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In this episode of Sekulow, we delve into the Senate confirmation hearings where big names like Marco Rubio and Pam Bondi are under scrutiny. We also bring you breaking news as Israel and Hamas have reached a temporary ceasefire agreement after more than 15 months of conflict. Our discussion unpacks the implications of this deal, the potential for sustained peace, and what it could mean for hostages and Palestinians involved.
SPEAKER 09 :
Today on the show, the Senate confirmation hearings continue as the hypocrisy of the left is on full display.
SPEAKER 11 :
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, Logan Sekulow.
SPEAKER 09 :
Welcome to Sekulow. I did want to give you a quick update. We are following Marco Rubio’s confirmation hearing and Pam Bondi’s confirmation hearing, but this is just coming out this very minute. So if you’re watching live at noon Eastern, Israel and Hamas have reached a ceasefire deal recently. in theory, to end the 15-month-plus war in Gaza. This obviously includes a hostage release and a few other things. We are going to get all the breakdown because it was just announced, and then we’re going to have Jeff Balaban from ACLJ Jerusalem join us later to break it all down. But I did want to bring up that really breaking news that could see an end to the war in in gaza whether it’s a good deal or a bad deal that’s yet to be seen whether hamas sticks to the ceasefire that is also something to watch but will what’s going on in this country right now we have again pam bondy and marco rubio up right now going through their senate confirmation hearings we have uh really you see pam bondy taking more center stage today because the thought process is marco rubio kind of going to sail through colleague of a lot of these people very trusted uh He’ll probably be fine. Pam Bondi, maybe a little more scrutiny specifically after the whole Matt Gaetz debacle. But one thing that I brought up to you and I said, hey, I’m not afraid to ask sort of the stupid questions, if you will. I’m not afraid to ask the everyman question, which is these hearings are happening at the same time. How does that work? Who’s in that room? Because doesn’t the Senate have to vote completely to confirm these nominees? And you kind of said, oh, that’s actually something we should bring up on the air because maybe you haven’t followed these hearings as much in previous administrations than we’re getting today.
SPEAKER 10 :
That’s right. And so the way this works is that the hearings are before specific committees within the Senate. So Pam Bondi, who’s being interviewed right now, if you will, testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee because their oversight focus is on the Department of Justice and the other law enforcement activities of the United States. While Marco Rubio is Secretary of State, his hearing is before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. There’s also Kristi Noem has a hearing that’s going on right now. John Ratcliffe, who is up for CIA in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee. So they’re able to multitask, if you will, just based off of the delineation of where the committees are. However, you will notice some senators have carryover. So some will be earlier in a committee of one and then leave and run over to the other. I think Senator Coons was in the Judiciary Committee earlier and then later I saw him on the Senate Foreign Relations asking Marco Rubio a question. So some of the same senators will pop up as they have to move between hearing rooms. But what this does is this is really getting ahead of the inauguration because these individuals are the designated nominee But a nomination can’t be given to the Senate until you are the president. So they already know who it is. Obviously, it’s been said so they can start planning these hearings and hold these hearings so that when President Trump is inaugurated and transmits those nominations to the Senate. They’re all ready to go. They have to first be voted out of committee. So the committee has to say, we give our blessing to move this on to the full Senate for a vote for confirmation, where then the Senate will indeed vote to confirm, of which the Republicans hold that majority. So most of these should have a decent path through. Obviously, Pete Hegseth yesterday said, seemed to win over some of the holdouts like Joni Ernst that had been very skeptical initially of him. She came out of the hearing saying she will vote for him. So he should not have a problem getting confirmed, it appears, after it looking like his nomination may have been doomed before the holidays. So quite a turnaround there, and we’ll get into more of that later.
SPEAKER 09 :
That’s right. You need to support the ACLJ as we help to get these confirmations through. Go to ACLJ.org. I encourage you to become an ACLJ champion. That’s someone that gives on a monthly recurring basis. We are also following the very big breaking news. I mean, it’s happened as we were going on air that Israel and Hamas have reached a deal to halt fighting in Gaza, at least for a time. I believe they said it’s a six-week initial period in exchange for hostages. and for some Palestinians. We’ll get into the details of that coming up. Welcome back to Sekulow. I did want to obviously state the breaking news, which is that Israel and Hamas have reached a ceasefire deal. We’re still going to cover the confirmation hearings of both Marco Rubio and Pambandi. If you saw in the comments or in the commercial break there, you’re watching on YouTube or watching on Rumble, you saw some of the clips of some of the protesters that broke out in the middle of it. Professor Harry Hutchinson is joining us in this segment. And we’re going to break all of that down. But I did want to read a statement that just came out from President Trump on Truth Social. It said, we have a deal for the hostages in the Middle East. They will be released shortly. Thank you. So a short but sweet comment here from President Trump as he takes office in well under a week now. Again, probably one of the biggest moves that’s happened. Whether you’re going to agree with it or not, we have this approved ceasefire deal in Israel. And later on in the broadcast, just probably in about 20 minutes or so, We are going to have on Jeff Balaban, head of ACLJ Jerusalem. They’re reading all the agreements. They’re reading all the stuff that’s getting out there right now in the press, and they’re going to break it down for us. So if you have a question or comment related to that, you can give me a call right now and get on hold, 1-800-684-3110. Or if you have a question or comment about extended confirmation hearings or anything that’s ACLJ related, give me a call, 1-800-684-3110. I know a lot of you are tuning in right now on YouTube and on Rumble and on the Salem News Channel. If you’re on YouTube or Rumble, I’m going to encourage you right now to call in, but also subscribe and hit that thumbs up. We know about half the people who watch every day. Just get it served to them and don’t subscribe. So if you haven’t seen, if you haven’t hit that subscribe button, very important to do that right now. It really helps us out as we have now crossed 450,000 YouTube subscribers, getting the word out there for the ACLJ to so many incredible people. Now, well, this is obviously big news coming out of Israel. We’ll keep people updated. But I did want to lose focus on what’s going on in these confirmation hearings. And obviously, we want to get thoughts from Professor Hutchinson.
SPEAKER 10 :
That’s right. Senator Hirono from Hawaii, she yesterday was in the Pete Hegseth hearing and was questioning him. She was very aggressive about his record and things he had written. But what we’ve got today is now this happened just before we came on air. This is Senator Hirono now questioning Pam Bondi. And I think it really shows also the hypocrisy of the left of Republicans. Wanting the 15 minutes of fame of asking these questions, but not doing the pre-work when these nominees have been made available to every senator to have meetings with and do the pre-work. There was a certain senator that decided not to have a meeting with the attorney general nominee, Pam Bondi. Let’s go ahead and listen to this back and forth. Then I’m going to get Professor Hutchison’s take on it.
SPEAKER 06 :
that you as Attorney General should investigate one of his perceived political enemies, would you do so?
SPEAKER 05 :
Senator Hirono, I wish you had met with me. Had you met with me, we could have discussed many things and gotten to know, you could have gotten to know me. I am listening to you now. Could you respond to the question? Yeah, you were the only one who refused to meet with me, Senator. But what we would have discussed is that it is the job of the Attorney General to follow the law.
SPEAKER 06 :
I’m very happy to listen to your responses under oath, Ms. Bondi. So I think it’s really important to us that the Attorney General be independent. of the White House, and you have a president-elect who considers the AG’s office his law firm, I would like to know whether if the president suggests, hints, asks, that you as attorney general should investigate one of his perceived enemies?
SPEAKER 05 :
Senator, I certainly have not heard the president say that, but what I will tell you is two-thirds of Americans have lost faith in the Department of Justice, and it’s statements like that, I believe, that make people continue to lose faith. If I am confirmed as Attorney General, it will be my job to not only keep Americans safe, but restore integrity to that department, and that’s what I plan on doing every single day as Attorney General.
SPEAKER 10 :
Professor Hutchison, obviously the the rich irony of the left pointing this out as we’ve watched four years of politicized prosecutions from the Department of Justice. We even heard that in recent interviews that President Biden was angered and upset by Merrick Garland for not going after Trump aggressively enough. We know the dual hand of justice that was given to the president’s son, as well as the aggressive nature of which the FBI and the Department of Justice would go after peaceful pro-life protesters or parents at school board meetings. But yet they make it seem as though the end of the Department of Justice is about to begin. because of what they perceive that President Trump wants the DOJ to do, when in reality, the next Attorney General will have a big mess to clean up from what the previous administration did as far as political prosecutions.
SPEAKER 07 :
I think that’s precisely correct. And so I think it’s clear that delusional Democrats… are afraid that Donald Trump and his administration, his nominees, particularly for Attorney General, will act just like the Democrats have acted for the last four years. The Democrats have targeted virtually every political enemy that they could find based on charges that do not have any basis in either law or facts. And so now, Senator Hirono, who is perhaps the leading intellectual light in the Democratic Party, she is arguing that Pam Bondi will actually enforce the law and go after individuals who’ve engaged in criminal misconduct. If those individuals happen to be Democrats, of course Pam Bondi should go after them. But Pam Bondi and the Trump administration will not target individuals simply because they are Democrats, even though the Democrats have targeted Republicans simply because they have an R in front of their name.
SPEAKER 10 :
That’s right. And as you saw yesterday, there was even Senator Mark Wayne Mullen from Oklahoma who pointed it out eloquently before the committee yesterday about the hypocrisy he was saying about the nomination of Pete Hegseth and some of the character of some of his colleagues. perhaps. But we also have Senator Marco Rubio, who’s testifying at the same time. And I know some on the more conservative side may have been concerned about maybe some neocon type policies that maybe he would bring or that he’s more hawkish. And we’ve always appreciated Senator Rubio, and I thought it was a great pick for Secretary of State. But this I think should put to rest any concerns that maybe some in the MAGA movement may have had early on by this statement here. This is bite five.
SPEAKER 01 :
Out of the triumphalism of the end of the long Cold War emerged a bipartisan consensus. And this consensus was that we had reached the end of history, that all of the nations of the world would now become members of the democratic Western-led community, that a foreign policy that served the national interest could now be replaced by one that served the liberal world order, and that all mankind was now destined to abandon national sovereignty and national identity and would instead become one human family and citizens of the world. This wasn’t just a fantasy. We now know it was a dangerous delusion.
SPEAKER 10 :
Professor Hutchison, right there, some of the concerns that maybe it would have more of that old school traditionalist Republican style foreign policy coming out of our Secretary of State. When he’s calling a liberal world order, not just a fantasy, it’s a dangerous delusion. I mean, that is right out of the playbook of the America First movement and rejecting globalism. And I was… really, really pleased by the strength of that statement in that hearing today.
SPEAKER 07 :
Absolutely. I was encouraged as well because what he is rejecting is Francis Fukuyama’s book, The End of History. It is a liberal order delusion based on openness, tolerance, and inclusion without necessarily supporting the sovereignty and the nationalism that is connected with sovereign states. And so I think Rubio, Senator Rubio, has made a fantastic start simply by rejecting what the liberals, both Republican and Democrat, have supported for the last 30 or 40 years. He is rejecting this end of history view, which has seen the United States get involved in hundreds of wars. The United States, for instance, has 800 bases throughout the world, meaning that a conflict could break out at any time involving U.S. troops. And so I think Senator Rubio and Donald Trump are rejecting this end of history vision. And I think that’s fantastic news.
SPEAKER 09 :
Absolutely. Thank you so much, Harry, for giving us your analysis. Again, we are also covering the breaking news that Israel and Hamas have reached a ceasefire and hostage release deal. This is a huge moment. This has become wall-to-wall coverage on all the other networks, and we’ve called in Jeff Balaban from ACLJ Jerusalem to cover this a bit later in the broadcast. We’ll have him on in about, let’s say, 15 minutes or so, so stay tuned. We’re going through all the information that we know about this, whether it’s a good deal or a bad deal. At least we can say maybe over the next six weeks. it’s nice to see something like this happen. Again, whether you agree with it or not, President Trump said it needed to happen. They got it done. And hopefully this means more of a time of peace and for Israel to rebuild and recover and for people. Again, there’s going to be good and bad that’s going to come from something like this. But this is a big moment, and I don’t want to lose sight of that. Again, regardless of how you feel about a ceasefire hostage release where you’re releasing presumed terrorists back into these territories, into Hamas control. But thankfully, there’s some movement forward. We’re going to be taking your questions and comments coming up. 1-800-684-3110. Go to aclj.org to support. We’ll be right back. To Seculo, CeCe Hiles joining us, Senior Counsel here at the ACLJ, to discuss again the Senate confirmation hearings that are happening right now and some of the work that we’ve done internationally and how it all kind of connects. And of course, we are covering the big breaking news, as you see probably across your phone or… Wherever you’re watching the news, Israel and Hamas have reached a hostage slash ceasefire deal. That is where Israeli hostages and some Palestinian prisoners will be released in trade, if you will, in an initial six-week phase of ceasefire. And of course, the thought process hopefully is that if Hamas sticks to that six-week ceasefire, and Israel as well, but if Hamas does, because typically they’re the ones that do not, That this could be ongoing and this could be the path truly to the end of the war. Now, as we know, historically, that is not probably the end of the war in the big picture sense, but the end of this specific moment. Yeah. Obviously, this comes from President Trump taking office next week. He put out a statement saying, you know, we have a deal. And this is a big emotional moment for a lot of us. And we’re going to break down with Jeff Balaban coming up in the next segment or the next half hour. kind of the ins and outs of the deal, the good and the bad, because again, there’s going to be. But this is a big moment. I don’t want to overlook it. I know right now a lot of you are tuning in to hear about the Senate confirmation hearings. We’re going to discuss that as well, Will, because a lot of these have to do with how we’re going to be treating the Middle East and how we’re going to be treating other partners like China. And we know Senator Rubio made a pretty interesting statement because at this juncture with China, there’s a lot of talk, but there is also the true threat of it, which is You can’t really live without working with China right now.
SPEAKER 10 :
That’s right. And Senator Rubio has obviously been on the other side of where he is right now in the confirmation hearings for secretaries of state being on that foreign relations committee himself until recently. So we look at this and. And he knows what he’s talking about. He has the briefings. His staff is focused on these things. And we even know that he sometimes, more than other Republican senators for sure, is thinking about the big picture and the next big thing that we should be concerned about, such as even the unidentified aerial phenomenon, UAPs. He was one of the first senators that said, we really need to be looking at this and understanding what’s going on
SPEAKER 09 :
One of my favorite statements he ever made about that was, we better hope that it’s aliens. Because if it’s not, then we have foreign governments who have a lot higher technology than we could imagine. And of course, then we saw the spy balloons and all that whole moment happened. So I do want to say he’s been very good at those kind of interactions.
SPEAKER 10 :
And so let’s go ahead and play this clip. This is bite 10 from Senator Rubio before his confirmation hearing to be the next Secretary of State on this threat of China.
SPEAKER 01 :
If we stay on the road we’re on right now, in less than 10 years, virtually everything that matters to us in life will depend on whether China will allow us to have it or not. Everything from the blood pressure medicine we take to what movies we get to watch, and everything in between, we will depend on China for it. They have come to dominate the critical mineral industry supplies throughout the world. Everywhere in the world they’ve now established critical mineral rights. Even those who want to see more electric cars, no matter where you make them, those batteries are almost entirely dependent on the ability of the Chinese and the willingness of the Chinese Communist Party to produce it and export it to you. So if we don’t change course, we are going to live in a world where much of what matters to us on a daily basis, from our security to our health, will be dependent on whether the Chinese allow us to have it or not. That’s an unacceptable outcome.
SPEAKER 10 :
And Cece, you’ve worked many, often for years, dealing with cases of the ACLJ that pertain to clients that are either held captive by China, their rights being denied in China. That’s a part of your practice here at the ACLJ. And when you hear Senator Rubio talk about that, if we don’t change course, if we don’t get back to this America first, this independence from China, that basically our The things we depend on, our security, the things for our health, will all be dependent on China based off of your work and knowing what the ACLJ has had to fight in China. How scary of a statement does that ring for you?
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, it is scary. I mean, we understand firsthand the power that China has and their unwillingness sometimes to do what we think is right. And for the years that we have worked with clients, Senator Rubio has always kind of been at the head of that charge. He’s very aware of the threat that China poses. And I think maybe one of his biggest things is he’s not afraid to address those issues just for the sake of political posturing. Like you said, I mean, yes, we have to deal with China. They are a big player on the board. But we can’t do it in such a way that they get to bully and control. We need to take that control. And I think that’s what Senator Rubio really understands. And I think that as the Secretary of State is very important, especially when you get into human rights issues. Because you can’t let people continue to dominate and discriminate and, you know, violate human rights rules and not ever have any accountability. And I think that’s where Senator Rubio really shines is that he wants accountability. He wants to do what’s right. And I’m hopeful that he would make a good Secretary of State.
SPEAKER 09 :
And these aren’t empty threats. Someone in the entertainment industry and as a film producer, I’ve seen the money that’s coming out of China right now. And it’s actually going, you may think, hey, we’re funding them. China is funding major productions. If a movie I saw just this past weekend, which was phenomenal, was when you watch the opening credits, there’s one in Chinese and you look up who that is. And it’s a big corporation, Acina, which stands for a new wave. They have 100 million registered users of their tech company. And of course, they’re private, but partially state-owned.
SPEAKER 10 :
Nothing is private in China. Everything has either party leaders are the ones that own it, or even the laws of China state that, yeah, you may own it, but you don’t really own it. At the end of the day, everything goes to the state.
SPEAKER 09 :
$100 million into this movie. Now, that’s the situation we’re having. And you would not go see this movie and go, oh, this is Chinese propaganda. There’s nothing like that. It’s just investing. Right. And in some ways, helping control the narrative of what’s happening in America and worldwide. Very interesting moves that are happening. Obviously, we’ve all been seeing what’s going on with TikTok and TikTok is currently in the plans. TikTok US is right now figuring out how to wrap up operations if they don’t come to a conclusion here in the next few weeks. It is a, now again, You may have different point of view on that. I think a lot of people do. Whether you think TikTok should be shut down or not, in general, we have a lot of relationships with China. And TikTok may be one of the more influential ones just based on the way the app works. creates the way it takes your data the way the information is running but again china’s involved in every aspect uh we were at a walt disney world a few days ago and you know we’re in the china pavilion at epcot and they have a whole thing about you know you walk through visit you know disney shanghai and my kids are asking about that looks awesome it does look awesome they did a great job But you do have to wonder sort of the end goal, if you will.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 09 :
And you have someone like Marco Rubio coming in making these kind of statements. At least we’re thinking that way.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah. And if you’re not paying attention, you’ll miss it. Just like, you know, if you’re not paying attention to those credits, you’ll miss it. And I think Senator Rubio is paying attention.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, that’s great. Also. I’d love to hear from you. We got another half hour coming up on Sekulow. Stay tuned. 1-800-684-3110 to call in. If you’re on hold, we’re going to get to your calls. So stay on hold. 1-800-684-3110. I’m encouraging you all today to become an ACLJ champion. You’re going to hear about some new ACLJ cases coming up. We had to do a pivot today to break in not only confirmation hearings, but of course, the Hamas-Israel deal. Ceasefire deal. potential war ending deal uh we’ll see how that all unfolds over the next few days in few weeks as president trump takes office come to aclj champion today scan the qr code or go to aclj.org slash champion second half hour coming right up keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever this is seculo
SPEAKER 11 :
And now your host, Logan Sekulow.
SPEAKER 09 :
Welcome back to Sekulow. We’re going to take your calls at 1-800-684-3110. Live covering of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal, potentially war-ending deal that’s happening. We’re going to cover all the details of that with Jeff Balaban in the next segment. He’s the head of ACLJ Jerusalem. That’s why it’s important to have people on the ground. Let’s go ahead and take a phone call related to that matter. Michael’s calling in Florida. Watch it on YouTube, which we appreciate if you’re also watching on YouTube. hit that subscribe button. I know it sounds ridiculous and I sound like, you know, a YouTuber teenager doing it, but it really helps get people to see and to hear about these important topics that you’re not going to find anywhere else. Michael, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 04 :
Prayers have been answered with regards to this deal with Israel and Hamas. But, and I think I know the answer to this is lame duck Biden is
SPEAKER 09 :
actually going to have the gall to take credit for this well we’ll see tonight uh as he makes his farewell address i bet it comes up uh but of course in a reagan-esque move this was clearly being wrapped up because next week you’re going to have a brand new administration that is not going to be near as friendly to hamas
SPEAKER 10 :
That’s right. And Michael, yes, I’m certain that the White House will put out a statement that says, you know, we are thrilled that under President Biden’s leadership or something to that effect. But one difference in these negotiations than what has tried to have been brokered by Egypt and Qatar over the last year is that there’s a new player at the table. And this is the incoming Mideast envoy of President Trump, Steve Witkoff, was there for the negotiations. And this is an article from a more left-of-center Israeli source, but it mentions the tense weekend between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and incoming Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff led to a breakthrough in the hostage negotiations. And it also says that the top aide to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump did more to sway the premier in a single sit-down than outgoing President Joe Biden did in all of the year. That was from two Arab officials telling that paper. And we’ll get into some of the nuance of this as well because, yes, Hamas wasn’t necessarily willing to really come to the table either. over the course of this last year. Now they know there’s a new sheriff in town and that they’ve heard the statements President Trump has said about what will happen to them if these hostages aren’t released. But whenever you’re talking about a ceasefire in war and with a terrorist organization, we can celebrate that hostages will be coming home. But we still grieve for the thousands that were killed and the hostages that were taken and killed in captivity and those on October 7th. And we also know that this war will never truly end, no matter what ceasefire, what piece of paper is signed. Until the radical jihadist terror organization Hamas ceases to exist.
SPEAKER 09 :
And that was the goal of Netanyahu was to just end Hamas in general. Does it look like that’s what’s going to happen? Doesn’t look like it. Right now, I mean, again, that could still happen, but that’s not the deal that’s struck right now. And that’s maybe an unfortunate fact. but there is a sigh of relief. I hope, uh, I’m looking at live footage right now from Tel Aviv as, as there are celebrations, uh, because look, even you gotta remember they, these people, whether you agree with this ceasefire deal or not, they’re the ones living it. These are real people, uh, with real families and schools and restaurants and businesses that have been so impacted by this war, where airlines won’t fly into your country, where tourism is such a huge portion of the economy that’s running in Israel, has essentially been shut down and maybe gets to reopen this summer. And that would be a big moment for a lot of people to be able to return back to Israel as so many trips were canceled, delayed, as we saw, obviously, this real war. Remember, this was real wartime, you know, on the ground. And again, remember how small Israel is. It would be like someone in your neighboring county being in war and all of your friends and family being involved in it. So right now, I do want to say at least there is that moment of relief. And we’re covering still the Senate confirmation hearings. And we’ll talk about those as well. Pam Bondi, Mark Rubio. I know we have some calls about that. And after Jeff Balaban joins us, we’re going to take all the calls. So if you’re on hold right now, do not worry. I’m going to get to you unless there’s some breaking news that I can’t do anything about. Because right now, again, Israel, Hamas reach their hostage and ceasefire deal. We’ll be right back with Jeff Balaban from ACLJ Jerusalem, which is only available because you help support at ACLJ.org. Welcome back to Sekulow. We are now joined by head of ACLJ Jerusalem, Jeff Balaban, who was on the broadcast yesterday, and there was rumors of this, and now it has been announced it’s happening. Now, we don’t have the exact details. A lot of these are just speculation, or really leaked information, if you will, as it has been at least announced that Israel and Hamas have reached a deal, a ceasefire deal, a hostage deal. There’s a lot of facts we’ve got to go over, and look, I know that there’s going to be mixed reaction. from a lot of people, Jeff, because sometimes it feels like these ceasefire deals certainly more favor Hamas in this situation. However, I’m looking at the streets right now in Tel Aviv, live coverage, and there’s celebrations happening in the streets. Because no one wants wartime in their country. People want to be able to return back to normal life in some ways. They want to be able to bring tourists back to Israel in a way that’s dramatic. And they want to be able to bring all the flights back and everything to return to some sense of normalcy. But as someone who is so deeply involved in this, I obviously wanted to hear from you your thoughts on this. And we’ll go down some of the details that we expect to be coming.
SPEAKER 08 :
Sure. Well, I think that the reaction that you’re seeing has less to do with an end of a war and more to do with the return of hostages. And I don’t know that this war is going to end anytime soon. I think that the ceasefire, even, you know, the agreement they have in Lebanon, Israel still is waging an on and off war in Lebanon because Lebanon keeps on, you know, Hezbollah keeps on breaching this ceasefire and Israel has to keep on going in. And so the good news is that Israel is, is i’m sure going to retain its rights to operate and keep on fighting against those inevitable ceasefire breaks remember there was a ceasefire on october 6th that was broken on october 7th last year and so we’re dealing with terrorist organizations obviously they’re not to be trusted at all their highest morality is murdering israelis and jews now What we are hearing, though, is and again, it’s, you know, as usual, when Israel makes these deals, they get back one living or dead citizen for dozens of actual terrorists, barbaric jihadist terrorists. And those are the same people who launched this last attack on October 7th. And so, you know, what’s happening here is, is that Donald Trump is coming in and the entire calculus changes for the bad guys. And when I say the bad guys, not just talking about Hamas, not just talking about Hezbollah, but we’re talking about Iran, who has been funding this up, has been leading the charge here. And what I think there is hope for, this is not, I’m talking about what’s going on in the streets. And the streets, I think, is genuine rejoicing at the possibility of seeing some hostages come home alive and not as much rejoicing, but even getting the bodies of the dead ones and getting clarity. But is the hopes that this leaves open the possibility for real regime change in Iran, for taking out Iran’s nuclear ambitions once and for all times, and that all things hopefully will be left on the table for Israel with a true ally in the White House.
SPEAKER 09 :
Absolutely. And some of the deal points that have come out, at least allegedly, and these are, again, speculation, but they’re expected, is a six-week pause on the fighting in Gaza. And then, hopefully, if that stays true, which, again, as you said, is sad to say, but feels unlikely, but let’s say it is, then there will be talks of another phase that could lead to an end of the war entirely. And that’s expected to begin negotiations during that six week time. Phased release of hostages and Palestinian prisoners. Hamas will release 33 hostages. Israel will free hundreds, as you said, of Palestinian prisoners. And I wanted to bring that up, Jeff, because people may see that and go, well, why would Israel do this? And I think what’s important to look at is, look, it doesn’t feel like a fair deal. Obviously not. It’s not going to be a fair deal in terms of negotiating with a terrorist organization. But at least you have 33, like you said, alive or dead, sadly, hostages. And I know that is such an important thing. If you follow anyone on social media that’s really engaged, it’s every day posting about these hostages still. So I’m sure the pressure was on as well to get something done.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, look, again, every life is precious. The problem is when you make the rational calculus, you know, is the result of this that the bad guys have now been incentivized to take hostages again? Well, that’s what happens all the time. And therefore, the follow-up to this is more important, which is to say both… the violent follow-up, which is to say there will be, I have no doubts, more conflict, but also the peaceful follow-up, which is to say the broader revisiting of the Abraham Accords and the blooming of the Abraham Accords. And part of that is, and the reason that was successful is because it set aside just the lie that Israel is occupying somebody else’s territory and the lie that there needs to be some kind of a, quote, Palestinian, unquote, state. No, there doesn’t. And Israel is very clear that there doesn’t. And this has been pushed by the left and pushed by people who want to see Israel’s destruction. And that’s not happening in the White House now, we hope. And if Israel remains firm, so we’ll see simultaneously, you know, the real, it wasn’t that long ago, it was just a few years ago, we saw peace breaking out and normalization breaking out with countries that had opposed Israel from the beginning. And so hopefully we’ll see more of that in a positive way. The other thing we’ll see, is they’re saying, again, being reported that among the first tranche of hostages coming out are the Americans still held hostage. And again, it’s another symbol of a change of administration. Now, would we like to see all of the hostages out at once? Yes, we would. But again, we have an American president who puts America’s interests first. Its allies are important, but the fact that we finally have American hostages being released, hopefully as part of this, is also another sign that there’s a new sheriff in town and that makes a difference to these negotiations.
SPEAKER 10 :
Jeff, one thing also that I think we should reiterate to the audience is that while on paper and the reports that come out, normally who’s the first to get these reports? It’s always Reuters, which you can take what they say as far as their bias towards Israel, as far as you can carry it. But the big deal here for me is that when they report that talks on another deal to end the war entirely, would be in the next phase. That’s what we know factually false. Because while this battle that started from October 7th to today, is not the war. The war will continue as long as there is a radical jihadist group named Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad that operates with their sole purpose to destroy the state of Israel and commit genocide against the Jewish people that have their homeland there. And so no matter what, if there is a bow on this offensive, it will never be over until What we hope happens, as Pete Hegseth said during his confirmation hearing yesterday, he supports Israel destroying and killing every last member of Hamas. And in reality, that’s the hope I see in all of this, is that the next Secretary of Defense isn’t afraid to say something like that. And hopefully we can see an end to this war. But this war isn’t Hamas and Israel. This war is thousands of years old of those that hate Jews and want to see their destruction. And it will not end because that is what history has.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s exactly right. It all comes down to it. God tells Abraham, those that bless you will be blessed, and those that curse you will be cursed. And the truth is, from the beginning of time, from the beginning of the Jewish people, from the time of Abraham till today, there have been those who simply oppose us for our very existence. And and rarely there are those who stand with us. And thank God, ACLJ obviously, and the people who support ACLJ, for standing with the Jewish people and the State of Israel. Thank God we now have people coming into power in the Trump administration who stand with the Jewish people, who understand that America was founded on ideals found in the Bible that came through the Jewish people, that understand Judeo-Christian is a true concept, and then there are the enemies. And remember, Donald Trump said not that long ago, He said that the United States of America and Israel represent the pinnacle of Western civilization. He said that’s what these people hate and why they want to destroy it. We are in this war together. Israel just happens to be on the front lines. I also hope that we will be able to use Israel’s sad and tragic knowledge of how to deal with jihadis because we know we have them in our borders here because we haven’t had real borders. And so we have a lot to gain right now from Israel’s help. And hopefully this exchange will be in a positive way because it really has not been for the last few years. It’s been really hostile and Israel is suffering from it.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, I encourage everyone to pray for Israel, pray for the Jewish people, talk to your Jewish friends and family in your life. Look, my son is 12. He’ll be 13 next year. We started talking about his bar mitzvah, what that looks like. And I have to say, it’s a different time to tell the Jewish story. He’s living through a very different time than I did at this point 30 years ago when I had my bar mitzvah in Israel, in fact, and it was a very celebratory time. Now there’s some hard truths that have always been there, but then there’s hard realities that are happening in real time. And what I’m hoping is that this ceasefire deal does turn into something, as Jeff said. We can always hope that. We can always pray for that. The war doesn’t end, but maybe we’ll see some peace return back to Israel. Jeff, thank you for joining us. I really do appreciate it. I’m going to take your calls coming up in the next segment. And we’ve got a bunch of people on hold. Ronald, Robert, Don, Greg. Give me a call. Also, we’ve got two lines open, 1-800-684-3110. I’d love to hear from you. We’ll talk about Israel. We’ll talk about the confirmation hearings. We’ll talk about President Trump taking office in a week, what that looks like. All your questions or comments can be answered, 1-800-684-3110. And again… We are trying to help get the confirmation of President Trump’s national security team, specifically for reasons like this, when this moment happens. We’ve mobilized our global affairs team on Capitol Hill. We need you to stand with us. Sign our petition right now, aclj.org slash sign, S-I-G-N, or scan the QR code if you’re watching on Salem News Channel or on YouTube or on Rumble. But it’s not just the nominees. We need everyday Americans like you to really show your support. So right now, I’m going to encourage you also, not just to sign the petition, become an ACLJ champion. ACLJ.org slash champions. Be right back with your calls and comments. Welcome back to Secular. Again, I said we’re going to take your phone calls. 1-800-684-3110. Two lines still open. Let’s go ahead and take Don, who’s calling from California, who called yesterday. We were able to get to him, but he is back on the air. Don, I’m sorry about that yesterday. We had some news break in, but I’m glad you called back. Welcome.
SPEAKER 12 :
Oh, no worries. Thank you so much for taking my call and for everything. I’m so surprised by this business of Mr. Trump sort of threatening Greenland like we’re going to buy you or else or the business with… I understand Panama, we have a treaty with them, two treaties, I think. And there’s nothing about taking the country back. We have the right to intervene there if there’s a security thing. And then with Canada saying we’re going to make you the 51st state, it all seems so surprising because… uh we haven’t done anything like that since alaska the louisiana purchase like way back centuries ago you know this is like the modern era how do you even buy a country what would it cost and why do we even need to buy it they’re already allies you know they’re allies with us it seems to me that there’s better ways to do it and it it just doesn’t seem right mr trump was always uh sort of an isolationist and now it’s acting acting like like an arch imperialist and i’m just wondering uh What are your views on that legally?
SPEAKER 09 :
It’s pretty interesting. At first glance, I thought this is a comedy, especially the Canada one. And then it got to Greenland. Which Canada probably was more comedy. More comedy, yes. Then it got to the Panama Canal. Then it got to Greenland. And then it got to where you started really looking into why strategically we should have control of some of these areas. Now Greenland, I think, is the one that you’re like, okay, let’s see what could happen here. Again, very small population. Not very many people in the entire country.
SPEAKER 10 :
It’s only about 50,000 people live in the entire country of Greenland.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, I mean, more people went to the New Year’s Eve celebration here in Nashville than live in that entire country. So you could, in theory, not hostily, but there are ways that you can take control of a country. Negotiations can be had. And I think that’s more what you’re seeing also here, Don, is some of these areas like the Panama Canal or even Canada, is that these, by saying, hey, we’re going to take over, somewhat this is a negotiation tactic to make sure that our security interests are are happening panama canal obviously a huge area for import export coming through the panama canal you have and we built it in finance and we built it pretty much do everything for right So there is that bit of like, well, why do we control it? Greenland, strategically, pretty good spot geographically.
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, and here’s the other thing with Greenland and Don, I would think some of this also goes to when President Trump said, you know, I’m going to pull out of NATO unless you start pulling your weight. So Greenland does self-rule. It is autonomous, but it is a territory of Denmark, of the Kingdom of Denmark. So very much like a Puerto Rico is the United States now. So the problem with Greenland and also the maps you look at that make it look more like it’s kind of in line with everything are flat earth maps, not the correct representation. But it is a very strategic location as far as the Arctic. And while President Trump is not an imperialist and wants to stay out of foreign wars, he was always very strong about national security. And when you have a place like that where Denmark, he is saying, is not doing what they need to be doing as the territory of theirs on Greenland, When it comes to Russia, Russia has about a third more Arctic bases than the United States and all of NATO combined. So Russia is making a play to control the top of the earth, the Arctic Circle. You can get around the earth a lot quicker when you start up there because the radius is much smaller and you can get to places quicker. You can utilize that for even the way ballistic missiles are shot. There’s a lot of strategic importance about the Arctic and Russia has been making that investment. So while it may be negotiation tactics of saying, well, we’ll just take it over because it’s strategic for us, much like Guam and islands in the Pacific are still territories for those purposes.
SPEAKER 09 :
World protection.
SPEAKER 10 :
To protect you from Russia, protect you from China, and all of these areas. It also just may be, though, that negotiation tactic of saying Denmark… pay up, make sure that it’s protected, maybe give us a base there so that we can move forward and we’ll see how it plays out. But there is rationale for it. It isn’t just expansionism.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, read into it. All right, thanks, Don. We’re going to go take as many calls as we can. We got four minutes, three calls. We’ll see what we can do. Let’s go to Greg in North Carolina. You’re on the air.
SPEAKER 03 :
Hey, I’m glad you guys are there. Thanks for all you do. I got a question. If On day one, Biden shut down everything that Trump did in his term. What’s to stop Trump from doing the same thing that Biden did?
SPEAKER 10 :
I mean, nothing. I mean, very, very many things that probably will be done. Especially if it’s executive actions. You think about Biden in this last week put that ban through executive action on offshore drilling. That’s just so there can be a liberal talking point of, Oh, no, he opened up the floodgates of offshore drilling, things like that. Yeah, they will immediately be undone. That’s part of the problem with trying to govern through executive action is that as soon as it’s a new president, all that can just be changed.
SPEAKER 09 :
I think they’ve said that he’s going to have a record breaking amount of executive actions potentially on day one or week one. So we’ll see what happens there, Greg. Thank you so much, though, for your call. Robert in Maryland, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 13 :
I want to ask the question, with this ceasefire that Israel has reached with Hamas, does this give the opportunity for Hamas to use this ceasefire to rebuild and rearm? Because in the best national security interest of Israel and the United States, that Hamas is obliterated because they are a terrorist organization. That’s jihadist. They believe that anyone that is non-Muslim needs to be ruled under the Ummah of Islam, according to the Koran and also the example of Muhammad.
SPEAKER 09 :
I think that it’s a real concern that we’ll need to keep an eye on. Now, look, as Jeff said, this is a six-week pause. Last time they did something like this, it did not last very long. Hamas went right back at it, and Israel had to retaliate. So what you really need to look at the hopeful part of this, and I think Jeff is right in this, is that there will be a hostage release. This does not mean the end of the war. We can hope it does. Does it mean that they will be able to rearm? Yeah, it kind of does. It’s not the end goal, which was the destruction of Hamas.
SPEAKER 10 :
And one hopeful point, though, Robert, on that is, yes, in theory, it gives them that opportunity and they will attempt to. But with the new administration coming in.
SPEAKER 09 :
Much different.
SPEAKER 10 :
and we start putting maximum pressure on Iran again, you know what that severely limits the ability of Hamas to do? Rearm. Because that’s where it’s all coming from. So, if you get that maximum pressure on, hopefully it really mitigates the damage that can be done by Hamas, and eventually, hopefully, the total destruction of Hamas.
SPEAKER 09 :
Alright, last call of the day. Ronald’s calling, watching on Rumble.
SPEAKER 10 :
You’re on the air.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yes, thanks for taking my call. I’m just about the ceasefire, the pending ceasefire, and it is as though the Biden administration is rushing to try and get a gold star because it was their policies that armed Iran to funnel weapons to Hamas and Hezbollah to have that October 7th invasion. And I think Blinken realized that he had been played that way.
SPEAKER 09 :
day at all had been played by by iran and yeah ronald i hate to cut you off but the truth of the matter is they may claim it the american people can see right through it they know that this is very similar to a reagan carter situation where you have a new president coming in new sheriff in town things are going to change i encourage you right now as we wrap up the show for the today to become an aclj champion not enough of your aclj champions we need your support Good free way to do it is just to subscribe on YouTube, but a way to keep this show going, to keep all our legal action going, to have ACLJ Jerusalem, an office in Israel, to have our European Center for Law and Justice, so we are changing legitimately the world with the ACLJ and all of our affiliates. We can’t do that without ACLJ champions. That’s people like you that give on a monthly recurring basis. Give us that incredible baseline. So I encourage you right now, you set that price, whether I think it’s $5 minimum a month. Of course, we encourage you to do more if you can. ACLJ.org slash champions. Scan the QR code. We’ll talk to you tomorrow.
