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Join us as we hear from Zach Knotts, a passionate pro-life advocate, whose personal journey and legal battles underline the critical work being done by the ACLJ. His story serves as a powerful reminder of the ongoing challenges faced by those standing up for their beliefs amidst legal and societal pressures. From the corridors of American justice to the political landscapes of Jerusalem, this episode offers a comprehensive look at the intersection of law, politics, and human rights.
SPEAKER 06 :
We got a major update. Wisconsin judge indicted by grand jury. Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever, this is Seculo. We want to hear from you. Share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110. And now your host, Logan Sekulow.
SPEAKER 05 :
Welcome to Sekulow. We’ve got a great show lined up for you. Will Haynes is joining me. One of our clients, Zach Knott, who you may have remembered. He was one of the pro-life, if you say, demonstrators, protesters who got in a little bit of trouble. The ACLJ jumped into action. We’re going to hear from him. firsthand coming up a little bit later. And then Jeff Balaban will be joining us later in the broadcast coming to you from ACLJ Jerusalem, a packed show. But of course, the leading story of the day is that judge in Wisconsin, the one who was… What do you want to call that? I’m trying to find the right words for sneaking. Yeah, we said Scooby-Dooing. We’ve said that quite often. Scooby-Dooing. Yeah, which I don’t know if that’s a great term for it because she was like the villain in Scooby-Doo. That’s true. Getting them out of those doors. Yeah, these meddling kids. Finding secret doors, Benny Hill style. Getting them out the back door. And you’re making sure that these people who, by the way, this person, we’ve talked about this before, who was snuck out the back door, was charged at that moment for assault, an assault of a man and a woman. So it wasn’t talking about somebody who was in there for great reasons to begin with. And of course this judge decided, Oh no, we see ISIS coming. We got to get rid of these people. We got to hide them. We got to. And now of course she has been indicted by a grand jury.
SPEAKER 07 :
That’s right. So the charges that were brought by the federal government in federal court against this judge have now turned into an indictment by a grand jury and in the Eastern District of Wisconsin. And the indictment is for two counts, one being a violation of 18 U.S.C. Section 1701, sorry, 1071, not 1701, 1071, concealing a person from arrest. And the second count is in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1505, obstruction of proceedings against before departments, agencies, and committees. And it even says, Hannah C. Dugan knowingly concealed EFR, a person whose arrest, a warrant, and process had been issued under provisions of the law of the United States. so as to prevent the discovery and arrest of EFR after notice and knowledge of the fact that a warrant and process had been issued for the apprehension of EFR. So the grand jury returned a true bill. She is now indicted. Her first hearing is tomorrow before a federal judge where she will enter a plea. So this is moving. She is at the mercy of the court now.
SPEAKER 05 :
She’s ready to be done with this, realizing you made probably a pretty big mistake. And by the way, I wanted to clarify, it was not for assault, Will. It was just for three counts of battery. So, you know, just to make sure we… are clear saying the correct say the correct terms that this person was charged with three counts of battery including upon a woman that is what’s happening by the way But they are so distorted, and I don’t even mean just these judges, because of course we have the judges who had people living with him and all that. I’m just talking about the world where they can’t see, especially the American people, they can’t see the actions that they’re taking. It is that, you know, you don’t want to say the Trump derangement syndrome because it comes off kind of hacky. But it really is, because you’re not going for your best judgment. You’re not even going for the law. Let’s say you were still violating the law, but you were doing it for your conscience. You’re doing it for… what you felt was right. You felt it was right to sneak out someone. Let’s just take away that they were there illegally. To sneak out someone who had been charged with battery of a woman. But, you know, because it had something to do with President Trump and the Trump administration, it couldn’t be good. We had to fight back against it. Look, phone lines are open for you. I want to hear your thoughts as well. 1-800-684-3110. It’s been a big week already here at the ACLJ. We can’t take the foot off of the gas. Now we had some significant victories. You’re going to hear about one of them firsthand from our client coming up in just a few minutes. We’re pro-life advocates over the last week. Thanks to your support and our media team and our legal team. We even saw the HHS. respond to an ACLJ article and take action. We’ll talk about that too coming up. We talked about yesterday. I think it’s important to reiterate. We’ll be right back on Sekulow. Welcome back to Sekulow. Phone lines are lining up, but there’s still a few open for you at 1-800-684-3110. We’re, of course, talking about the Wisconsin judge who was indicted now for hiding, not only hiding, helping an escape, which, by the way, the person was caught almost immediately out the back door, essentially a jury door, while he was there being charged with counts of battery. And Will, I think we need to kind of back this up a little bit and tell the whole story and what happened here that then led to now a judge in Wisconsin having to go to federal court herself.
SPEAKER 07 :
because of this situation that’s right so the individual who is in the country illegally actually had been deported once already was scheduled to appear before this judge on the charges you talked about in the first uh segment of the broadcast they were battery charges so violent crime against another individual actually two individuals in this case and the attorney for the individual and the clerk alerted the judge that it appeared that there were members of ice at the court that day. And that upset the judge. There were reports that she was visibly upset in the charging document. She came out and started to, basically get in a heated exchange with the members of ice they tried to de-escalate it she told them that they had to go see the chief judge which they did they did nothing to make this uh worse than it should have been uh and she was the one who was visibly upset by them being there Then when they left to go to see the chief judge to talk it through, the chief judge confirmed, yes, you have a warrant, which you had shown to the judge. You’re allowed to be here. Just don’t go into a courtroom and make an arrest. Wait till the proceedings are over and you’re good to go. During that time, the judge looked around, tried to see if any other agents were there, missed one who was in plain clothes because they didn’t come in in body armor and things of that nature. They actually do these arrests at courthouses many times because they know it lowers the risk to the public and to the officers and to the individual being arrested because they have to go through security. They know they won’t be armed. It’s a full process. It’s actually a much safer place to make an arrest like this. She then goes in, pulls the attorney for the illegal immigrant aside, and instructs the illegal immigrant to sit in the jury box. They discuss and then escort him through the jury chambers, through court chambers, non-public areas. And then the ICE agent that saw this take place notices they pop out a different door on the other side of the elevators, and then they pursue the individual, making the arrest shortly thereafter. But the victims of the crime were there for that hearing and they were confused. The prosecutor was confused. What happened to the client? And they were told that matter has been dismissed for the day. We will return to it another time. The entire charade that was put on was to help protect someone that was before her court on charges. So one, she’s supposed to be an impartial arbiter of the law. She’s already showing partiality in this case because she’s helping the person escape.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right. And when you look at this, I don’t want to put words or thoughts into the brain of this judge. I haven’t talked to her. None of us have. But you know, in this moment, she thought, I’m a hero. I am doing the hero’s work here. I am helping this person evade ICE, evade being deported. But again, as Will stated, we’re not talking about some hero family man. We’re talking about someone who’s being charged for assaulting a woman and another man. Someone who had been deported already due to criminal engagement. This is not just one of those sob stories. which I, look, I can sympathize with that and say, hey, or hey, even if it was the person on the other side, what if it was the person that was attacked? You go, okay, maybe you could give that person a little grace. But this is where it gets out of hand. And this is where, look, I think a lot of us have to take our, you know, heart hat, if you will, and go, okay, where does this actually live in terms of the law? And not only the law, Where does it live in terms of morality? Where is the morality in this? Look, I mean, I don’t know if he wasn’t convicted yet. He didn’t have the opportunity to be convicted yet. So of course you’re innocent until proven guilty, but you’re not talking about someone who was brought up on these charges for nothing and for no reason. So now the judge herself has to be taken into court, into federal court. This is what honestly we’re wasting our federal dollars on. You know, going after judges, who are taking the law into their own hands and not even doing it in a way that a judge usually would be taking the law into their own hands. Why, as Will said, Scooby-Dooing someone out the back door so they can evade being caught federally.
SPEAKER 07 :
And what you’re also seeing here is why this is so dangerous. One, this is supposed to be a judge, someone that gives faith to the legal system, to the judicial system, to that process, and instead is tearing down Americans’ faith in our very systems. But now you’re starting to see that creep into Congress and other elected officials. We saw the mayor of Newark and also some members of Congress that stormed an ICE detention facility, broke in, threw the gate, crashed the gate. This wasn’t them protesting or arranging some tour as oversight for members of Congress. This was trying to forcibly enter this facility. And when you start to have this trickle of bad behavior, This is the party, the Democrat Party, that will not stop talking about January 6th. And no matter how much condemnation or you look at the facts and say whatever about it, they will not give it up as the worst day in American history. And it was a bad day. But they’re not leading by example in their party of saying we follow the rule of law. We follow the proceedings of our government. They are trying to subvert things like warrants from a judge or breaking into detention facilities. They are leading by poor example. And the slippery slope you see here is not that America becomes less divided and more likely to have more civil conversations and debate. You are seeing the elected leaders do bad behavior, which is a bad signal to their constituents. And then you have, instead of the leadership of the party condemning it, You have statements like this from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. This is a bite three where she’s warning the administration about coming after members of her party. Let’s go ahead and roll that.
SPEAKER 02 :
They know that they cannot come for assault. And recently what they said is that DHS is allegedly looking into arresting members of Congress who were showing up for their legal and constitutional obligation to conduct oversight. If anyone’s breaking the law in this situation, it’s not members of Congress. It’s the Department of Homeland Security. It’s people like Tom Homan and Secretary Kristi Noem. You lay a finger.
SPEAKER 07 :
on someone on representative bonnie watson coleman on representative or any of the representatives that were there you lay a finger on them we are going to have a problem she says we’re going to have a problem uh the minority leader hakeem jeffries said this is a red line and they will find out what will happen if they try to do something like this this is the same party that said president trump has zero immunity right But yet all of a sudden, every member of Congress, because they’re allegedly doing oversight by forcing themselves into a detention facility and getting into a physical altercation. The mayor of Newark was arrested. That is protected that they are immune from. No, if you break the law. We are a nation of laws. You should be punished and tried if you have broken the law. It goes to a grand jury. Charges are brought. Grand jury. Court process. They are trying to throw all of the constitutional norms out as they try to go over here and go over and say there’s a constitutional crisis. They are creating this in real time.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, exactly. Of course, these are talking points. These are something that AOC has been doing. And look, you know what’s coming, and that is a presidential run for AOC. I mean, I think there’s no way it doesn’t happen in our lifetime. There’s no way it doesn’t happen, by the way, I think, very soon. She, I think, is now qualified to be able to do it, to be able to run. Look at those videos. She makes a big impact. Don’t laugh at those things when they start happening because it becomes a – It becomes morality. As I said, they’re preaching a morality, not a law. So you’re saying they always go after conservatives for that. You’re trying to make your morality part of the law. They are actually doing the opposite, which is saying our morality may break the law, but therefore it is still superior and therefore more patriotic.
SPEAKER 07 :
And just to clarify, you said now she is qualified to be president. She’s 35. You’re saying constitutionally you weren’t trying to make an endorsement for president.
SPEAKER 05 :
I was talking about the law.
SPEAKER 07 :
Right. Right. Unlike them.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah. OK. Hey, phone lines are open for you. We’re going to take some more coming up. 1-800-684-3110. Stay on hold if you’re on hold. In the next segment, though, we’re going to be joined by one of our clients here at the ACLJ that we were able to swiftly get to work on. And it’s really a wonderful story. If you wonder why you support the work of the ACLJ, you’re going to want to stay tuned and hear from our guest coming up, Zach Knotts, in the next segment of the show. Don’t go anywhere. We’re going to continue the conversation as well on this topic as well as head to ACLJ Jerusalem with Jeff Balaban to talk about all of what’s happening, including President Trump’s trip to Saudi Arabia. and around that area as well, and Qatar, and we’re going to break it all down coming up live from our offices in Jerusalem. Stay tuned and support the work of the ACLJ. Big wins this week, and we couldn’t do it without you. Go to ACLJ.org. Welcome back to Seculo. You know, it’s always great when we’re able to be joined by an ACLJ client, someone that we’ve been able to work with, someone to be able to be successful with. And we are excited to be joined by Zach Knotts, who is joining us right now live and thankfully able to do this interview live. Zach, thanks for coming on today. Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me. It’s an honor to be here. All right. Let’s let’s start at the beginning here. Give us a little background on your ministry, what you’ve been doing and who you are, and then we’ll get to why we needed to get involved.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, absolutely. So my wife and I go to the Northeast Ohio Women’s Center in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, every Saturday morning. Been going for about five months now, and we minister to the women. We offer whatever assistance they need while we’re out there, whether it’s if they want to give their child up for adoption, if they need financial assistance, whatever it is, we’re there prepared and willing to give whatever they need before they go inside. And it’s been a challenge just because of the resistance we face, but that’s what we do. Every Saturday morning, we do it for the glory of God. And we’re grateful to be there. My wife was actually saved from an abortion. So that’s why we have a really personal touch to this. Her mother was on her way back to her appointment, and God literally gave her a vision. She was not a Christian at the time, would become a Christian for about 20 years. And she saw exactly what happens back there, blood all over the walls, saw demons manifesting, and she ran out screaming. So my wife’s life was literally saved through a supernatural intervention by God. So we have a very personal touch to, and we’re very grateful to be able to be the voice of the voiceless on the sidewalk every Saturday.
SPEAKER 05 :
For sure. And you talk about some of the resistance that you’ve encountered. Now, obviously it gets amped up a little bit in the coming weeks or the previous weeks, But before that, what did that look like on these streets when you were there trying to convince people to talk to people, to counsel people, to make the right decision, to choose life there? But what is that resistance? Because I think when you hear someone like Ohio, a place that, you know, Midwest, we’re not talking about, you’re not doing this in L.A., you’re not doing this in New York, where you feel like the resistance would be stronger. But what is it like there? The clinic has eight to ten patients.
SPEAKER 08 :
every Saturday. So they park in the back. So we have about 10 or 15 seconds to try to speak as loudly as we can so they can hear us over the kazoos, the whistles, the cowbells, the tambourines and the music. So it’s very difficult to get our voices heard. We have such a short period of time to say anything just to try to get our voices heard. And in between then, of course, the Escorts will mock us. They’ll say vile things to us. So it’s difficult because you really do have, it’s 10 to 15 seconds, if that, between life and death. So it’s been really hard just even getting our voices heard. So that’s why we wanted to use that.
SPEAKER 05 :
Just for clarity. So the escorts and the people around them are making these kind of noises and racket and the music and these, like that’s coming from just the people, the escorts walking these women into the facility?
SPEAKER 08 :
Every single time. And I mean, with cowbells, they usually have a, you know, sometimes have a boombox of music playing on a car that’s parked, one of the escorts car. And then, you know, the kazoos whistles, it gets really loud. So we’re literally trying to be heard over that boombox.
SPEAKER 05 :
parade and celebration of death it feels like I mean that is so bizarre to hear and I mean you think of it as this moment of sadness the moment that we all that everyone if you made that decision that we disagree with it obviously we it’s an important one and we think that you should be treating it as a sad moment but again like you said they’re creating this sort of chaos but the ACLJ has to get involved and well I’ll let you take the next question here because now things get interesting
SPEAKER 07 :
Even though the clinic employees or volunteers and escorts are clearly causing a disturbance with their noise, but something happened to you one faithful Saturday that hadn’t happened before. Describe what happened. Sure.
SPEAKER 08 :
So I had a small, you know, hand or it was just a headset that I would have. And I like to use that because I can talk my normal voice. My wife and I will chill. She’ll preach the gospel as well. And we use our normal talking voice so we don’t have to yell. Well, that died. And I went and got the megaphone that I had and was using that to preach the gospel. I want the women inside the clinic to hear me. So you decide to change your minds and run out. And the battery died. And I wasn’t even really paying attention to my surroundings. We were continuing to engage the escorts and just preach Christ to them. And three cop cars pulled up. Again, I was completely oblivious to it because I was focused on the conversation. And then Sergeant comes up and says, you’re coming with us. And I’m confused. I’m like, what for? What did I do? And he says, it’s not the time for questions. You’re coming with us. And then I’m still confused. And then he threatens to place me under arrest if I don’t walk with him. So under threat of arrest, I walked with him to the squad car and they put me in the back and they charged me with disorderly conduct for being too loud and causing annoyance or inconvenience was the actual charge.
SPEAKER 05 :
And that’s where the ACLJ has to get involved, because this seems like an issue that we would have been doing in the 1990s. It feels like it is well settled what your laws are, what the rules are. And in this situation, we were able to take action. Now that action, though, Again, though you’d think this is settled law, Will, it’s not how it works.
SPEAKER 07 :
That’s right. So they were taking you to trial over this. And the ACLJ was standing with you. But on Friday, all that changed when we were able to achieve a victory. on your behalf so that you would not face the legal system even before it got to the trial, able to secure a victory. Just tell us your thoughts on the resolution to that and how God provided in this time when you were facing the strong arm of the government.
SPEAKER 08 :
Absolutely. I couldn’t be more grateful for the ACLJ. I mean, when I sent the email, I mean, that night I got a response from Liam and he called me and he’s just been phenomenal. Everybody that’s helped, you know, ever since. But, you know, going into the trial because I had seen and I followed the case, the docket meticulously, and I had seen everything that the ACLJ wrote and just the depth. of their analysis and calling out the law for what it was unconstitutional really made me feel just so good and so well you know protected not only by god but through the legal system with the aclj i knew everything was going to resolve in my favor i had such complete peace on friday and like you said we had victory and i truly could be more grateful to god for just the providence and you know being in this situation for his glory and then also with the aclj and this the phenomenal legal defense they provided for me i’m truly grateful
SPEAKER 05 :
Zach, thank you so much. And I’m so glad you’re able to join us. Look, a lot of these cases take years and years and we’re not able to have the clients on air. When I say, and I tell this to our audience all the time, when you go to aclj.org slash help, you fill out that little form, you fill out that email, you’re going to get in touch with a lawyer, as he said, very quickly. If it’s within scope, you’re going to hear from our incredible team. Very quickly. And the team thinks three dimensionally, five dimensionally, 10 dimensionally, as I said, because though it is over for you, thank God, Zach, you were able to continue what you’re doing. It is over for other people in Zach’s position, but we’re not done representing you.
SPEAKER 07 :
We’re going to now take a civil suit against the very ordinance that was not being applied equally under the law. It was targeting the pro-life ministry there. It wasn’t going after those that were causing a ruckus with noisemakers. And so we are proud that we can now stand alongside you to represent you to try and push back against the law so that this won’t happen again.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, exactly. And that’s one thing that I love about the ACLJ is just setting a precedent for people like me and my wife and our friends on the sidewalk. They’re going to be the voice of the voiceless and just fighting against tyranny is what it is. Like you said, they, you know, charged me, but, you know, the escorts were making… just as much as not more noise. So to be able to do this and to just, you know, tell everybody that’s on the sidewalk preaching the gospel and sharing the good news of Christ with women escorts everybody. You have a right to be there and you have a right for your voice to be heard. And you don’t, you know, if the government comes after you, you have to fight back and stand there for the glory of God.
SPEAKER 05 :
Zach, keep fighting the good fight. We appreciate you being out there and willing to take a stand for life. And the ACLJ is available to you as well. If you’re listening or watching right now, go to ACLJ.org slash help. If it’s within scope, we’ll take care of it. Also, you want to make sure we are there for you when you need it and when people like Zach need it at no cost to them. And we can do that, obviously, with your support. So if you want to make a donation, it’s a great time to do it. Hopefully you’re inspired by this story from Zach. All right, we’ll be right back with more on Sekulow.
SPEAKER 06 :
keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Sekulow. And now your host, Logan Sekulow.
SPEAKER 05 :
Welcome back to Sekulow. We are going to be taking your calls and comments throughout this segment, so give us a call at 1-800-684-3110. Thanks to Zach for coming on. If you missed him, go back to the last half hour of the broadcast later on when you get the archived version on there through YouTube or Rumble or ACLJ.org. Go back and listen to him. I think it’s amazing to hear what the ACLJ legal team is able to do and to jump into action so fast and take care of things, again, at no cost. for our clients which is really wonderful and it’s not it’s only at no cost because people like you support the work financially so again it’s been a big week already we got to keep going we’ve had a lot of wins which is great it’s a great week of wins but the fight continues on so be a part of it right now whether that is what’s going on in Massachusetts for our pro-life cases whether that is in Ohio like you heard the HHS again this is one that we talked about yesterday and I think we got to reiterate it the HHS just launched an investigation into a hospital that was accused of forcing five pro-life ultrasound technicians to perform abortions. And by the way, where did they find out about that? Because those people were our clients and they read the blog on ACLJ.org. That’s right. People from the HHS decided to launch an investigation because of the ACLJ, because of your support. We were able to have the best of the best creating content in our media team, I mean, that’s a real big thanks to our media team for writing incredible content, putting up incredible content each and every day, but also to our legal team. And the HHS took notice because of people like you who support the work. And we know how important that is. And we can’t thank you enough. Go to ACLJ.org today if you want to become an ACLJ champion as well. That’s someone that gives on a monthly basis. I’ll take a call real quick off the top. Let’s go to Bill who’s calling in Texas online too. Bill, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 11 :
How you doing, guys? Always an excellent show. But the reason I’m calling is because my dad retired, New York City police, 23 years with the five mafia families. And what this judge did parallels if somebody was to try to break all those guys with their commission trial, all those big bosses being brought in. This is under RICO. She’s involved in racketeering, influence a corrupt organization.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, she’s there right now. She’s going to be charged soon. Is it tomorrow?
SPEAKER 07 :
She will have her first hearing.
SPEAKER 05 :
She’s been indicted.
SPEAKER 07 :
She was already charged, has gone to a grand jury, and has now been indicted on these charges, and she’ll enter a plea tomorrow.
SPEAKER 05 :
It sounds like something from a mafia movie. It sounds like something where the corruption is so loud, it doesn’t even feel real. It doesn’t feel real that a judge would sneak someone who is there for assault out the back door. It doesn’t even make any sense other than they’ve believed some sort of lie that anything this administration does is evil. Therefore, let’s help people who are being charged with assaulting women. Multiple accounts of battery. But because they may get thrown out of the country because they’re not here legally, it doesn’t matter if they are beating women. Let’s get him out the back door. And of course they were caught immediately. And then this judge charged this judge now up for a first hearing. I mean, again, like, like you said, it sounds like something out of a movie. It sounds so extreme that it can’t be real. And I, what I’m hoping is that it’s being taken care of so quickly. This does stop any, uh, you should say copycat judges from doing this again.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, and you brought up earlier that the judge probably thought, and obviously not putting any thoughts in her head or words in her mouth, but that the actions, the way that this went down, as is alleged in the charging document, is that she probably felt like she was the good guy. She was the hero. Absolutely. Here’s the problem. The people on the left will try to make her the hero still. She may serve jail time if convicted. I mean, it can be. She may not because she is a judge and maybe they have a more lenient sentence. But at the end of the day, I can see a book coming out about this that is gobbled up by the left because, oh, this is the game plan for how to stand up. What are they standing up to? Not against President Trump. Against the rule of law is what they’re standing up against.
SPEAKER 05 :
Again, if it was getting the person out of there who had been assaulted… I think you have a different story. You have a different heart string pull. But that’s not what happened. I’m not saying that’s right either. I’m just saying at least you can see a clearer path to some sort of morality in this. What you saw here was just the typical President Trump and the Trump administration doing something I don’t like. And they’re doing everything they do I don’t like. Therefore, the answer is to violate whatever they’re doing. We’re going to get right back with ACLJ Jerusalem team. Jeff Balaban live from Jerusalem. We’ll be right back. Welcome back to Seculo. There are some phone lines open for you if you want to get on hold right now because we are going to go live to ACLJ Jerusalem. You can give us a call to discuss any of the topics we brought up today or any of the topics that maybe are on your mind. Go call in right now at 1-800-684-3110. We’ll take as many of those calls in the last segment as we can. Let’s head over though to ACLJ Jerusalem. Jeff Balaban is joining us live from Israel. Jeff, there’s obviously a lot of news coming out of the Middle East right now. President Trump has been making his appearances, not in Israel, but throughout the Middle East. Of course, there’s been some controversy with that, what it looks like, what’s the good, what’s the bad, but let’s take a first look at what’s going on in Israel. What’s the tone there right now? We did see the release of, and I think we need to make sure it’s clear, the release of Eden Alexander, the last American hostage alive that was being kept a lot of american news i feel like has spun this as the last hostage but we know that’s not the case but what are the feelings and vibes going on in jerusalem as people are leaving now their normal 24 7 life uh as normal as at least they can
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s a great question, Logan. The truth is that it’s very different what’s going on now from, let’s say, a year ago at the height of the beginning months of the October 7 war. Jerusalem had very few sirens, for example, whereas Tel Aviv and places closer to the south were getting a lot of rockets and obviously up north from Hezbollah. Well, the IDF has, thank God, taken care of the immediate threat from Hezbollah, at least in terms of missiles being launched from Gaza, missiles being launched, they’re much rarer. But we still have the Houthis back in Yemen, you know, quite a long way away. And so things have morphed. So for example, Jerusalem, which seldom got sirens, there were other security fears. Now we get sirens virtually every day. The sirens are there’s much more advanced time because it’s launched from Yemen. So the idea of is able to track it through satellites and other means. And the app which we all carry with us that gives us alerts, it used to be you had seconds to get to a shelter. Now we have a pre alert saying there will be an alert in a few in two to three minutes. And then there’s another alert and you get to go to a shelter. Now, what’s the risk here? The risk here is A, as just happened a week or two ago, actually last week, a Houthi rocket could make it through the defenses and land in Israel. And that could be in Jerusalem because they’re not so precisely targeted. But B, more likely when they have an alert here, it covers a huge swath of the country because if they take out the missile while on route, it could be shrapnel and debris that’s deadly that falls. Obviously, Obviously, much less deadly than a direct explosion, so it’s worth doing. But it does mean that our lives are interrupted. But I will say that it tends to be more, I don’t know how to say this, it’s not, shouldn’t be normal. It still feels like a Western society. But, you know, we walk into stairwells or we go to a bomb shelter and we’re woken up in the middle of the night now by sirens fairly regularly here. Still, that is the new normal here in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER 07 :
A follow-up question to that, because you did talk about the military action, and we know that last night that Israel launched an attack in Gaza on Mohamed Senwar, who was the brother of Yahya Senwar, who was killed earlier by the IDF. And they haven’t been able to confirm whether or not he was taken out by this attack, but it would be another major victory at dismantling the leadership of that horrific terrorist organization that has been plaguing Israel with their terror for so long. What would the implications be if it turns out that they have gotten yet another high leadership, especially in the military wing of Hamas at this time?
SPEAKER 04 :
It’s a great question. I think it’s a balance. In other words, Israel is concerned that at some point, President Trump, who wants a peace deal, is going to pull them back, possibly. Now, there’s no sign that he’s going to do it publicly, but there is a concern here that there’s a lot more work to get done because Gaza, well, Hamas is obviously pure evil. But the thing is, It’s hard to identify, it’s impossible, frankly, to identify any other organization in public life in Gaza that’s not equally evil, right? The people who came over on October 7th, a fraction were Hamas. The rest were people who were other terrorist groups and then just regular citizens who support these terrorist groups. And it’s hard to find anyone in Gaza who don’t support these terrorist groups. And so these implications are Israel keeps on focusing on Hamas because the world knows that sort of was identified as the ones who launched the war as the government of… of Gaza, but it’s still a morass. There’s still, it’s really impossible to coexist with them. And so part of this has to do with the whole geopolitical situation now where we have the president in terms of Saudi Arabia is very powerful. The balance of power there versus Iran, which Israel weakened Iran and thereby strengthened Saudi Arabia. Now, Saudi Arabia has never been a warm friend to Israel. It’s been an enemy, but it’s also had a lot of side dealings because they’ve had a shared interest. And Donald Trump seeks to up that ante and up the interest so that there will be nash you know naturalized normalized relations the problem is that the saudis are going to push very hard against that and want a lot of things that won’t necessarily be in israel’s best interest plus there’s syria at play because that whole country has collapsed now and so there are many forces there and what the president is looking at is a brand new world where his peacemaking and diplomacy could reshape the middle east the question is really here in israel What might be the cost? What might be the benefits? And those are still in process. It could be, honestly, it could be the most beneficial future. It could be an entirely new world, or it could be the opposite. It really depends very much on Israel’s strength in negotiating versus, for example, the Saudis.
SPEAKER 07 :
And Jeff, I wanted to actually get right into that as we see President Trump yesterday in Saudi Arabia, today in Qatar. This is a different type of Middle East trip for a U.S. president. This is the first U.S. president to go to Qatar, for better or for worse. They are a U.S. ally. However, there is a lot of issues with that alliance. As we know, they have… given shelter to the leadership of Hamas. We also know that to some degree that was a strategic move to be able to allegedly keep an eye on them. But we also know how October 7th turned out. Needless to say, it’s very complex. Everyone knows the Middle East is the most complex region in the world. And one of the major reasons why peace between countries is so elusive for thousands of years. This isn’t a new idea. However, you do see President Trump, the negotiator that he is, going and genuinely wanting peace in the world, wanting to end war, wanting to end bloodshed and killing. We also know the strained relationship that has been talked about in the media, that it’s not as friendly as you said the other day, maybe, but that is at least a lot better than saying it’s not as antagonistic as it was under the Biden administration. But really… Israel, what do you think Israel needs to do that as President Trump looks to expand on the Abraham Accords, which were a big triumph of his first term? What does Israel need to do right now to ensure that it isn’t a lopsided negotiation where Saudi Arabia, who is making President Trump look like a king there? They definitely know how to play to the audience that is before them. What does Israel need to do to make sure that this is a negotiation where they aren’t getting the bad end of a deal?
SPEAKER 04 :
So there’s a lot there. And, you know, Jay, obviously, Jay Sekulow likes saying that it’s nine-dimensional chess, and it is, in terms of policy and diplomacy and politics here in the Middle East. Okay, well, let’s go back to the beginning of the segment where Logan asked about or mentioned Idan Alexander, the last American Israeli hostage to be released or to be left that is now released. But again, there are 58 other hostages that we know of that were waiting for their release as well. And there was a big controversy here in Israel because it was reported that he would be flying to Qatar. And people were outraged by that because no one here sees Qatar as a friend at all. They see it as a very self-interested enemy, which has played a game over successive American administrations. It played a very different game under Obama than under Trump than under Biden, now under Trump. And it always tries to play this game. We have a Ford military base there, but a lot of people want it gone. Qatar is not our friend. Qatar has been hosting the terrorists who launched October 7th and hiding them. It is a terroristic enemy supporter. There’s no question about it, but it’s trying to survive. It also has to worry about Iran, and now less so thanks to Israel’s military activity against Iran, and thanks to the fact that Donald Trump isn’t like Biden and Obama before him, really propping up Iran the same way, the regime. And so Qatar itself is now trying to triangulate as are the Saudis. So what does Israel have to do here? Well, Israel has to recognize it is a new world. And that Israel, if Israel, the stronger Israel is, the stronger it stakes out its claim, not just to the sliver of land now called Israel, but to the entirety of the indigenous Jewish Holy Land, which includes a great portion of, for example, Syria and Lebanon, which we need for the protective area to be separated from the hostile forces that want to destroy Israel and the Jewish people. Well, those were historically, biblically, legally, morally, legally and morally, by the way, also the Jewish people’s. Now, the state of Israel accepted a much narrower sliver of land. Israel should, in my opinion, be much more aggressively saying, all of this should be up for discussion. Those borders were drawn by Europeans, colonialists on the way out in the 20th century. Well, those borders have collapsed. Those countries were not stable. Israel is stable because it stands alone as a Jewish state. And so other countries need to stand alone. There are Christian states in the region that need to be founded potentially. So the more aggressive Israel is, the more they’ll have a chance against the Saudis and the Qataris. The weaker they are, the more they seek approval, the more danger it’s going to be for them. I’ll say something else. You know, audiences like ACLJ’s, those Americans who largely did support because of support for life and other social issues and because of the background in the Bible are more likely have been Trump supporters than, for example, Biden supporters. Really, their voices need to be heard as well, which is Israel’s survival is at stake. All these other Arab nations, there are dozens of them. OK, they’re massive. Their survival is not at stake. This is the one Jewish state. Its survival absolutely is at stake. And the more aggressive Israel can be, the more noise that Israel supporters and Jewish state supporters make in America, the better it will be because Donald Trump is sensitive to that. The Republicans are sensitive to that.
SPEAKER 05 :
Sorry, Jeff, not to cut you off. We are just running out of time. We’ll be right back. I told you it’d be a packed show. It was. We had so many great guests, so many great moments, but now we get to hear from the most important voice in the room, and that’s you. We got a few lines open, so if you want to call in, this is the last chance to do it for the day at 1-800-684-3110. If you’re watching online, by the way, if you’re watching on YouTube… I encourage you to hit that subscribe button. It seems like, hey, Glitch Gang, feels like we don’t really need you anymore because it seems like we have fixed the problem finally. Let us know, though. Make sure of that. Put it in the comments. Know we appreciate all of your support through that sort of trying time for those who have been watching on YouTube. But it seems like we have figured out the issue, and thank you to our team for working on that so hard. Let’s go to Paul, who is calling. On YouTube, from YouTube, not on YouTube, from YouTube in Virginia. Go ahead, Paul, with your question or comment.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, hi. My question is about the segment where that New Jersey facility had congressmen who kind of broke their way into the facility. They do have oversight. They do have the right to go in and visit, but there are protocols. There’s guidelines. I’ve seen the guidelines. The Department of Homeland Security put those on X. They are not to bring in phones, knives, any kind of contraband. So there’s a check in procedure. And there’s also an issue of they’re not supposed to be in with a mixed group. The mayor was there. There were other protesters, I understand. So they violated that. They’re supposed to follow the directions of the officers. And they didn’t. They were pushing them.
SPEAKER 05 :
So publicity stunts. I think everyone knows this, but I think you’re right. Of course, I think there should be able to have some sort of oversight that actually our representatives can go in and see what’s happening in these facilities. Make sure they are up to snuff. Make sure they’re doing what they’re supposed to be doing. I don’t think any of us have a problem with that. I don’t think you should have a problem with that. It’s when they violate the law to push forward their narrative. Again, they’re the moral heroes in this, even if it goes against and causes potential violence. This is totally a publicity stunt, a photo op, Will.
SPEAKER 07 :
That’s right. And when you hear from the minority leader of the House, Hakeem Jeffries, how he phrased this is it should be a leader of a party saying, We will talk to our members. We want to see how this shakes out. But our members should not be violating any laws in their furtherance of their oversight as members of the House of Representatives of the United States. instead he has a completely different tone and this was at his weekly press uh conference let’s go ahead and play byte eight so you can hear how the democrat leader in the house is framing if anything happens to members of congress by date mr leader good afternoon
SPEAKER 10 :
What would you, your statement the other day after there was this incident in Newark, you said they better not touch our members. Correct. What happens if they were to go and arrest these members or if they would try to sanction them during the House of Representatives? They’ll find out. What would you do? They’ll find out. Of course, I mean, doesn’t that broach a… They’ll find out. Doesn’t that go across… That’s a red line. What’s the red line, though? I mean, I know we have the speech… It’s a red line. It’s very clear.
SPEAKER 07 :
It’s a red line. It’s very clear. They’ll find out. It’s so aggressive and threatening when this is the same party. that was so loudly proclaiming that a president of the United States should not have any immunity of any sort for official acts while they are president of the United States. That is what they have put on the record dozens, hundreds, maybe thousands of times as a party. Now, when the question is legitimately talking about If there was an arrest attempt of members of Congress, and now just like this judge, the arrest attempt of the judge was because of alleged crime she has now been indicted on. Yeah. If it were something like that, he’s saying they better not touch our members. And what would happen if you were to?
SPEAKER 05 :
They’ll find out. Exactly. They’re putting, again, threatening language into there. It doesn’t sound not dissimilar to Chuck Schumer’s. The whirlwind will be on you, Kavanaugh. And then, of course, they’re getting death threats. This is the kind of verbiage they like to use. And again, to whip up their supporters. I want to go ahead and take a couple more calls real quick. Tammy’s been on hold for a very long time. Tammy, sorry for the delay. You’re on the air.
SPEAKER 01 :
Hi there. First, I want to know how your dad is. But I have questions about Qatar. I’ve heard about Qatar in the news with Trump, but before that, it was all about Qatar funding the protesters and attacking the students and just harassing and terrorizing our citizens if they were from Israel. And I was just wondering, how does that all work?
SPEAKER 05 :
How does it square up? I think… I think Tammy, first, to respond to your question about my dad, he was on the show yesterday. You should go listen to that. He’s been on about once a week for the last few weeks here, but busy guy. But Tammy, when it comes to Cutter, It’s an interesting situation. I can’t say it’s all black and white or clear. Certainly, as you can go listen to Jeff Balaban’s point of view from ACLJ Jerusalem, who was just on, you’re going to hear probably a very different version of what their relationship is with Israel based on what their relationship is with the United States. Of course, technically.
SPEAKER 07 :
They are an ally. Well, the largest U.S. military installation in the Middle East is in Doha, which is the capital of Qatar. And so there is a strategic partnership there with a big, very large Air Force base there that was used in our campaign against ISIS and other terror groups. So. strategic partnership in that way. They also are one of the largest funders of universities in America, foreign funders, and their ideology not always in line with what America first would be. Now, the president is there signing investment deals. I would say mostly the alliance there is military and defense related, but not necessarily sharing the same values with the United States.
SPEAKER 05 :
President Trump has been very clear that his goal is to stop the killing. Overall, that can be said in Ukraine and Russia, that can be said in Israel and Gaza, that he just wants no more bloodshed. And I think that’s probably the right move. I think that’s probably the Christian move, if you want to say, from the sense of the idea of saying, we want the death to end. Now getting there is maybe a little bit harder than just that. Let’s go ahead quickly and go to Wendy. Wendy, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yes. I wanted to ask with the judge and the person’s lawyer, defense lawyer, isn’t it abating, I’m sorry, aiding and abetting a criminal? Why isn’t the lawyer being held accountable for anything? I don’t know.
SPEAKER 05 :
If the judge tells you to leave and you’re the lawyer of that person, the person, you may leave.
SPEAKER 07 :
Right. Yeah. Now, we don’t know all the facts because all of the charging document was focused on the actions of the judge. And it does describe that the judge was saying that that That case was adjourned for the day and said, you go out this way. I don’t want to speculate on the involvement or the intent or anything of the attorney. And I feel like if the Department of Justice had reason to believe that there was an avenue there, they would have pursued it. They went very aggressively against the judge. I feel like, Wendy, to your answer, if they felt like that was something that had occurred and that they could allege that, they would have.
SPEAKER 05 :
All right, I want to say thank you, Wendy. Thank you everyone who called in. Again, if you want to support the work of the ACLJ, it’s been a big week of wins already. Thanks to our media team and our legal team. You saw the HHS get involved because of the ACLJ. That’s a result of the ACLJ’s direct work. They went to the website, they saw a blog, and they’re taking action for pro-life nurses and pro-life technicians. Got the big win in Massachusetts where we’re going to proceed on. It’s not over yet by any means, but at least it’s still alive. In Ohio, you saw that victory. You saw one of our clients on the show as well. This is the real work of the ACLJ that’s going on beyond the walls of this broadcast. But know how much this broadcast and that go hand in hand and why it’s important to have both. So go to ACLJ.org, make your donation today. If you become a champion, do it right now.
