On today's show, we have the very latest update on the hijacked passenger plane bound for Tel Aviv, keeping you informed and engaged.
Now more than ever, this is Sekulow. We want to hear from you. Share and post your comments. For call, one eight hundred six eight four three one one zero. And now your host, Logan Sekulow.
That's right, Logan Sekulow here. Look, we're live. We are reporting on this as this happened. You may have woken up to this story. You may not have even seen it yet.
I know some of you have not. Of course, I am talking about that flight that was attempted to be hijacked, and what some are saying was going to be a 9/11-style attack. This was happening a fly Dubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv. Again, I got a lot of facts in front of me, so if you see me looking down, just because I want to make sure I'm getting them. Correctly to you, there was 174 passengers on board.
About 166 were Israelis. It ended up being diverted and landed after what they're calling an altercation in the cockpit, which included one of the pilots attacking brutally, nearly killing at this point, I believe, in critical condition the other pilot. In an attempt to hijack, take over the plane, and what is being reported as potentially using that plane as a weapon again, sort of a nine eleven style attack on Israel. Thankfully. And again, we have to make sure that we are being as clear as we can.
A lot of these things are just happening right now, but thankfully, thank God, these Israeli citizens on board, as well as others, were able to take control of the situation. Extra crew also heard the scuffle happening. Were concerned. Got in there. Got the pilot who had been injured out of the cockpit.
Were able to then take control. This after, by the way, the flight dropped over fourteen thousand feet, somewhere between fourteen and seventeen thousand feet. In 30 seconds, and again for context, this sort of flight, a normal descent would be take about five to 10 minutes to do that that length of drop.
So imagine that scenario. There happened to be two off-duty deadheading, if you will, pilots on board who were able to take control. They've not been publicly named and land the plane safely in Saudi Arabia. Where again, if you see some of the footage that is going to come out of this, and some of the footage we will show, some of it's been blurred.
Some of it is pretty disturbing. There's a lot of blood. There's a lot of happen. Whether it was from the attacker. Who attacked again?
That pilot, who both pilots, the one pilot that was nearly killed, and the other pilot that was probably also nearly killed by the passengers who took back control of the flight. We had a lot of things I'm going to go over as it's still coming out right now. Again, they were headed to Tel Aviv, major airport in Israel, and again, Israel not very big. Tel Aviv is kind of the only real hub you fly in and out of, especially if you were going to somewhere like Dubai. And again, I think a lot of you may not understand the relationship with Dubai.
You may hear that and think that that is maybe you think it's an enemy of Israel. Maybe you think Saudi Arabia is an enemy of Israel. It's not really how it works there. Dubai and UAE and all of this is specifically since the Abraham Accords has been a very active tourist destination. Yeah, they have Hanukkah celebrations.
They have all the holiday celebrations. Whereas Israelis go in a way like you would to Las Vegas as an American. It's not a very long flight, but thankfully. Thankfully, this Israeli-bound flight was able to be taken control of by Israeli citizens. There was a lot that happened on board.
We again will show that right now. Those passengers have now landed safely in Israel. There was, yeah, they were concerned about getting on another flight, as you may assume.
So there was some delays in that, but again, it's about seven o'clock at night in Israel right now. in in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
So again, they're just now getting situated as they are being reunited. The families are actually seeing the footage live right now. Maybe we can pull some of that at some point if if there's anything worth showing. Because we will have some other clips and sound bites to show you statements from Ambassador Huckabee and so much more when we get back. We might as well talk to someone who knows a lot about this region more than anyone.
The ACLJ head of ACLJ Jerusalem, Jeff Balaban, don't go anywhere. I do want to hear from you when you hear these kind of experiences that are happening on board. Sure, we can all breathe a sigh of relief that this was able to be taken care of. But we have to remember that these kind of threats, these kind of terrorist activities. Are happening.
If you want to call in and comment on it, ask you not to comment or about you know conspiracy theories or whatever you may have about this. I want to hear just your thoughts on it in general. Be kind to the phone screener. We'll get you on the air. That's at one eight hundred six eight four thirty one ten.
We do have an update also. And that homeschooler want to be a firefighter. We're going to get to that a little bit later in the show.
So stay tuned for that.
Some good news, but we ACLJ teams. We're keep fighting. Welcome back to Sekulow. Jeff Maliban is joining us from ACLJ Jerusalem. Of course, we are covering the news.
It is the top story right now around the world, as it should be. And as of right now, the passengers are reuniting with their families at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. Jeff, of course, we all, you know, we woke up to this. I got up around five o'clock this morning. I opened my phone and I see this, you know, thwarted, and they kept referring to it as a nine eleven style.
Terrorist attack. When you hear that, initially you're going to go, "Okay, we stopped something early on." But no, no, no, that was not the situation. This happened mid-air, where you had a pilot attack another pilot to, to allegedly what we've been told right now, hijack this plane filled with Israelis on the way to Tel Aviv. And thankfully, the crew and a lot of the other passengers took things into their own hands, did not let this happen, and now have flown to safety. As we know, we've seen some of the images.
We can show some of the images.
Some of These are bloody, by the way. I'm just going to give you a fair warning for those who are watching right now. You can see there was all. I mean, there are videos and pictures that are way worse than this. Where I've seen blood smattered all over this flight because not only were they trying to help the pilot who had been stabbed and been attacked by the other pilot, they also, you know, did what they needed to do to protect the flight against the pilot who was, you know, potentially hijacking this flight to do nefarious, nefarious things.
Of course, the press. Is being a little bit cautious in what they're calling this, but I think Jeff, it is clearly we know the the trajectory of where this is going to go. Right, the press, as usual, refraining from saying what's obvious for as long as they can refrain from saying what's obvious. But there are numerous reports that the co-pilot is Omani and that he was yelling "Allahu Akbar," which tends to tip the hand as to what the intentions are of this attack. The concerns were that not only could they have taken these citizens or these Israelis and other passengers on the plane hostage, they could have used it to do a non-lethal 11 style attack by crashing the plane into some site in Israel.
There are many things that could have happened that, thank God, were averted. And across Israel, from the upper echelons politically and militarily to the people in the street, the reaction is one of gratitude, the belief that this is a genuine miracle, and and and pride that the Israeli passengers really were able to overwhelm this, were able to breach the the cockpit door and and overwhelm the attacker, and and thank God the flight was safe. I don't know if you saw images, but you know the rudder was broken. It's even even being able to land the flight was extraordinary. My understanding is there were also maybe some Russian Ukrainian passengers who were helping with landing the flight, and so thank God this has.
A a relatively happy ending, in in terrible crisis averted, but it was obviously terrifying for the long minutes that the passengers had to endure. And it should be a wake up call. Yeah, there were two pilots who happened to be on board. They said like deadheading, had deadheading, you're going to another, probably headed to Tel Aviv to take to be pilots for another flight. That happens all the time.
So they happened to be on board, were able to fly this to safety. Like you said, it is a miracle. But it's a miracle that we also have to take with. Serious, serious warning. When you see what's happening, this could have very easily gone the other way.
Sure, we can all sigh a bit of relief and cheer on these passengers as we should, being heroes in this situation. Absolutely, but it doesn't mean the threat isn't there. And even in situations where you think, well, I mean, it's hard to protect yourself from from certain things. Like, hey, these were not. This wasn't someone overwhelming the pilot.
This was the pilot. You know, deciding that. He was going to take things into his own hands and cause this kind of chaos. And again, thankfully, thank God, there were other people on board who were able to overwhelm him. But this was this could have very easily gone the other way.
We would have had a very different attitude today. Look, this this problem. This is a fairly, well, very spectacular example of a problem that that is that we see in America across the board, also, where people with a particular ideology. I'm not saying all Muslims. I would never say that.
But there's an Islamist, violent, jihadi ideology that is that is not unpopular, and they become doctors and nurses and threaten to use their position to kill people they disagree with or people they they they consider infidels. We have Violence, in other words, there is a genuine problem of a strain of Islamism that is a proximate threat to a lot of us. This is a particular spectacular example, but we at the ACLU have dealt with this in terms of licensing again of medical professionals here in America who threaten to use their licenses. To commit harm to patients who they disagree with. I mean, I thought this morning when we were discussing who would be on, obviously who wanted you on.
I have a lot of friends that are currently in Israel, or just worked, made themselves back, or they're they're in between travel dates, and because of the the seriousness of this, I was like, no, we. I don't even know if I'm comfortable. Exposing that they're there, even though I don't know if they're talking about it, because it's just weird what enters your mind right now. But you had Prime Minister Netanyahu said the pilot tried to crash this plane. This clearly was a terrorist activity.
And then, of course, you have the American journalists who are, as you said, slow to report this. Fox has been fine. Fox has been been very clear on it. But of course, you have the New York Times that we have some of their headlines that just say, you know, the breaking news: a plane plane flying from Israel was diverted after an alter. Between the pilot and co-pilot, sounds like they were having you know a marital argument, and you know so we had to land the plane because you know they couldn't decide on something.
You know, and then the BBC putting Israel-bound flight diverted after flight fight between pilots again, fight between pilots. Sure, did that happen? Of course it happened. They didn't put on there that they were brutally stabbed. He brutally stabbed him, and were essentially had done everything but killed him.
And thankfully, as of right now, in critical condition. But hopes, hopefully, will survive. Yeah, the media plays this role in trying to create a narrative, but I think most people see through it at this point. Yeah, I think. But yeah, they're they're doing what they see as their job, which is spinning a narrative, and and it's hopelessly not related to actual reality.
And these things should matter to all of us because anybody who gets on public transportation needs to worry about these things and think about it. And we like to know that our media is telling the truth. My favorite was the BBC actually repeatedly referring to Ben Gurion Airport, which is named for the first prime minister of Israel. They called it Ben Gurir Airport. Which is a current Israeli politician who the left likes to demonize in every way possible and turn into a character of evil, and they called it Benveer Airport.
It was actually you couldn't make that kind of garbage up. No, I mean one of our our team members just sent me a text. He goes, "It was a fiery but mostly peaceful hijacking," is what was going on. I mean that that and that is a that's true because that's what we've seen the media play out here. Is this narrative again?
They can't say anything when it comes to Israel without giving some.
Some sort of at least caveat to it not being somehow terrorist related, and I know I don't want to give any credence to it, but I know by the end of the day where I'm sure I'm sure it's happening already. Where the media and where social media will be spinning this, but I think for this moment we at least need to be again relieved. We need to be you know telling you thanking all these people who were involved because. All of the reports. Everyone who was on board, a lot of them have made statements already saying clearly this was an attempted terrorist attack.
I don't care what the media is going to spin it and how they may say things, or maybe someone on your social media page. Those were the people that lived it and were in the air. They experienced it firsthand. This plane, like I say, nosediving ten thousand to fifteen thousand feet in a few seconds, and the chaos that was ensuing around them. Yeah.
Look, the Israelis are rightfully grateful to God and also proud that their citizens were able to take control of the plane. Especially because you know, again, the same people we read about, you know, the incredible operation with the pagers or some incredible, you know, the Israel's ability to take over the airspace over Iran, et cetera, et cetera. This is a civilian army. I mean, civilian army. It's an army, but it's it's drawn from its civilian because of its a national draft, and these are regular, everyday people conducting business or coming back from vacation.
Doing truly heroic things, as if they're special forces. Because who knows? Many, maybe some of them were at some point special forces. Very good chance. I mean, right now we are actually seeing live again.
I wish I'd cut to. I can't cut to it. But live the celebrations happening in Ben Gurion Airport right now is you have people arriving with balloons and Israeli flags, a heroes' welcome for these passengers who are just making their way. I mean, what a day they have had! And I think this is a day we need to make sure we don't forget because it's a happy ending.
And I think that's easy. It's easy to move on very quickly.
So, Jeff, I'll give you the last minute here just to wrap up. What do people need to take away from this? And of course, that is part of the reason the ACLU team is there as well to make sure that these things don't get forgotten and that we elevate what needs to be elevated. Look, everything, everything changed after October seventh, a couple of years, you know, twenty twenty three, and and we're now in the middle of the holiday of Tabernacles Sukkot, which which culminates in the final day of Simchat Torah, rejoicing in the Torah, which was the day of the attack, and and so it's very much on people's minds right now. Israel, with all of its power and strength, is still a very deeply traumatized country by that.
To see this, thank God, as a miraculous, thank God, successful, happy ending, it's it's it's a moment of blessing. And something we all need to appreciate. Yeah, it feels like a modern story from a Jewish holiday, you know, where this happened. I mean, it really genuinely does.
So, in in many ways, it feels very appropriate. Jeff, thanks for joining us. And again, I didn't even think about the fact we are only what a week away from the anniversary of October seventh. I mean, we're three years will be marked in in lit in one week.
So, of course, that is on everyone's mind. That's there. But Jeff, thank you so much for being a part and popping on today. I know it wasn't in the plans, but I always appreciate it. That being said, I know.
A lot of you who are watching right now, one, I'd love for you to call in with your thoughts on this at one eight hundred six eight four thirty one ten. But you also know about that case, the homeschooler in Nebraska wanted to be a firefighter, was told his his high school diploma was not good enough. We got an update in the next segment. We're going to be joined by one of our ACLJ attorneys, Nathan from Washington D.C., and we're going to really go into some details with him. You're going to see why it's important for us and why it hits, like I said, close to home for us in these situations.
Because, as a homeschooler, I know Will's a homeschooler or was a homeschooler. I got homeschooled children. This is something that's very important to all of us. We got an update, and then later on we'll even have an update from that council meeting that happened last night.
Some good news, which is exciting.
However, it doesn't stop the work of the ACLJ because the kid's still in the kid. He's 22 years old. Doesn't have a job. And we want to make sure the wrongs are all fixed for him and every homeschooler out there. We'll be right back with more on Sekulow.
Don't go anywhere. Phone lines are open for you at one eight hundred six eight four three one one zero. Welcome back to Sekulow. We did want to give you an update. Will's joining us, and also ACLJ attorney Nathan Mulker is joining us right now from our studios in Washington D.C.
This is again the case to reset a little bit. We are talking about the homeschool graduate many years ago, a few years ago graduates. All's good. Becomes an EMT. He's a volunteer firefighter.
Decides he would like to pursue To a job as a career firefighter, applies for the job. Clearly, rookie of the year, someone who is very, very well qualified. Come to find out, that according to some interpretation of the rules and regulations, that they don't believe his high school diploma, which of course he is a homeschooler. Makes him qualified to be a firefighter, even though he has all of these other, you know, very specific qualifications met.
Now he was denied that job position. That is something that was thrown, you know, thrown out.
However, we decided we were going to jump in and help not only him because he was discriminated, but also. Because it really needs to set a new precedent for homeschoolers in general, and I am talking to again not only our audience, which is filled with homeschooler, homeschooler parents, homeschooler grandparents at this point, but look, I was a homeschooler, my kids are homeschoolers, Will was a homeschooler, and I believe the attorney joining us right now is well, Nathan, welcome. Thank you so much for having me. I love all our cases, but this one is particularly special. In fact, I have to show I have a diploma, a high school diploma, very very similar to the one our client has.
So, like like many people here at the ACLJ, this case is very personal to me, and I'm of course thankful that the ACLJ decided that my high school, my high school diploma was sufficiently legitimate when it hired me. But this case really goes to a really Fundamental thing, which is our homeschoolers, going to be treated like second-class citizens just because they exercise their constitutional and parental rights, and that's so so important.
Well, and Nathan, I think once again the city may try to do things to make this go away. But at the same time, we sent this litigation hold letter to the city to to basically put them on notice. They could be expecting litigation forthcoming about this very issue because it isn't just. Writing a wrong generally on paper, but this one, there is a real wrong that has not been rectified against our client because of the discrimination against him. But also, as you you bring up, that we believe in in parental rights here, we believe in in school choice here, and we fight for those things.
But if all of a sudden cities can start to decide and pick and choose. Which diplomas are better than others? Which count and which don't? Then that starts to put in real bad precedent for a lot of people in a lot of places. I think that's exactly right.
This is a situation where we had to move quickly. In fact, our clients agreed for us to represent them, signed the retainer on Monday morning, and we had our letter sent by Monday afternoon, because it was so crucial. That we get to the city's attention immediately, that this family is represented by attorneys who are ready to fight for them and fight for them in federal court on behalf of their rights. As you say, Will, this is not just about just one issue or or one decision. This is about really fundamental rights that parents have to educate children according to their religious faith.
I think we're seeing today that right is often under assault. That's why the work of the ACLU is so.
So important in this case and many others to stand up for parents who are seeking to educate their children according to their fundamental religious beliefs. That right is so fundamental. We have never seen a more important time for alternative education options. And look, there are more. Options in there have ever been before.
What you picture is homeschooling, and probably what Nathan and I grew up in, and a lot of us grew up and will grow up in. It's very different with modern technology. All the things that can happen right now, all the different schools that offer, and all the different online programs that offer different options for homeschoolers.
So we want to make sure when we get in there, we're not only just going in to support our client. Again, had his job denied. This is not a kid. This is a 22-year-old man who's been a Nebraska volunteer firefighter, a licensed EMT. He's getting his associates in fire science right now.
You cannot talk about a more qualified candidate. One rookie of the year last year that was denied simply because they did not consider what he had a sufficient enough. High school degree, which is absurd, and it's something that has to be rectified. But not only does it be rectified for him, and he needs to be, you know, treated fairly in this. It is about setting things up for the future, as we probably are going to see a rise of more homeschoolers, religious or not.
By the way, religious or not, homeschoolers that are going to be coming up specifically out of the era of remote learning and all of the things that have happened right now. We need to be able to represent these homeschoolers, and we. We've seen now, even since we did this, ever since we tuck this on just a couple days ago, and remember, I am going to reiterate this a thousand times because I just love this part of the story. The reason. This got to us is because a supporter of the ACLU saw the article on social media and tagged me and said, "Could you guys get involved?" And I got the notification.
I saw it and was able to get it to our legal team. That's how important the ACLU supporters are in this. But also, we are building a whole new world in terms of what homeschoolers' rights need to be. And as Nathan, you said, it hits home particularly for you. It certainly does for me.
I think that's right, and I think one of the other things we're seeing, this kind of really blatant discrimination against someone because of their educational background, because their parents had the audacity to teach them according to their faith, it's pretty unique, right? Not a lot of governments are are doing this kind of thing, and what that means is that this case does have the real potential. To set a precedent for other cities and governments, not just in the state of Nebraska, but really across the country, school district governments have not tried to do this kind of thing before. And what we're intending to show them is they better not ever do it again. That the Constitution stands as a bulwark, preventing them from engaging in this kind of blatant discrimination.
Well, and I think also what you brought up is saying, you know, you're a little tongue in cheek that you're thankful the ACLJ recognized your high school diploma, but that is the the real ramifications elsewhere. Because I mean, this is a situation where he has licenses from the state to be an EMT. He has performed the duties of a volunteer firefighter in other departments. Who's to say that it's not nurses next or attorneys next? Licensed in the state of Virginia, who knows that Virginia decided to change this?
Right, but it's like, oh, you still got the license. We're not going to hire you, why? Because of that high school diploma. Doesn't matter what else you've achieved. It's all about that discrimination, and that's one of the reasons I think it is so egregious, and we cannot let it stand.
Exactly. Don't get me wrong. It would be bad enough to do this to an eighteen-year-old who just just graduated a few weeks ago, but that's not what happened here. As you guys mentioned, he met every possible standard he could meet. He had all these credentials, and they still went after him.
And that shows all all the reasons they give for this. Like they're concerned about safety. They're concerned about meeting standards. None of that actually holds up when you actually look at what they did. When you look at what they did, it's clear it's not actually about standards.
It's about the fact that someone had the audacity to have a religious homeschooling education. That's what it's about, and that violates the Constitution. In our letter, we put the city on notice of that. We wrote a detailed eight-page letter laying out why their conduct violates the Constitution, especially the First Amendment, which requires the government to treat people to treat religious beliefs neutrally. And in conduct that's even-handed and generally applicable, what they did was the opposite of that.
They targeted religious practice for disfavored treatment, and that is not consistent with what the Constitution demands. Thank you, Nathan, for joining us again. Washington, D.C. We always appreciate hearing from our ACLU attorneys, and none of this happens without you, everybody.
So if you want to support the work of the ACLU, we're about to head into the second half hour.
Something you don't get us on your local station. Find us broadcasting live. Great way to do that is on aclj.org, on YouTube, on. We're there, but you can support the work of the ACLJ today by going to aclj.org, sign that petition in support, and donate if you can. Again, go to aclj.org.
Keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Sekulow. And now your host, Logan Sekulow. Welcome back to Sekulow. The second half hour begins, and I really want to hear from you right now.
Phone lines, we got three open: one eight hundred six eight four thirty one ten. Just me and you for the second half hour.
So let's make it count. Again, one eight hundred six eight four thirty one ten. We right now, right now are covering the breaking news coming out of Israel. The passengers have safely landed. This, of course, is in reference to the flight that was attempted to be hijacked by the own pilot.
Of the plane headed for Tel Aviv, flying out of Dubai, was where a pilot brutally attacked his co-pilot to take over the flight, and allegedly, right now, planned terroristic activity. Whether that was just to crash the plane, or will likely to do what they've said a "quote-unquote" 9/11-style attack. A lot of Israeli spokespeople have come in. They have made made it very clear that this is terrorism. They believe it's all terrorist-related.
As of right now, though, it was miraculous in the sense. That the passengers, the majority of which were Israeli, were able to overtake the situation, get the wounded pilot out, and then take care of the other pilot who was trying to cause significant damage. Again, when you see some of the images, some we've shown, some are very bloody.
Some we are not showing aggressively because there is a lot to take in. You can find all of it online, of course, and see passengers all giving their stories at this point, and it all points to a very similar story, which looks to be a attempted terrorist attack as the flight plummeted fourteen to seventeen thousand feet in just under thirty seconds. And again, for context, fourteen thousand feet would typically take about five to ten minutes.
So imagine what was like on board. Miraculously, two other pilots were deadheading—you know, taking a flight to then become pilots for another flight later on in the day—happened to be on board, and were some of those that were able to take control of the flight, land it safely in Saudi Arabia, where authorities were able to do what they needed to do, work with the Israelis to make sure that was taken care of, and now safely return these passengers to Tel Aviv as they're arriving as we speak. They are arriving. We are seeing a hero's welcome for these passengers coming from Israel. Again, I think it's a powerful statement for the people of Israel.
But it also, again, as Jeff Balaban, RCLJ, Jerusalem joined us earlier, we're in the middle of Jewish holidays right now. We are just a week away from the anniversary of the October seventh attack. We can all breathe a sigh of relief and celebrate this moment as a miracle from God that this did not end as tragically as it likely could have been. Whether that was just the loss of life that could have been from that plane, or what that plane could have done damage to, we know that firsthand as Americans who just went through the twenty-fifth anniversary of the September eleventh attack. We know what that looks like, what that feels like.
This is a very different emotion today. You know there are balloons. There is, I said, a hero's welcome happening right now for these Israeli citizens who are arriving at home right now. But that does not stop the fact that this was a terrorist attack, specifically targeting the people of Israel and hundreds of innocent civilians.
Now you do have a a army there, a military force which is drafted. Everyone serves.
So you have. 150 people, who probably know how to take care of some things. I don't know what that would look like in other countries, but I'm very thankful right now that that was Israeli citizens who were able to do this. And again, thankful for everyone on board who are able to take care of the situation right now. Even the pilots both are alive.
Every no, there's not right now. There, as we're reporting this, there have been no deaths involved in this, including the attackers. They were subdued in a very violent, extreme ways, and as of right now, the pilot who was initially attacked by the other pilot is what they've said most recently. It's been a little while since reported. There have been some sort of critical condition, but I believe are pointing to survival.
So again, Israeli spokespersons are saying you know there was there was wounded pilots. The flight was covered in blood. And thankfully, people were able to get into the cockpit and do what they need to do. I want to hear from you. Phone lines are open at one eight hundred six eight four thirty one ten.
It's just me and you for this half hour. Let's make it count. One eight hundred six eight four thirty one ten. You know, ACLJ has always been on the front lines in Israel, supporting what we need to support. We're going to talk about that.
We're also going to give you an update from the city council meeting last night about that homeschool grad. Who was told, "I don't care if you're a rookie, that you're a firefighter. That disqualifies you being a homeschooler from getting paid." We'll be right back. Welcome back to Sekulow. There's a lot still breaking out of that story out of Israel.
We're going to be covering that over the next few segments. We're also going to bounce and tell you a little bit about that story of that homeschool firefighter who just wanted to have a full career as a firefighter after being a certified EMT, getting working on associate's degree in fire science, had made all of the qualifications, won rookie of the year as a volunteer firefighter. Said, "You know what? I like to apply for this paid position," and they said. Not so fast.
You're a homeschooler. That means you don't have a real high school diploma. You have been disqualified. Of course, the ACLU jumped into action only after, by the way, someone tagged me on social media and said, "Logan, we need to get involved in this." We caused an uproar of the century over the last 24 hours, made a national news story, and last night at a city council meeting, they had some reckoning to deal with, as even the citizens not so happy. That they were drugged into a national news story, and there is some confusion in the chat because people said, "Well, of course, it's in California.
This is not Fremont, California. This is in Nebraska. This is happening everywhere throughout the country." I want you to hear from some of the citizens.
Now, again, if you're if you're listening for the the hijacked plane situation, we are gonna. I got calls on that. I'm gonna be talking about that a lot too. But this is the work of the ACLJ that we're doing domestically. Let's talk a little about that, and then we will go back and get you.
We actually have some new video and new footage for you to see from that attempted terrorist attack that happened in the skies over Tel Aviv. But Let's go to again. This is from a Fremont citizen. I think it's important to see some of the chaos that was unfolding last night as they had to answer, and they had to answer for this. This is from one of the local citizens again making a statement.
Let's do bite ten. Just to get it out of the way, you should vote yes on this resolution. There is no clear, compelling reason to treat Rule Thirteen and Fourteen graduates differently from Rule Ten graduates. This is an easy yes. But it's a shame it took this long to get here.
This is the fourth time since April that I've sat in this chair and talked about this specific issue. I did my best to use reason and logic to show why the hiring policy we were using was not in the best interest of the city. Unfortunately, it seems to have taken national attention to bring this issue to the forefront. And to be clear, we didn't ask for this national attention. The background and story here is so outrageous that after Mike McNight reported on it locally.
News aggregators with large online followings picked up on it and spread it to a national audience. Yes, we made sure that local and state entities that would be interested knew what was going on, but we did not try to spread this nationally. It was totally organic. I know that this situation has generated a lot of emails and calls, and I know that some of what has been said has been downright vile. I completely disavow people who would name call or make threats in the name of this issue.
But forgive me if I'm not very sympathetic about the volume of calls and emails. That's the price of five months of inaction, and I would guess is a much smaller price than the Coates family has paid in this process. Again, this is just a local citizen, and that's just sort of the setup of what's going to come next. Which again. Who brought this to our attention?
Because he said, you know, national news started covering it, or local news started covering it. Local news spread it to social media influencers, and one of those, by the way, brought it to me. Not even social media influencer, just one of you that saw this story and said, Logan, you should do this. The ACLU jumped into action again on this resolution that would make it to where being homeschooled does not disqualify you from having one of these positions. You know that there are plenty of homeschoolers.
They said it many times. Even some of the people that were there in the like, look, my family are all homeschoolers. They're sympathetic now to this, but only after our team made a stink about it, as they should have. And then what was following? Of course, you're going to like this one because I like it.
I think it's a it's it's a soundbite we're going to be able to use for the rest of our careers here. Let's hear the rest of what Mr. Preston, a Fremont citizen, had to say. Also, the staff report that was in the agenda packet confirmed what I already suspected. The reason the city didn't want to hire non-accredited graduates was because of implied legal liability.
If it was Adams and Sullivan that told you that, did any of you ask for, or did they provide any case law to substantiate the existence of that liability? I suspect not. Liability lawsuits come from hiring people with DUIs to drive for you, or hiring people with violent pasts to work with the elderly. They don't come from hiring graduates from non-accredited high schools. I would challenge Adams and Sullivan to find even a single case where that caused a negligent hiring lawsuit.
But based on the letter I read from the ACLJ today, they're going to be a bit too busy to look into that. Boom, Mike, drop there from Mister. Preston saying, "You know what? From the letter I read from the ACLJ today, they're going to be a bit too busy to look into it." And he is absolutely right, as we are not taking this lightly.
Now, look, they unanimously passed a new resolution that said, "Guess what? Homeschoolers are fine." We're allowed to hire homeschoolers now, but guess who that doesn't help, Mister Coates, our client, 22-year-old rookie of the year firefighter EMT who applied for a job. That job position has been filled. No one so far has been offering him a paid position here. He's been a volunteer for multiple years.
Wants to keep serving his community, but of course would love to be a career firefighter. Instead, they disqualified him being homeschooled, and we're going to find out as we know. The reasons behind this, and of course, has to do with their faith base. It has to do with the people who are trying to bully people in these city council meetings or in the school board. They hate homeschoolers.
They don't like when parents decide that they know what's better for their own children. And again, I'm talking from experience as not only a homeschool graduate but as a homeschool parent. To say I want my kids to have as much, if not more, so because they were able to I don't know experience a lot more of the world. We're able to learn it what they need to learn to be successful in their own lives. There is alternative education right now is growing rapidly for many different reasons, largely because I think after COVID we all kind of learned what a lot of our kids were going through in school.
And look, my kids went to at that point a great school. Nothing against them, but I think a lot of people learned that it was a lot different than they suspected. Was happening behind those school doors and safety, security issues, all the things that are coming out of schools right now. Alternative schooling is at a peak and it will continue to rise, and we need to make sure we protect homeschoolers and homeschoolers' rights, as we have done here at the ACLJ for over forty years at this point. But now it's even more prevalent, as there are people who maybe weren't, you know, made to be educators.
I put myself in that. I though I was a professor. I was a professor in college. I taught in film school. I will say, I am very happy that the way technology has improved, where there are online programs.
There is so many good ones, whether it's Christian-based ones like Liberty. There is so many that are offering, you know, all the all the colleges that are offering online schooling from elementary school up to provide all different kinds of options for different kind of learners. I was one of those different kinds of learners, and I am very appreciative of the opportunities being homeschooled allowed me to succeed in. That being said, we have to stand up for our client here. We got to continue on because again, his injustice has not been fixed, and even when it is, we're going to take this so much further.
We got to protect the rights of homeschoolers here because if it's happening in Little Town, Nebraska, you know it's happening. In much more progressive areas, you know, it's happening in areas, big cities that are not thinking this way, that don't have the pushback. That, by the way, I would not have known again that this story happened if it wasn't for you. The ACLU team wouldn't have had attorneys on board. We wouldn't have had that client on yesterday.
Maybe they wouldn't have passed that resolution because we didn't make a big, huge stink about it. To where that one citizen just said, "You know, I think they're going to be a little busy with the ACLU after I read that letter." If one of you didn't step up and say, "I need to bring this the attention to the seculars and to Logan," I'm going to tag him. I'm going to figure out a way to reach out. Always do that. Call in.
Let us know if you see specifically if it's in your local community as well. You know, we don't have the ability to monitor local news 24 hours a day.
So if you see some sort of story that you think the ACLJ should get involved in, don't ever be afraid to let us know. Because it can turn into not just something that is going to help out our client, again, rookie of the year firefighter who just wanted to serve his community, but it's also going to protect those of deeply held religious beliefs, those that just want different educational options. Then you have to be a religious option, just homeschoolers in general. That's the ACLU team jumping into action and having the ability to do that only because you support. Because you support, whether by doing that, by letting me know, or for those of you that give as ACLU supporters and champions, I am going to ask you today.
When you hear about what's going on in Israel, when you hear what's going on with homeschoolers here, there is very few organizations that actually step up and do the work, that actually have the offices there, that actually are able to get things done. A lot of talk, a lot of bloatiating happening, a lot of outrage without any solutions. But that is what makes this organization and this show different, and it's what's made it different our entire existence. Which is, we have an incredible media team, and we have an incredible legal team, and they're all ready to jump at a moment's notice. Whether we're sending a camera crew around the world, or whether we're sending a lawyer to Fremont, Nebraska.
The ACLJ team is ready. Flights can be booked, and we'll be on the way. Whether we need to go and represent your interest, American interest, at the UN, whether you need to have that, again, in Israel, as we know, there has been such a rise in anti-Israel and anti-Semitic language and violence. Even had the mayor of New York City announcing his anti-Semitic or pro-Jewish supporters. You know his whole panel.
We'll talk about that another day, I'm sure. As he said, "Man, anti-Semitism is at a all-time high here in New York City." Well, I wonder why. Phone lines are open for you at one eight hundred six eight four thirty one ten. I do have a few lines still open, and the next segment, I'm going to take as many calls I possibly can. If you've thought about, hey, how do I do Logan a favor?
Good time to call in. But I got four lines open, and I got about ten more minutes of broadcasting.
So be a part of the show today. Give me a call one eight hundred six eight four thirty one ten. We'll hit any of those topics you want, and we'll be right back with more on Sekulow. All right, we made it. Last segment of the day.
Of course, we are talking about a few different topics. The two main ones: this flight out of or headed towards Israel that was attempted to be overtaken and hijacked by one of its own pilots to become a weapon and to kill hundreds at a minimum in on its way to Tel Aviv. Thankfully, heroes on board. But I want you to see a little bit of this. I want you to see some of the chaos that happened.
People request questions about the the cockpit, how the cockpit door got open. Reports are right now that during the scuffle, the other pilot was able to knock the door open, which then showed, or one of the pilots, even just in accident, was able to knock the the cockpit door open, exposing the chaos that happened, which had people jump into action. Let's see some of the footage. You'll hear some of this again. It's It doesn't look as chaotic as it probably was when you see it, but there is some of this happening in real time, as you can see.
Let's see, yeah, as the citizens look—definitely not military here—people, people in normal clothes, jumping up to take care of things. You can hear the chaos, the children crying. I mean, honestly, it's not that much of a different sound than what you may hear on a normal air flight. But they took over, jumped into action, and. You hear parents trying to calm down their children, tell them it's okay.
As we know, I mean, some of the reports are spinning out of control. That the flight was spinning out of control, dropped 14,000 feet, and then, of course, now we're able to jump forward. Just a few hours later, and all of them have returned safely. The Israeli defense minister has called it an attempted jihadist terrorist attack. And you see the pictures right now, the video coming in.
This is just moments ago at Ben Gurion Airport, of course in Tel Aviv. As you see, people being reunited with their families, a big sigh of relief, balloons, Israeli flags are waved, people praising God for this moment. Again, we need to both focus on the two things that can be true at the same time. One, it is a absolute miracle, and we need to be praising the heroic actions of this. But we also need to also not forget that this is an attempted terrorist attack, jihadist.
Terrorist attack a week before the the October seventh anniversary in the middle of a Jewish holiday. It's a point where we just got off of the twenty fifth anniversary of September eleventh. Possibly this could have been one of the biggest airline related attacks since the September eleventh attack.
So again, when there's moments you feel like the guard needs to come down, clearly it doesn't. Specifically, when you're flying in these countries, I have a lot of friends in Israel. I have a lot of friends traveling there right now. All of us are anxious also to get back. And these kind of things will, of course, cause you pause.
But let's not forget and not support our friends that are doing this. But let's also celebrate. Even if it was an attempted attack, you had a group of people willing to be heroes, step up in a moment of terror and a moment of chaos, and do what needed to be done.
So thank. Thank you for those people who did this to where we would have a very different tone and a very different facial expression if we were dealing with today a September eleventh style terrorist attack in Israel. Imagine how different this show would have been. But I am very thankful that that is not the case. I do want to take some phone calls about this and some other topics as well.
Let's go first to Eric in Pennsylvania, who's on hold for a very long time. Eric, I appreciate it. Thank you. I want to thank you guys because you've done an excellent job at exposing this. I heard about this early in the morning today on YouTube Premium, and basically it was depicted as a fight among two powers.
They did mention the quick descent of the plane, but there was no hint at all of any terrorism.
So then I checked my email, and Just the news reported it at twelve oh five p.m. Western Journal reported at ten twenty four p.m. And of course, our friends at MS Now said it was a the flight was diverted to Dubai. We know what New York Times was going to say. Yeah, it seems like the this may slip under the radar, and that the story that was this the you know a fist fight.
Over something not involved with terrorism is going to take over. There's a lot of stuff going on today, and I bet the mainstream media doesn't even cover it at all. Thank you guys for doing a good job. I appreciate it. You're 100 right.
I think if you had gotten a different version of this news story, and again, we live in silos, unfortunately, to where that can happen. I was sending it to many friends who were just like, "Oh yeah, I didn't even realize it was supposed to be terrorism." That is why you have Israeli Defense Minister right now saying it was attempted jihadist terrorist attack. It's why you have Benjamin Netanyahu coming out and being very Clearly upfront, hey guys, this was an attempted terrorist attack. Because you are right, the news will move on very quickly because it was thwarted, and you may hear a thwarted attack and go, "Oh, that meant you know on the ground they were able to stop it." Much like the one in the UK, where there was intelligence plus you had a local citizen who called in a report of a a truck a thwarted attack or something that may have happened. But no, this was mid-attack, mid-flight.
These people stuck up or stood up and got it done. We have to give them all the props. We also can't forget that this really did happen. And as you said, the headlines will be misleading until they are completely unable to avoid the truth. And we will keep.
That in the front of people's minds, but again, it's a quick news cycle. You know, people will move on. Let's go ahead, take another call. Let's go to Ann in PA. Go ahead.
Hey guys, thank you so much for taking my phone call. Really quick, before I make a very quick Israeli comment, I want to make a comment about how you guys helped me. I homeschooled my kids for a couple of years. You guys were there for me because the school system tried to stop me, and I needed to homeschool my kids for a couple of years. And the ACLJ was there for me.
Now I want to say real quick. I wonder how the woke right is spinning this about this Israeli takeover, attempted takeover by this terrorist.
Well, you know what? Forget about them. But here's the thing.
Okay, this just proves that Israel is not an apartheid state because they actually hired a Muslim pilot, right? But now I wonder really quickly if the woke right is going to spin this to say, just like they did after October seventh three years ago. When they said that when they blame Netanyahu for lack of security, okay, are they going to say blame Netanyahu again for lack of security? I am so sick of it. And you know what?
What it comes down to, this is a spiritual element here. It's a spiritual component. People better watch out. And Romans. Do not curse the Israelis because you will be cursed.
And here's the thing: Jewish people are sick and tired of being always being blamed for Israel. This, Israel that. You know they're blamed for everything, yet they're the chosen people. And I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian, guys, and I love you guys.
Thank you for always appreciate your support and thank you. Look, I think to to clear up a couple things in that. This shows your relationship. Actually, you get you say the apartheid state, all those different things. This was coming out of Dubai.
This flight was coming out of Dubai, Air Dubai, or Fly Dubai. This was not an Israeli flight that was happening here, but they were on the way to Israel. Why? Because it's one of the top tourist destinations for Israelis, and vice versa. Because again, if you've never experienced it, you don't understand the visuals there.
You understand that people travel to these other places that they travel to Israel for vacation, and vice versa. The Israelis go to Dubai for vacation. They'll go celebrate Jewish holidays in those areas. You have no idea what you're talking about. I do think we are probably running.
Too close on time because both of these were really had to do with the homeschool situation. I want to take those tomorrow, so please, you only hold for about ten minutes.
So I appreciate it, Elaine and Tim. We will get to you. Call me back tomorrow. We'll do my best to to get you guys on the air earlier, as we know that that is a top topic right now. In either one of these, if you want to support the work, I'm going to encourage you right now.
This is and the most important time really as we start heading into the end of the year. Can you believe it?
Someone just put, "Hey, eleven Saturdays until Christmas." Deal with that, folks. All right, that means the end of the year is coming quick, and with that, I need your help. I need your support right now. During some of these months, I don't usually ask big asks for donations, but you know what? When you see what's going on around the world, this is it.
We are living in very, very strange times. And I am so thrilled that the ACLJ team is here. Whether it's for a homeschooler in Nebraska, or whether it's having ACLJ Jerusalem when moments like this occur, or when the UN General Assembly is here, the ACLJ's got a seat at the table. That's because of you, and I want you to be a part of the team today. Go to aclj.org, make your donation if you can.
If not, share all the incredible free content that we provide you there. Play around on there; amazing stuff from our media team and our legal team. We'll talk to you tomorrow.
