An Orthodox Jewish Leader in Israel Calls for the Release of the Hostages

The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network. My guest, an Orthodox Jew living in Israel, is making a plea for the freeing of the hostages. It's time for The Line of Fire with your host, biblical scholar and cultural commentator, Dr. Michael Brown. Your voice for moral sanity and spiritual clarity.

Call 866-34-TRUTH to get on The Line of Fire. And now, here's your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Friends, once again, we are here for such a time as this.

Once again, we are here at a critical time in world history, a critical time in the history of the Jewish people, a critical time for all those in the Middle East and the world right now. Call a friend, tell them to tune in. If you're listening after the show by podcast, share it with a friend. If you're watching on YouTube, Facebook, click thumbs up, click like, and share with others urgent matters that we need to discuss today. Life and death matters.

They concern all of us. My guest, Jonathan Feldstein, is in Israel. He's become a real good friend in recent years. I love his spirit, his attitude. He is an Orthodox Jew. Me as a Messianic Jew. With so many things that could separate us, we come together very deeply over the things that unite us.

And he works to build a bridge between Jews and Christians and is engaged in yet another urgent matter right now. So much to talk about. Jonathan, thanks so much for joining us today from Israel. Well, it's always a delight.

It's good to hear your voice, and yes, I'm blessed by our friendship. So, Jonathan, before we talk about this initiative to free the hostages, just tell me how this, the tragic events of the last five plus weeks have affected you and your family directly. It's probably very few Israelis, if any of us, are not affected directly. We have a son who's been called up. He's a reserve combat soldier. We have my son-in-law who was called up. He's also a reserve combat soldier.

My daughter's boyfriend is in reserve in an intelligence unit. It's shaken the pace of life with my daughter home alone most of the time with her three kids, five and under. And that creates trauma for anyone who has children or ever had children or knows people who have children. Little kids understand that things are going on, and my grandchildren are impacted profoundly. They don't know why, but they are. We're filled with fear. We're filled with grief from what's been happening. Again, every day we wake up in the morning and turn on the news to hear about the next one to five soldiers who have been killed. Today, the body of one of the hostages was found as if she was just littered in Gaza.

This is grief. It's scary, and yet I will say this. There's something, and you know this, and many of your listeners know, we've been through a year of a lot of divisiveness here in Israel, probably as divisive as things have ever been. And now I think we are at a point that we're seeing unity like perhaps never before in the country. And I will just add this, because you know what I do building bridges between Jews and Christians. I think we are at a historic point in terms of the support among Christians for Israel and the Jewish people. And I don't mean that just in the modern 75 years of the state of Israel. I believe in history. I think we've never ever seen something like this, and just finished posting on some of my social media a 10-minute conversation with a pastor from Texas who had a lovely message for Israel and the Jewish people.

That's inspiring, and is an important solace at this time of tremendous challenges. What about as you see world news of massive pro-Palestinian, even pro-Hamas protests, massive crowds in England, but around the world you see these protests and some of the horrible chants and things like that. How is that affecting the psyche of the people in Israel?

It's a very good question. It's not pro-Palestinian, it's pro-Hamas, it's anti-Jewish, it's pro-genocide. You have calls to gas the Jews in a protest because of what's happening in Gaza, that's obscene.

Even if it's the worst crime in Gaza, which it's not, it's still obscene. We understand what our Jewish brothers and sisters in the diaspora are going through because we live it on a daily basis, and we don't relish that. No one wants to see Jews suffering anywhere, but we relate to it, and I think that's also evidenced by the rally that took place in Washington this week. We're seeing Jews coming together all over the world on an unprecedented basis, regardless of their background. I don't know if there's an answer to any of it, that's a deeper conversation, more than for half an hour on radio, but we're at a fascinating precipice.

I'd like to be alive 100 and 200 years from now to read the history books about it. One other question before we focus in on your initiative regarding the hostages. There are many Israelis that have done their best to have a peaceful relation with Palestinian neighbors.

You've expressed compassionate terms as far as your heart for that in the past. I was reading a very moving article about some of the folks who lived in Sderot that really did not like the current government. One of the things that they would do is on a regular basis they would go over to the Gazan border in the past and they would bring over sick people that needed treatment, those with cancer and things like that.

They would have them work on their farms and felt, hey, we're doing our best to have good relations, and then they were some of the ones slaughtered and were shocked to see that they just want to murder Jews. So has there been a kind of a shattering of a certain idealism? Obviously you still want everyone in the region to live in peace, but has there been a shattering of some idealism because of what's happened? A huge shattering of idealism. I'm definitely right of center politically, but I was a believer in coexistence and especially because I live in Judea and our neighbors, our Palestinian Arab neighbors are closer to my house where I'm speaking to you from than the border with Sderot or any of the other communities that were impeached by terrorists from Gaza on October 7th.

It's called into question all kinds of trust. You and I have written articles together, I write a lot of my own, Town Hall and others have been publishing. Almost every other day I've got something out, but one of the most profound was an article I wrote called Mohammed You're Fired, where I listed the names of a dozen different Palestinian Arabs who have come and worked in my home.

And I always felt great about that. I always felt great about giving them a decent day's salary for a decent day's work and feeling that how nice that we as Israeli Jews can contribute to their economy because their society and the Palestinian Authority hasn't invested in that. And that may not bring peace, but it certainly underscores the opportunity for coexistence. And I'll tell you, my wife has said no way ever will we have an Arab worker in our home again because you don't know who we can trust. You don't know that they're going to be the ones who are going to map out your house.

My kids want me to get a gun. Where we live on the seventh floor, we've locked the apartment like we've never locked down the apartment before because from my balcony, I can see the mosque with my naked eye. And it doesn't take much imagination anymore to think that a thousand of them could walk across and be in our apartment building in no time.

And then 150 yards behind our building is an elementary school and the unthinkable that could happen there. Yeah, and the unthinkable has become thinkable. That's so tragic. And friends, this is painful.

That's why I'm bringing these things up. It's a very, very painful time. All right, I want to play a clip for you. Everyone listening, this is from the mother of one of the hostages, doesn't know if her son is dead or alive.

It's an extended clip. I wish I could show the video now, but we're audio only today, but the narrative is compelling. So I want us to listen to this and then Jonathan, when we come back, we'll begin to open up what you're doing and how people can get involved.

Let's listen to this together. My name is Rachel and I am the mother of Hirsch Goldberg Poland. The last time I saw Hirsch was on Friday night, October 6th at 11 PM. Hirsch headed out to meet one of his childhood friends and they were going to go to an all night nature music festival in the South of Israel.

Ironically called the festival of unity and love. The next morning a bomb siren started to Blair in Jerusalem. Immediately two texts popped up on my screen. The first text said, I love you.

And the second said, I'm sorry. I immediately knew something horrible was unfolding in my world. When that massacre began Hirsch and 27 others managed to escape to a roadside bomb shelter and hid inside. Hamas militants came to the doorway and began throwing in hand grenades. Most of those young people were now dead. Some were alive and wounded and trapped under the dead bodies. We know that Hirsch and two other young men were ordered to stand and when Hirsch stood up, they all saw that his left arm had been blown off from the elbow. They were loaded onto a Hamas pickup truck and headed toward Gaza. Hirsch's last cell phone signal was found inside of Gaza at 10 25 in the morning on October 7th.

And since then we know nothing. We have begged the Red Cross and all other international humanitarian aid organizations to find out if the hostages who are from 33 different countries around the world who were severely wounded like Hirsch, were they treated, the grandmothers, the babies, but our pleas came to no avail. So here I live in a different universe than all of you. We seem like we live in the same place, but I like all of the mothers and all of the fathers and wives and husbands and children and brothers and sisters and loved ones of the stolen. We all actually live on a different planet. This planet of beyond pain, our planet of no sleep, our planet of despair, our planet of tears. We, the families of the 200 hostages are far away on our own planet of agony. But where are you?

Where is the world? Why is no one crying out for these people to be allowed access to the Red Cross? Why is no one demanding just proof of life? I implore world leaders who have been working tirelessly to get all the hostages free. I beseech you to remain steadfast, determined and tenacious and may God be with you because the time is running out to save them. The time is running out to save all of us. My name is Rachel. Friends, we come back. My guest Jonathan Feldstein will let you know what you can do to join in to help bring a solution to this absolute horrific situation which we find ourselves today. Stay right here. And of course, one thing everyone can always pray, God intervene.

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Thanks to our co-sponsor TriVita I enthusiastically use and support their products and remember 100% of your first order goes to support the Line of Fire. Back to Israel with my guest Jonathan Feldstein. Obviously hard for you to hear that even though you live in the midst of this.

What are you doing? What can we do to join together with you to make a louder call for the freeing of the hostages? What was so poignant and relevant to your question now is what Rachel just said about the world bodies not even demanding from Hamas and getting visitation understanding what's the status of the hostages? Who's dead?

Who's alive? That's the job of the Red Cross. That's the job of the United Nations and other world bodies. And instead of doing what they're supposed to do, they're criticizing Israel in the most unspeakable ways. So because we, as you know, we bring Jews and Christians together to support Israel and find commonalities that you and I do on a personal level, but we do it on a we're doing it on a global level. And we initiated in an informal way just a week ago, this petition calling upon calling upon the United Nations, the Red Cross, all the members of the G7 and every country and the 27 of them that have hostages in Israel in Gaza, not just Israel, but there are 27 nations that have people who are who are hostage in Gaza. And we're calling on them to stop pressuring Israel to let Israel do what's necessary to bring the hostages home and and to to do that unequivocally without calling for a ceasefire until all the hostages are released.

And you'll relate to this on all the levels that I'm sure many of your listeners will as well. 1976, when the terrorists hijacked the Air France flight from Athens and ended up in Entebbe, they ended up separating out the Jews and the non Jews. And the non Jews were all let go. And then the Jews were left there.

And this we're looking at that again, but we're looking at it in a much worse situation. Because it's I know this as sure as I'm speaking to you today, as soon as all the non Israelis and non Jews are let go, the world will stop caring about any of the hostages. So the nature of the petition, which can be found at Genesis 123.co is that we need everybody to sign I want hundreds of 1000s, millions of people. And I'm so thrilled to tell you, we've got people from already over 70 nations who have signed it. It's really taking off, but we need it to be huge. So when we go and deliver to the offices of the Red Cross and the United Nations, and every American embassy and the White House, and the State Department and all of the corresponding offices of all of the rest of the countries that say and it's going to be a we're going to kill a lot of trees in order to print all these names on pieces of paper. But we need to do that dramatically because we need to we need to firm up Israel's back to stand against the growing pressure. So here's the website, Genesis 123.co. It's Genesis 123.co. I'm looking right at it.

And right on the homepage is friendly rise, scroll down the slightest bit, you'll see free all the hostages now. And you know, Jonathan, it's so remarkable. It's almost like you're in, say, a boxing match, right? And you're told to you have to wear these gloves. You can't hit the back of the head.

No low blows, right? And the person with you there, they have guns, they have knives, and no one's telling them, wait, wait, you're not allowed to do this. So everything about Hamas from beginning to end, everything they did from beginning to end is not just a war crime. It's an atrocity. It goes beyond a war crime. It's not even a war.

Everything. And the taking of hostages is on top of it. And all you hear is Israel's committing a war crime by bombing civilians. It is mind boggling. But the double standards, we've known they're there.

And they come to the surface again at a time like this. Genesis 123.co, sign the petition, free all the hostages. But friends, share with your friends. This is something everybody can get behind. Every person of conscience from every background should be able to get behind this and sign this. This is something that we should universally say the hostages must be freed.

There is no possible justification for keeping them regardless of where you stand in peace process and so on and so forth. One last thing before you go, and I appreciate you standing up late in Israel to talk to our listeners. Just speak to the many, many Christians who are listening now, who have been listening later on the podcast, who watch online in the days ahead. Speak to our Christian listeners about what their love and support means to you and the people of Israel at a time like this. Well, it means so much. I write a lot. I don't know that I have the proper words even to express how much it does mean.

But I'll say this, I think we're at a historic, historic precipice. And because I do this at least 24-6, but arguably 24-7, because I'm always thinking of building bridges between Jews and Christians, I'm overwhelmed by it, even with being engaged in it as much as I am. But you know this about me, I take the responsibility not just to do the job, but also to make sure other Jews here in Israel and around the world know that this love, this support is coming and it's so strong. You know all the reasons why Jews have baggage vis-a-vis Christians and the church, and you've written about it. An amazing, amazing book that I spent one Shabbat reading this summer. From start to finish, our hands are stained with blood, right?

Unbelievable book. There's a lot of baggage and a lot of really negative history that we still have, but we can change that. This is the change. This is that opportunity. And for me personally, and when I post today as I did on my social media, a 10-minute video from Pastor Joey White from Texas, sharing his heart for Israel and the Jewish people, it changes things. So I want to thank everybody who's listening at any point. I want to thank them for their prayers. I want to thank them for their support. I want to thank them for their encouragement. It means a lot. It means the world. Yeah, and I know you speak for so many others, and thank you for your spirit and being who you are in the midst of it. It's been very endearing to me personally, and we can clearly have our differences too. That's what a real friendship and camaraderie is. There is something I can't talk about quite yet because it's a good, positive thing that'll be happening next year, but there's a project I got to participate in that Jonathan spearheaded that's going to really bless a bunch of you, but we're going to talk about it when we physically got our hands on it, but I can't wait to share some.

It's almost the who shot JR moment, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. So this is going to be really exciting. We partner together, but right now we stand with you in the pain and the struggle knowing that God can bring beauty out of ashes and life out of death, and that's our prayer that he do it. Hey, stay safe and blessings to your whole family. Thank you. You too, my friend. All right. So I wanted you to hear that, and I hope once again you are moved. I'll say it.

I can never say this too much. In God's sight, Palestinian blood is just as sacred as Israeli blood. In God's sight, the death of a Palestinian Muslim baby is just as sacred as the death of an Israeli Jewish baby. We care about human beings. We care about human beings and their suffering. We also recognize there are rights and there are wrongs. We also recognize that there is terrorism and there is just war. We also recognize that one side really has wanted peace by and large and another has not. So where Israel fails, we speak to it.

Israel needs the Lord. We keep going for that. We keep preaching that.

That never changes. But please, let's stand together at a time and moment like this. My Christian friends, recognize that your standing with Israel does a lot to remove the stains of the past, as you just heard from Jonathan, the stains of anti-Semitism that comes up in Jesus' name. Okay, listen, I will be able to take some calls if you want to talk to me about a Jewish-related subject, if you have a question about my position on Israel, if you feel there are errors in my theology relating to Israel, or you just have a general question, as long as it's Jewish-related, I'll take calls.

866-34-TRUTH, 866-34-8, 7884. So phone lines are open for your Jewish-related calls when we come back. And yeah, I'm going to talk a little bit about the controversy between Ben Shapiro and Candace Owens, not as a gossip columnist, but trying to bring some insight into it. We'll be right back.

Hey friends, Dr. Michael Brown here. Do you remember when people thought I was crazy when I said it's not too late for America, that God can still do something in our country, that there is going to be a pushback, a gospel-based moral and cultural revolution? And do you remember when people thought that you were crazy because you felt the same way, because you believed what I was saying and already felt it in your heart? Well friends, that pushback is here. The gospel-based moral and cultural revolution we've been talking about for 25 years is unfolding, and we are right in the thick of it, and the line-of-fire broadcast is divinely positioned for such a time as this. Friends, you would be so gratified and blessed as I hear, if you could hear what I hear, testimony after testimony as leaders, young people, old people, moms, dads, students, people from all backgrounds come up to me and say, Dr. Brown, you're providing a template for us. You're providing a blueprint for us. You're showing us how to do this, how to have hearts of compassion, backbones of steel.

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Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Friends, it is absolutely essential that we raise our voice today against the rising tide of Jew hatred and the rising demonization of Israel. These things have been here, but they are in the increase now.

In fact, I did an interview earlier today on another national radio show and said we can't just take America's support for Israel for granted. It's shocking to see what's happening, shocking even though many of us knew these things were there and under the surface. So I want to urge you right now, we're on the front lines, friends. Like it or not, that's the reality. All of us are in the line of fire today, right now. Like it or not.

I saw a post from a listener on YouTube. Keep going, Dr. Brown. It is gradually becoming clearer and clearer to me. You are having the right impact. And then in all caps, keep going! Well, friend, we are determined to keep going.

I am 68 years old and one reason God helped me to radically change my lifestyle nine and a half years ago is because by God's grace, I believe I have many years ahead. In fact, I feel that we are just getting started in some of the most important missions of our life right now. We are revved up to do things beyond anything we have ever done in the history of our ministry, and to speak to the nation more loudly and clearly than ever. Friends, I must shout from the rooftops errors in church theology that open the door to Jew hatred and the demonization of Israel. I must address false ideologies in the society that lead to increasing Jew hatred and the demonization of Israel, at the same time proclaiming Jesus Yeshua as the only salvation of Israel and the nations. And without shame whatsoever, without second thought whatsoever, without worrying about what anyone is going to think, I am urging every single one of you to come right now, stand side by side with me, hold my hands up by standing with us financially.

Every dime that comes in is going right back out. We're in a war. It's just as if the money that comes in makes more weapons. Well, these are spiritual weapons. These are weapons of truth. These are weapons by which we pull down strongholds. We fight with spiritual weapons. Friends, I'm not just another talking head out there.

We seek to do what we do with the truth of the word and the power of the spirit so that these words can change hearts as well as changing minds. So yes, I am recruiting you now actively to join our support team, AskDrBrown.org, A-S-K-G-R-Brown.org. Click on donate monthly support. Get on the front lines with us, friends. We've got to push like we've never pushed before. And you are going to help push us over so that overnight we are speaking to many millions more people than we ever have friends.

We've got everything laid out, the plans, the open doors, and you're going to help push us through. AskDrBrown.org. Click donate monthly support. All right. Let me just talk to you about one instance, one issue very briefly, and then I'll take some calls.

As long as they're Jewish related of any kind, 866-348-7884. And an open invitation. I just posted this on Twitter during the break because I've had to block probably more accounts on Twitter than anywhere of just vicious anti-Semitic ugly demonizing of Israel trash stuff. Not just disagreement.

I'm talking about ugly stuff, trash stuff that says how to block person after person after person. And if you're going to come with standard anti-Semitic tropes and Jew hatred lies and the demonizing of Israel as a people, you're not going to last. It's not going to be welcome in our threads. We can differ. We can have civil differences and things like that. But when you're going to repeat lies and libels, that's not going to happen.

That's not going to happen. And as we're getting the truth out, friends, be encouraged. Hearts are changing. Minds are changing.

I'll get to the issue in a moment that I wanted to talk to you about. But Jonathan Feldstein said he read my book, Our Hands Are Staying With Thought. He read it, one Shabbat, the whole book cover to cover. It's been translating into more languages than any book that I've written. It came out in 92. It was continuously in print.

We updated it in 2019. You have no idea how many people were changed by reading that book, friends. There are pastors who are strong pro-Israel pastors who say it doesn't mean they hate Palestinians. It doesn't mean they don't evangelize Jewish people. It means they recognize that Israel is still electing.

God brought the Jewish people back to the land. They are strong pro-Israel pastors. They used to be on the exact other side of the spectrum. They used to be hostile. They used to be opposed. And now they are strongly pro.

It happened by reading that book. There are many Christians that for the first time got a burden to pray for Israel and understood God's eternal purposes for Israel, reading that book. So by God's grace, we are making a difference. And yes, Jewish people coming to Yeshua, we are making a difference on the front lines.

We are doing it with your help. But big, big controversy that is brewing now between two major media figures, both on The Daily Wire, one Ben Shapiro, Orthodox Jew Ben Shapiro, and the other Christian Catholic, your leading Catholic, as her husband is, Candace Owens. And Candace Owens, on the one hand, they are both very conservative and right-wing in various positions. They are both fairly young compared to me, but people of great influence. Of course, Ben Shapiro was the first primary voice of Daily Wire and the first editor of Daily Wire, which was initially just in print and then joined with podcasts, video, and has become kind of a massive empire now.

I wrote over 50 articles for them at their request last year and got to see just how many interested readers they had. Of course, Ben is absolutely massive, eloquent, brilliant. Many people have wanted us to debate. When I reached out to him some years back, he just politely said, Dr. Brown, I don't enjoy religious debate, and left it there, which I understand. I don't think he's afraid to debate anyone, but maybe one day we'll get to have a dialogue.

We'll see. But he's had Christian leaders on a Sunday special. He interacts a lot, works regularly with Christians, and is a friend of Christians in that regard, not a Christian basher. So Ben Shapiro, who's the chief voice at Daily Wire, then joined with many others, and then Candace Owens, who in her own right became very, very prominent as an African-American conservative thinker, and then was given an even bigger platform with Daily Wire. So kind of working side by side in that regard, recording her TV show in the Daily Wire offices that I visited a couple years ago, met with some of their leaders a couple years ago, one particular leader a few years back. So they've been co-workers, but over the years, at least recent months, I would notice, and I'm not watching what she's putting out and reading her stuff, but I'd see quotes here and there, and they would have these anti-Jewish nuances to them. Or her defense of Kanye West when Kanye was openly saying things, and people were like, Candace, you've got to step back from that, and you've got to separate here.

I was hearing things that concerned me. So recently Ben Shapiro was asked about her recent comments. This was at a gathering that got videotaped, and he said what she said is disgraceful, and so on and so forth. So she lashed out at him and said, you've been overly emotional lately. Now this becomes a public spat.

So of course, those on the left are loving a spat between people on the right. But I saw Candace's tweet, and first she said she's being persecuted for righteousness. Then she had a quote also from the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, first from Matthew 5, then from Matthew 6, you can't serve God and money.

Was that meant as a backhanded slap against Jewish people? And then in another tweet, Christ is King. You say, oh praise God, Christ is King. I have seen, especially in the last year and a little bit longer than that, but increasing this use of Christ as King in a militaristic way, in a hyper-Christian nationalist way, in an anti-Semitic way. I blasted a video of right-wing hyper-nationalist leader Nick Fuentes, a young man, and it's Catholic, it's Protestant, it goes on different sides, he happens to be Catholic, but he's given a blatantly anti-Semitic talk and people start chanting out Christ is King.

When she posted Christ is King, I thought, oh man. So let us pray for lessons to be learned through this public conflict. You say, who cares about it? It's just two people. I understand. But a lot of eyes are on this, and Ben has a much bigger platform than Candace does, but they both are very, very influential, both have lots and lots of followers, and there may be many who feel what Candace feels in terms of this, this subtle anti-Semitism. She may deny it, but she has not categorically separated herself from things. So I only bring this up, not like, ooh, we're going to talk about this dispute between two people, and we just look for the gossipy, juicy news. No, you know we don't do that here on the line of fire. And you know that we do our best when there are conflicts where we're going to correct some of the things like that, to reach out to them privately, or even to say, hey, we are going to be taking issue with you publicly, we're going to be having some differences with you, and can we dialogue, can we interact?

And our friends at the studio, are we having an issue with the phones, because I'm seeing phones ringing and not being picked up. Not sure what's up there, but we'll do our best to resolve that. Tell you what, I'm just going to jump in in a second here.

You are suddenly, just like that, on the line of fire. Who am I speaking with? Hello, Brother Michael, this is Ian from San Diego.

Yeah, what's on your mind, Ian? Hi Sarah, I have a quick question. I heard you mention yesterday Romans 11.29, for God's gift and his call are irrevocable, and I realize the context of this is for Israel as a nation, as they are the patriarchs, and to them belong the promises of God. But I was also wondering, is this verse, can this be applied to the concept of once saved, always saved? I've argued against it most of my life, that we can forfeit our salvation, and I understand this is your stance as well, but when I read this verse, it sounds like God's gifts and his call are irrevocable, so could that be used to argue for once saved, always saved, being that salvation is a free gift?

Someone could, but I believe it's a misapplication. In other words, the gift can be rejected. God doesn't withhold the gift or the calling, but his calling of Israel did not guarantee Israel's salvation, so he made a call, he selected a nation, and that selection remains, that election remains, but individual salvation is still a matter of someone getting right with God through the Messiah.

That doesn't change. There's no guarantee of someone being saved just because they're part of Israel, so they're elected as a nation, called as a nation, gifted as a nation. The same way, Samson had a gift from God, and that gift was his, as long as he didn't cut his hair, that gift was there, whether he was doing well or not, whether he was righteous or not, but that had nothing to do with guaranteeing his relationship with God. So God's call is an invitation. God's gift is something he really gives. We can reject that call, we can reject that gift.

So I would not say that it applies in that regard. All right, friends, thanks for the call. Got time for a few more calls.

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Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome back to Thoroughly Jewish Thursday. Yeah, we just had a minor medical situation with one of our team members in the radio studio and hence a slight interruption with our callers, but everybody back and good.

Everything is all right. So you can call 866-34-TRUTH. First time we've had that happen, 866-348-7884 with your Jewish-related questions and calls. By the way, I'm going to be starting off tomorrow's broadcast focusing on Romans 11, 28, and 29 and sharing with you what different theologians and commentators have to say about Israel's calling, including great Calvinist theologians like Charles Hodge from generations past and R.C.

Sproul. I'll depart it now, but with our generation. See what they had to say about the chosenness of the Jewish people, still as God's people. Yes, individuals needing to be saved through Jesus but still elect and chosen as a nation. So, friends, in days ahead, in days ahead, you are going to see, and just write this down, mark this down, in days ahead you will see an increasing overt Jew hatred, an increasing overt anti-Semitism, an increasing overt demonizing of Israel.

Not valid, fair criticism of Israel, but overt demonizing of Israel in the name of Jesus. You're going to see it rise. You're going to see it rise in Catholic circles and in Protestant circles and in other circles that claim the name of Jesus.

Mark it down. You don't have to be a rocket scientist or a prophet to see this and know this. It has been on the increase and it will increase rapidly in the days ahead and Israel's war with Hamas is again the opportunity, is the excuse for this to come to the surface and when it comes to the surface you'll see it carries all the old baggage. You'll see it carries the standard anti-Semitic tropes. You'll see it carries the same sentiments of anger and hostility towards Jewish people.

Watch for it friends. It is rising and when you see it you can identify it and remember, yes, we fight with truth. Yes, we absolutely come against error with truth. We overcome lies with truth and we do our best to do it patiently and carefully.

At the same time recognize that ultimately this is a spiritual battle. Alright, I want to take you back to the early 1990s. We had a friend in New York City and he was friends with a wealthy Christian woman who was a friend of Israel and she said, I want to invite you and Dr. Brown and his wife to a banquet in New York City. I believe it was called the Jerusalem Foundation. I think it was $1,000 a plate and she just wanted us to go there and meet some of the people there, some of the Jewish people that would be there, Israel supporters that would be there and after the dinner there was going to be a discussion moderated by Dan Rather and it was former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Middle East scholar Fuad Ajami.

I think he was a professor at Johns Hopkins University if I'm right. He would often appear on CNN as a talking head about Middle Eastern issues. They were going to have a discussion about Israel, Middle East peace process, etc. So I remember distinctly the dinner for $1,000 a plate, I remember the food like yuck!

That was one thing, that's an aside, but I remember that. So then fascinating dialogue, I mean these two great thinkers, Henry Kissinger, Fuad Ajami, these two great thinkers and then Dan Rather moderating it so it was really high level. So at the end they had time for questions. So I thought, okay great, time to ask questions and the friend that invited us was very happy for me to do it.

So I was the second in line, but when the first guy in line saw me he thought, oh you go first, I don't want to be the first. So I said I have a question for each one, for Dr. Kissinger, for Professor Ajami. So for Dr. Kissinger I asked, is there really opportunity for peace if you look at the right wing and the left wing in Islam and Judaism, is there really room for peace, especially if you think of radical Islam and no home for Israel etc. And then for Professor Ajami, is there such a thing as the Palestinian people?

Dr. Kissinger seemed to downplay religious sentiments and look more at natural circumstances and why there are hopes for peace in different ways etc. Professor Ajami said there is no Palestinian people but the press will never tell you. In other words there were people, yes who had lived in the land for centuries and some for decades, but there was no Palestinian statehood or nationhood or concept of being a people etc. And Professor Ajami, as I pressed the issue, he said that Israel or Iraq used nerve gas on its own people. Iraq used nerve gas on its own people and the UN says nothing.

Israel uses tear gas and there's an uproar. So I pressed the matter and said, well is the media then being honest in its reporting? So Dan Ratherton jumped in and he said, look, in the newsroom, and I got to talk to him one-on-one afterwards, he doesn't know anyone that in the newsroom is intentionally anti-Jewish or trying to report in an unfair way etc. But he said something really interesting, that Israel was held to a higher standard, that there was some sense of feeling that Israel should operate on a higher standard.

On the one hand that's a compliment, it's a bit of an insult to the surrounding Arab Muslim nations, but it was a compliment. But still, don't you have to be fair in your reporting? Don't you have to be honest in your reporting?

In other words you may hold them to a different standard but should that influence what you actually report? In any case it was very enlightening. 866-34-TRUTH. Let's go over to Julius in El Paso, Texas. Welcome to the Line of Fire. Hello Dr. Brown.

Hey. I would basically like to say I pretty much fully support what Israel is doing, I fully support what Netanyahu is doing, because this has to be done. It's gotten so bad to where you're basically calling good evil and evil good. And not only that, we definitely have to intercede for what Netanyahu is doing, because I already know that the UN is going to condemn him.

I already know that the surrounding nations are going to condemn him, and I also know that God is going to be with him like he was with King David. So he has my full support, and the Rabbi has my full support as well. Hey Julius, thank you. Yeah, that's basically what I wanted to say, and I really appreciate what you've done. Thank you, sir. I appreciate your sentiments, sir, very much.

Thank you. Let me say this one thing, and thank you Julius for the call and for the clarity of the call. And the double standards, the unfair criticism, it is mind-boggling. I mean, Israel has been operating in the Al Shifa hospital in Gaza now, operating in a military way, the largest hospital in Gaza. They have gone in as strategically and carefully as they possibly can, because they're finding it is a military base. And underneath it, Hamas tunnels and operations, and they thought that hostages were held there. Apparently as Hamas was coming, they got out. But Israel is in contact with the medical people inside.

So hey, we're trying to do this, we're trying to get help in, etc. And Hamas, I mean, taking fuel from the hospital to use for their own purposes, it's maddening. And Israel is trying to be as careful as they can to say, okay, we're going to come in here, we want to help you, not hurt you, but we got to deal with terrorists in your midst. And Israel is the bad one, not the ones setting up terrorist base in hospitals.

It is mind-boggling. When it comes to Prime Minister Netanyahu, let's recognize that his leadership right now is under fair attack, because this security breach happened under him. And he did make the mistake of in order to come in power again and have the leadership of the nation again, he did bring in some real bad leaders who could rightly be called Arab-hating, certainly derogatory towards Arabs, right-wingers that should not have been part of the government whatsoever, and they've been empowered.

So that is harmful. So I would not make my stand so much with Prime Minister Netanyahu as much as with the nation as a whole, and then just pray for leadership that would be broader, that a coalition would emerge out of this, whoever the Prime Minister ends up being, that would more broadly reflect a righteous heart and one that would get rid of some of the right-wing extremism. So within America, the evangelical Christians will be even more supporting of Prime Minister Netanyahu than many Israelis would be. And many Israelis put the blame for the security breaches on him as the leader. Nonetheless, he is right in the middle of things.

We do need to pray for him, and he has been a strong leader in many other ways. So I'm thankful, but there is certainly a mixture there, and I think it's important that we say that. All right, friends, if you don't have my app yet, oh, you need to get it. And a reminder, all our friends listening right now in our great Salem stations, Phoenix, Chicago, Dallas, we're going to be having some programming changes, and we've got some new material that's going to be coming your way as well. So if you want to make sure you don't miss this one-hour broadcast as we have some programming changes, make sure you download the app, Ask Director Brown Ministries, ASK, DR Brown Ministries.

Download the app. This way, you won't miss a split second of the broadcast, and wherever you are, you can listen, you can watch, and then you'll be the first to know also about some of the special new programming coming your way as well. Back with you with a rich scripture-filled broadcast tomorrow. Your program, powered by the Truth Network.