Biden Cabinet Member Bombs with Botched Reagan Quote

Today on Sekulow and a head scratcher, a Biden cabinet member bombs with botched Reagan quote. Keeping you informed and engaged. Now more than ever, this is Sekulow. We want to hear from you.

Share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110. And now your host, Jordan Sekulow. Hi, welcome back to Sekulow.

Now, I usually have been starting with Israel these past seven, well, since October 7th. And of course, there's news there to report today as the ceasefire continues and there are more hostage releases that we will talk about. But there was something done by, of course, of all people, the education secretary, the secretary of education, he is in charge of the public schools of America where most children are being educated. And he was at an event, now was it a congressional event or was he just speaking at like a teachers event?

So he's at a speaking event. He thought he would say something, you know, funny, quoting a Republican in support of the department of education. And this is when, you know, you better be careful how you're quoting somebody, especially if you're not reading it directly or your 21 year old staffer that pulled it, who had no context and probably put it in front of them. But you would think someone of this stature in this age would have looked down and said, wait, wait, wait, this isn't right.

I need to skip over it. But he didn't. This is again, a cabinet member confirmed to be the head of the department of education, which again, educates the majority of American children. And I want you to hear what he had to say yesterday in this meeting with teachers. You know, we're going to set up follow-up calls with every governor we met with to make sure we're available. As I think it was, President Reagan said, we're from the government.

We're here to help. Well, except that's not exactly what President Reagan said. He did use those words, of course, but that's not what he meant. So let me play for you what he actually said. I think you all know that I've always felt the nine most terrifying words in the English language are I'm from the government and I'm here to help. There you go.

That's what he actually said. You know what I said on X, I went right on and said, you know, if I was the education secretary and you bought something like that and you become the story and the story is you're out of touch, you don't even know who you're quoting, foreign Presidents, and you're on camera, you yourself should give your resignation papers to the President. But what we know in this administration, that would be shocking to see him go. One, they're not even probably paying attention to him. Two, I'm not even sure that they care because not many of them are very good communicators. You could hear someone like President Biden saying something like that and just not quite getting it there.

So instead they want it buried. But I think it's important because that this is who is setting the tone for how our children are being educated. And they're quoting Presidents of the United States incorrectly to support their cause, which is a full government run education system, which many conservatives believe should be abolished and sent back to the states to run. Well, of course, he's quoting it, thinking it was some kind of, this is the scary part of this, thinking it was some type of positive quote, but it's not. Ronald Reagan was very clear.

The three most dangerous, nine most dangerous words. I'm from the government and I am here to help. And he says, as Ronald Reagan famously quoted, I'm from the government and I'm here to help. Like that's a good thing.

So this is, I think shows you the total disconnect. The right has looked at this and said, this guy's going to run the education department. And the left is saying nothing.

Nothing. I mean, this should, again, it should be in ads, but except for the fact that I think that people, one, that Reagan quote is so well known, even people who weren't alive during Reagan. I mean, it's been used over and over by politicians for many years in political ads. And it's kind of a conservative talking point. Is it less federal government is better government, more state, you know, state control, local control. That's what's best for education.

We don't even need this department of education. That's become a political player. This is Giving Tuesday. And this is a very important day. It's the biggest charitable giving day of the year. And it couldn't have come in a more important time for us.

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And it will be doubled on this Giving Tuesday. So go to ACLJ.org. That's ACLJ.org for Giving Tuesday.

I encourage you to do that right now. All right, welcome back to the Secula. A couple of things I want to talk to you about before we get back into the secretary Cardona. I mean, it's hard to even say this is a cabinet secretary, not an assistant, not somebody who just works at the department of education who botched this Reagan line, trying to support, you know, more federal takeover of your kids' education in the public schools, which conservatives have questioned for a decade since the founding of the department of education, since we have state department of education, local education boards, parent teacher boards, all of these different boards. And it would seem like they would know what's best for the community they serve and what education process would be best. But of course, the government always wants to be incomplete.

The federal government wants to be in complete control. But we do want to remind you today, after all those Fridays and then the Cyber Mondays, and by the way, those are like ongoing now that almost never stop. And the longer you wait, it seems like the better deal you get. This is Giving Tuesday. And it's a day after all, you make all these perches to say, I want to give back. And it's the largest charitable giving day in the United States. And it couldn't come at a more important time for the ACLJ. We've been expanding, as you know, our efforts for Israel globally in a way we've never had to do before. And we were able to do that, by the way, because we have ACLJ donors that have been doting to us for decades so that we didn't have to think twice about getting right involved and taking on as many hostage situations that we needed to take on or families, or if we needed to get to some location or meetings we needed to set up. And of course, because we've been developing those relationships in Washington over so many decades, we were able to set those meetings up.

But we can do a lot more with more resources. So we've got shifting from the hostages situation, Dad. We've also got a major new filing on the 14th Amendment at the Colorado Supreme Court. This is probably the biggest case when it comes to President Trump being on the primary ballot, because it's one of the few that hasn't been tossed out. Well, it hasn't been tossed out, although the judge ruled in our favor and it is now up before the Colorado Supreme Court.

And here I'm holding, we'll put it up on the screen. There's our brief that we've just filed at the Supreme Court of Colorado. This is a major case.

Professor Hutchinson's in with us. This is a usually significant case on anyone's right to vote for the candidate of their choice, whether this was, this happens to be Donald Trump, but it could have been anybody if under the government's theory of what they could do. Absolutely. So I think it's very important to briefly recap what we're talking about. What we're talking about is the implications that flow from the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution, particularly Section 3. And Section 3 amounts to a disqualification clause with respect to covered individuals. And I think it's clear beyond question that President Trump, when he was in office, was not a covered individual. Nonetheless, a group called CREW has brought a lawsuit suggesting that he indeed was covered.

That's number one. And then number two, that he committed a disqualifying offense, namely that he engaged in an insurrection against his own government, which I think is nonsense on steroids. But nonetheless, the district court judge said the disqualification clause is inapplicable to President Trump.

But she went on to say in dicta that he did, in fact, engage in an insurrection. And I think at the end of the day, that may indeed be the linchpin of the plaintiff's claim against a former President Trump, if they can surmount the hurdle of whether or not he was indeed an officer within the meaning of the 14th Amendment. I mean, data gets to these technicalities of these different oaths that the members of Congress take versus the President, and they are different because they play extremely different roles in the legislature and the executive. In fact, the executive is the executive branch. When it comes to the President, he defines it, yes. It's the only branch of government where one person is the head of it, and that is when you have this kind of situation here. And in this context here, I wanted to ask you this, as this issue comes forward and as it develops forward, so far, we've had great luck.

I mean, I'm not great luck. We've had great legal skills and we've had great judgments. If all the courts rule in our favor, do you think the Supreme Court takes a pass on it, if they're all in our favor? I think the Supreme Court would indeed take a pass.

Yeah, I do. But one of the things that worries me a bit is that there are so many cases out there which could provoke an opposite opinion, if you will, to the Colorado decision. But assuming all of these decisions continue down the same pathway, I think the Supreme Court will take a pass. We'll go back to the Department of Education for a moment. I'm trying to think of the FOIA request.

You would like to have all the notes that were leading into the development of that speech. So let's play what, again, the Secretary of Education, Secretary-designate played. This is what he said. You know, we're going to set up follow-up calls with every governor we met with to make sure we're available. As I think it was President Reagan said, we're from the government. We're here to help.

Okay. Here's what President Reagan actually said. I think you all know that I've always felt the nine most terrifying words in the English language are, I'm from the government and I'm here to help. So Cardone thinks it's the most of the greatest words he could say, and Reagan said it was the most dangerous words he could say, which Harry kind of tells you the tale of two cities where the political philosophies are these two very different parties.

I think that's correct. And secondarily, I would argue it underscores the miseducation, if you will, of America's Education Secretary and the miseducation, if you will, of the Biden administration. In other words, Secretary Cardona cannot distinguish an attack on government from praise for the government. And I think the American people are sufficiently well-equipped to make that distinction and hopefully they will continue to make that distinction. But I would argue that Secretary Cardona is certainly a candidate for mandatory re-education so that he will actually understand history.

He would understand the meaning of words. And I think he is a clear and unmistakable example of why the Biden administration continues to make so many missteps. They've come up with this title with respect to the Biden economic plan called Biden Economics. It is backfiring. It continues to backfire.

Why? Because prices are up on a variety of items, 20 and 30 percent since President Trump was in office. And yet the Biden administration continues to praise itself fairly unintelligently. Remember what President Biden said.

This was during the National and State Teachers of the Year celebration back in April. And it got people riled up as well because, again, this idea of who children belong to. Usually we think of who children belong to. They belong to their parents and then they become when they're minors and then they become adults and then they have their own children. But listen to what he had to say.

This is President Biden. Rebecca put a teacher's creed into words when she said, there's no such thing as someone else's child. No such thing as someone else's child. Our nation's children are all our children. Well, this goes back to the, you know, it takes a village and, you know, but it is the parents that ultimately under the Supreme Court's rules have the primary responsibility of raising their kids. So I'm going to tell you right now that that is a, this is just a horrible misquote, a terrible context. And I think it's just, it puts the whole perspective of what we're, Harry, in a nutshell, what we're really dealing with at the Department of Education.

I think that is correct. And so the Department of Education is an ideological agency. It is not really interested in education.

It is interested in propagating an ideology, an ideology that is hostile to the interest of the American people. And each and every listener should rise up and oppose the effort of the Education Department to take over the education of our kids. All right, folks, we are, this is Giving Tuesday. This is the biggest charitable giving day of the year in the United States. And it couldn't come for us in a more important time. We've been expanding our efforts for the Israel situation globally in a way that we've never had to do before. We've got, I can't even tell you how many offices are involved now in the conference I just had and what may be going on.

We'll have more about that later, probably on tomorrow's broadcast. At the same time, we're engaged in vital legal efforts here in the United States. We talked about the 14th Amendment filings.

We've talked about defending pro-life laws, pro-life counseling centers in courts nationwide, defending our Christian faith at the highest level and at the lowest level, and taking the deep state on it in 18 pieces of federal litigation right now. This is a crucial time for us. Your tax-ductible gifts are doubled before midnight giving Tuesday's deadline at ACLJ.org. This is specifically for the Giving Tuesday. So we encourage you to do that.

Very, very important. And if you want to become one of those ACLJ champions, this is a great time to do it because you can make that donation. You're going to get double the impact, so you're still going to get that matching challenge, double the impact of your donation.

But you choose an amount that you're comfortable with being deducted from your credit card each month. And so at the ACLJ, that is great because not only will we have the resources, we have resources to plan. We know that there's a certain amount of income coming in next month so that if something pops up like in Israel or a new legal battle like the 14th Amendment, we've got the resources to fight it anywhere in the world.

Donate, join ACLJ.org. Israel has confirmed that the hostage releases have begun. They usually take about an hour. Today, it should be 10 additional hostages as well as tomorrow for the ceasefire to continue. And then we'll see if there will be an extension of that ceasefire. Some people said, you know, could it go for as long as 10 days if Hamas continues to make releases?

Are there that many people left alive that Hamas actually has under their custody because some of these people may be under Palestinian Islamic Jihad custody or have kind of disappeared into the realms of war? Yeah. We've set up a special page.

I just want to make sure because we have some technical issues with it. Do you want me to ask people to go to this page, Will? Yes. Okay.

If you go to ACLJ.org forward slash bring them home, you will see on the, that is a special section of the website. It does not leak from the main website at this point? Okay. And it has a discussion about what we're doing, but there's also, and it's not clear, folks, I apologize for this because we're having to work some technical issues out.

In the text, it says the 240, the fight to save the hostages being the roughly 240 hostages. If you click that, there is a video that is a special that we've done almost like a documentary. Actually, it says the video is inappropriate for some users and there's a disclaimer you have to go to. I'll tell you what we're going to do.

We're going to get all this fixed and we're going to tell you how to get there because I didn't realize that was going to happen. It is not suitable for kids. I will tell you that.

Yes. It's not suitable for kids and they label that because it talks about war and things like that. So we're working through that. I don't, it's not like something they're trying to block people from being able to save. If you go to it in beds on YouTube, it's going to ask you, I understand and wish to proceed. It says the video is not inappropriate from some users. It's not, it's not sexual content. It is, there's some blood and violence.

Well, you hear the stories of the families that we took to Washington DC and they tell those stories very directly. Again, that's why we're looking at places as well, like Rumble to place this video, which maybe we should have done. I think we're in the process of doing that now as we speak so that you don't have to go through that process. I think hold on to this until we get this right. Yeah.

This is what my recommendation is. I agree too, because it's a really, again, it takes you through what we did in Washington and you think about what we, and I remember cutting the into this part one yesterday and with it actually had something positive about a full, you know, a full family being reunited. And not that that will be the case in every case, but that again, that's why we do what we do. And that's why you support us to do that work is because we have seen in the most dire of situations, and I call them that miracles occur, but you know, if you're, if you're a Christian and you believe in those miracles, you also believe that you don't just sit on, sit on your back and kind of wait for the miracles to happen.

You're given a brain, you're given a body. You've, you may be, you know, put in a situation like us to be an organization like the ACLJ where you can do this work. And maybe you're in a position where you can fund this work. And while we're in this, again, faith and freedom drive in the month of November on this Giving Tuesday, the biggest charitable contribution day of the year in the United States. This is the day, again, if you've thought about even just making one donation to the ACLJ all year, we'd appreciate you doing that, whatever amount. But if you are willing to become someone who wants to be a regular contributor, we've made it easy for you. And we're going to set up a special program for you as well called ACLJ Champions. ACLJ Champions are recurring donors.

And we already have people that have done that before, but what you do, dad, is you choose an amount that you're comfortable with. Like, is it $50? Is it $100?

$25? Could be more for people who are comfortable with more of an amount. And that will be automatically charged to your card. It's a tax deductible donation each month.

So in a matching challenge month, you'll still, that donation will get the benefit of the Double the Impact. And you will, again, be assisting the ACLJ, not just because it is financial support for us, dad, but because it allows us to look at the plan and say, next month we know this many ACLJ Champions pledge this much resources. So we can budget for, especially important for special projects like we're dealing with right now. Because we can't predict in this world right now what's going to happen. I mean, that they're going to keep President Trump off the ballot in states and, you know, 15, 16 different states were going into court representing all these GOP state parties. And we've also got, you know, clients in Israel.

None of that we could have predicted six months ago. No. And that's why this is so important. So again, this is the biggest charitable giving day in the United States every year. This is Giving Tuesday. So we encourage you to go to ACLJ.org and make that gift. And as Jordan says, if you can make that a continuing gift, a monthly gift, then you are an ACLJ Champion. Let's go back to the, I think, Harry, in looking at the, we've got a special package we've put together on Hamas.

We're going to have it ready to launch later today or tomorrow. But Harry, we've got also a booklet and background on it as well. Let's talk about that.

Absolutely. So we have posted a special report on Hamas called Unmasking Hamas. And so one of the things to keep in mind is that there are comparisons out there between October the 7th and America's 9-11. But what was different about 9-11 versus October the 7th was what happened on October the 8th. On October the 8th, there was a worldwide celebration of the slaughter that happened in Israel.

And so if you go to capitals in Sydney, Australia, London, England, Toronto, Canada, New York City, Washington, D.C., those capitals featured celebratory events suggesting that it was now time to gas the Jews. And so it's important to keep in mind that there has now been a swing, if you will, of world opinion against Israel. Which follows along with the Hamas charter. If you look at the Hamas charter, it suggests that the day of judgment will not come until Muslims fight the Jews, killing the Jews. When the Jew will hide behind stones and trees, the stones and trees will say, oh Muslim, oh Abdullah, there is a Jew behind me.

Come and kill him. Only the nakkad tree, a certain kind of tree, would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews. The war against the Jews will be followed if you follow the logic of Hamas by a war against Christians, a war against Hindus, a war against any individuals who do not practice Islam. And so the Hamas group has taken the position that once a land has been conquered by Islamic individuals, it belongs eternally to Muslims. And so this is a quasi-religious war and it's more a religious war as opposed to a political war. Nonetheless, many leaders in the West, including UN Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, she suggests that Israel should be deprived of its own right to self-defense.

And so one of the things this report attempts to illuminate is the battle ahead, which is against not only the flesh and blood reality of war, but against elite global opinion, which is poised to oppose any efforts to defend Israel. All right, this is again Giving Tuesday, the biggest charitable donation of the year in the United States. We've launched that Faith and Freedom Drive. We thank you who have already donated. We encourage you to donate today, double the impact your donation. If you can become an ACLJ champion, that means a monthly donor, you click that box and an automatic donation.

It is great for the ACLJ. But if you can't do that, donate today, one time, double the impact ACLJ. Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever, this is Sekulow.

And now your host, Jordan Sekulow. Broadcast and we're taking your calls at 1-800-684-3110, 800-684-3110. We have done, our team has put together a special video, actually a special landing page on this Hamas situation. Professor Hutchinson was just talking about the booklet that you can download about Hamas, which is a quick read. You should get it.

You should understand it. And also when you go to the page, you will see that we have a 48 minute, 50 minute special on what the ACLJ is actually doing on these hostage release with including interviews with hostage families. And that documentary will be added to in the days ahead. I don't know if we, were we able to add that we got the families released? Yes, I did. I did that yesterday.

As news develops, we'll keep adding. Where do people need to go, Jordan? So you go to ACLJ.org slash bring them home and you'll be able to see the video there.

You can click on it. Again, it's about 40 minutes long and kind of walks you through everything we did. It is not for kids, but again, young adults, high schoolers, people in college, certainly send it around, especially to family members who've been asking you questions about who's right in this conflict. Not that they may have loved what Hamas did to people, but has Israel been this horrible aggressor that I keep hearing about on my college campus? This is something they need to watch and see, see these families that came all the way from Israel to Washington, DC, to beg for help. I mean, literally.

And they were brave to do so. One, they're not always speaking their first language. Two, you've got all these cameras and members of Congress in these kind of huge buildings, the US Capitol with powerful people, imagery, and you're jet lagged. And you're also, as one of the brothers that is our client said, every day for him is October 7th. When he closes his eyes, it's October 7th. It's a nightmare.

But even when he's walking around, it's October 7th. So they're reliving this day by day. And unfortunately, those clients were all of adult males. And so far, unless something changed today, no Israeli adult males have been released.

And that was a special deal with the Russians. Right. So we encourage you to go to ACLJ.org forward slash, bring them home. It has Harry's book booklet on Hamas, which is based on a lot of material we've put together over the years, as well as this video. I encourage you to get it. It's long form.

It's 48 minutes, almost 15 minutes. It's a special that we've done, a long form special, and it will really educate you. And we're going to update it as matters progress.

So that is something you need to look forward to. And it's Unmasking Hamas. This is what the pamphlet looks like when you pull it down on the website. Do we have that in the screen up there? Yep, great.

The Genocidal Jihadist Holy War to Exterminate Israel by Harry Hutchinson. So that is up. It is up now. So that is available, and the video is now available. So we encourage you to go there. And we're sure we'll be sending links out to that during the day as well.

Let me also say this. We are going to be taking your phone calls at 800-684-3110. There's a lot breaking in Europe right now with our European Center for Law and Justice team. Jordan, you are a little bit on that Zoom call. We have a Zoom call at night.

We have a Zoom call in the morning. And who's going where? We still don't have 100% worked out yet, but we know the ECLJ team is going to be in Brussels, Paris, and Strasbourg.

The question now is, will members of the ECLJ team be joining them? Not 100% sure yet, but they may in light of some of these meetings that are coming. Yeah, and these are decisions made based off what's going to be most effective. For instance, if we were talking about the meetings in this first part of the documentary that we've released today at ECLJ.org slash Bring Them Home, we wouldn't be bringing our team from Strasbourg to join these meetings. Because these are meetings with members of Congress that we work with in the United States, our government affairs works with. So then we have to have the same discussion when it's in Europe.

Is there a need for Americans to be there? Does that help or hinder the process? And that's what we're about the ECLJ, not just us getting FaceTime, seculars getting FaceTime, it's is it going to help or hinder getting more hostages released? And we're in those discussions and it's been a back and forth, I'd say definitely the past seven or eight days.

It felt like maybe no, maybe yes, and it's back to maybe yes now again. And that's how we work the ECLJ. We're ready to go if we need to be there. All right, today is Giving Tuesday. Go to ECLJ.org. Any amount you match, you give is doubled.

And this, and if you could do that regularly, you become a champion. ECLJ.org Giving Tuesday. Welcome back to Sekulow on this, again, what is very important Giving Tuesday. And it's also important to let you know, our team, obviously we've got ACLJ Jerusalem and people are traveling. Remember this during a holiday time in the Jewish faith and some people were in Israel, some people were out of Israel, then it got difficult to get back in and out of Israel. Our team is back and Jeff Balaban who oversees our office in ACLJ Jerusalem is joining us right now. And as you can see, Jeff, you're back in Jerusalem and we could see behind you, I think you're on the porch of where you live and you could see the old city of Jerusalem. It looks peaceful from this imagery, but we know because there is a ceasefire ongoing, though Hamas has broken it twice lately, and there's actually hostages being exchanged right now, Jeff, while we're talking to you. That's right, Jordan. So back here in Jerusalem and until now, as you know, even in the States, we had work to do because we have a presence here in Jerusalem, work to do in Washington, trying to explain what's happening here.

And let me also say what you've reported to until now, the work that the ACLJ teams are doing around the world are incredibly important. And people here are so worried about so many things. They're worried about their children and their husbands out at war in the front in Gaza, even though there's a ceasefire now or up north, they're worried about the hostages.

Everyone here takes it very personally. You know, Israel is a small country. It feels like a family.

Everybody knows somebody. And so all of this work is vitally important. The mood here in Jerusalem is somber. Obviously, people are happy when there are good moments, but it is relatively quiet.

I would say you see more. The difference between now and before is you see more reservists on leave walking the streets carrying their military weapons than you would otherwise see in a normal day in Jerusalem. But otherwise, people here generally feel temporarily secure, concerned another shoe may drop. And the concern of the other shoe dropping is obviously from the north. I mean, the concerns with Hezbollah, who's got a power keg of arsenal much stronger than Hamas is, Jeff.

Oh, that's right. Up north, they have a huge arsenal. It can reach anywhere, including Jerusalem, reach anywhere in the country. Again, so far, it's been relatively quiet. They've been skirmishes as we know, but there is still some concern that the shoe may drop.

And there's even concern the shoe may drop, I would call it domestically. I mean, obviously, Jerusalem is a very mixed city. Jews and Arabs live together. So far, it has been not less peaceful than it usually is. It's been relatively peaceful. But again, it's a nation on edge and it's a population on edge. Well, you know, Israel's had these situations before both militarily but also with hostages. This hostage situation is a bit different because they're being held. First of all, they had a mass casualty event where, you know, upwards of 1400 Israeli citizens and people that work with Israelis were just slaughtered without mercy. I mean, just horrific.

And then, of course, you had the taking of hostages. And we don't know the exact number, let's be honest. We think it's 240. Reports are today that what were they saying, Jordan, yesterday, 130, 150?

Yeah. And then, I mean, again, you're talking about how many are actually under a Hamas control, how many may be under Palestinian Islamic Jihad control, how many may have been killed in conflict by Hamas, by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, how many were injured when they were taken hostage and died in that process? We don't know.

We don't know all of those answers. What we do know is that there's only been one male released or young male released and it was a Russian kind of move there. So there's been no other Israeli males released.

And that's a big question mark. We will see again. The promise, Jeff, that was made for this ceasefire is that today and tomorrow, at least 10 more hostages today and 10 more tomorrow, and then Israel will reconsider whether or not to extend the ceasefire or not. That's right, Jordan. Look, everybody knows the faces and the names of the hostages. The hostages, they've been plastered everywhere in this country.

It is, again, very personal. But Israel will do a great deal, as you know that, for getting back their hostages alive. Even sometimes Israel does something to get back, unfortunately, bodies of hostages. But they recognize the threat because, as we know, the current leader of Hamas is someone who was released in a previous hostage deal.

And so no one's going into this eyes closed. This is a very complicated situation. But here in the country, there's a sense of appreciation and joy when every hostage is returned. Jeff, the reality is, though, at some point in the very near future, this has to return to a full combat mode because Gaza with Hamas is unacceptable on the border of Israel, just cannot exist. There is no two state solution there.

That fantasy is out the window. But Hamas has to be eradicated. This is great that we're getting these reprieves and you can get humanitarian aid in.

Great. And we're getting hostages released. But they only extended it for two days, which tells me it's probably they don't maybe have that many more hostages or maybe another 20 or 30.

The war is going to continue and it's going to continue at a very aggressive pace to get this done. This is a very complicated situation, Jay. I always think about your term that it's, you know, nine-dimensional chess. Well, this there is no term for this because this has gotten much more complicated. So, for example, the south of Gaza now the population just doubled. So it's much more intense, which means Israel's military superiority in the air becomes much more difficult to use because Israel doesn't want to have casualties, collateral damage casualties of the Arabs in Gaza.

It's trying to be as precise as possible. And so that becomes more complicated, which means putting the IDF soldiers in harm's way. Again, this becomes when we move to the south of Gaza, the next phase of the fighting is even more difficult than what we've seen until now.

And everybody is aware of it. Do you sense, Jeff, in your conversations with Israelis and people you work with, that they are prepared for what the government keeps saying is going to be a long fight? Everybody here, I mean, everybody, the country is remarkably united. They're united understanding that obviously the notion of a Palestinian state is not in the books for the foreseeable future, if ever. Certainly Gaza could not continue the way it was continuing before. And something dramatic has to change in Gaza. They're united and wanted to see the hostages back and united. And remember, we are talking about this as though it's only Hamas, but we've mentioned on here already several times Islamic Jihad. There are other groups that have hostages.

There are people who came over the border. We don't know how many hundreds or thousands who are not affiliated with Hamas at all. The entire Gaza population poses a tremendous security threat for the state of Israel. And so there is absolute commitment to doing whatever it can to protect Israel from ever, God forbid, enduring this kind of an attack again. You know, Jeff, I just want to, for people here in this country, we've got a lot of listeners who have likely visited Israel and have toured Israel to see the holy sites, to see the holy land.

You know, I'm not saying that that's going to be happening very soon or even down the road, but eventually, you know, we all hope and pray that that is available to people in the future to be a part of it. But what is it like to be back? You know, you were in the U.S. seeing these massive Palestinian protests where you live in the U.S. that were pretty outrageous and disgusting coming from, you know, mostly liberal college campuses in support of these Hamas actions. What's it like back in Jerusalem, which can be a pretty tense city anyways and gets even more tense when you've got these kind of conflicts? I know there's a ceasefire, but there is, it's a ceasefire.

There is a conflict ongoing. Well, certainly the people I talk to are extremely appreciative, first of all, that we have a presence here and that we didn't run away, that we're back, that we're here. Then I was in America for the Jewish holidays. Then the war broke out.

Then there was great demand to come down to Washington to discuss what was going on. And really, the first time I was able to come back is now. And people do appreciate our presence, our physically being here.

The ability to communicate in person, in confidence gives a tremendous sense of security as well. But the overall mood is, again, it's, you know, unfortunately, living here, real life, you know, the new normal, it changes, unfortunately, too often. And this is the new normal.

And they don't know what's going to happen. Hey, Jeff, we're going to keep you for the next semi as well. We're going to talk to you more. And, you know, Dad, I wanted to say as well, I know a lot of the companies that are U.S.-based companies, they haven't gone back. Right. ACLJ has. Yes. I want to make that clear to people.

A lot of the U.S.-based companies move their people out. They don't even know when they're going back. But the ACLJ is back in Jerusalem. We are back in Jerusalem. Today happens to be Giving Tuesday and really couldn't come at a better time. This is the biggest charitable giving day of the year in the United States. And it really could not come at a more important time for us. We've expanded our efforts for Israel globally in a way we've never had to do before. At the same time, we're engaged in vital legal efforts here at home.

We talked about the 14th Amendment challenges on the ballots and the elections and election integrity, defending pro-life laws, pro-life counselors in courts throughout the country, defending your faith in numerous cases, taking on the deep state and court cases in 18 different cases we have now, defending students and teachers that are being harassed because they're pro-Jewish or pro-Zion. All of this is happening, and it is a crucial time for us. And our Israel work and what's going on right now, we're being very flexible, folks, because, as I said, I know I've got activities at the end of December with various government leaders from around the world.

Now we may be having some more of that in Brussels and in Strasbourg as early as next week. So as soon as we're done with this broadcast, Jordan and I are going up for a conference call on that. This is a crucial time for us to have your tax deductible give double before our Midnight Giving Tuesday deadline at ACLJ.org.

I encourage you to do that. We want to make this a record day. We're up against a big number. We did $356,000 in donations last year.

So if we can get that again this year, that would be great, or even go over that. So it's ACLJ.org for Giving Tuesday. Also, our fight for the hostages, you can go to ACLJ.org slash bring them home for a special documentary and booklet. All right, welcome back to Sekulow. Jeff Balbon's still joining us.

He's back. And I just want to underscore that again. It's not to be nasty. Companies have different, and the corporate world has different things they've got to figure out as well. And there's plenty of Israeli businesses and companies that are tied to Israeli businesses.

They're still operating. But there are many who, if they had U.S. staff or staff that weren't Israeli, leave. They told them to leave.

And they have not yet returned and don't have a return date. The ACLJ and our team is back as soon as possible. As soon as it wasn't going to be a burden on the state of Israel, which we were always concerned about, Dad, when you're traveling there during conflict, is you don't want to be an extra burden to the security forces, to the IDF, to the airport, for when they were trying to get all the people back, all the troops back, all the reservists back. And Jeff Balbon is back at ACLJ Jerusalem.

He's joining us live now. And that shot, Jeff, behind you is the Old City of Jerusalem. And I think for all of the people who are watching our watch and our broadcast, if you're listening, you know what, you can kind of imagine that in your mind right now, why these fights are so important.

That's right. It's hard to say this. It's good to be back. It was difficult to not be here while things were going on, not to say that it's not concerning and not to say that, obviously, not aware of security concerns. And we're taking them very seriously. But it is important to be here. It's important to communicate directly and personally. It shows support. They appreciate it.

They understand it. Having private meetings in person with officials here and with others, it makes a big difference. And so I will say this.

I am glad to be back here. I think it's important that we have our presence here and that we're seen to be here. And listen, the work that ACLJ is doing, it's on so many different fronts right now.

I'm really not aware of other organizations who are doing this. And I think that everything that's been worked on from the hostages to the security situation, to the diplomatic situation, to as we just talked about representing Jews and other pro-Israel Americans who are being savaged on university campuses and places of work, this is a global struggle right now. And yes, Israel is the epicenter of that violent struggle, but it is a global cultural struggle and so appreciative of everything ACLJ is doing.

Well, you're a big part of that, Jeff, and we thank you. But let me tell you what the next big move here is. Obviously, the hot we're working on the hostage situation.

We're already working on the ICC aspect. I've spoke today with the former President of Bulgaria. He's very pro-Israel. He works very closely with an organization of 100 former heads of state from countries, most of which were very supportive of the West and of Israel. And we're trying to organize this group as the potential group to go to the ICC and say, if you want to investigate war crimes, here are the war crimes you should be investigating.

And we were heads of state. And if we were having to face what Israel's facing, we would be doing the exact same kind of offensive actions militarily. So we're going to try to really do an offensive move against the ICC, not wait for them to come back. They've already report, you know, put in their special rapporteur who, by the way, trained in Ramallah. I mean, this is where he trained.

He trained in Ramallah. So you know exactly what you're getting when you're dealing with this. So we're prepared for that action. But then there's the other fundamental big question, Jeff, and that is what does Gaza and what does that, what does it look like and the Palestinian Authority look like after this war is over and Hamas is eliminated? Exactly.

And that's a very important question to ask. And a lot of that has to do with pressure, primarily that's going to come from the United States. And already this pressure talking about the Palestinian state, a two state solution, which is shocking. It's absolutely shocking that the result of having Israelis slaughtered, brutalized in ways that are beyond description, honestly, is to reward that.

That's not the way to behave here. The way to behave is to recognize that there is an undercult, an undergirding, rather, of cultural desire for genocide, the obliteration of Israel, both in Judea and Samaria and in Gaza. And that has to be dealt with directly and it cannot be excused and we cannot be going in that direction. So the pressure that that needs to be put on is in Washington as well to understand that Israel wants peace. Israel takes massive risks for peace.

Israel does everything. But there's a limit. I mean, there's a limit to the amount of slaughter and torture that any civilized human beings can endure. And so the next step has to be something different. There is discussion there. And that's another place where we can and must be playing a role, Jay.

Yeah. And, you know, it's interesting because unfortunately, this is really sad. I mean, a lot of the people that were slaughtered brutally by Hamas acting as the Nazis and ISIS combined, and that's what they were doing, were peace activists and peaceniks in these kibbutzes. And they were the ones slaughtered. And I've heard a lot of people on the left saying they're reconsidering their entire operating framework because of what happened here.

Jeff? You know, people don't even know this in America, Jay. People don't know this in Washington. The largest caucus in the Knesset, in Israel's parliament, and the parliament has 120 members. The largest caucus, which includes the entire coalition, I believe, and members of the opposition, is the Land of Israel Caucus. And it's a caucus that understands there's already been major consensus in this country that a two-state solution is not realistic anytime in the foreseeable future and something else has to happen.

Now, after what just took place, that consensus, as you say, has grown. Very, very few people think that it's realistic for there to be a Palestinian sovereignty when we see how that culture behaves. And so there does need to be something else. But a lot of the dynamic, Israel right now needs support in waging this war.

And so they don't want to rock that boat. And so the kind of subtle diplomacy that can be done here by people like us who have trust, both in Jerusalem and in Washington, becomes that much more important. There needs to be clear lines of communication. Jeff, I appreciate it. Thank you very much.

And I'm glad you're back and stay safe. We've got on our website, we've just produced for you a brand new video special. And that brand new video special has a documentary style format, or special at least, on the first phase of what we're calling the 240, that is the hostages. And it talks about what the ACL is doing.

It's a detail of our legal fight. And we just updated it with the release of the families that we are representing that were released two days ago. This is our gift to you on this Giving Tuesday.

So if you go to ACLJ.org, bring them home, you can watch the video and you scroll down in the article, there is a link and you can link and you download this booklet called Unmasking Hamas, The Genocidal Jihadist Holy War to Exterminate Israel by our director of policy, Harry Hutchinson. That is available for you today free and we wanted to launch it on Giving Tuesday. And as we said, Jordan, this is Giving Tuesday.

It is the biggest Giving Day of the year. We have a big target. Last year, we did $356,000.

I would love to do $375,000 this year. So it's Giving Tuesday, it's the biggest charitable Giving Day of the year. And it really could not come at a more important time for us, as we've said. We've been expanding our efforts. You just heard from Jeff Balaban in Israel, and we're expanding it globally because as Jeff mentioned, we're doing Washington and we're doing Washington, Strasburg, Brussels, Israel, New York. We're hitting it all over the world. We've never had to do it at that extent before.

We are. And at the same time, of course, we're engaged in vital legal issues here. Jordan mentioned the 14th Amendment filings, also defending pro-life centers and pro-life individuals.

That's right. And all the government affairs work, we're constantly engaged in with legislation moving too. A lot of we're going to be talking about tomorrow on the broadcast is we've joined a coalition to get that second round of aid to Israel, which has been held up because of political reasons and other things that have been connected to that aid, whether it's Ukraine aid or cuts to the IRS. And we're running the clock pretty low where Israel needs those resources. And we need to make sure they get the resources they need to keep the Iron Dome working, to keep Israelis safe, but also to keep Americans safe because we know we've got our men and women in harm's way in this region of the world right now. Our troops who are being fired at by Islamic terror groups support the work of the ACLJ in Israel, in Europe, in the United States, fighting for you on every one of these issues, whether it's the courtrooms or Congress, DonateTodayACLJ.org