It's been quite a busy week—a major new ACLJ case and a terror attack shut down within seconds of disaster. 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. Welcome to Sekulow. It has been quite a busy week here at the ACLJ. We're going to recap a lot of it today.
Of course, the two major stories that came out this week: brand new ACLJ case. If you not, you know, followed what's been going on, it was a a homeschool graduate, twenty-two year old. It's not a kid. Certified EMT, Rookie of the Year, Volunteer Firefighter, in his hometown in Fremont, Nebraska, and was told, "You know what? There's a job opening.
Why don't you apply to become a full-time paid career fireman?" He thought, "You know, this is it. This is going to be my time. This is my moment. It's what I've been wanting to do in my life." And they said, "Oh, one small problem. You have been completely denied.
Why? Because of your qualifications." Why he's certified EMT. He is currently working on his associate's degree in what fire science. He is rookie of the year firefighter. What was it?
It was that homeschool diploma doesn't hold up to the rigorous test, I guess, of what needs to be the qualifications to be a firefighter in Fremont, Nebraska. But you know what? The ACLJ jumped in and said, "No, no, no, you can't do this." It was clear he was being targeted specifically because someone. Just handing out for homeschoolers. You guys made us think about it.
We jumped in. He's going to be joining us. You're going to see a segment we did with him a little bit later in the show today because I always think you guys should see the client, hear from them, listen to them when you can because it is so important to have that point of view. And when you see this story, you're not going to believe it. If, of course, you've been joining us this week talking about it, they did have a city council meeting where they said, "You know what?
Maybe we need to write that wrong." Why? Because the ACLU is breathing down our neck. All our other supporters are giving us calls. All of this is happening all at once. We need to make sure that we take care of this.
But you know what it doesn't do? Though the new resolution says a homeschooled diploma is fine, that of course originally it didn't. By the way, say it wasn't. They retcon and fix that. Doesn't give this kid a job.
Doesn't protect the rights of homeschoolers around the country.
So we're going to take it as far as we have to. This is a big lawsuit that we are going to be a part of, and you need to join with us at the ACLJ. And of course, you can do that at aclj.org. Become a champion if you like. That's some of the gives on a monthly basis.
I would appreciate that. And of course, updates coming out of that foiled terrorist attack. And again, when you hear that, you may think of just, oh, they stopped it ahead of time. No, no, mid. Attack over the skies, headed to Israel, headed to Tel Aviv.
Hundreds on board. They were able to overtake it. We'll hear from Jeff Balaban, MCLJ, Jerusalem. I want to give a full recap of all that's been going on this week. It's been so busy.
I make sure you didn't miss segments with Jeff, segments with our client. You want to hear from him, from Andrew Coates again, this homeschooler graduate. Again, I am a homeschool graduate and a current homeschool parent. The lawyer. For Andrew, the ACLU attorney, homeschool graduate.
So of course it's a little important to us. I've been saying it hits home for us.
So we are going to take this as far as we can. It is an old school ACLJ style case. We've been supporting the rights of homeschoolers for nearly forty years. I want you to be a part of that as well.
So if I can encourage you to please go to aclj.org. Support if you can. Help us in this week strong. Again, that's at aclj.org. If you ever consider donating, this is a great time to do it.
Of course, all of our content is available. And all of our legal help is available without a paywall. That's right. If you're one of our ACLJ attorneys, or you're one of ACLJ clients, you get an ACLJ attorney at zero cost. If you want to watch our show, it's at zero cost.
If you want to read our incredible content, share it with your friends. You're not going to get a pop-up saying you need to sign up. But that is only because people like you support the work on a continual basis. People that become ACLJ champions. People that say, "Yes, I will dedicate five dollars or five hundred dollars of my income to the great organization, the great work we do here.
The best media minds, the best legal minds, all because of you." We're a little bit different here. We don't just tell you what's happening; we get stuff done. Be a part of these world-changing efforts here at the ACLJ today. I am going to encourage you to do that again at aclj dot org. Again, great content coming up.
Don't go anywhere. If you can, for a moment, please think about supporting the work at aclj.org. We'll be right back with more on Sekulow. Welcome back to Sekulow. Jeff Balaban 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, yeah, we woke up to this. I got up around five o'clock this morning.
I opened my phone and I see this, yeah, 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 midair, 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, I did what they needed to do to protect the flight against the pilot who was 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 nine.
Eleven 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 helpful in terms of landing the flight, and so thank God this has. A relatively happy ending, 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, we 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 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 Pilots, 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 threatened 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 made themselves back, or 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 it all. Altercation 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 call it Benveer Airport. It was actually he 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 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 know thanking all these people who were involved because. All of the reports. Everyone who is 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 are the people that lived it and were in the air. They experienced their first time this plane, like say nose diving 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 if it's 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 cut to. I can't cut to it, but live the celebrations happening in Ben Gurion Airport right now, as you have people arriving with balloons and Israeli flags, a hero's 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 ACLJ 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 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 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 within 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 twenty-two 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. Look, this segment will be the end of our first half hour. If you don't get us on your local station, you can find us broadcasting. Even if you do, better experience to see us.
That's over on aclj dot org, YouTube, Rumble, Facebook. We are broadcasting there live, twelve to one p.m. Eastern time, and then you can catch it archived immediately following.
So if you are listening to this later on a delay, you can always watch the second half of the show whenever you want, or the whole show. You can go back. You know it's available. It's podcast. It's available, and all all outlets.
Wherever get your podcast. Again, phone lines are open for you at one eight hundred six eight four thirty one ten. Before we move on a bit from what happened in Israel, again, of course, that flight. We're going to talk though. A little about the mayor of New York here in just a moment.
I do want you to hear a bit more from Prime Minister Netanyahu because there was a bit more when it talked about the nature of what was happening inside that cockpit. To give you a bit more. Of the surrounding of what was happening because we've seen video clips, but you know a lot of it is in Hebrew. Obviously, a lot of it is is a little bit harder to understand what's happening. You also had a group of people trying to keep children calm, so it's a different scenario.
You see a lot of blood, but sometimes you know maybe it doesn't fully compute what was going on inside that cockpit. But Prime Minister Netanyahu was on Fox this morning. A lot of what he's done before this was in Hebrew as well, so it was you know we'd have to be playing translated and all of that. But he was able to. In English, talk about this.
Let's play bite five, talking about what was going on inside the cockpit in terms of the way the passengers and the crew then reacted to that pilot who had decided to take his own life, and not his own life, took all the lives on that plane into his own hands. Bite five. They subdued him. By the way, just understand this. They.
They had to tie his hands, so they used the cord of the earphones in the cockpit. I mean, talk about improvisation. Then they finally got these these plastic whatever you call you know cuffs that they have. Ties. But and and then he's lying there now.
He's he's this attacker, and he calls out to the to the air crew, kill me. Kill me, all right?
So it's clear he was suicidal. That's not a question. It was clear he was going to down that plane. It's not clear, but it looks very likely that he was going to down the plane. Yeah, I mean, there's there's a lot of details that come in from that, but of course, the New York Times reported as a little scuffle.
They reported as a you know some a little fight that broke out, you know, between the two pilots. No big deal. Yeah, something that you deal with at schoolyard. We handled it; it's all good. Don't need to worry about it.
Just a little altercation, just an altercation, which includes the slitting of a throat of a pilot who thankfully survived. I mean, the whole thing is an absolute miracle.
Now we take the global fight against anti-Semitism to a much bigger scale, beyond a singular flight. This one is pretty fascinating. This is coming out, of course, from New York City. The mayor of New York, who, as we know, has been not quite the good friend to Israel for sure, but also to the Jewish people.
Now, New York City, the biggest city outside of Israel. With the Jewish population, it's getting closer. As you see, a lot of moving to Miami and other places. And again, I love New York City. I lived there.
I'm there probably the most, other than being here locally in Orlando, Florida. I'm probably in New York City the most of anywhere I am throughout the year. I love it there. It's the greatest city, one of the greatest cities in the world. I think it needs to be thriving.
The Jewish community is one of the reasons I love being there. And if this was coming from any other mayor, I would be applauding the words that were coming out of his mouth.
Now the tone and just the double speak that you know is happening. I would love to sit down and talk with the mayor. If he'd love to come on this show, I would be happy to discuss it. I mean that genuinely because I want, much like President Trump, I want to see a thriving New York City. I want to see a protected Jewish community in New York City, but I'm sorry, forgive me if these words feel a little too late, and as if he is just realizing that this is happening—that there is a rise in anti-Semitism—and he's deciding to now we're going to do something about it.
You know, I've been in here a little while, almost a year.
Now it's time for me to realize. Oh, feels like that anti-Semitism thing—maybe it's a real deal. But again, we got to look at the heart of the matter. But let's hear from the mayor of New York City from just a few days ago, as they announced again their new campaign to combat anti-Semitism. Bite two.
Over the last year, I've met with Jewish New Yorkers across the five boroughs. I've met with them in their dining rooms, sat with them on the subway, and spoke to them in their schools. Time and again, I've heard the same thing: anti-Semitism is real. And it is growing here in New York City. While our Jewish neighbors make up only 12 of the population, NYPD statistics show that anti-Semitic hate crimes account for more than half of all confirmed hate crimes.
This is not only unacceptable; it's something we all have an obligation to change. And City Hall will lead the way. That is why today I am proud to announce the nation's first ever municipal strategy to combat antisemitism—a roadmap for how our administration will confront the scourge of antisemitism now and in the future.
So very emotional. You know, they only make up 12 percent. 12 percent, big big number, by the way. 12 percent of your population in New York City, and it's half of the hate crimes. Wow, we're so shocked.
None of us are shocked, Mayor. We've all lived through it. People have died. People have been attacked on the streets.
Some of them in front of your own mansion. I'm not surprised. And again, if these were the words coming out of any other mayor of any other city or any other government official, I would probably be praising it. And look, I'm not saying he's not a compelling speaker, and he doesn't feel like he's got the heart for it. But the actions speak louder than words.
So the actions that were actually suggested by the mayor, I don't know what they'll actually get done, other than funding some museums, doing things like that. What's he actually going to be doing on the streets? That's really what I want to know. That's why I want to talk to the mayor. If he'd love to top on, I'd be happy to have him on.
Let's hear bite four, a little bit more information from the mayor. But our responsibility goes beyond protection. Jewish New Yorkers should feel cherished and celebrated. In the most Jewish city in America, that's why we are investing millions in Jewish cultural centers and nonprofits, including two million dollars for the Queens Holocaust Memorial Garden and 2.5 million dollars towards Brooklyn Center for New Jewish Culture. While these efforts are aimed at protecting our Jewish neighbors, they will benefit all New Yorkers.
Our safety is bound up together. The Mishnah teaches us that anyone who sustains one soul. It is as though they have sustained an entire world. For generations, Jewish New Yorkers have sustained our city. Leonard Bernstein filled cavernous theaters with awe.
Clara Lemlich won rights that protect workers to this day. Kleinfeld Bridal dressed us for our most special days, and Katz's has fed us for more than a century. Today, we hold a responsibility to sustain and protect our Jewish neighbors—a responsibility that belongs to each of us. That is the work we are undertaking at City Hall, and I am asking every New Yorker to join us. Of course, not suspiciously, very intentionally, not listed in that is, of course, anything to do with Israeli New Yorkers, not just Jewish New Yorkers, which of course there are plenty.
Even Israeli New Yorkers, there are more probably so than anywhere else in the world, other than Israel. I know many of them. But guess what else? And this is what you're not going to want to miss. At the same time, where is the First Lady of New York City?
She is right now in residence, an artist in residence, at a luxury wellness retreat. And what do they openly call for? What do you think? The full destruction of Israel. Not in some.
The bizarre language they have to fight through. It says, "Abolish the apartheid state of Israel." On the social media places of currently where the mayor's wife is the artist in residence. We got a whole another half hour coming up. This got to spark some thoughts. Give me a call one eight hundred six eight four thirty one ten.
Support the work of the ACLJ at aclj dot org. Don't go anywhere. Less than a minute. 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.
Welcome to Sekulow. It has been quite a busy week here at the ACLJ. We're going to recap a lot of it today, of course. The two major stories that came out this week: brand new ACLJ case. If you not, you know, followed what's been going on, it was a a homeschool graduate, twenty two year old.
It's not a kid. Certified EMT, rookie of the year, volunteer firefighter in his hometown in Fremont, Nebraska, and was told, you know what? There's a job opening. Why don't you apply to become a full time paid Career fireman. He thought, you know, this is it.
This is going to be my time. This is my moment. It's what I've been wanting to do in my life. And they said, "Oh, one small problem. You have been completely denied.
Why? Because of your qualifications. Why? He's a certified EMT." He is currently working on his associate's degree in what fire science. He is rookie of the year firefighter, but what was it?
It was that home school diploma doesn't hold up to the rigorous test, I guess, of what needs to be the qualifications to be a firefighter in Fremont, Nebraska. But you know what? The ACLJ jumped in and said, "No, no, no, you can't do this." It was clear he was being targeted specifically because.
Someone just had it out for homeschoolers. You guys made us think about it. We jumped in. He's going to be joining us. You're going to see a segment we did with him a little bit later in the show today.
Because I always think you guys should see the client, hear from them, listen to them when you can. Because it is so important to have that point of view. And when you see this story, you're not going to believe it. Of course, you've been joining us this week talking about it. They did have a city council meeting where they said, you know what?
Maybe we need to write that wrong. Why? Because the ACLJ is breathing down our neck. All our other supporters are giving us calls. All of this is happening all at once.
We need to make sure that we take care of this. But you know what it doesn't do, though. The new resolution says a homeschool diploma is fine. That it, of course, originally it didn't. By the way, say it wasn't.
They retcon and fix that. Doesn't give this kid a job. Doesn't protect the rights of homeschoolers around the country.
So we're going to take it as far as we have to. This is a big lawsuit that we are going to be a part of, and you need to join with us at the ACLJ. And of course, you can do that at aclj.org. Become a champion if you like. That some of the gives on a monthly basis.
I would appreciate that. And of course, updates coming out of that foiled terrorist attack. And again, when you hear that, you may think of just oh, they stopped it ahead of time. No, no. Mid terror attack over the skies, headed to Israel, headed to Tel Aviv.
Hundreds on board. They were able to overtake it. We'll hear from Jeff Balaban from ACLJ Jerusalem. I want to give a full recap of all that's been going on this week. It's been so busy.
I'll make sure you didn't miss segments with Jeff. Segments with our client. You want to hear from him from Andrew Coates again. This homeschool graduate. Again, I'm a homeschool graduate and a current homeschool parent.
The lawyer, for Andrew, the ACLU attorney, homeschool graduate.
So, of course, it's a little important to us. I've been saying it hits home for us.
So, we are going to take this as far as we can. It is an old school ACLJ style case. We've been supporting the rights of homeschoolers for nearly forty years. I want you to be a part of that as well.
So, if I can encourage you to please go to aclj.org support if you can help us in this week strong again. That's at aclj.org. If you ever consider donating, this a great time to do it. Of course, all of our content is available. And all of our legal help is available without a paywall.
That's right. If you are one of our ACLJ attorneys, or you are one of ACLJ clients, you get an ACLJ attorney at zero cost. If you want to watch our show, it's zero cost. If you want to read our incredible content, share it with your friends. You are not going to get a pop-up saying you need to sign up, but that is only because people like you support the work on a continual basis.
People that become ACLJ champions. People that say yes, I will dedicate five dollars or five hundred dollars of my income to the great organization, the great work we do here. The best media minds, the best legal minds, all because of you. We're a little bit different here. We don't just tell you what's happening.
We get stuff done. Be a part of these world-changing efforts here at the ACLJ today. I'm going to encourage you to do that again at aclj.org. Again, great content coming up. Don't go anywhere.
If you can, for a moment, please think about supporting the work at aclj.org. We'll be right back with more on Sekulow. Welcome back to Sekulow. This story we have been teasing for the last few days. It is something that came directly, by the way, from one of you.
Who tagged me in a social media post and said, "Logan, the ACLJ needs to get involved in this." And I saw the story and I said, "Absolutely, you're right." I got with our legal team and said, "Let's figure out how we can help, if possible, at all." And we are joined by our new client, Andrew Coates. Andrew has a wild story, and for anyone who cares about the rights of homeschoolers, and by the way, I am a homeschooler. Will was a homeschooler. My children are homeschoolers, so it hits pretty close to home when you have these situations where there are people who have spent their lives dedicated, obviously, to service and so many different things, and then they are specifically targeted because they were homeschooled or they are homeschooling in general, and that brings us. To Andrew, Andrew, welcome to the show.
We have such an interesting story for you to break down because your story—it doesn't have to do with being a current homeschooler. It has to do with what happened after when you decided I would like a career—a career that everyone thinks is one of the most noble professions. Yeah, thank you for having me. Absolutely.
So let's break that down. How did this story start? Because you've been working successfully, you've been working professionally as an EMT, qualified, trained, and then you've also been you've been volunteering at the fire department. How did this happen? Yeah.
So I actually volunteer on a town close to me for about two years now, and then I saw the opportunity for Fremont that opened up, and I decided I just wanted to take my shot at it. Yeah, and and things devolved fairly quickly. Will you want to? That's right. So in this story, you you apply for the job and then get turned down for a very specific reason.
What tell our audience what that was and and how you found out that you were not going to be hired as a full time firefighter in the city of Fremont. Yeah, so I sent. I went to go apply. Sent all my stuff. Um.
The next, I got a phone call after the deadline the next day from the HR director, and she said my application was being withdrawn because my high my high school diploma was unaccredited, and I actually just couldn't believe that for a minute because I graduated under a lawful Nebraska school.
So when she told me that, I was actually kind of shook that that was the reason I was being excluded from the process. And we also will be talking with our attorney to kind of break down some of the legal side of it as well, and what we're doing as we are representing Andrew here. But one of the other things here is that it wasn't just the fact that you know they had something on the books that said homeschoolers cannot apply. They actually. Changed things after the fact to make sure that the regulations back up what the HR individual said.
So this wasn't something you could have in advance gone and find out. This specifically was discriminatory against you because you were homeschooled. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I can't speak to what the intent of the person's heart may have been that day, but it definitely seems like. They're.
There was an attempt to keep homeschoolers out, especially after changing the job requirements after the closing date of the job. Again, you're someone who is very well qualified for this position. Beyond this one, very nuanced, and I would say ridiculous as Will said, discriminatory rule set. Because look, we need people like you who are willing to risk their lives in these positions. And I think anyone who has dealt with local fire departments, police forces, anything like that, EMTs like you.
You want people like you, who know what they're doing, who are qualifying the situation, can do the physical requirements that are needed.
So the fact that we are disqualifying people because of something like this, like you said, you can't speak to the heart. That it feels like a deeper reason. And look, homeschooling is very important to us. And what it sounds like is that respecting and being able to protect homeschoolers, even beyond yourself, seems important to you. Yeah, yeah, it does.
You know, I was you know obviously homeschooled, and I know what that's like, and I had a great time being homeschooled, and. I just feel like we need to stand up right now, especially if homeschoolers aren't even allowed to work for the city right now.
So it's just it's kind of crazy to me, honestly. I know, Andrew. This isn't something that you obviously were looking to to get involved in. You were just wanting to be a firefighter, something that you had been doing. You'd been doing as a volunteer basis, and and by the way, also you were awarded, you know, rookie firefighter of the year.
You were you were have received praise. For your job and the job that you do on a volunteer basis, but now that you're in this, you see. I know homeschoolers; our faith are normally very important to us. There are reasons that we homeschool outside of just we know that we can get a good education that way as well. But but now, what does this feel like?
Does it feel like something that, as you take this story to a wider audience? That there is something here that needs to be pointed out. To one, ensure that people in in Nebraska, where you are, are not discriminated against for the way that they and their parents chose to educate them, as well as maybe even nationally, where this might be happening other places. That we need to point out and ensure that that laws are applied equally. That people aren't discriminated just because of a legal education.
Education that you received and that is recognized by your state. Yeah, no, I I agree. It's just, yeah, I I think this this is a fight worth fighting. And if it's, I mean, if it's recognized by the state, I I don't see what the issue would be.
So I yeah, no, you were definitely right, Andrew. I wanted to jump into sort of the heart of this story here as well, which is you've decided that this wants you wanted this to be your career path. Why is that? Why is being whether it's an EMT or a firefighter? Why was that the journey you have been on, and why is that important to you?
Yeah. So actually, I kind of my I started in law enforcement, kind of following my dad's footsteps, and he was like, "Don't don't do law enforcement," he's like, "Go go try firefighting." And then we actually had I had a friend at the time that worked for our family business, who actually was a Fremont firefighter and still is, and he was like, "Hey, you should try firefighting." He just he talked to me about the fire service and like really just good things about it.
So he just kind of encouraged me. To go try fire school, so I did. I went to went to go fire one. Took hazmat ops. Really, really, and just enjoyed the hands-on training experience, and just really, I fell in love with the job at that point.
So we've just been chasing the job for about two years now, and we've loved every step of the way.
So I also think it's important to point out. One, we've mentioned that you've been obviously volunteering in that way. You've been doing other that you're a licensed EMT in the state, but that your this isn't as though you graduated yesterday and went and applied. You're you're 22 years old now. You have been out of high school for some period of time.
I think even that to to point people to the that you have life experience. This isn't just you know that they found a way because they were looking for someone with more experience. That's when our legal team looks at this. The deeper we dive into, we see this is is what appears, and that's why a litigation hold letter has been sent to the city to be prepared. For action, because it it is on its face, it appears discriminatory.
It seems like it violates the free exercise clause. All of these things. That this isn't. They just found a way to look for someone with more experience. Yeah, I mean, I would I would definitely say I met the minimum requirements of the job.
I definitely have some experience in the field that I was looking forward to bringing with me to. Fremont Fire, and then I mean I don't know I mean I even almost meet kind of the preferred requirements, which is an associate's degree in fire science, which I graduate hopefully in the spring, so I'll have that too. That's absolutely wild, Andrew, that they are disqualifying you for your high school diploma, saying that it was not accredited when you have an associates or about to have an associates specifically in I. I didn't even know these were requirements that were necessary. Look for our audience, Andrew.
I appreciate you popping on and spending time with us today. I know that it's important to you. It's obviously important to us, and we're gonna fight as hard as we can. Like Will said, there are things that they may try to do to say, "Well, okay, we're we're making up for it." That doesn't necessarily get you the job. That doesn't necessarily move things along properly for you because you were one of the people here who was certainly discriminated on, but.
We need to also protect homeschoolers in general, and I think when I'm saying this right now to our audience, is this is you know old school ACLJ work. This is the work that we have been doing for forty years, nearly here at the ACLJ. It is time to keep standing up for homeschoolers again. It's hitting a little bit closer to home. Right now, all of us who were homeschooled now have school-age children.
My children are homeschooled.
Okay, so I understand this firsthand. I don't want them to come out of college or come out of high school and feel like they can't do incredible jobs like what Andrew's trying to do. Just honestly, being someone who is paid to do a service that very few are willing to sacrifice themselves for.
So at this moment, I really want to encourage you to all one: pray and pray for Andrew. Pray for. The team here at the ACLJ is not going to. It sounds like sometimes it can be a ridiculous thing when you hear that the the facts of this case, the facts of this situation. But the truth is, there are forces at play that certainly don't want this to happen.
So I encourage you all to please stand up and support right now. We're gonna have a lot of ways you can do that directly with our teams at aclj.org. But also, again, keep Andrew and his family in your prayers. And really, we're gonna fight back hard. This is something that.
Again, I have to thank one of our ACLJ supporters for bringing this to my attention.
So then we could take it from here and do some amazing work. Be a part of that team today, also at ACLJ. dot org. We'll be right back with more on Sekulow. All right, we made it.
Last segment of the day. Of course, we are taking 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—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 fourteen thousand 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 11th attack.
So again, when there's moments you feel like the guard needs to calm 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. I mean, if it was an attempted attack, you had a group of people willing to be heroes, step up in a moment of terror, in a moment of chaos, and do what needed to be done.
So. 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 11th style terrorist attack in Israel. Imagine how different this show would have been. But I'm 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 been 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 pilots.
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 MSN 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 it because 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 right is spinning this. About this Israeli takeover, attempted takeover by this terrorist.
Well, you know what? Get 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 7 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. In 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, again, 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. Traveled to these other places that they traveled 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, and either one of these. If you want to support the work, I'm going to encourage you right now. This is the most important time, really, as we start heading into the end of the year. Can you believe it?
Someone just put, "Hey, 11 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.
