff to leave Israel today. Keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Sekulow. We want to hear from you.
Share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110. And now, your host, Logan Sekulow. Welcome to Sekulow. It's Friday, and we've got a live show for you today. Jeff Balabon from ACLJ Jerusalem is going to be joining us in a little bit because there is some breaking news out of Israel.
It's kind of been getting a little hot over there, as you'd expect, with the pending potential war with Iran, and just this morning and overnight. The President said, or not, President, I'm sorry, Ambassador Huckabee sent a message to essentially all of the staff at the embassy saying if you want to leave Israel. You need to do so today. In fact, you need to leave today, however you can, to get out of the country. if you feel you need to get out of the country.
That means going to another country to then eventually make it to America. Don't wait on the next flight to Washington, D.C. This is an email that went around internally, obviously signaling what could be a very imminent strike. in Iran that's going to open this up. This also could include travel warnings.
There's a lot happening right now. We're going to break it all down. And look, as someone who was even looking at potentially traveling to Israel as soon as next week, that has changed dramatically in just the last few hours.
So, we want to get your feedback and thoughts as it looks like we are headed and the clock is ticking towards what could be a potential strike in Iran. That's right.
So, this email went around to staff at the embassy around 10:20 a.m. Israel time.
So, while we were still asleep, and it says things from the ambassador like those wishing to leave should do so today. He urges them to find a flight out of Ben-Gurion airport to any destination which they could book passage. This will, because he says the embassy's move will likely result in high demand for airline seats today and focus on getting a seat to any place from which you can continue travel to D.C. But first priority will be getting expeditiously out of the country. This is as the State Department also updated a travel warning to American citizens and government officials that may be going to Israel, warning that maybe.
Is not the best time right now. And once again, there's also a tweet that went out or posted on X from the U.S. Embassy Jerusalem that said on February 27th, the State Department authorized departure of non-emergency U.S. government personnel and family members of U.S. government personnel from Mission Israel due to safety risk.
And it also says that employees and their family members may be restricted even going to certain areas within Israel, such as the old city of Jerusalem and the West Bank. Yeah, I mean, where you'd be wanting to probably go.
So this is all happening right now in real time.
So if we're going a little fast for you, we're going to break it down. But we are trying to learn in real time what is happening for you that are watching this show. Of course, our prayers are with Ambassador Huckabee. Everyone who is representing America in Israel right now. They have had a heck of a few weeks, of course, coming off of that Tucker Carlson interview and everything that kind of unfurled after that.
So we are covering this. Probably for the majority of this hour, we will take some other calls and questions. If you have something about any of the other topics we discussed this week, I'm happy to get to them when we can. 1-800-684-3110. 1-800-684-3110.
Again, a travel advisory. And then you also have Ambassador Huckabee telling his staff. Leave now. Leave today if you can. Get out of the country if you want to get out of the country.
Not saying you have to, but if you are feeling like you need to not be here, you need to leave immediately. And do so by whatever country you need to.
So fly to Europe and then find your way back home. Obviously it's a much shorter flight. Easier to find a flight to London or to find a flight to Paris or something like that and then make your way. Back to Washington, D.C., or wherever your destination is in America. I want to hear from you, though.
What are your thoughts? Obviously, this is looking like we are hitting a point of no return. Potentially with Iran. And we also do know that Marco Rubio is scheduled to be in Israel next week. What does that look like now?
We're going to discuss that a bit more. Again, phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-30110. If you're watching online, I encourage you to hit us up in the chat. Let us know if you have any questions or comments there. You could also.
Go ahead. And let me know where you're watching from. Again, we are dealing with this in real time right now.
So I want you to be a part of the conversation also at 1-800-684-3110. Check out the work at the ACLJ at ACLJ.org. We'll be right back. Welcome, Matt Sekulow. We are giving you real-time updates.
And if it seems a little disjointed, that is because news is breaking it every minute here. Of course, we are talking about a pending war with Iran, what that looks like, but also. It is due to travel warnings. And a statement issued to the staff of the Israeli or the American embassy in Israel. From Ambassador Mike Huckabee saying if you would like to leave.
You need to leave today. That was to his staff saying, get out of the country however you can if you feel like you need to. And also, travel restrictions within Israel going up today, including visits potentially to the old city of Jerusalem. All of this is pointed towards What is going to be Likely now, I would say that these are the big signs that likely a deal with Iran is not likely to happen. And now, how does the future play out?
We're going to discuss that at great length here over the next 45 minutes or so. And I want you to be a part of that show as well. Because like it impacts all of us. What do you think about this pending war with Iran? As it now says Seems like the likely Occurrence that is going to happen 1-800-684-3110.
Jeff Balabon, who runs our ACLJ office in Jerusalem, is actually going to be joining us in the next segment. And again, Ambassador Huckabee has done, I think, a phenomenal job. He's done a great job over the last few days, even the last week or so, handling the fallout. from his interview with Tucker Carlson. the push against Israel, even within the conservative right.
over the last year or two.
So again, this should not be taken lightly. That's right.
And this email that went out to both the staff there, as well as the public update about getting out if you should choose to do so, it's very serious. And it's the ambassador telling staff there, his employees, that if you are wishing to leave, you should do so today. Basically, today's the last time. Get out if you can while you still can. At the same time, we're seeing other moves, such as the Dutch airline KLM has already suspended service to Israel as a result of everything that's going on.
They cite commercial and operational considerations. You hear that the State Department is making similar moves with the embassies in both the country of Jordan as well as Lebanon, evacuating non-essential staff and families from those embassies. All of this goes to point towards what has been a buildup for several weeks. We know the military deployment is great and Vast from what the President has sent over there. We saw that now F-22 stealth fighters have been deployed from the United States bases, taken to Israel, bases that we have in Israel, as well as all the other assets in the Mediterranean and surrounding the area of which an operation would take place.
We know that. There are many ways you can look at this as well. We know that the President gave that 10 to two week deadline for Iran to make a deal. We know that there were discussions yesterday in Geneva. They started in the morning in Geneva.
They took a break in the afternoon and then they came back and were negotiating into the night. We haven't heard a ton that has come out of that, but we do know that both the individuals that were negotiating for the United States, Steve Witcoff and Jared Kushner, were going with some of the most strong demands that the U.S. government has made, such as no sunset clause. Seems to seem very unlikely. Get rid of all of your enriched uranium, turn it over to the U.S., and shut down all your facilities.
If that is the hard stop of where this negotiation is, I don't know that the mullahs in Iran, the survival of their own self-interest. If they were to give that up, they would be toppled. If they don't, they may be toppled. Flashing back, what, a week when the Ayatollah said, you know, we'll slap you in the face so hard you can't stand up, that kind of thing, that kind of rhetoric that was coming out of their leaders. Maybe they do, Daniel.
It's a very specific reference. Yeah, we've seen them. We've seen them pretty brutal. Let's go to Dan, who's calling on line one. I want to hear from you, by the way, too.
So hopefully this inspires you to call in. If you're watching online right now, a great way to get engaged is to call us and to be a part of the show. I know it can be intimidating on some of these big topics, but we're pretty kind here. Just be kind to our phone screeners. I want to take as many points of view as possible here.
If you agree with the potential strike in Iran, if you don't agree with it, I do want to hear from you. I want to take the temperature of America right now: 1-800-684-3110. Dan, go ahead. Yeah, hey, I guess the only issue I have with this is I see it as a very, very unnerving 'cause uh Iran, this isn't political for them. This is ideologically motivated one hundred percent.
They're going to use any any action they can or any excuse they can to take action against Israel foremost, United States secondary. like I said, this isn't you can't argue with somebody who's or you can't negotiate with somebody Who thinks that they're on the right side of their God? Right. The ideology alone may keep it from getting to the point of. Peace.
However, we do know they have worked on these situations before. We know there have been deals with Iran before, whether you like them or not. There have been deals struck. Of course, we remember during the Obama administration, all of the different times, there have been some sort of deals that have delayed any kind of regime change. But we are at a point where a lot of the people, even within their own country, are calling for America to get involved in some way to say this is enough.
We have had enough of what this administration has done. to our country. You also have The big threats, obviously, to Israel and other nations in the surrounding areas. Don't get me wrong here. There are a lot of people who are not on the side of Iran, and that includes nations right in the middle of it.
Well, and to Dan's point as well, when you think about what their theology is as the Ayatollah and this 12er version of Shia Islam, it's apocalyptic. They believe that they will usher in the 12th Imam and that then they will rule the earth.
So Self-preservation is going to be the name of the game for them if it comes to negotiation in the short term or all-out war to destroy Israel and the United States, according to their theology, if it comes to that.
So, yeah, you are playing with a very dangerous regime. Also, they don't have the long-range ballistic missiles they want to hit the United States.
However, they can hit our air base in Qatar, our Navy base in Bahrain, Kuwait, multiple bases, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Jordan, Israel. They have those medium-range missiles that can hit a lot of American institutions and assets in the region. Do we know without a doubt they do not have? The long-range capabilities. Because I know that I mean, you wouldn't claim that even if you did in some ways.
How do we know for sure that this is not something that they do obtain?
Well, the intelligence that the United States purports to have is that that is something they want but do not yet have.
However, hypersonic missiles being created in Russia, who they are very well aligned with, if it were to come down to that, who knows? But at this point, it is believed by the U.S. government and our military intelligence that that is not something that they currently have, even if they are aspirational of it. As you said, there are Americans stationed all over the world. There are still military bases throughout Europe.
There are military bases in many different places that could be reached.
Well, and that's part of the reason why the armada that is over there has to be so large as well. It isn't just the attack capability. It is all of the missile defense systems that are also deployed through that way as well.
So that if they start launching a bunch of their short and medium range ballistic missiles, those missile systems can take out those and try to minimize as much damage as possible. I also want to bring this up because I think we should talk about it with Jeff as well.
Next week is Purim. Purim is the story of Esther. It's the holiday that comes from that, where Queen Esther saved the Jewish people from Haman and who wanted to commit a genocide against the Jewish people in Persia. What is Persia? It's Iran.
So I think the timing of this also is very interesting as we look to next week, which is a very important holiday. We also know that the holidays are really always targets.
So Tuesday would be Purim. We know Hanukkah. There was the attack on Bandai Beach. This is not uncommon. There is the Tiom Kippah war.
There's so many different wars that have happened within Israel that are sparked on historic Jewish holidays. Purham being next week. We will see how that plays out. But I think you're right.
Something we should discuss with Jeff when we get back. Phone lines are completely jammed right now. They will open up. Not everyone will make it through.
So keep calling at 1-800-684-3110. Again, this is why we have an office. In Jerusalem is why Jeff Is there half of the time, if not more, in Israel. And we have a team that we work with in Israel because we need to make sure that America is represented appropriately, especially right now. When your social feeds may tell you something otherwise, when it may tell you that Israel is not on the right side here, or that Israel is some sort of conspiracy theory state.
Uh we have to make sure we are there. We make sure we are there to support Our friends and our brothers and sisters in Israel. Look, phone lines, like I said, are open at 1-800-684-30110. I wanna hear from you. There's a lot of you watching right now.
You have maybe never seen us before. We do this show each and every day from 12 to 1 o'clock. Monday through Friday. If you're brand new, Hit that subscribe button if you're watching on YouTube right now. It's a great way to get engaged.
We do this show, like I said, every day. If you've been here a while, you can support the work of the ACLJ at aclj.org. And next week, we're going to kick off a really special way for you to be a part of the ACLJ family. And I want you to make sure that you are a part of that as well.
So, right now, as we head to break, again, this is all breaking news. This is all happening in real time. We have two lines open currently: 1-800-684-30-110. Jeff Balabon is going to be joining us. as we are covering the real-time world that is going on.
And a potential war with Iran and what it means for our friends in Israel. We'll be right back. Phone lines are jammed, but they will open up 1-800-684-30110. Of course, we are talking about what is going on this morning. Look, this is all breaking news coming out of Israel, and I want to make sure that you know that we are covering this in real time as we are live.
So, look, there are things that are changing rapidly. Ambassador Huck could be telling his staff at the U.S. Embassy in Israel to essentially, if they need to leave, they need to go ahead or they want to leave, they need to go ahead and do it today by any means necessary. Get on a plane to Europe, get on a plane somewhere else, then make your way back to the United States. We have more travel warnings and restrictions going into place that may even get more.
This is obviously all signaling what could be a very imminent. attack in Iran. as we know that Israel is going to play a major part in this whole story, as it always has. Jeff Balabon, who runs our ACLJ Jerusalem office, is joining us now. Jeff, I just wanted to get your thoughts of all the changes that have happened rapidly in the last few hours.
Sure. First of all, I am coming to you from America. It's right now, Shabbat in Jerusalem. This news is still coming out of Israel, and especially now when there are life-threatening issues, there are emergency services that operate even throughout Shabbat telling everybody what's going on.
So I'm in receipt of those, but I was here because this week, actually, the last couple of days, I've been in Washington at the White House and Capitol Hill about these issues and other issues as well. Look, from Israel's perspective, from America's perspective, regime change, I believe, has to happen. Iran is inimical to our interests. They've been killing Americans, attacking our assets now for decades. They have threatened our existence.
They want the capacity to threaten our existence. We've talked about this before. Intercontinental ballistic missiles, together with the kind of warheads that they're trying to develop, are a literal threat to all Americans. And so this is vital. What does regime change bring, which is what people are really hoping for?
Well, we don't know. There are three scenarios right now. It could be an Iranian preemptive attack, primarily. On Israel, although there definitely could be attacks here in America. They have many terrorist proxies.
But certainly on Israel, they could rain down hundreds of ballistic missiles, which Israel's shields could be overwhelmed by them. There could be an American-led attack, which would be the best interest, I think, for America and Israel. There could be an Israeli-led attack, because Israel, I don't think, can let this go without response, the buildup. Listen, the Trump administration has tried over and over to negotiate with them, even way beyond anything which could be reasonably expected, given their bad actions. They keep on refusing, and now we're at the last moment, and everything is on the line.
Jeff, I wanted to bring this to your attention as well. I don't know if you've seen it, but Congresswoman Ilan Omar put out a message on Twitter last night on X that said this. It says, Iraq was attacked by the U.S. during Ramadan, and it's sickening to know that the U.S. is again going to attack Iran during Ramadan.
The U.S. apparently loves to strike Muslim countries during Ramadan, and I am convinced it isn't what these countries have done to violate international law, but about who they worship. First of all, there are community notes that point out that the Gulf Wars were not started during Ramadan.
So that's factually incorrect. But even there, What we've seen from the Iranian regime killing 30,000 of their own people. Many, many Muslims killed by the Iranian regime. Uh the fact that this would be her hot take on Twitter to try and resist President Trump at this point is frankly shocking that we're even here. Look, I actually don't know, but I assume that Elon Omar is a Sunni Muslim.
And the truth is, the Sunni and the Shia and Iran is Shia Muslims have been killing each other now for decades, for more than decades, for centuries. And they're not really friends of one another, but they have a mutual enemy. And that is the United States, that is America, that is Christians, that is Jews, that is Israel. Those are the mutual enemies.
So the fact that she is making common cause with people who killed more Sunni Muslims than anyone else, the fact that it's just being anti-America, it's just being anti-Christian. But you're right, she's lying about when the war was launched. And as you mentioned before the break, we are coming up on a significant holiday in the Jewish calendar and one that's obviously also in Christian scriptures, which is the story of Esther, which is ancient Persia. This is Persia, and a regime that decided it wanted to wipe out all the Jews. That's not unfamiliar to us.
And we're living through it again today. And we're living through a time where somehow close. To the most powerful man on earth, then it was King Akashveros, we call him. Xerxes or Ahaswaros, but Akash Verosh.
Now it's clearly Donald Trump. He is the most powerful man on earth, and the people around him, somehow, there are those who whisper in his ear that want the destruction of Jews, and yet, and yet.
Somehow in his family. There are Jews who are even closer, and everything is playing out in the most biblical way possible. Yeah, well, I want you to speak on that a little bit more. Obviously, there has been a rise over the last number of years now in sort of the anti-Semitism that has come out of the left, but then out of the right over the last, you would say, probably year. And then, of course, You are dealing with Ambassador Huckabee, who just a week ago we had the conversation that went kind of south with Tucker Carlson, and now we are on the verge of a war.
Now, when you have such an influence as someone like Tucker, who has such a large audience, And now, a week later, we are potentially in a war, you know, somewhat in support of Israel. How do we fight back against what's going to be the narrative? And now what seems to be, like you said, we're very lucky that in somewhat President Trump isn't listening to a lot of those voices, but we know a lot of people do. We do. And, you know, it's astonishing and that not so for believers.
I mean, the fact that this story that the Jews are spread out and they're a fifth column and they're not, you know, they're not loyal to the country. This has been going on for centuries. Those who wish evil on the world, those who wish evil against God love to choose the Jews in every culture and every time. And, you know, and so we're coming up on Purim.
So the day before Purim, Jews fast. That's called the fast of Esther, even though she asked that the Jews fast for three days and nights. We don't do that anymore. We fast the day before this. And then we lead right into read the story of the Megillah of Purim and how that happened.
And it's fascinating because in our scriptures, it's the only place that God isn't referenced at all directly. Although we have a teaching that every time he talks about the king, that it doesn't say the king's name, you could read it as meaning God. And if you read through the scripture, you'll see it's amazing. It really, it could be God in each case. And that's the point that we live in a time where open miracles on.
Quite as clear, um, but what looks to be miraculous is happening all around us if only you're paying attention, and that's the story of Purim, and it's the story of a complete reversal. And so, you hear you have Tucker sitting in the Oval Office, whispering in Trump's ear even last week, and that went around the internet saying what he literally quoting Heyman is saying that's what he's telling, that's what he's telling uh Trump, but you know. All of this, we hope for the right ending. We hope for the same ending that happened in Purim, but we never know. We have to be righteous and deserve it in our generation as well.
That's right, Jeff. I appreciate you joining us. I appreciate all the hard work you do for ACLJ at the ACLJ Jerusalem office and everything that we do to make sure we are ensuring freedom also for our friends in Israel and for American people in Israel as well, whether that is the Jewish people, Christian people, Arab people. There are people of all faiths there, and that is something that I hope more and more people see. And look, as someone who is hoping to go as soon as next week, I feel like some of those are going to be changing for people, but we will see how this all plays out soon.
I appreciate you joining us. Hey, we got a second half hour coming up. If you're on hold right now, please don't go anywhere. I want to hear from you. I told you I wanted to hear from you.
It is very important that we hear from the American people on this, that it is not just us. This is not an echo chamber here. We have one line open at 1-800-684-3110. There's a lot of work that we do in this realm. I want you to be a part of it at aclj.org.
You can see our work, whether, again, that is for the Christian people, for the Jewish people, whatever it may be. And even today, The UN. And we file a submission as a special rapporteur on summary. uh focusing on the death sentence for blasphemy in Pakistan. Again, supporting Christians there.
who are dealing with some unspeakable persecution as well. We have a lot more to cover. But again, I want to hear from you.
So, give me a call at 1-800-684-3110. We're going to continue to take your calls over the next half hour. If you don't get us on your local station, find us however you get your podcasts. Keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Sekulow.
And now, your host, Logan Sekulow. Welcome back to Sekulow. Second half hour now of the show. We're just joined by the head of ACLJ Jerusalem, Jeff Balabon. If you want some updates of what it's like in Israel right now and what this looks like for the future as we head to what is seeming like.
Look, we are doing this, as I said. This is a real-time broadcast. We are live right now. Thousands of you are watching, millions of you are watching later on. I want to tell you that the facts are developing right now.
We know we woke up this morning. Ambassador Huckabee had sent an email to his staff. saying if you want to leave, leave today. Of course, it's evening now already in Israel. But saying, leave, get out of here if you can, essentially, if you want to, if you choose to.
Not saying you have to. saying if you want feel like you need to leave, do so today. We also know there's been travel restrictions that have been put in place and seem like they will, or at least advisories that will then maybe even move to full restrictions coming up soon. We could go through all the details of those, but you can find them on the website. You won't really need to.
That's right.
And I have a couple of new updates since we went to break there. One, it appears that there are anywhere from 14 to 20. U.S. Air Force KC-46 Pegasus tanker aircrafts.
So, a tanker would be very important for these types of long-range bombing missions to refuel aircraft in air without them having to land. They are stationed at Ben-Gurion Airport in Israel. U.S. Air Force tankers. Right now.
And a lot of these are from the New Hampshire Air National Guard. I think that also shows the scope. Of the buildup of this military. It is not just from in the region, from US bases, but also calling up Air National Guard to be a part of this as well. There's also reports that China has called for its citizens to leave Iran immediately.
Amid escalating regional tensions and has advised citizens in Israel to prepare for an emergency and increase their level of caution.
So, the Chinese government issuing similar warnings, also, Australia doing similar moves.
So, you are seeing governments around the world start to react as well. There's probably a lot more people who are from China that are there than you think there are. In both nations. In both nations. That's what I'm saying.
Yeah. I mean, again, you picture these countries a bit isolated. And remember, they are not. They are not isolated to exclusively the people of, you know, from there. They are for people all over the world.
Do business or travel to Israel, to Iran, to all of these nations. Phone lines are jammed. And I do want to at least take one call before we go to break. Let's go first to Norma in New Jersey, who's watching on YouTube. Norma, go ahead.
Yes, hi. Yes, my question is, there are right now there's a lot of military presence that's in the Middle East. And China and Russia are very aware of this. And I'm just curious to know, are we putting ourselves in jeopardy here? Look, Norma, I think that there are risks that are going to be involved in this kind of scale war.
I don't want to act like that's we're not going to get involved, and that's not going to have some global repercussions here. It's taking and deciding what the risk is and what the reward is, I guess you'd say, for people's freedom, for the American people's safety as well. Because when you do have nations like this, hopefully they're also going to take this a little more seriously when we have these situations unfold. And, Norma, I do believe people that are maybe on military installations and at the embassies and abroad, yes, they're a risk there. At home, yes, we don't know what type of proxy cells or things that the Iranians may try to deploy as a response to this.
Do I think that Russia and China are going to come to the defense of the Iranians in a way that starts a global conflict? I don't. Yeah, I would agree. I do not believe that at this point Russia, they got a lot on their hands with Ukraine. And China, I think, has their eye on a bigger prize that Iran is not the hill that they want to go to World War III on.
No, and though they may be, again, more friendly. As Will said, these are countries that exist themselves and don't want that kind of war. Not to say this doesn't start a snowball that could escalate there. I don't want to pretend like that's not a possibility. And that is why that this decision to potentially Have this attack and begin a new war.
Has been taken, I believe, so slowly. Because if you could avoid it You want to avoid it. But there are some points where you cross a red line, you can't do it anymore. We've got one line open at 1-800-684-30110. We'll continue your calls and comments as we get back.
Again, 1-800-684-3110. Check out all the great work of the ACLJ at aclj.org. We'll be right back. Welcome back to Sekulow. Phone lines are open for you.
We're just going to jump right in. Let's go to Ann in Pennsylvania, calling on line four. And again, if you want to call in, 1-800-684-3110, Ann, go ahead. Hey guys, listen, I never take notes with you guys. You stir up emotions in me that I just need to sometimes vent, and I appreciate you guys so much.
No other conservative podcaster takes phone calls like you guys do.
Now I just want to say quickly, what part of If we didn't have the Old Testament, we wouldn't have the New Testament. Do people not understand? Israel has been, yeah, you like that? I coined that phrase a couple months back. Israel has been, you know, the victim of all of these assaults, of all of these threats from Iran to obtain nuclear weapons.
We've been hearing it over and over. And some of the very conservative podcasters of today were spewing this for many years.
So I don't understand why they want to divide the conservative movement, MAGA, whatever we want to call it. It is what it is. Why do they want to take the chance and why do they want to put Israel in even more danger by spewing Bibi's going to go to jail and this and that and Israel this and Israel that no country guys right? We've been saying for a long time no country is perfect, but yet it seems that Israel is always right there at the tip of everybody's tongue. People that I want to call out right now Megan Kelly, Stephen Bannon, that nobody really else is having the courage to do, people that I've loved, people that I've listened to and respected for many years.
I'm sorry, guys, I didn't mean to throw out that. You know, like, let's get it out there. But I love you guys so very much. And I appreciate it. And look, I want to say these are voices within, like you said, the conservative community that I've been a fan of over the years.
They're people who I know, people I've been in the room with, who I've shared a meal with. And I can't believe some of the rhetoric that's come out of them now. People that I've had real conversations with and to see massively and people who I still still would would hope would consider to be friends. But at this point, they have taken such an extreme point of view. And like you said, it always.
When you start their show, you know where it's going, and it's always going to point back to either Israel or to the Jewish people. Yeah And it's absurd. You can sometimes run a timer of how long it will take on a lot of these shows. To where it gets to that point every time.
Well, and you asked, you know, why do people go there? I think there is a very simple answer. Money. It's getting them the clicks. It's getting them the views.
A lot of times we know if we talk about. Israel The Middle East, anti-Semitism, from our perspective now, we're going to get lower numbers. Why? Because that's how the algorithm is and the outrage and going after what there's a reason that anti-Semitism is thousands of years old and keeps regurgitating back into the mainstream. It's because it's an ancient evil.
And what happens? It comes back up. It's attractive to people. They're easily manipulated by it. And they take the bait.
And now in an algorithm-based society, yeah, that's going to get you more clicks and more views. One thing that's here about us is we're consistent with where we've always been on this and where we intend to always be on this. And as Will said, look, I'm not saying that my feet's not filled with it too. Because if you hate watch something, by the way. And also Gets money.
To them. It's all about the views. It's all about the clicks. Of course, I do believe some of them really believe all of this stuff, which is even scarier than just doing it for the money. You're doing it for the clicks.
They're not having much of any kind of moral high ground here. If you're doing it just for that, I can even understand it. It's when you just say. This is what I believe is what I get pretty scared. That being said.
A lot of you are watching right now who've never watched before. Here's also those who do watch. If you enjoy this show and this topic we're talking about today, as Will said, there are often times. Where the shows we do on Israel, the shows we do on anti-Semitism, whatever it may be, the numbers do not do very well. We can see them, okay, in real time.
We don't know if we're not in the right feeds, whatever it is. It doesn't get fed to you. You don't see it or you don't click on it. If you like what we're talking about here right now, Or you know, enjoy is a weird word. I don't want to say you enjoy this show because I know that it is intense time.
I'm going to ask you to put a thumbs up on this right now because that will at least indicate to our audience, to the global channels, if you will, especially if you're watching on YouTube, that this is a kind of content you would like to see in the future.
So, if you go ahead and do that, that would mean a lot to us. And of course, let me know where you're watching in the chat. I always appreciate that. And I want to roll out ways for you guys to engage even more with us. I know that Anne said she loved calls.
I love that we take calls. I want to figure out more ways to include you, those who are in the chat, those who comment as well.
So, we're working on that right now for different ways that you can get engaged with the ACLJ and also with our live broadcast because I always think that you are the most important voice. As I said, when we're talking about going to war potentially, And it looks imminently? The American people need to have a voice. And you need to be able to speak out. And hopefully, we can provide that in some way.
Should we take another call? Let's take another call. All right, I'm just going to some order. Let's go to Brian in North Carolina. You want to hold for a while.
Brian, go ahead. Hey guys, thanks for taking my call. I've been to Israel many times as a veteran. I even got stranded at Ben-Gurion Airport one time for three days. And that's where I really learned to.
Love the nation of Israel and the people of Israel, just the common citizens.
So I'm concerned about these developments that are going on right now politically. But I'm not afraid. And I think Jeff and your most recent caller. kind of specified the reasons for that. I am concerned for one cross section of people that I haven't heard you mention yet.
And that's the general population in Iran, and specifically with those that are experiencing Christian revival right now. And I would like to know what your perspective is on If this does develop into a fully blown con conflict, Where do you think that goes? And what will be the impact on those people? I mean, what I would hope is that, Brian, that you would have a much better life for those people in the future.
Now, is it going to be fun immediately for them? No, I mean, no country wants to be at war. No one wants to see bombs dropped. It's just the nature of the beast. But do I think at some point?
There will be a future that could lead to more. Persian Christians. Yes, I do think that that's a potential with a regime change here.
Now, is it for sure? No, you don't know who's going to be taking over here. But if the U.S. involved, Israel gets involved, you are at least looking towards a brighter future. And we know firsthand at the ACLJ what the regime does to Christians in Iran.
We know that currently. Being a Christian is someone that can land you in Evan Prison, one of the worst prisons on the planet, to be tortured. To be taken away from your family, to be disappeared. And that's if they don't just kill you. You know, the regime is not a safe place for the Christian community.
They have underground churches. They have to find ways and have great courage to be a Christian. And that's one thing that you can say about the life-changing experience of the gospel is that. People in Iran are coming to faith in Christ. When that, all the rational indicators would tell you, don't do this, you'll be killed by a regime.
But I think, Brian, it is those types of people within Iran. That wants to be free of the regime that is oppressing them. I don't think the U.S. toppling the regime or taking out their ability to conduct terror around the world is something that would turn Iranian Christians against the United States. I also don't think that we need to be the nation builder here.
If there is a campaign against the Iranian regime that topples it, I think that the Persian people themselves. Can figure a way forward, and that is the best way for that to play out. Not necessarily a military campaign that has boots on the ground and tries to establish a new government there.
Now, whatever this war does look like, however, boots are on the ground or not on the ground or in the air or whatever it may look like. I do want to say, obviously, our prayers are going to be with all the people in Iran. There is an uprising happening there. Remember, there's a large percentage of the people in Iran that want the U.S. to get involved.
They understand the risks that are involved in that. But they could see a future. You have a lot of current Americans who are of Iranian descent or even Iranian immigrants. who remember in Iran not all too long ago. 50 years ago.
that was a thriving nation. A multicultural nation of brilliant people. who have been under the thumb of a dictatorship essentially.
So now you have a chance to reclaim that land, if you will. for the betterment of society in the future. I am not saying that war is easy. Or that this is a guaranteed slam dunk and everything's going to go well. We all have flashbacks, I know.
to what was the fallout of the war on terror. Whether that was Afghanistan and the Afghanistan withdrawal or whatever it may be, it is never as simple as it looks. We also know we have a very different leadership right now, and if this can be handled very quickly, Then maybe we can move forward. Phone lines are jammed. They're going to open up at 1-800-684-3110.
If you're on hold still, I will do my best to get to all of you that are on hold for at least some time. If you've been on hold for over 10 minutes, I'm going to get to you for sure. If you're going to hold less than that, I'm going to try my best. But stay on hold. 1-800-684-3110.
I haven't talked a lot about the work of the ACLJ, but no, this is right in our wheelhouse. This is everything we deal with here at the ACLJ, whether that is the persecution of Christians around the world and how we can protect them. Of course, standing with our friends in Israel. At our ACLJ Jerusalem office, all of this comes into real clear play right now. And if you are not a supporter of the ACLJ, I encourage you to do so.
If you're brand new, Just go click subscribe, like, comment, be a part of the ways you can do free. But if you've been with us for a while, you've enjoyed this broadcast, or maybe you like the legal work that we do around the world. I'm encouraging you to make a donation.
Next week, there'll be a really brand new opportunity for you to do that. And I can't wait to share it with you. We'll be right back with your calls and comments. Welcome back to Sekulow. Well, there are some updates even coming from President Trump.
As we are speaking right now, he just said to some reporters that he's not satisfied with Iran, but there will be more talks. And then some essentially said, but sometimes war is necessary, attacks are necessary. But again, not this is again. We're breaking this as it's happening right now. And those talks are expected today, this evening in Geneva, that they'll be having more discussions.
But once again, there's an expiration date on this. We don't know what that is. The President may not specifically know, but he is the one that decides when that is. And I think this is also important. And then we'll get to some callers that this is from Foreign Affairs magazine that talks about why the administration is prioritizing diplomacy over limited strikes, but gets into the fact that what will it take to change the regime in Iran?
The U.S. military must go big and then let the Iranians do the rest. It says repeatedly. It says, but the reality is that after decades of trying and failing to change Tehran's behavior with sanctions, sabotage, and more recently, one-off strikes, the time has come to go big. The regime is simply too ideological to be cowed by a few rounds of bombing.
The Iranian people, meanwhile, have made it more than clear they are ready to transform their country. The United States can and should help them by using its military power to neutralize the Islamic Republic's military capabilities and degrade its repressive domestic apparatus. And I think, once again, Every administration since Jimmy Carter. has been dealing with the Iran problem. And at some point It is, is it going to be something you continue to be a thorn in your side?
Or as the greatest power in the world, do you do something about it? And I think that's where the President feels like he is. Yeah, I think so too. Let's go ahead and try to get through some of these calls. Let's go in order as which they came in.
Let's go to Eric calling California. Eric, you're on the air. Hey guys, uh Mark my words, in about a month it will be different over there. Uh they are. I think Trump is uh Locked, loaded, ready to go.
I've never seen anything so heartbreaking as when those, there were some women, the protesters, and They all took off their head coverings in the middle of the street, and just something happened to my soul. I mean, I. I just I was just so overwhelmed by the bravery And then realizing that their neighbors were seeing, and they were all, you know, a lot of them were Muslim and were like. Probably gonna get him later. And they might be part of that.
30,000, but we gotta We have no choice. I've even tried to, you know, I'm a little too old now, but I was like, man, I would enlist and I would go and I would fight for those people. Yeah, I for those people. Eric, I think a lot of people feel that way when they see.
Sort of the moving protests that were happening there. They were hoping for regime change. They were hoping for changes in the way. And look, there are areas in the Middle East where that has started to bubble up, where there have been more westernization of those countries, even if they don't believe it necessarily.
Sometimes, just to exist on Earth right now, they have to be able to do that. That's right.
And Eric, once again, what is a little bit different than even in Iraq, in places that we saw issues before, is that. Uh the country of Iran was a more western style country. And the people of Iran want to get back to that. It's not as though it will be outlawed or banned for someone to have the religious conviction to wear a head covering. Or should it be?
But the command by the Ayatollah and the secret police and all of the things that they will do, where if you are not, you are risking life in prison and torture. That is where you see the people around them supporting in the leading of women who have been oppressed. Taking that courageous stand, I think, also shows the nature of what that counter movement is in the country of Iran. Absolutely. We're going to try to kind of rapidly go through some of these calls.
Ronald, South Carolina, you're up. Thanks for holding. Yes, thanks for taking my call. One thing that comes to my mind is I do not even think we would have come to this point in time in history if Biden had courage to hold on to those sanctions that Trump had put in place because it kept Iran poor to where they couldn't use their money and influence to do these terroristic activities. I think, Ronald, when President Trump says these wars wouldn't happen under him, there would never have been a war in Gaza, there'd never been a war in Ukraine and Russia, there are reasons why he's saying that.
That's not just bloviating his, you know, talking about his ego for that sense. There were actual rules and restrictions that were put in place that could have led to these wars not occurring. Or when President Obama, instead of deciding to keep the Iranian regime, to prop them up and enrich them. had decided to stand with the people of Iran, he made that choice. He chose to stand with the Ayatollahs, not the people of Iran.
And it extended this and made it even worse. All right, let's go. Richard, California, watch on Salem News. Go ahead. Yes, good day.
It may be a little bit too late, but I believe the Trump administration Should do a better job of informing the Americans about the real serious concerns of Iran. I'll tell you why. Yeah. One poll came out. Said the affordability crisis is the major issue, immigration is second, and Iran.
Iran is way down the line, hardly even mentioned. That means the ignorant and uninformed people of the United States don't realize the seriousness of the situation. Second, another poll. Another poll came out. Twenty five years ago, Republicans were ninety seven percent saying that America was great.
Democrats were eighty seven percent. Today, It's ninety two percent, so Republicans have gone down five percent. And Democrats are, guess what? 36% of Democrats say America is not green. That's the talking points, look, that have come out of their own political parties.
When the Democrats themselves are ashamed to be Americans, it does feel that way. And when they put off that message, even during the times when they are in office, there is an overall shame of their patriotism.
Now, I will say, when it comes to informing the American people about something like Iran, I think you're right. We need to make sure we do a better job. That's why we do this show. And I hope the administration takes a listen as well, to show why these are important decisions and not political decisions. These are not decisions that are made just for some sort of political talking point.
They are made for appropriate reasons. We have one minute to go. I want to quickly take Heather. Heather in New Mexico, go ahead.
Okay. I am probably one of the people that would be classified as ignorant or uninformed, but I am neither. I do know that some of the ratings say that one in five Americans are absolutely against this because of the effect that any particularly boost on the ground will have. And I just want to be a voice to speak for the other side because there's a group of us as Christians who have a different eschatological view. And therefore, we look at this situation not just from a geopolitical view, but we also look at it from a theopolitical view.
And if you remove the theology of it, you are able to look at things in a different way. And so there's a lot of us that are concerned that are on the other side. And because we don't Uh, you know, adhere to the dispensationalism theology, we look at things differently. Heather, Heather, only cutting you off because we have 45 seconds left, and you're an important caller. And if you go back and see our conversation that we had with Jeff Palabon when he was in the studio, we actually addressed some of this: that it shouldn't necessarily only be someone's theology to support Israel, there's other reasons as well.
But once again, The other thing is that people are trying to say that us going after Iran is only about Israel. It's not. It's also about U.S. national security. First and foremost, I think for President Trump, it's about U.S.
national security long term.
So, I think that we can also say Israel doesn't necessarily even have to be a part of this discussion for America to take action. All right, that's going to do it for today's show. We'll talk to you next week.
