On today's show, President Trump schedules a live press conference, What We Know Ahead of Time. Keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Secular. 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. I hope you had a great Easter weekend. Of course, celebrating the resurrection. And for those also celebrating Passover, we had both at our house over the weekend.
So, again, hope you spent a lot of time with your family reflecting. Of course, it still was a busy weekend in the world of sort of the geopolitical wars that are happening. President Trump will be making a press conference and a statement shortly after we go off the air. We know a little bit about what it's about. Of course, he is also currently speaking or was speaking earlier at the Easter egg roll next to a giant mascot of an Easter body, which to me always shows America.
It's just like when he did the statement, and the next thing was Brett Baer saying, and now the mass singer finale. You know, we live in a very interesting culture in America where things are really conjoined, sometimes awkward. Look, President Trump went on a profanity-laced tirade. Threatening Iran on Easter Sunday morning. Of course, that made a lot of news, as it should have.
Pretty shocking words coming from the President of the United States on Easter Sunday. Not necessarily shocking words coming from this President of the United States, but maybe at the time.
So, again, we live in a weird world where everything seems to be conjoined in a way that can sometimes feel chaotic and uncomfortable. The line between politics and pop culture has probably never been blurrier. And that shows, and today we will have a big update. As we do know, one of the big successes over the weekend, if you want to put it there, there was a deal, there was a downed aircraft in Iran. The first pilot was rescued very quickly, and the second pilot was rescued days later.
And we don't know a whole lot of details about this yet, but I'm looking forward to hearing about the journey. Maybe we'll know a bit more about what happened here, what went wrong, but also what went right, the daring rescue, it seems like, of this pilot, this American pilot.
Well, and to that point as well, Logan, when you think about one, what the left tries to say that this entire administration is trying to be a censorship regime, that they're trying to take away the fact that we have so many people that are so freely and willing to criticize the United States during a conflict time, one shows that we still have our freedom of speech. It's alive and well in this country, which is good. You showed that on Sunday morning.
Well, that's fair. But also, when you talk about the safety that we feel at home. The fact that you can have An Easter egg roll. It is kind of the beauty in some ways of the United States. And also, why people, I think, feel free to criticize so much is because they don't feel unsafe here at home.
And that may be part of the problem where they're like, well, we weren't, there wasn't a risk from Iran. We are safe here. We can go back to the mask singer. And what makes in this world and in the safety of the United States, it even that much harder to sometimes express your objectives in a way that the average American can really take to heart and understand because they will still do an Easter egg roll that isn't canceled because of the seriousness of the war. That, I think, shows the fortitude and the testament to our country.
However, it also opens it for a lot of criticism. And I think you're seeing that in real time from his detractors. Yeah. And if you had the opposite, Israel had a lot of people complaining over the weekend that the holy sites for Jews, Muslims, and Christians were closed. Obviously, there's Some controversy that went around there.
Look, when we had our Passover Seder at my house, we pulled up the live feed. You can always watch a live feed of the Western Wall. Of course, it was the middle of the night, but it's empty because it's closed. You can't go there right now, or very few people can go to certain areas. There is a little bit of me that wonders if it would be better to just say, you know what, if you want to risk it, you can risk it.
And that's more of an American point of view. You know, that's more of an American, the American in me going, yeah, if you want to go practice your faith how you want, go do it. But I understand the difference between there and here is the missiles are landing there. They are not landing, as of right now, in the United States of America.
So it's a bit. Different. There is some updates actually coming out before President Trump's speech. I see some of them breaking right now on the news. Let's see if we can pull some updates as we head into break here.
I want to hear from you. How did you feel? about this rescue attempt over the weekend, and of course, President Trump's ultimatum. Uh on on I believe Post did it on Truth Social. That then went pretty viral.
What'd you think about that? 1-800-684-3110. We'll be right back with more on Sekulow. Welcome back to Sekulow. We do have some lines open at 1-800-684-30110.
I'd even tease. Later on in the show, we're going to have Liam, one of our ACLJ attorneys, as well as Jeff Balabon, who'll be joining us from ACLJ Jerusalem.
So we will have a busy show, and I'd love to hear from you as well, though. I know a lot of you experienced hopefully a lovely weekend. celebrating Easter, celebrating Passover. And as yesterday we celebrated Passover, know that our team is still hard at work, though. We work in constant communication as we are celebrating Easter, celebrating these holidays.
Um as much as we'd love to take time off, and we do try our best to do so. Things like tomorrow we're filing. I'm looking at it right now because I'm scrolling through it so you know. Tomorrow we're filing at the U.S. Supreme Court to defend a church that faces crippling fines.
We knew about this one, how they've been worshiping. Of course, we're talking about what was going on in California against Gavin Newsom. That is why our team... It stays hard at work. We have to have the best of the best.
We have the most committed team members. That's because people like you support the work of the ACLJ. And we have. had the opportunity to launch a double the difference drive. It's different than last months.
But same idea conceptually. Because of you We were able to unlock another month of matching.
So, right now, your tax-deductible donation is doubled today through our double the difference drive. That's at aclj.org/slash double. I'm going to go over a lot more details of what. That means right now some of the work we're doing. And of course, you're going to hear from Liam a little bit later from our offices in Washington, D.C.
That being said, President Trump is going to address the nation once again. Through a press conference, through more of question and answer. But of course, it is related to the ongoing issues in Iran, including the rescue attempt, successful rescue attempt of two of our pilots. as well as that threat that he made on Truth Social on Sunday morning. Again, a lot of you woke up probably to the shocking threat that came through.
Again, the actual. Information, open up the straight of her moves, things like that. Nothing new. But Very intense. A lot of profanities, a lot of maybe insults you could say to even their religion.
There was a lot that happened.
Okay, let's just not try to sugarcoat it. I can't even say it on the air. Not even close to say it on the air. Nor would I. And there are things like this that obviously a lot of us have issues with President Trump.
You may like the overall messaging. but sometimes the words of the messenger don't exactly match up to where you think the President of the United States is going to be. But you know what? You had pilots who were lost. You had issues.
That's a lot to weigh on you. I'm not making a defense of it. I think it was a pretty wild thing to say.
However, It's what happened, and now we have to see how they kind of clean it up today. And we'll see what happens in this press conference. Is there more of an update you would like? Where do you think we are with this war in Iran? Of course, I'm using the word war, and they won't use the word war, understandably, because there's legal ramifications of the word war.
But what do you think? Give me a call at 1-800-684-3110 or put it in the chat. A lot of you are watching right now, but I understand a lot of you are watching to kind of learn. But I would love to get your opinions and your thoughts as well. Again, President Trump will be holding a press conference shortly after we go off the air.
So at the top of the hour, that's going to be occurring. That's right. And there are some very big updates to all of this. One, as Logan talked about, that F-15, which was shot down on Good Friday, where the first, the pilot of the F-15, it's a two-person crew, was rescued relatively quickly. But then the weapons systems operator, who was also in that, it took several days to actually pull off this rescue on Easter Sunday.
And when you read some of these stories, this is one of those tales of American bravery, which will go down and probably become a movie. Like just the entire timeline. The optics of it happening are on Holy Week with Good Friday and then the rescue on Easter Sunday. But you also see the coordination between the CIA running an op essentially against the Iranians with communications, allowing them to intercept that, throwing them off the trail. The individual himself who used his SEER training to be able to go from the point where he was, make it up a mountainside.
7,000 kilometers. And then be able to then use his rescue beacon and be able to be rescued, plus. I think it's a testament, and it shows the contrast of really what concerned us with the Afghanistan withdrawal. We saw the administration capitulate to the Taliban. To just hand over things and abandon weaponry and people behind.
And it was just a mess. When you see what happened here, That A rescue mission at great peril. to American men and women in uniform. When it comes to landing those C-130s in an area that is not designed to hold them with a makeshift airfield. With hundreds of US operators on the ground, bringing in little bird helicopters for the Special Forces to go get him off that ridge.
No expense was spared to bring an American home. And that is the contrast. That is what is inspiring to the American people. You see people on the left or detractors of this entire operation be like, look, they wasted hardware because those C-130s got stuck in the sand in Iran and they had to blow them up. And to those of us that understand how important it was for the morale of the military to rescue that weapon systems operator, to go in.
It is a who cares about the planes. Especially when you see how much waste happened. At Bagram Air Force Base. When you see what happened with all of the things that happened with that failed Afghanistan withdrawal, we got our man. out of Iran behind enemy lines.
And now people are trying to complain about the cost of a C-130. Yeah, I would like to see President Trump, or maybe who else could be a part of this press conference. Maybe it's some of the other cabinet members who can maybe address more of the strategy and the military side of it a little clearer. Because President Trump, just a week ago or so, not even had his address to the nation last Wednesday and pretty much said they had no anti-aircraft capabilities at this point.
Now, we know a little bit of details of what happened there, but I think those kind of questions will be looming over people when they go, well, even my son, who's 13, is not necessarily paying attention to always happen in the news, but saw the report, or he watched Wednesday the statement from the President, the dressination, and then heard about the The Dowed aircraft and said, well wait. President Trump on Wednesday said, They didn't have anti-aircraft capabilities anymore.
So, where's the truth in that? I would like those to be addressed. There are things that I think the American people not necessarily are owed, but are owed a quick, even simple explanation. to uh have them rest a little bit. with the uncertainty that comes with war.
Well, and I think to that point as well. When the President says we have air superiority, and you think of the amount of missions that are still going on, we took out another member of the Revolutionary Guard, another commander that is in charge of the undercover units. And that just happened over the weekend as well. When you think about the sheer amount of missions that are going, as well as there are reports that they are getting weapons systems resupplied by. Nations that aren't as friendly to us, maybe Russia, maybe some of those other actors that would like to see more damage to the US military.
We still have air superiority. This was also an F-15E that is from the 80s. These aircraft, which are still wonderful and still used by that, it wasn't as if our most advanced new technology was taken out by their systems. They were able to down this. This is the first fighter jet that was brought down over Iran since the beginning of this.
I think that does not take away from the fact of what the President says when he says we have complete control over. There are still opportunities for them to make things happen as it goes forward because the conflict is not over. There is still great peril to American pilots as they continue these missions.
However, I think it is still true that the air superiority, the ability to continue these attacks remains. It's just give those explanations for people that maybe are the more casual news viewer that aren't watching 24 hours a day. They may only be watching. when the President addresses the nation and then catch a headline on Instagram or catch a headline on Facebook and go, wait a second, you know, tell me the difference here. These are these opportunities that I hope President Trump and his cabinet take the opportunity to explain to the American people really what's happening so we can anticipate at least some answers.
I think a lot of it will be saying, you know, the heroic efforts that went on to rescue these soldiers or these pilots. I believe that will happen. But again, we want to hear from you at 1-800-684-3110. When we get back, we're going to talk a little bit more about work on the ACLJ side as there is some updates. And we're going to have one of our ACLJ attorneys, Liam, joining us.
I only got a minute and a half here. I was going to take a call. Douglas Stownhold, I'm going to get to you coming up pretty shortly.
So we'll have Liam and then we're going to take some more calls at 1-800-684-3110. But like I said, you're making a big difference in this country just by participating in this show each and every day. But of course, if you want to make that even more of a difference, there's a time and there's a way to do it. And that's right now, throughout the month, be a part of our new Double the Difference. Drive.
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A fight over finding Calvary Chapel. We're representing a school board. after an anti-Christian group tried to stop them from opening meetings in prayer. You've engaged in over 142 religious liberty cases and matters in the last calendar year. We get new contacts every Single day.
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So go to aclj.org right now and double your difference today. We'll be right back. Welcome back to Sekulow. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. I will be taking calls in the next segment because we have one of our ACLJ attorneys, Liam Harrell, who is joining us right now from Washington, D.C.
And then later on in the show, Jeff Balabon, ACLJ Jerusalem, he'll be on.
So, in between those times, just a couple segments, I'm able to take your calls and comments.
So, hit us up right now: 1-800-684-3110. Two lines open. If you're on hold right now, stay on hold. I will get to you. Just, it may take just a few minutes because I want to give our audience an update.
And, Liam, uh, this is maybe we need to start with the background of these street preacher cases that we've been working on. If we're just talking about background street preacher cases, we've been working on these for 40 years. But if you want to talk about the current one that we're doing, Will, I know you feel like you see it on the tip of your tongue. Yeah, well, and that's one of the main reasons I wanted to have Liam on today is to talk about the decision that came out of the Supreme Court and how it can affect this part of the practice of the ACLJ, something that Liam is very heavily involved with and does great work achieving victories for clients. But the Olivier versus City of Brandon decision that came out just a little over a week ago from the Supreme Court, 9 to 0, authored by Justice Kagan, is something that will be a guiding piece of Supreme Court jurisprudence that now we can use and also may open up doors for more clients.
And the background here is that this individual was a minister, street preacher, that would. Was able to go out and do this in Mississippi and then. He pled no contest when there was a citation against him. The city then tried to say, because you have pled no contest. You can never try to sue to get our ordinance overturned.
And what we see is that the Supreme Court said, no, he has every right to continue to do that. And, Liam, how does this impact not just for this individual? And we filed Namicus in this, we're very happy with the outcome, but for the entire practice of the ACLJ, because we know cities try to weaponize their ordinances to get people to go away. That's absolutely right. What is so important about what we do here at the ACLJ is obviously we have clients all around the country.
We are always working these First Amendment cases, these freedom of speech, freedom of religion cases. But we have to also be aware of what's happening in the broader legal world.
So even though This case came to the Supreme Court in a different way. We needed to be attuned to it, and we realized right away that the potential of this case could have a huge impact on our clients because many of our clients end up in municipal court or local county court.
Sometimes with ACLJ representation, we always hope, but oftentimes before we've had a chance to get involved. It might seem so tempting to just pay a small fine. And what the court tried to do, not the lower court tried to do in Olivier, was say that paying, even just paying a fine, might permanently foreclose your opportunities to get vindication in federal court. We knew that was wrong. We knew that was not the intent.
Certainly of the Bill of Rights. And that's why we intervened as an amicus, and we could not be more pleased with the result. A unanimous decision by Justice Kagan, and really an excellent outcome for our clients.
Well, and once again, we and we can talk about this momentarily, that we are now in the middle of that case against Chicago, something that you have been from the very beginning representing those individuals that Chicago tried to cite and bring forward, winning that victory, but now suing as we see this pattern. A decision like this out of Olivier is so important, and that's why I really wanted to spend some time on it today because. especially with those that feel called to this type of ministry. This is a it takes a lot of their time. the resources to be able to fight something like that in court.
They are giving the easy option of saying, just pay the fine. You don't even have to say you're guilty. You're just saying, no contest. I'm not going to fight the charge. That does seem like the attractive way to also get it to go away.
But then you are stuck with that. No, you have no recourse when they violated your rights. Their entire goal, not just in Chicago or in Mississippi, as this case was, but everywhere we see, these ordinances are to try. and shut down First Amendment activity. And It takes organizations like the ACLJ that will fight these at no cost to the client.
Because the entire goal is the the cities understand that they are not have all these vast resources to fight it. That it almost gives away the narrative, the fact that they tried to stop him from suing in that case in Mississippi. Because they're like, if we get them just to pay the fine, we can shut it down permanently. Absolutely. I think what this really goes to show is that when it comes to state and local governments, This was not a question about the merits.
We actually, if you want to look at the underlying merits of this case, what the city did in this case is absolutely an affront to the First Amendment. They weren't going to win on the First Amendment.
So what they tried to do was a tactic to just get this out of court. It's a tactic we've seen time and time again. And that's why it was so important that the ACLJ got involved here. Because for all of our clients, like you said, clients who don't have expensive attorneys on retainer, these are street preachers, people who are just trying to maximize their impact of their religious outreach. It should not take a team of Sophisticated attorneys to just vindicate your rights in court.
And that's why this outcome was so important and why it was so important not just for the First Amendment freedoms, which we all cherish, but our clients specifically. Like you mentioned, our clients in Chicago, our clients in Georgia, a lot of these guys are street preachers who have these what we would call parallel cases, a state court matter, but also a federal lawsuit thanks to the action of the ACLJ. And because of this decision, we now have another roadblock between our clients and justice removed. That's why it's so important. When people donate to the ACLJ, what they're seeing is real results.
We are there at every level, at the initial lawsuit, at the state court. And even as an amicus in the Supreme Court, and I think that's what makes us such an important tool in that free speech battle that we're seeing rage across the country. I mean, this was a 9-0 decision. This shouldn't have been hard. And yet we're seeing time and time again, it has to come down to affirmative lawsuits and skilled litigation from people like the ACLJ.
Liam, we only got about a minute here. I just wanted to also say, for those who are watching, what is the impact on this for them as they may want to do something similar? Maybe they want to be a street preacher. Maybe they have kids that are talking about those kind of outward expressions of their faith and evangelizing. What does this now set in terms of precedent for protecting them?
Absolutely. Listen, if you are out there and you are someone who was engaged in your free speech rights and Maybe you got in trouble. Maybe you violated a noise ordinance. Maybe you violated a free speech zone, something that maybe you just paid the fine. But now looking back on it, you're raising your eyebrows and saying, hey, was that constitutional?
This is another roadblock gotten rid of. Call us, get on the website. That's what we're here for 24-7, our attorneys. We want to look at your case and see if there's some way we can help you. All right, again, that is at aclj.org slash help.
Thanks, Liam, for joining us today. We're going to be back in just a minute, and we'll also be joined by Jeff Balabon from ACLJ Jerusalem. Give us an update on, obviously, the war with Iran, because Israel, I don't know if you know this, very involved in that war. I want to take your calls as well. Three lines are open at 1-800-68-430-110.
Some of you don't get us on your local station for the full hour, but if you're watching online, stay here. We're not going anywhere. Really short break coming up. If you do get us on Terrestrial Radio still. and you do lose us after a half an hour.
You should find us. We broadcast live each and every day, 12 to 1 p.m. Full hour, full television style broadcast. That's at aclj.org, YouTube, Rumble, and then later on, however you get your podcasts, we are there. We'll be right back with more on Sekulow.
Keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Sekulow. And now your host, Logan Secular. I told you we'd be right back. It's secular.
It's a Monday. Second half hour coming up. Jeff Balabon, MacLJ Jerusalem is going to be joining us a little bit later. And we got a lot of calls, and still three lines open.
So, if you want to be on the air, 1-800-684-30-110, we are talking about President Trump obviously making some aggressive statements over the weekend, to say the least.
Some of you liked it, some of you didn't understand both sides of that. You know, there may be 5% of me that liked it, and 95% of me that went, oh, I wouldn't know if I would use those words on Easter Sunday, but you know what? That's not for me to make that decision.
However, A lot of you have a lot of feelings and thoughts about that. Of course, it also came at the same time as a rescue mission was taking place as they were trying to save U.S. airmen who had been shot down. Two of them, both of them, successfully rescued one almost immediately, and then one went on a pretty daring mission. President Trump will speak.
The top of the hour. About that mission, about the ongoing threat in Iran, the timeline that he ruled out on Truth Social, again. in words that I can't say nor put up on the air. Uh There's a lot of things happening right now in the world, but President Trump will address those allegedly at the top of the hour. What do you want to hear him say?
We'll have some extra time for more calls because I'm going to take some right now, and then we're going to take some towards the end of the broadcast: 1-800-684-3110. Of course, we are also in the middle of, or really, first week of our double the difference drive. I want you to be a part of it. Should we take a call? Let's take a call.
All right, let's go. You said you'd go to Douglas. Yeah. I'll go to Douglas. Douglas.
Line 2, you're on the air. Douglas, you there? But Douglas back out hold. Give them an opportunity to get back on. It's fine.
Let's go to Ann in Pennsylvania. Ann, go ahead. You guys are just great. You know that? You really are.
I love your show. I love you guys so much. You do so much work. You're fighting for the country daily. You get things done.
And this is sort of how I describe Trump. He's fighting for the country. He's getting so many things. And I remember when John the Baptist, of course, I wasn't there when he called the crowd, you brood of vipers. who warned you to flee from the coming wrath.
And I feel like with everything going on, this President sees things we do not see. He has also experienced direct attacks on him that we could never even fathom, including the attempted assassination on his life. And so this President. is I feel like I'm not making excuses. For speaking that way, but it's sort of like: remember when they told us if we stub our toe, say the F word.
You know, because it's going to make us feel better. I feel like we all have different personalities, and in this case, I'm always giving Trump a pass because And you continue. I understand what your sentiment is, and I think there's a lot of people who feel that way. They give President Trump a pass. And look, also, you're talking about a New Yorker, a very different way of speaking.
Now, when it comes to global policy and what it could look like in terms of war, I do think we need to be a little more careful because the ramifications of a post, not just using profanity, even if the F-word or whatever was not in that post, I think you have an interesting threat that President Trump is making, essentially saying we're going to level Iran very, very, very shortly. The straight of her moves is not open. Take the F-word out of it, take the sort of insult to Islam out of it. You all of a sudden still have a pretty threatening post.
Now, do I think it was appropriate timing to be doing this on Easter Sunday morning? I do not. But you know what? And I understand that that and again, like I said, 5% of me. Says yes, I do think so.
Because there's 5% of me that is very upset still and very angry about all that's been going on in the world. And I try to, you know, keep that part of me in check. Because there is part of us as Americans that want to see The end of all of this. That's right. And just very quickly before we go to break, once again, that's because he had given them a 10-day deadline to make a deal to open the Strait of Hormuz, and now he has given them until tomorrow night, Tuesday night at 8 p.m.
To come to the table. He has just told reporters at the Easter egg roll they came back with a very significant proposal, doesn't quite meet the mark. We'll hear more about that in the press, sir, I'm sure. Yeah, so is this a negotiation tactic? Once again, President Trump strong-arming his way.
Again, someone who at least talks about being one of the best deal makers in the world. Let's see what happens. We get back or we join. By ACLJ Jerusalem's Jeff Balabon, and we're going to be taking more calls. We opened up a bunch.
Five are open. Give me a call. Welcome back to Sekulow. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. 1-800-684-3110.
If you want to get on the air today, we're going to take calls in the final segment, which is just next.
So be a part of the show today. I appreciate it. Colin, let me know what you think about President Trump about to make a press conference. Of course, there's a lot that happened over the weekend, some big threats in Iran, rescues that happened in Iran. And all of it also connects with Israel.
And that's why I'm bringing in. our head of ACLJ Jerusalem, Jeff Balabon, right now. Jeff, I wanted to get just an update from you. Obviously, it was a big weekend. It was a holiday weekend for Christians, for the Jewish people as well.
For people like me, we had both, we celebrated Easter, celebrated Passover throughout the weekend. And of course, as what happens on religious holidays, there is massive news that always comes out of the Middle East. It seems like that is something that can happen like clockwork now, for better or worse, that there will always be something that is going on. And of course, there was the rescues that happened in Iran for those for the downed fighter pilots and so much more. But I just wanted to get an update from you, how things are going, how you're feeling.
Like you, Logan, Jerusalem celebrates Passover and Jerusalem celebrates Easter and it was big across Jerusalem especially, but throughout the country. And there was intense Focus and prayer across Israel for the downed airman and for his rescue. There were confirmed reports, obviously, that Israeli intelligence worked hand in glove with U.S. intelligence to retrieve the airmen. But there's also unconfirmed reports, still waiting to see more confirmation that actually there might have been some Israeli special forces.
I've seen Sayerd, Matkal, and the Maglan, which are two very well-known special forces, elite special forces in Israel that might have actually participated. It's still unconfirmed, but I can tell you what is confirmed because I've heard it all across, you know, the whole time was a tremendous amount of praying in Israel by Jews as well for the downed airmen. There's no question that everyone in Israel feels that this is a deeply joint mission, a joint fight. And again, turning to what you teet up, which was and before the discussion of what President Trump has been doing in terms of the straits of Hormuz, I mean, this is a global issue, and it only highlights the need to have taken on this enemy before they went nuclear. Because imagine dealing with people who are so reckless with their own.
Citizens' lives who are so willing to, you know, hold up 20% of the world's oil. They don't care, they don't care what America does seem to do to them. But again, this is, you know, we're going to wait and see what happens at the press conference. Rumors, again, rumors are that they may be talking about a 45-day ceasefire, but we'll have to wait and see. Jeff, one of the things that I think hasn't really been brought up by media, and it's a A testament to how well this is operating, as well as the control potentially on how much control Iran has over its proxies at this point.
Um unfortunately, it has become Way too common whenever there is a big either Christian or Jewish holiday. We think even back to the Bondi Beach massacre at Hanukkah. But what we did not see Was we did see some rockets that were aimed at Jerusalem at the beginning of Passover, but all the reports I've seen is that it was very limited in scope. That the traditional prepare for unrest, terror attacks, and rocket attacks seem to have been much calmer. For this Passover, than even any normal Passover in recent history.
I just want to get your take on that. Could we be moving towards? Obviously, in the world today, vigilance is always necessary, but just seeing the effect on a weakened Iran and the safety of both Christians and Jews that are wanting to celebrate uh on religious holidays. By the way, and also Muslims, because Iran seems to not care who they rocket. They're very happy to kill Muslims as well.
So, and when I say Iran, I mean, obviously, the regime, not the people necessarily who seem to want this regime asked it. But look, and I really didn't lead with this because it's become so normalized, but it's really not that normal. I mean, Passover, families basically, a lot of them spent in the bomb shelters just because there are still, as you say, it's far reduced, but there are still numerous. They have warnings and then they have the actual sirens. There's Atra'ot, which is the warnings, and Azakot, which is the alarms.
And so you have a few minutes first to get to the shelter, and then you have the, you know, getting to the shelter now.
So a lot of times you'll have the warnings, but then the rockets will be shot down. But yes, there's fewer. They're still happening. And it shows that we have, we, both America and Israel collectively, have tremendously degraded Iran's. Potential to do damage.
And you're right. This is usually the time they'd unleash as much hell as they can. But the fact is, that's what they're doing every day already. Jeff, one of the things that we do, and we did this year at our Passover sedators, I always pull up, you know, a live feed from Jerusalem. And it's the middle of the night.
It's never usually slammed. But it is interesting to see, you know, the wall, the Western Wall empty. And knowing that I think that's something we discussed a little bit earlier is in America, we think of it very differently because these religious holy sites, the Jewish sites, the Christian sites, the Muslim sites, were all closed for the most part throughout right now, just due to security concerns. We see that maybe from the American point of view, going, kind of, how dare they? This is our most holy times.
These are the most holy places. But there is a little bit of difference in the world where. Thankfully, as threatening as it may be to be an American walking into a church or into a synagogue and not feeling safe. It's a little bit different when there are actual rockets landing in these holy sites. We're seeing for the first time in a very long time.
There's a lot of for you know, historically, there's there's been attacks in the areas, but the big attacks often don't Threaten those holy sites because, again, it's for all faiths. But that has changed with this war. Yeah, Iran has shown its willingness to rocket the old city of Jerusalem. As we know, in fact, there was a brouhaha because people were arguing how dare Israel shut down the Church of the Holy Sepulchre last week.
Well, they shut it down. Because Iran had already rocketed the area and actually shrapnel had gone into the compound. And I don't mean like tiny little pieces of shrapnel. I mean giant, you know, iron bars that could blow through people. And so Israel is taking people's lives very seriously.
Jews, Christians, Muslims, they're doing the best they can to protect them. And of course, Israel's enemies, and I don't just mean they're enemies in Iran, I mean they're enemies even in America, are arguing speciously that Israel is trying to harm Christians by shutting down their worship. No, there's worship all over Israel, but Israel is trying to maintain close protection of those lives. And there's no question Israel's only doing this to protect lives. Israel has no interest in shutting down prayer.
Israel is protecting it. And by the way, this is beautiful. Our friends at CBN showed some beautiful worship services in and around Jerusalem for Easter. Yeah, it's absolutely still happening. I just wanted to kind of clarify for people because people see those reports and see that, of course, it's being used very much as anti-Israel propaganda saying, look, they shut down.
Now, again, Uh A Prime Minister Netanyahu very quickly said, Look, maybe they went too far here. These IDF soldiers, security, were just kind of doing their job to keep people out during these times, but we're going to allow the Cardinals in. It was a misunderstanding, if you will. And that's maybe even a little difference in his point of view and the way that he governs even other leaders in the world, which is this, look, understanding that sometimes, especially when you're dealing with young people who are off to security, we were watching that live feed. You occasionally would see a person walk by, but it was clearly a security guard walking by, keeping things safe.
to be able to pivot and to react. And I think that's where Israel is a little bit different than even what we deal with, even in America, which is a ability to quickly respond and react to real time to what's happening. Yeah, and the Latin Patriarch conceded that, well, this was, they knew they weren't supposed to do it, but they did it anyway, and it was small. In other words, this was just a kerfuffle, but what is important about it is that there were people, including in America, who claimed to be speaking in the name of Christianity, who seized on this to argue that somehow Israel is offending Christians and going after Christians. It's quite the opposite.
Israel is trying to protect them. The Latin Patriarch admitted that they didn't do it exactly according to the rules. And Netanyahu said, yeah, well, you know, these are the standing orders, but they should have raised this because of the significance of who it was. They should have raised it up higher, so they're going to come to a new arrangement. Again, everyone has to be clear what the risks are.
Israel is responsible for their physical security and safety. I think it's pretty interesting, also, Jeff, that there has been a bit more of a uniting since between some Christians and the Jewish community. I got more. texts and messages Sang Happy Easter yesterday, than I have maybe in my life from members of the Jewish community, not only in my family, people from all walks of life who have just connected with me over the years. And of course, I had wished them happy Passover.
We had had these conversations before. It wasn't like these were strangers, but I noticed that there has been this sort of uptick in those that find themselves uniquely conjoined, uniquely together in a time of war. And when it's Israel and it's America together, and it does feel like the specific people who are supportive of both get smaller and smaller, all of a sudden your circle of friends become pretty tight. Yeah, look, I mean these holidays, these are the foundational holidays. I mean, I mean, obviously, we have many holidays on the Jewish calendar and the Christian calendar, but you know, Passover is the formation of the nation and the beginning of Jews' history as a nation and leaving Egypt and going to getting the Torah at Sinai and going into Israel.
This is the foundation of it, and this is what we pass along, as you know. And Easter, obviously, and this is the foundation, the notion of Christ's resurrection. It's so foundational. And this should be a time which brings us together, where we're brought together in our love of God and our search to be more righteous human beings, not find ways to bicker and fight over this. We're all just trying to do the best we can to serve God.
It's that simple. Absolutely, Jeff. Thank you so much for joining us. When we get back, I want to hear from you now, now that you've gotten a big, broad perspective of what's going on. And we know President Trump.
To be taking the stage, if you will, in about 15 minutes. And we know sometimes these could be a little late, sometimes it can be a little early, so we'll see what happens. I want to hear from you. Last chance to get on the air. We got quite a few lines open, too.
1-800-684-3110. I'll address some of the comments too in the chat.
Some people not they're thrilled with me.
Well, we'll talk about it typically. They're air nine. No, we'll talk about it. We'll be right back. Welcome back to Sekulow.
We do have some phone lines open still. I'd love to hear from you. 1-800-68-431-10. I do want to address some comments I see in the chat.
Some people think that I'm being. Overly aggressive towards President Trump, or that I'm always complaining about President Trump. Or I seem to have one person said I was Jordan, so you know what? It made me be like, I'll plastic the blame to him. But it said on there that you didn't like sort of my criticisms.
And look, I've been pretty honest, I've been straightforward with you. Do I like a lot of the policies that President Trump has put forward. I do. Do I like a lot of the actions he's taken? Absolutely.
Do I like waking up on Easter Sunday morning to a profanity-laced post that a lot of my friends are posting and sending? And do I really want that to be how I start my day on a Sunday, Easter morning? And that has pretty extreme profanity and has insulting to other people's religions and those kind of things. And I understand the frustration of it. I understand that's maybe how you talk in your real life.
Do I like seeing that from the President of the United States? I don't.
Okay, there's nothing wrong with that. doesn't mean I disagree with him with his actions. It's just sometimes the way things happen. Because I do think it it hurts. His overall Potential success.
Because the story goes.
Now, I also think President Trump has been very interesting over the last few months, which has been to create a headline, and I think this is strategic. to create a headline just about every 12 hours. where we are able to move what we're talking about in the news. aggressively fast. That hasn't been the case in the news media for a very long time.
So I'm appreciative of that. Because it used to be, as of even a few weeks ago, we get stuck on one story, and that would be something that happens for days and days and days. And trust me, as someone that has to talk about these things, it can be very exhaustive. President Trump has created between the press conferences, between the speeches, between talking about the soldiers, there's been so much gas prices, everything that could have happened. And of course, all the regular news it breaks around the world.
I understand, though, that you may hear it a little differently. I just want to tell you that that's where I'm at as someone also who has kids. And is talking to them about how to be a good person and be professional and to do your best.
Sometimes those messages can get a little muddy. when you hear the President of the United States saying things like this. Doesn't mean I disagree with even the overall message. Just the way sometimes things are said. And I think that's something that people have said about President Trump since the very beginning.
And I don't think I'm saying anything new. With that though, I do want to take some phone calls. We have a couple lines open at 1-800-684-30110. Y'all can argue it out in the chat, and I'm happy to address it. Jan's calling on line one, though, but I'll hold about 35 minutes, so I appreciate it.
I know this is, look. This is a negative towards President Trump, I believe.
So, you know what? Don't think that I took this call because I'm now going to. How dare you? It's actually the only call we have right now. Four calls are being screened.
So, the only call we have ready to go is this one. And I have some thoughts and feedback on this one as well. Jan, go ahead. Yes, good afternoon. I'm glad I finally was able to get through.
Listen. Voted for Trump. Because all the Christian radio stations were backing him. I didn't know him or what kind of person he was. But this second term, he's really shown the person he is.
He's not a godly man. He shows no signs of godliness. My entire family were veterans. They were all in the military. He was a draft Dodger, a coward.
He didn't go into war. None of his kids have been into war, but yet he's willing to start this war for Israel. And don't get me wrong, and I know the Bible says God will honor those bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse Israel. But Netanyahu. Got Trump to start that war for him.
He wanted us in that war. That wasn't a war that was. Imminent threat to this country. Not only that, but he's fired high-profile military people, people that knew what they were doing. He was a game show host.
He doesn't know anything about strategies and wars unless he's only cutting off because Will is saying, please let me talk. I want to talk. But I want to say, Jan, to just categorize President Trump as a game show host, I think, is a ridiculous statement. It kind of starts hurting your entire messaging because you obviously have someone who built billion-dollar businesses before he was an entertainer and a game show host. Of course, he was.
I think he's very actor. He's very proud of that, by the way. I don't think President Trump would ever tell you he doesn't. Consider himself an entertainer.
However, to just say that's what it is, that starts to invalidate your claims. But, Will, I don't know what you're going to say. God bless you. Go ahead.
Well, just a couple of things, Jan. One, just because you weren't in the military doesn't mean that you abandoned the commander-in-chief clause of the U.S. Constitution when you become the President. Also, I think he is listening to his Secretary of War and generals, and he is not creating the strategy. He may be giving the goals, but he is not the one conducting the airstrikes.
He's not the one conducting the missions. He is the leader and the commander-in-chief giving the go-ahead. But I don't think that he is parading himself as I am the military strategist expert. But the other thing, I just. Can't let it go is that you said this is Israel's war.
Netanyahu tricked President Trump or got him to conduct this. There was no imminent threat. That is, once again, kind of the prerogative of the commander-in-chief. When we have had every President since 1947 talk about how dangerous they are, how many countless American lives have been taken by the Iranian regime, when they are themselves bragging about how much nuclear material they have, at some point, he's given them many opportunities to just give it up. They would not.
At some point, if you do not take action, your words as a leader are meaningless. And so I don't know who you're listening to that is convincing you that this is Israel's war. It's not. This is the United States leading, doing something that every single President since Jimmy Carter has warned about, but done actually nothing about. This is an important propped up.
Exactly. Or if you go to Barack Obama, letting them build the intermediate ballistic missiles that we now know they have that could hit Europe. Could hit the United States if they took them to their allies in the Caribbean, of which they have many.
So, this is a real threat, always has been. And I just, I can't let it go when people say it's Israel's war because it is just buying in to the lies of the anti-Semites that have co-opted a large part of the media ecosystem on the right. And it's disgusting, and it's tired, and it's lame, and just I'm done with it. It's not true. All right, Jan, thank you for calling.
I appreciate it. With that, we do have just about a minute and a half, so I don't know if we're gonna have time to get to any of these. I'm trying to look to see if there's a quick call. Let's go to David real quick in Tennessee. David, you got about 30 seconds.
You're gonna be the last call of the day. Hey, thank you. Uh I don't believe President Trump statement. Sunday. you know, it's like from anchor.
I think it's a strategy. He's got he's got those guys over there not knowing which end is up. Yeah, David, I think that I'm sure that's part of it: going, okay, well, when is this timeline? What are we talking about? It's scary.
Look, I'm sure if you're the Iranian people and you're the Iranian regime, it's certainly not an empty threat anymore, which a lot of the times it was from former Presidents of the United States or former leadership. There's no more empty threats when it comes to President Trump, it feels. And again, that threat was pretty strong. Pretty much saying I'm going to level the country.
Now, President Trump will take the stage any minute. We're going to all be watching that to see what he has to say, whether that gets clarified. Maybe some more details on that rescue mission. But again, pray for everybody who is over there. Pray for everyone who is a part of all of this, that they make the proper strategic moves.
And of course, that no one else is captured, no one else's lives are lost. and hopefully it can end as soon as possible. With that. That's going to do it for today's show. Flew by, folks.
Thanks for joining us. We're back all this week, so stay tuned each and every day. Again, we're live 12 to 1 p.m. Eastern Time. And then after that, you can find us archived wherever you are.
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