Israel Strikes Iran As Iranian Leaders Threaten “Maximum Level” Response

Today on Sekulow, Israel hits Iran overnight.

Alright folks, you may have seen it last night. It could have been even early afternoon, depending on where you are in the United States or around the world, but Israel has responded with military action against Iran, and we confirm at least that there have been strikes inside the Islamic Republic of Iran. There have been other reports. Those have yet to be confirmed about strikes on Iranian targets, potentially inside Syria as well as Iraq, but we know that there have been strikes inside Iran, one very close to the maybe called infamous Natanz nuclear plant. Now this is a plant that you may have heard the name before because if you've heard the Iranian nuclear deal, the JCPOA, this has been the nuclear plant where there's been so much focus on whether even with the JCPOA, that Joint Plan of Cooperation was put in place between the United States and the P5 plus one, so the permanent five members of the Security Council plus Germany, and Iran about monitoring their nuclear program.

Well, there were always issues about Natanz, and why is that an issue? Well, Israel might have hit Natanz, the nuclear base. Iran is saying that there's no nuclear issues that they're dealing with right now, but they've had to make that statement to their citizens, which means this strike was very close to Natanz.

You've also got a huge military base there, an airfield, so it may have been a strike on Iran's airfield. We are continuing to get more information on today's broadcast. We're going to bring you reports from former Brigadier General Amir Avivi. He's going to be joining us in the first half hour of the broadcast. Jeff Balaban, who oversees our office, ACLJ Jerusalem is going to join us in this broadcast as well, and we've got our whole team in place to kind of walk you through what news has been confirmed, what is yet to be confirmed. We do know now from Secretary of State Tony Blinken, he has made remarks this morning already.

He said a few things. The U.S. got some notice before this attack occurred. It looks like this was all done by either drones or missiles or some projectiles. It does look like there were actually manned aircraft, but there certainly were, of course, military warheads and military aircraft, even if unmanned, flying over what would be other countries' airspace. So we still, again, would confirm in many of those countries the U.S. has got bases as well, and there's activity. So, again, a surprise attack because the U.S. was only given warning. That could have just been minutes before this attack occurred. It could have been a little bit longer, so the U.S. knew not to shoot down these, whatever Israel utilized to get the explosive devices there.

These unmanned drones are very popular now. That's what Iran used for smaller attacks and more targeted attacks, as well as ballistic missiles. You don't have to, this is a pretty close region of the world. That being said, the U.S. also has tried to make clear, and this is interesting, that it had no role in this with Iran, with Israel in this attack on Iran. Now, I would understand why the U.S. maybe publicly would want to make that statement.

So what we have to figure out is, and what we'll try to break down over really the next days and even when we talk to you next week, is how involved was the United States, and where will the United States be over the weekend and by Monday? Are they going to be condemning Israel? Because, folks, this is the time, this is the moment where we have got to stand with our ally, Israel. We're going to bring you all of the latest news about Israel's response to that Iranian attack. Israel has hit back and hit back aggressively.

What happens next in the Middle East? You got to stand with Israel. Stand with our office, ACLJ Jerusalem.

We'll get a report there. When we come back for this break, go to ACLJ.org right now. Be part of our Life and Liberty Drive. Double the impact of your donation.

That's at ACLJ.org. We stand with Israel. You stand with Israel.

Show that support today. We'll be right back on Sekulow. Hey, welcome back to Sekulow.

This is Jordan Sekulow. Folks, we are covering what is Israel's response to that unprecedented attack by Iran. And for the first time, there's been a kind of a cold war.

There's been actual assassinations. There have been certainly the use of proxies by Iran. Iran, in one sense, has been at war with Israel for decades. If you consider the fact that they're proxies like Hezbollah, they're proxies like, of course, Hamas and the October 7th attacks.

And it's been earlier than that as well. But what has become unprecedented is the attack that came out of Iran into Israel and then Israel's response. And that response came, remember the attack by Iran was primarily about, they were talking about a thousand drones, some ballistic missiles, and a lot of countries in the Middle East. You had Jordan, you had Egypt, the U.S., of course, in our interest there, the UAE, came together in taking down a lot of that aircraft, along with the defense systems that Israel has. But Israel wasn't just going to sit there and say, well, you could just shoot missiles and ballistic missiles and drones at us, and just because we shoot them down doesn't mean we're not going to fire back on you. So this is breaking new ground in the Middle East as Israel, for the first time, has confirmed that they have fired into Iran, targeting what appears to be, it's either an Iranian military base or their nuclear, a major nuclear facility which is right next to that military base as well.

I want to go to Jeff Balaban, who directs our office, ACLJ Jerusalem. Of course, Jeff, we're just starting to get details from this as it happened overnight in the Middle East. And people were, I think it was the evening here in the United States, about this response from Israel. But what we do know now from the United States is that Israel had to go it alone here. Maybe no one got their way.

No allies actually got physically in their way. But they did not, at least the U.S., you know, was coming out, they're not standing with Israel, they're not saying we support these actions. They're saying actually, you know, we had some knowledge of them right before, and that they hope the tensions will go down.

Yes, Jordan, the way this is proceeding is fascinating, and it's all very groundbreaking. So as you point out in terms of the geopolitics of this, the fact that Iran is now launched from its own territory into Israel's territory, and of course I'll note that of course Iran seemed to, nothing hit, but seemed to be launching against the population areas. Israel's response, and again, Israel hasn't even taken official credit for this, but the world is assuming it's Israel. Israel's response has been directed at very strategic tactical military targets, again, showing the difference between the two nations. One wants genocide and one is just trying to live and defend itself, and as it defends itself, defends the West.

That's the first part. The second, you know, on the ground in Jerusalem, or just in Israel, it's very interesting. The home front command is a very important component of daily life in Israel. Obviously since October 7th, it's become to the fore, and so there's billboards and ads constantly information about what home front command is telling Israelis to do. The home front command basically released guidance that Israel should take shelter, be careful, not long ago and basically created a situation where life seemed to be normal, again, within the context of post October 7th normal, and so all of this, people are saying, might have been strategically or tactically to not alert the other side, not only Iran, that an attack was so imminent that maybe if it's going to come later, even the home front told people to act as though it's normal.

So this has been a fascinating, very sub-rose, a very under the table operation that took the world by surprise. I want to play what Iran's Minister of Foreign Affairs, after Iran launched its unprecedented attack on Israel, Iran was quick to come out and say, by the way, this is what will happen if Israel responds. Now we'll actually see, can they put their money where their mouth is? They're big talkers in Iran. That first strike, again, it was very dangerous to do so, but it wasn't very effective on Israel. Of course, any loss of life is horrible, but you put up a thousand drones and ballistic missiles and they're all getting shot down, doesn't look great for your military, but we know Iran's got plenty more to shoot back.

The question is, will they? This is what they said they would do if Israel took an action against Iran inside Iran. That's what's key here. This isn't hitting Hezbollah in Lebanon. This is not hitting Hamas in Gaza. Take a listen to the Iranian foreign minister.

In case the Israeli regime embarks on adventurism again and takes action against the interests of Iran, the next response from us will be immediate and at a maximum level. So I want to go to Will Case, who with our team is a senior producer on The Secular Show. Will's in the studio also. This is another Will, you know, Will Haynes. This is Will Case, who's also on our team. So a lot of the people behind the scenes and Ali as well has been put together this show for us throughout the evening so we can get to you today with this latest news. Many of us are traveling.

As you can tell, my background's a little different today. Will, just to kind of explain to people, I know we're going to put a map up as well, of where these attacks were center, where they focus so far what we know and what's been confirmed inside Iran is, you know, near a nuclear facility that a lot of people have heard of called Natanz, which is also very close to a major Iranian military air base. Yeah, so the explosions were reported by Iran, actually, on the ground there near Isfahan, which is the central part of Iran.

And the way that it's being reported by them obviously is a little bit different than the media, the Western media, right? But it's there doesn't appear to be any injuries or casualties, which is very interesting in how this this whole thing is escalating, right? Because like you guys pointed out earlier, the unprecedented attacks last weekend on Saturday that Iran launched, you know, 300 plus up to maybe a thousand missiles or drones over Israel were over the populated areas. So this is a very targeted and very direct attack in Iran from Israel for the first time. And there are reports that are unconfirmed all over that were there were some in northern Iran and by the nuclear facilities which are kind of scattered.

I believe there's seven total areas. And so there were a lot of reports about up to seven different areas within Iran where the nuclear or military facilities are located. But right now we know that the only area that has been confirmed that has taken damage, if you will, is Isfahan there in central Iran, which is a key area of their military operations. Yeah, I mean, Jeff, listen, I didn't expect Israel to sit back. We saw right away from Benjamin Netanyahu.

He announced that one action that he needed to see from the world was sanctions. Now, the U.S. government is working through that now, to some extent in the House of Representatives and the votes this weekend, even on Israeli aid. I think this will change some of the discussions that they're happening in Washington, D.C. I mean, literally that we were having on the broadcast yesterday that the world has changed yet again.

How much do you think this changes the entire region? I mean, Iran has lost. It doesn't have a ton of friends in that region, though they have certainly been playing differently since kind of the end of the Trump administration and how the Abraham Accords have fallen apart.

I mean, to me, this is just another example of the disastrous foreign policy of the Biden administration. I mean, the Iran felt emboldened, Jeff, to strike Israel directly. And now Israel has had to respond directly.

This is how you get to another world war, at least. That's exactly right, Jordan. Look, Israel is extremely sensitive to Americans, to whoever sits in the White House. Israel knows that America has always been its strongest ally.

But this President and this administration is not as strong an ally as Obama was not as strong an ally. And the fact is, Obama first broke ground with creating daylight between Israel policy and America policy and, in fact, not advising Israel of what it was going to do in the region, which threatened Israel directly. And you see now the aftermath of Israel shooting down that ridiculous, I mean, massive, unprecedented launches from Iran into Israel's own territory was to take the win, as the President said. What does that mean, take the win? It's not a win for Israel to allow Iran or any country to launch a barrage of missiles into its airspace and try to wipe out its population.

That is not a win. Israel had no choice but to react. And as you point out, the vast difference, I mean, the night and day difference between what we're seeing now and what we saw under the previous administration, under President Trump, which led to massive breakout of peace, normalization, true friendships, I mean, actually warm peace between Israel and a number of Arab states that are also now, as a result, much stronger American allies, has all been destroyed by this notion of appeasement to Iran by this administration. And Israel knows it has to survive, so it's all striking back.

We're going to be joined in the next segment of the broadcast by General Amir Avivi, a former Brigadier General in the IDF, to break this down for us from the military angle. And again, I mean, we will now see how the world begins to respond. As I told you, the United States response from our Secretary of State has been so far. We got some warning of the attack. We did not assist in the attack or plan in the attack. Of course, they didn't try to stop it or shoot down any thing that was fired out of Israel, and neither did the other countries that those arrow objects.

Now, depending on what was fired, that may have been more difficult or nearly impossible with no notice. But we will, again, we're going to get more information here. And will Iran actually strike back? I mean, is this going to continue or escalate a conflict?

I will continue this discussion. But we know this. During our life and liberty drive, you know we stand with Israel. And again, there's over 100 hostages still being held by Hamas.

Never forget that. The IDF soldiers fighting in the Gaza Strip against terror. We need you to stay with Israel. Now, they've had to hit back on Iran, and the world is not standing with them. But we can.

Support the ACLJW impact ACLJ.org. Hey, folks, welcome back to Sekulow. As you can see, we are scattered across the country and world right now. And we are really grateful to be joined in just a moment by General Amir Avivi. He's a former retired Brigadier General in the IDF to talk through the strikes Israel made against Iran. The question now is, where do we go from here?

But I want to go to Jeff Balaban right now, so you don't have too many voices to listen to because we're scattered around the country. I'm traveling today because he is going to talk directly to Brigadier General retired Amir Avivi right now. General Avivi overnights news around the world that Israel has retaliated for Iran's strike against Israel. However, as far as I know, as of this morning in America and this afternoon in Israel, Israel has not officially taken responsibility for what happened.

Can you update us on what the situation is, what you know about it, what you can share about it? Well, Israel indeed didn't take responsibility. Israel basically had three options. One is not to retaliate at all and go along with the American policy that wants to deal with this diplomatically, imposing sanctions, maybe snapbacking from the JCPOA and concentrating on the next step, which is the Rafah. The option was using this window of opportunity to attack firstly the nuclear installations of Iran, but with the consequences of a full scale war in the north with Hezbollah and Iran.

And this is before we reach our goals in Gaza. And the third option was to do a pinpointed operation and maybe even without taking responsibility, enabling a reality where the Iranians can really disregard it and not continue the attacks and escalate the situation. And if indeed Israel did the attack, I think this is the option that was chosen. On one hand, the Iranian regime saw how accurately Israel can attack them deep in Iran, inflicting damage where Israel wants to and when it wants to. On the other hand, I think both sides at the moment don't want a full scale war between each other. And the Iranians understood that probably they did a big mistake attacking Israel and waking up the whole west, understanding how dangerous Iran is and moving forward with plans to implement sanctions. And Israel hasn't changed its overall strategy, which is being in the offensive in Gaza until we destroy Hamas. And destroying Hamas means going into Rafah. General, let me ask you a question. You represent, your organization represents that you founded the largest group of Israeli military commanders in any organization, I think, in the history of Israel other than the IDF itself. What's your sense in terms of the military versus what we're hearing diplomatically around the world in terms of what Israel must do?

It's the first part of the question. And second, there seems such a stark contrast between what we're seeing now, which is explosive war and cataclysm in the Middle East, attacks on Israel from Hamas, from all kinds of Iranian proxies from Iran itself now, and what we had just a few years ago, which seemed to be huge peace, normalization, stability. And what's the path forward here? What do we need to see both in terms of Israel and in terms of America's role, in your opinion?

Well, these two are completely connected. And the reason why moderate Sunni countries wanted to normalize relations with Israel is the Iranian threat. This is exactly why they needed an alliance with Israel and also enhancing the alliance with the U.S.

They understood that they are losing U.S. support. The U.S. is not dependent anymore on the Middle Eastern oil and therefore less obligated to be involved and defend the Sunni countries like Saudi Arabia and the Emirates. They saw it as an opportunity to do the connection, to connect the U.S.-Israel with them, to stand strong against Iran. And this now is even more crucial because now we're talking not just about Iran, we're talking about Russia that now is dependent on Iranian capabilities and has got much closer to Iran.

We're talking about China that has aspirations to enhance their involvement in the Middle East, and they are also supporting the Russian and Iranian economies and buying huge amounts of oil from Iran. So we see this Eastern front. The Iranians are talking about that.

They are saying the U.S. has lost the leadership in the world. New forces are emerging. The East is becoming stronger, and they're referring also to China and Russia, which they feel are allies of Iran.

And for that reason, we need both. We do need a coalition. We need to build an alliance that will spread all the way to Indonesia, Pakistan, Oman, and the Middle East to stand strong against Iran and also to try and draw more countries to this alliance, meaning Iraq, Lebanon, and many countries that might ally themselves more with the East than the West. One final question for you before you have to go, I know, which is the idea that we will negotiate with Iran, that we'll negotiate their nuclear, as opposed to standing strong and being a deterrent threat. It seems to be the different positions taken by Israel's allies, most notably the United States of America.

And that seems to have wrought that kind of a change, speaking from a role both as defending the people of Israel in the land of Israel, but also being on the front line of this global jihad. I mean, after all, Iran has repeatedly threatened death to America. Iran has been in pursuit of and received intercontinental ballistic missiles, which can reach America.

What should America's role be, in your opinion, in terms of defending both Israel, but also, more importantly for America, America itself? Iran has global aspirations. They want global domination. They want to control all the strains. They want to control world economy.

And the only way to deal with them is with strength. It's posing a credible military threat. It's demanding they dismantle all their nuclear capabilities and sites. If they don't do that, and they need to be attacked, there is no appeasement with Iran. Iran only understands harsh power. And this is what is expected from the U.S., to lead globally, to build a coalition, to stand strong against Iran. And this, by the way, will balance the world also globally. It will deter also China from attacking Taiwan, will deter Russia from further aggression in Europe. Without American leadership, the whole globe destabilizes. Thank you, General Avidi.

I don't know if we have any more time, but just a couple of seconds, if you can. America immediately calls for a Palestinian state after October 7th. In your opinion, does that make the situation better or worse?

Is that realistic now or any time in the foreseeable future? Talking about a Palestinian state when 1,200 Israelis were butchered, where we have hostages, where we suffered the worst attack since the Holocaust is giving a price to terror. The Palestinians shouldn't get any price for attacking Israelis, for decapitating heads, for hostages, for burning people alive. And it's not just talking about two-state solution.

It's also what kind of two-state solution, what the U.S. administration is trying to push will basically endanger Israel existentially and we're not going to have a reality where Israel is endangered existentially again. General Avidi, thank you so much for joining us and giving us this very important update. God bless you and keep you safe. Thank you. All right, folks, you may have seen it last night.

It could have been even early afternoon, depending on where you are in the United States or around the world. But Israel has responded with military action against Iran. And we confirm at least that there have been strikes inside the Islamic Republic of Iran.

There have been other reports. Those have yet to be confirmed about strikes on Iranian targets, potentially inside Syria as well as Iraq. But we know that there have been strikes inside Iran, one very close to the the the maybe called infamous Natanz nuclear plant. Now, this is a plant that you may have heard the name before, because if you've heard the Iranian nuclear deal, the JCPOA, this has been the nuclear plant where there's been so much focus on whether even with the JCPOA, that Joint Plan of Cooperation was put in place between the United States and the other P5 plus one. So the permanent five members of the Security Council plus Germany and Iran about monitoring their nuclear program. Well, there are always issues about Natanz.

And why is that an issue? Well, Israel might have hit Natanz, the nuclear base. Iran is saying that there's no nuclear issues that they're dealing with right now, but they've had to make that statement to their citizens, which means this strike was very close to Natanz. You've also got a huge military base there, an airfield.

So it may have been a strike on Iran's airfield. We are continuing to get more information on today's broadcast. We're going to bring you reports from former Brigadier General Amir Avivi. He's going to be joining us in the first half hour of the broadcast. Jeff Balaban, who oversees our office.

ACLJ Jerusalem is going to join us in this broadcast as well. And we've got our whole team in place to kind of walk you through what news has been confirmed, what is yet to be confirmed. We do know now from Secretary of State Tony Blinken, he has made remarks this morning already.

He said a few things. The U.S. got some notice before this attack occurred. It looks like this was all done by either drones or missiles or some projectiles. It does look like there were actually manned aircraft. But there certainly were, of course, military warheads and military aircraft, even if unmanned, flying over what would be other countries' airspace.

And so we're still, again, would confirm in many of those countries the U.S. has got bases as well and there's activity. So, again, a surprise attack because the U.S. was only given warning. And that could have just been minutes before this attack occurred.

It could have been a little bit longer. So the U.S. knew not to shoot down these, whatever Israel utilized to get the explosive devices there. You know, these unmanned drones are very popular now. That's what Iran used for smaller attacks and more targeted attacks, as well as ballistic missiles. You don't have to, you know, this is a pretty close region of the world. That being said, the U.S. also has tried to make clear, and this is interesting, that it had no role with Israel in this attack on Iran. Now, I would understand why the U.S. maybe publicly would want to make that statement. So what we have to figure out is, and what we'll try to break down over really the next days and even when we talk to you next week, is how involved was the United States and where will the United States be over the weekend and by Monday? Remember this week, we've talked to Chris Mitchell from CBN News, as well as the former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations and member of the Knesset, Danny Danone.

You will see that coming up in the next, this next half hour of the broadcast. Please stand with Israel. Support the work of the ACLJ. It's how we have that office in Jerusalem, and it's so key that it's the American Center for Law and Justice, Jerusalem. Support it today by making a financial contribution. Double your impact with our Life and Liberty Drive. I can't think of a better day to do it, to send the signal that you stand with Israel. Make that donation at ACLJ.org as the show continues on.

Welcome back to Secula. We are joined by a great friend of ours at the ACLJ, of course, great Jerusalem, and that is Chris Mitchell from CBN News, who is their senior Middle East correspondent. Chris, you spend your time in Israel and the surrounding area. I want to ask you first a more of a personal question about being there during this unprecedented attack, you know, on October 7th and then this unprecedented attack over the weekend by Iran, shooting both ballistic missiles and drones from Iranian territory into Israel. What that was like for you, for your family, and for your friends.

Well, it was kind of a surreal experience, Jordan. I was having to be up in the Galilee. I was planning a day videotaping in the Galilee on Sunday. About 1130 at night, everyone was getting the news that Iran had launched drones and ballistic missiles and cruise missiles.

So I left the Galilee and I drove down to here in Jerusalem. We had a live stream on CBN News that night and it was a surreal experience because you felt, because the drones took several hours to get here, everybody was anticipating where they would hit, how they would hit. We felt like it was going to be perhaps a massive, you know, destruction or death here in Israel.

And so that was a bit surreal. In fact, I got onto the live stream, Jordan, and the host asked me, well, where are these drones coming? And literally moments later, we got the, we heard the explosion here in Jerusalem. They were shot, this stunning video.

I'm sure you've seen it over the Temple Mount. Many of these, it looked like fireworks. They were all shot down, thankfully, and we heard the explosion and then the arid siren. I would say that it's a lot different now in a sense because we're anticipating Israel's response and then Iran's counter response with the possibility that this is going to get much, much bigger. Yeah, I mean, that's kind of one of our themes and one thing that we are kind of perturbed with the world and specifically our government here in the United States is to, you know, that basically said, well, Israel, since we were able to shoot these, you were able to shoot these down and other partners were able to, you know, keep people relatively safe with minimal deaths caused by Iran, that you really, really shouldn't respond with any kind of military action inside Iran. And, you know, you think about, Chris, this happening to any other country in the world, even if you, you know, the U.S., you can use an example, but any other country in the world. If they came under that massive attack and their defenses and their allies' defenses, yes, were that good, they still, I don't think, would just respond with, hey, let's put some sanctions. Now, I know Israel's in a different spot.

They're not one of the biggest countries in the world. So we'll leave it to Israeli leaders to decide what's best for Israel. But the idea, the immediate world reaction is don't hit back.

Exactly. And, you know, I think President Biden put it this way, you know, you've got to win, take a win. And, you know, so many nations urging restraint, but as to your point, part of the nation would allow 350 drones, missiles, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles to be fired at them. And even though it was a great success, you have to fight back.

Jonathan Kinrikas, we've had him on our show as well. He made the point, you know, the rules of engagement here in the Middle East, if you get hit, especially from your own, somebody's else's territory, you've got to hit back. So Israel has to have a response and it has to be likely on Iranian territory. When's that going to happen? It remains to be seen.

I'll tell you one possible scenario. And actually, I just got off the phone with Jonathan Kinrikas. He thinks maybe Israel is going to take a bit of time to allow this coalition to build with the Arab nations and the United States, almost let Iran stew for a bit, you know, whenever Israel is going to respond. And maybe it's after Passover.

Passover starts next Monday night for about a week celebrating the Israelites' deliverance from Egypt. And I would add this, Jordan, a lot of people believe it was miraculous what happened the other night, that 99% of these 350 drones and missiles were shot down. You know, even I was talking the other night or listening the other night to one of the men who actually developed the Iron Dome anti-missile system. He thought it would be successful.

He had no idea it would be this successful. No, I mean, it's amazing when you read the stories about how much was being launched in Israel, then you read the next day about how defensively, not just Israel, the United States, other countries like Jordan, Egypt, even Turkey, passing along information to try and limit the casualties, understanding that Israeli response to Iran could be very dangerous for Iran. But I think you said it best is that if we can get to that point again, Chris, where we can start putting together that coalition that existed maybe four and a half years ago with the Gulf states and Israel to say, you know what, combined together, we can take Iran on and we can scare Iran into stop trying to take these aggressive steps, whether they're groups that they're affiliated with or shooting missiles into Saudi Arabia or the Houthis or Hezbollah or Hamas, is that together we can really isolate Iran with that plus sanctions. And I think that idea of keeping Iran on its toes, not knowing how Israel may respond, is probably the best strategy. But I would imagine, again, any other country that faced this, Chris, I just can't imagine the world coming out and saying, please don't do anything. Yeah.

And, you know, you can go back even before October 7th, Jordan. Yeah. I mean, back to the US, Chris, if it happened to the US, Chris, we would flatten the country that did this to us.

Yeah. And if you count all the rockets from, say, 2007, when Hamas took over Gaza, you're talking about 14,000 rockets. One other nation in the world would have accepted that.

And it really became a bit of a lifestyle. People accepted the fact that rockets would eventually come. But one other nation would actually accept that. And to your point about the coalition, I mean, Jordan, the UAE and Saudi Arabia and Jordan, you know, all sort of stepped out of the shadows. They say this was a 45-year shadow war with Iran and Iran stepped out of it and into the light to a direct war with Israel. But I think also you had Saudi Arabia saying that they apparently passed on intelligence.

The UAE and Jordan itself shot down some of these drones flying over their airspace. And so this coalition could be, you know, one of the brighter lights, the civil linings, to stand against Iran's ambitions to literally take over the region. We have seen the world, Chris, try to create some political division within Israel.

We've seen our own President, our own majority leader, Chuck Schumer, going after Netanyahu, going after various members of his government. Inside Israel, is this a uniting moment? I mean, it's been a lot for the Israeli people to take on. I mean, from October 7th and still dealing with that and the conflict in Gaza and IDF troops are being killed there each day fighting back against Hamas, to this unprecedented attack by Iran.

This is something we have not seen. Iran crossed this kind of red line. I mean, it's a lot for Israelis to, again, to kind of just accept as a country that is pretty good about life goes on. This has been a very tough stretch over the last six months. Very, very tough stretch.

I've heard somebody say Israel really needs a hot bath and a good night's sleep. But more than that, you know, you could almost call it, I think we're at 190 days. They almost feel like time has stopped on October 7th. You know, the Israel of October 6th is not the same as October 7th. You know, October 6th and before that, it was very divisive with this whole idea of judicial reform.

October 7th was a uniting aspect to this country like never before, I think, the unity. And unfortunately, there have been attempts to sow discord like Senator Chuck Schumer and women reporting and others have reported on trying to undermine the Netanyahu government. But I just saw a poll yesterday or the day before that really Netanyahu leads in the polls right now. And I think Israelis, first of all, don't want any foreign power, even the greatest ally, the United States, to interfere with their own politics. And I think they agree with the goals of the war and that Netanyahu is despising to, uh, uh, revising that they want to eliminate Hamas. They want to destroy Hamas and eventually, and then the next thing is going to go to Hezbollah.

And as we know, maybe in a day, two days, two weeks to go around itself. Chris, we appreciate you joining us live from Jerusalem. Chris Mitchell, senior correspondent with CBN News in the Middle East. And we appreciate all of your insight, Chris. I also love, we've got a brand new petition up at aclj.org.

We were writing this yesterday. I was out sick yesterday, but I said, you know, one thing I want to do is make sure we've got a brand new petition up about letting Israel decide how to defend itself. When you have a Biden, I don't want to hear from Schumer. I don't want to hear from the UN. I want to let the Israelis decide if they want to move to the path of sanctions. If they want to wait a little while and build a coalition, let them do it. Stop putting this world pressure on them after these unprecedented attacks of October 7th and now over the weekend by Iran. And this petition says, let our ally decide how to respond to Iran. And that's what you're signing on to. That's right. You can do that aclj.org.

When you hear people like President Biden telling Benjamin Netanyahu, take the win, your defenses worked. That's not how it works. You part of that right now, aclj.org to sign that petition. You'll see it right now live.

You'll see on the right hand side of your screen. If you go there, do it right now. We just launched it. It's only 50 people have signed it so far, but the goal is 50,000. So go do that.

It costs you nothing. Go to aclj.org and support the work. Also, Jordan, just quickly for those tuning in and we get back from the break, we are going to be joined by Danny Danone, but I do want to give them just give me five seconds on what happened in the Trump situation. So the Trump situation we're on day two, and of course this is that the Supreme Court is hearing the January 6th, one of the charges with the obstruction of official proceeding.

If the Supreme Court says that has to go from this other defendant, two of the four charges, Jack Smith brings against Trump fall. We'll take home and talk about that a little bit later. All right, welcome back to Sekio. It is great to be joined by a great friend of ours, former UN ambassador to the UN of Israel, Danny Danone, who was also a member of the Knesset now and Israel ambassador. First, let me ask you because something that's got me upset as an American is seeing so many world leaders, whether it's at the UN or even the US President, basically trying to tell Israel how it should respond to this unprecedented attack by Iran. And I just want you to know that our team at the ACLJ and our supporters at the ACLJ are coming together to make it clear that we believe that Israel should be able to respond the way that you choose, the way that you believe is best to respond to this unprecedented Iranian aggression.

Well, I agree with you completely. You know, we appreciate the support that we received from different countries. But let me ask you that, do you really think that if the attack was on London, for example, Prime Minister Sunak would have said the same, you know, show restraint or President Macron if France was under attack from Iran.

So I think we should be polite, tell them that we respect their opinion. But at the end of the day, we have to do what's important for our security. And that's why I don't see any other option only to retaliate to this aggressive, unprecedented attack.

And I believe it will happen. I don't think we have any choice. Yeah, I mean, it does seem like without a response, this is what concerns me, Ambassador Danone, I know you're an MK as well, member of the Knesset, is that if this becomes the new norm for Iran, well, they can fire as many drones as they want. But if they tell enough other countries and enough of them get shot down, it doesn't cause enough, doesn't cause as many casualties or deaths that this is OK, that this becomes something normal that Israel has to put up with from Iran. That is not a way to live as a country. A country can't live that way.

You can't flourish that way. You can't, I mean, especially after what happened on October 7th. Now that's what's happened over this weekend with Iran. You've got to push back in a way that shows, no, we are not going to accept this kind of action towards the Jewish state of Israel. And we are going to respond in a way that that prevents those countries to make them think twice that this becomes like an international norm.

That's what I'm concerned about. Like somehow, like President Biden said, taking this is a win. It's great that your defenses worked and you were able to work with other countries whose defenses worked.

I think that's wonderful. But that doesn't always happen 100 percent. It did this time and that's wonderful. But this cannot become the norm with Iran and Israel, where Iran gets to fire off whatever they want at Israel, including ballistic missiles, and Israel can't respond. It's not a win. It's a win for Tehran. But it's not a win for Israel. It's not a win for Western democracies because the Iranians wanted to create a new equation that they actually decide when to start and when to end the conflict. And next time, you know, who knows what will be their excuse to target Israel again.

That's why I think we shouldn't accept the idea of calling it a day and move on. We're going to retaliate. We don't want to start a full war with Iran.

But we will have to send them a very clear and painful message. Don't mess with us. Don't mess with Israel. Don't mess with the IDF. And if you think that we are weak because we are busy now fighting Hamas and Hezbollah, you are mistaken.

The same way we showed our defense capabilities, we will be able to demonstrate also our offensive capabilities. It feels at some sense, Ambassador Danone, that Iran must – it's like they knew the world was going to take their side. I mean, it's kind of sick that you would think a country taking this aggressive action so recklessly, but that they somehow didn't fear the reaction because they knew the world. You know, they take a look at the U.A. They take a look at some of the other countries and they say, you know what, none of them are really going to support Israel hitting back at us. So, ultimately, Israel will look like the bad guy in this situation. And I think that's what our job is here, like the American Center for Law and Justice, is to be clear to Americans and our supporters who support Israel that you as a country, an independent country, a sovereign nation, have every right to respond to Iran however you feel is necessary. And that's it.

That should be where the discussion stops. You've got leaders. You've got your military.

You've got your capabilities. And I would hope the United States would be there standing with you. But regardless, it should be up to the Israeli government and military on how to respond, not up to world organizations. Moreover, if you look at history, you can see that whenever we took the decisions ourselves without the U.S., at the long run, it was the right decision. Take, for example, the decision to attack the nuclear reactor in Iraq.

President Reagan was not happy about it. But when the U.S. invaded Iraq, you know, the U.S. admitted that it was, you know, a very good decision for the U.S. Same when we attacked the reactor in Syria, the U.S. were not happy about it. So I think we should look at what's good for Israel. For the long run, it will also serve the U.S., because when Israel is strong, the U.S. is strong. And that's why I think the U.S. should give us the support and tell all the countries in the world what they need more clarity. And if you have a sovereign state attacking another sovereign state, we can defend ourselves, and we should do that. And Ambassador Jordan, I think you've done an incredible job of taking Americans around, showing the aftermath of October 7th.

And I think you've got a new job now, which is, as Americans come and news agencies come, to see what was done here to prevent massive casualty as well. But if you had that one message to the American people, and you're talking to the American people who support Israel, what would you ask them to do today? First, I would ask them to continue to pray and support us, to convince the elected representatives to stand with Israel, and to realize that those drones can get to the U.S. You know, today they have the capability to come to our shores and our cities, but it's only a matter of time until they will have the capabilities to reach the U.S.

Same goes for the ballistic missions. So it happens to be that we are in the front line against Iran, but we have no conflict with Iran, we have no border with Iran. It's pure hate, the same hate they have against us, they have against the American values, and that's why we encourage everybody to stand up and stand with Israel. Ambassador Danone, who's also an MK, a member of the Knesset, we appreciate you so much joining us live from Israel with that update. We hope you'll join us more in the future as Israel decides how to respond to this unprecedented Iranian attack.

I know the ACLJ and ACLJ Jerusalem stands with the people of Israel and the government of Israel. Thank you for joining us today. Thank you very much.

Thank you. We're wrapping up. We're halfway through our life and liberty drive, and we really want you to be a part of it these final two weeks.

Folks, let me just tell you this. You know the work that we do at the ACLJ. We've got ACLJ Jerusalem. The reason we've had that office for over a decade is because of your financial support of the American Center for Law and Justice.

We believe the United States' relationship with Israel is so important in the war on terror to keeping not only Israel, our allies, safe and secure, but to keeping America secure from Islamic terrorism. We need you more than ever to be part of the life and liberty drive. You can double the impact your donation.

It's like a matching challenge. So whenever you donate today, our donors will match that donation at ACLJ.org. And if you are ready to make a monthly recurring donation to the ACLJ, whether that's $50 or $25, do it. Become an ACLJ champion. Be at the tip of the spear at standing for Israel and the United States. Do it at ACLJ.org and sign up today. We'll talk to you next week on Secular.