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In this monumental episode, the hostages held for nearly two years have finally returned home. Our team reflects on the historic negotiations led by President Trump and the various emotions that come with seeing families reunited. As we celebrate this pivotal moment, we acknowledge the somber realities that remain for the families who lost loved ones.
SPEAKER 07 :
On today’s show, now that the hostages have been returned, the next phase of Trump’s plan is critical for peace.
SPEAKER 05 :
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 Sekula.
SPEAKER 07 :
Welcome to Sekula. Will Haines is in studio with me, executive producer of the show. We also have Mike Pompeo joining us in a couple segments and CeCe Heil, senior attorney here at the ACLJ. It’s a packed show. Of course, today’s the first day we are back live since yesterday’s historic achievement from the United States and President Trump, who definitely need to take a lot of credit for this as all of the hostages, the living hostages, have been returned home I can’t believe we’re saying it I can’t believe we’re here as we are on the precipice of a peace deal obviously that there is currently a ceasefire in place with some restrictions we’ll go through what that looks like but today is also another day to celebrate It’s also a day to mourn with the families of those families that will not be coming home, as we know that that was many people who did not survive. Of course, there are also many bodies and remains that have not been returned. Now, two cases, two ACLJ clients we know were part of this, including the twins who we saw reunited yesterday. We didn’t do a show yesterday. I was traveling. Jordan’s traveling. We also were working on this to make sure we had full confirmation. that our clients were back safe. They were back safe, and we also know, sadly, we’ll talk about this a little bit later, that the remains of one of our clients’ families was one of those that was returned. So again, there is excitement, there’s celebration, there’s also the true somber side of what looks to be the end of the war. President Trump claimed it to be the end of the war, we sure hope so i took yesterday to really just pray to watch all of the stories i tried to watch as many of the reunion videos as i could uh you know sort of the the stoic side of it the interesting side of it was seeing that the families were so emotional and the hostages were were as expected um A bit shocked, a bit emotionless sometimes, because remember, they have been being held in captivity for a number of years now. Who knows what they were going through? I tried to show my son yesterday. We were watching all the different news channels I was flipping through, and he’s aware of what’s going on. He’s almost 13, about to have his bar mitzvah. And I said, hey, you know, you should watch this. We were kind of flipping between the channels. And he’s like, well, what is the difference here? And I kind of told him, well, it’s like, you know, Fox will be a little more right leaning. MSNBC will be much more left leaning. You have CNN who claims to be a little bit more in the middle, but sometimes they have better international coverage. So we flipped over to CNN. And of course, the first thing he sees is Christiane Amapour saying that the hostages were likely kept better than the regular people of Gaza. You know, because they were the pawns in this. And of course, he not only laughs, he gets upset. It’s like, I can’t believe they would say that. These people have been hostages for multiple years. Because again, the backpedaling, now there is a peace plan and one that a lot of the world has had to… Thank President Trump, including those on the other side. A lot of them didn’t. Right. Especially in our own pot. It’s weird. It’s like the world did. We saw Keir Starmer come out with a very strong statement. Of course, he’s worried about his own political future, but make a very strong statement saying, yes, this was President Trump. We saw, obviously, pretty much every Republican. But we saw a lot of Democrats, 98% of the Democrats leaving out his name, which is really just a shame. Because, look, I’ve had issues with President Trump. I think he’s done really some great things. I think he’s done some things I disagree with. But there’s nothing you can take away from this moment being historic. And the fact that even if this is it, and I don’t think it is, I think we are headed towards a bigger peace plan. And we’re going to discuss that in the next segment. I’m going to let Will actually speak. I’m sorry, Will, I’m monologuing here. I’ve got a lot to say. We’re going to talk about that in the next segment coming up. And I want to hear from you. What are your thoughts on this? Because even if this is it, and it’s just that the hostages were free, that would be enough. That would be enough. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. If you’ve had 24 hours to think about it, I want your thoughts on this big moment for America, for Israel, for the Middle East, and the world. 1-800-684-3110. We’ll be right back with more on Sekulow. Welcome back to Seculo. We are going to be taking your calls at 1-800-684-3110. I’m going to kick it over to Will because I monologued enough here. Will, we are obviously looking at what the next step is of this process because it’s not over. And look, President Trump was questioned on Air Force One last night about that, saying, you know, Do you think you declared peace a little too early? What do you think? And he said, what, do you want more people to die? He kind of went around the question a bit. But there is more to be done. It’s not like this is the end. But like I said, even if it was the end, that’s a success. But there’s more to come.
SPEAKER 06 :
that’s right and this was a historic achievement uh the fact that for two years this was not an easy process uh the prior administration was not able to get anywhere close to this there were there were smaller uh hostage returns along the way but just extended the war in many ways but just so everyone knows aclj represented the families of 10 different hostages Eight of those have been released and are back home throughout the course of this two-year period. And two have sadly died as a result of being hostages. And one of those, we found out the remains were returned yesterday. And we’ll talk with CeCe more about that later in the program. She was a big part of the… As everyone knows that watches this, she oversees a lot of the international work of the ACLJ. So she was… integral in working with this, with your dad and with Jordan, as we’ve advocated for these hostages for two years. But we did sadly learn that the remains of one of the hostages we represented was returned yesterday. And that gives closure to the family. That is something that the Israeli government was adamant about. But there’s still 24 missing hostages that are dead that have not been returned. So that part of phase one isn’t technically complete. Hamas said they need more time to locate the remains of those hostages, but that work is not done yet. However, the 20 living Israeli hostages were returned, two of which they were twin brothers. their brother went with our team you’ll see that later to Washington DC early met with Leader Johnson the Speaker of the House and was able to meet with Democrats Republicans across the aisle advocating for the release of these hostages and 20 living Israeli hostages were returned after two years in captivity Israel freed nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners as a part of this brokered swap Some of those were individuals that were captured during this war. Others had been in prison a long time in Israel. But now is where, not that this part was easy, but comparatively, this was the easier part of what is a very ambitious plan from President Trump because now the work to get this broader peace in place and a different life for those in Gaza starts to begin. Now you know that Israel has already withdrawn to a certain demarcation line. They are not all the way in Gaza. They are starting to pull back their troops as a part of this plan. They will continue as different achievements and different benchmarks are met, withdraw further. The hard part now is Hamas disarming. Hamas needs to disarm and cede their control over Gaza. They were elected by Gazans about 20 years ago. when Israel fully withdrew from Gaza, but they never gave up power. And they have this power. They did not want to let go of the power. They were dictators in Gaza. They ruled with an iron fist. It was their way only. The Islamic resistance was the credo and the motto and the entire ideology of their government. so that is a big deal that we have gotten this far even and that they even signed on to this agreement to begin but the real hard work it’s not as if okay now we’re at this point let’s just hand it off and okay now we’ll just lay down our arms and move on we saw that Hamas executed in the street over 30 people that they believed worked with Israel on this of their own people yesterday so they aren’t disarmed yet So that big step about what happens next is what everyone needs to be watching. And that’s what we’re going to talk about with Secretary Pompeo in the next segment. Can they actually get there? Do they actually want to say, look, we are the ones that got the Palestinian cause this far. And it was because of our terror and because of our resistance that we got it there and take a step. a proverbial win for themselves not that you want to give them that but will they get to that point or will they keep thinking from the river to the sea and keep resisting and and have internal conflict and can’t get over that that next hurdle and that’s a big step i think keep thinking it absolutely
SPEAKER 07 :
Acting on it will be different when you have all of these other countries. When you saw what happened yesterday, President Trump flies to Egypt and there’s just every flag imaginable behind him pretty much. That’s a lot of countries who are going to be holding you accountable. You have to be concerned that if you start violating it, if you have any care for your own life, and look, I think they don’t, but I also think there is a group of people, like you said, or at like the seventh string Hamas right now, that they maybe do care a little bit more about their own human life and maybe they’re not going to violate it any further. That may be wishful thinking. We will see. I think we’ll see pretty quickly. What you got to give it, though, is that it’s only been a few months. It’s been 10 months of a President Trump term. And he was able to get this done. I think for those who said, yeah, was it day one? No, but it was year one. And I think that is equally as impressive in this moment. I want to take a call kind of about that. Let’s go ahead and go to Michael in Florida, who is watching on YouTube. Michael, go ahead.
SPEAKER 15 :
Gentlemen, I like you guys. I’m really over the moon over the hostages that have been released. I’ve just got two things that really concern me. First and foremost, I just am absolutely angry over Biden trying to take any piece of the credit for this. I realize that They had tried but failed epically before he did the transition. And then secondly, all of the people who are like in Congress who were, you know, at the podium saying free Palestine, free Palestine, free Palestine. All you hear from them right now are crickets.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, silence is definitely clearly coming from that side. You’re right. Now, when it comes to Biden taking credit for it, I do believe we have the statement. And then I have some commentary on that. Michael, maybe not exactly what you think, but let’s go ahead.
SPEAKER 06 :
So this is what President Biden, former President Biden, put on X. I’ll skip the first part. It says, the road to this deal was not easy. My administration worked relentlessly to bring hostages home, get relief to Palestinian civilians, and end the war. I commend President Trump and his team for their work to get a renewed ceasefire deal over the finish line. So yes, as Michael points out, he is in this post saying, look, we got it here. What this completely ignores is the Abraham Accords. And what you pointed out, Logan, the fact that all those nations were there, none of this was possible. So we may say President Trump got here in 10 months, but in reality, it’s four years in 10 months because of all the work that no Democrat president, no Republican president dared try to do.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, the idea, Michael, that this was the plan, that this was the Biden plan is hilarious enough He knows he’s not convincing anyone. Let the old man talk into the void. I mean, that’s kind of how I feel. If he wants to celebrate himself and pat himself on the back for this, whatever. Who’s it hurt? None of us. Because we all know the truth. We all see Democrats coming out. Bill Clinton. None of them say Joe Biden did this. Hillary Clinton herself, right? Keir Starmer. These are people all saying this was President Trump. So you know what? if Joe Biden wants to pretend and his people want to pretend they had anything to do with this, you know, God bless them. Let them have their own fun. Let the old man think what he wants to think, because we all know the truth. We all know the truth that this plan, this concept wasn’t even on the table. No one was thinking about this. This was a brand new idea to not only get the Abraham courts type countries together, but really the world together to say, we’re going to prevent world war three. We’re going to prevent, uh, this going any further the idea of what are you going to do we’re going to take out the the nuke facilities right in Iran in Iran yeah in Iran because why that’s going to send a message that’s going to have a ripple effect all of these things none of it would have happened under Joe Biden and look you know this I am not the person out here advocating for one side or the other I will tell you the truth when I feel like I have to tell you the truth this one is is there is no other thing you can really give credit to other than God for this than the Trump administration. And that is why you are seeing the ripple effects of that as well. You are seeing the thankfulness coming through from the world, from the people in Israel, from the people in the Arab states around Israel, from the Western world. This is probably the most celebratory of President Trump I have seen in his entire run. Both terms where you have to have people go, you know what? You got to say you did a good job when he did a good job. And this is one of those times. You obviously got to thank Jared Kushner. You got to thank all the teams. Steve Witkoff. Look, you got to thank a lot of the people. Look, including you, ACLJ supporters, who stuck with this when it was a very difficult road. Difficult road personally. You got to thank all the Jewish people who stuck with the Americans when it felt like a pretty rough time. You got to thank all the celebrities that did stand up. Your Patricia Heaton’s, your John Andrasik’s, all these people who really, David Draymond, all the people who really took a lot of flack. You got to thank them too. Welcome back to Seculo, Senior Counsel for Global Affairs. Secretary Mike Pompeo is joining us now. Secretary Pompeo, obviously yesterday was a huge day, a day that we’ll all remember forever. The return of the final living hostages held by Hamas, obviously a key phase. And really, I think for the humanitarian standpoint, the phase that we all needed the most. Like I said, if this was if this is all that happened. It’s enough. But thankfully, we’ll be seeing more. I was curious about what you thought, though, of the sort of the size and scale of how monumental this moment was.
SPEAKER 12 :
My goodness, you know, in our lives, we get to witness history only just a handful of times. This was definitely one of those moments, certainly because of the incredible joy. I mean, no one can watch those pictures. Flashback memories for me of when I brought the three Americans home from North Korea reminded me of that moment, that same emotion. When we saw families reunited, what we saw at scale yesterday. So epic moment and a true triumph of American power and American diplomacy. President Trump and Mr. Wyckoff and Mr. Kushner should all get enormous credit for the hard work that they did over not just hours and days, but over weeks and weeks and weeks. So, you know, to your point, if this is all that happens, it’s fantastic. There’s much more work that remains to be done. We still have the remains of many of those hostages that have not been returned. That concerns me greatly. The fact that they haven’t returned them suggests they may well still intend to use those as leverage. That is, Hamas may intend to use those as leverage. I pray that that’s not the case. And I pray that the Israelis and President Trump continue to put pressure on Hamas so we can deliver more joy and more good outcomes and more peace and prosperity to the region.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, and that leads to our follow up question here is that this was no by no means an easy thing to get to this point. This was very difficult. Obviously, you know how negotiations are with with world leaders and then you throw in a terrorist group. It’s by no means an easy path to get the 20 remaining hostages, living hostages released. But in many ways, that was the easiest part of this deal. And as you see, Hamas already didn’t live up to the full letter of it, even though Israel pulled back to a demarcation line and you saw the release of Palestinian prisoners that were agreed upon. But now the next phases… are probably the hardest thing for Hamas to do, and that is to start disarming and giving up power. How tough a road ahead to implement the rest of this deal do you see?
SPEAKER 12 :
It’s going to be incredibly difficult, but it is completely achievable if the nations that came together to deliver this outcome will continue to work alongside of each other. You’ve got to take down the tunnels that will take Gulf Arab support, money, resources. You’ve got to figure out how to de-radicalize the Muslim Brotherhood and the Hamas actors that are inside of Gaza. You cannot let the UN go back to having these folks as permanent refugees and the the status where UNRWA was being used to funnel money through food aid and delivery to Hamas. Those things have to just be broken. We can’t go back to that model. The pre-October 7th model was a failure. So this will be fraught. It will be difficult. I would urge everybody watching and listening today, when you see a moment when something bad happens, somebody breaks a rule, know that that’s just a moment along the way. If we all stay focused on the ultimate objective, if President Trump can continue, and I suspect he will, to apply the coercive power that delivered Hamas to this moment. They’re not looking for peace. Hamas isn’t chasing peace. They had no better option. If he continues to deliver that coercive power, we can both get the remaining bodies of those who were died in captivity, who were murdered by Hamas and are still being held. We can get them home. And then we can deliver a better outcome in Gaza and a more secure and stable Middle East and a great outcome for Israel and a really wonderful outcome for the American people as well.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, you mentioned that Hamas wasn’t looking for peace and by no means is the Islamist ideology that Hamas ascribed to being vanquished from the Middle East by this deal. And even if this deal is achieved, we know there are Hamas and many other groups in the region that still exist that deny Israel’s right to exist entirely. And that won’t go away. But we’re also seeing positive movements that build upon the Abraham Accords and what was able to be achieved in itself was a part of the Abraham Accords. But you see news that the president of Indonesia, the largest Muslim country in the world, flying to Israel today. I wanted to get your take on that and what this could mean for the other Islamic governments of these Arab countries and other Islamic countries in the region.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, look, I’m glad you mentioned that. The fact that Yoko Widodo, the leader of Indonesia, is coming to Israel is absolutely equally historic. This doesn’t happen without American leadership. We tried to get Indonesia to join the Abraham Accords in the first term. We were very close. We didn’t quite get there now. they can basically step back and say, no, we’re gonna recognize the fundamental right of the Jewish people to have their homeland in Israel. An amazing thing. We should all be mindful, the biggest Muslim populations aren’t actually in the Middle East, they’re in Malaysia and Indonesia and in Pakistan, right? Big countries with big Islamic populations. And to your first point, the radicalization effort, the effort to teach the next generation that Israel is evil has to stop. And the Gulf Arab states know how to begin to build out a counter ideology to the Muslim Brotherhood’s fundamental tenets, the ones that Hamas has adopted. The United Arab Emirates, Mohammed bin Zayed, Mohammed bin Salman and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have been very intentional about pushing back on extremism. We need now to export that. to Hezbollah in Lebanon, to Hamas in Gaza, and make sure that the next generation of people growing up in those places doesn’t hold Israel as the little Satan and America as the great Satan. That extremism has to be a key element of the 20-point plan that is delivered upon.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, now let’s take it, Secretary Pompeo, to the states. Obviously, we’ve had two years now of what feels like the radicalization of a lot of young people on the streets, obviously, in college campuses. Obviously, we’ve been much more than a couple of years, but the last couple of years has certainly been amplified. The anti-Semitism was amplified. All of this happens. And you think when you’d reach what would be this conclusion, you’d say, of the war, hopefully, this looks like the end, at least the end from this current perspective, that some of that would change. But we know that even… People like Mamdani, who’s running his party, has said, hey, this peace deal is a bad deal. We shouldn’t be doing it. So we know there’s influential people out there still that are going to be pushing the genocide narrative, still pushing this narrative. What do we do here to fight against not just what you said to help change the people’s minds? overseas in the Middle East, but now to also focus on this multi-year propaganda pitch that has been going on within our own country.
SPEAKER 12 :
Boy, it’s a wonderful question. You’re right. It’s been accelerated these last couple years. We got exactly what AOC asked for, a permanent ceasefire. Goodness gracious, can you not take a moment to enjoy the love and the peace that were demonstrated yesterday and the fact that this was a really amazing diplomatic accomplishment? It’s not about politics. This is about the nation of Israel and its rightful homeland. I think about all the work that We did in the first term by moving the embassy, by taking out Qasem Soleimani, by putting maximum pressure on the Iranian regime. These things all built to this very moment. And so for those who hold anti-Semitism deeper in their hearts, I doubt that this will change much. But I hope for most folks who were on the edge or just got sucked into this, they will see that, no, Israel is actually a nation that desires peace. that America is a country that works and desires peace, and to claim somehow that you believe deeply in the efforts of Hamas makes you clearly what you are. An anti-Zionist, someone who doesn’t believe Israel should exist, and I hope there are fewer of those, and I hope Americans will come to see that ride. The soon-to-be mayor of New York, if he’s ultimate winning, As a huge Jewish population, he used to respect them, treat them appropriately, and understand that they all know that their proper homeland is indeed in this holy place known as Jerusalem in Israel.
SPEAKER 07 :
Thank you, Secretary Pompeo, for joining us. Look, we’ve got a second half hour coming up. If you don’t get us on your local station, find us broadcasting live right now at ACLJ.org or archived over at your podcast or find us on YouTube, Rumble. We’ll be right back with the second half hour coming up in less than a minute. keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever this is seculo and now your host logan secular welcome back to seculo phone lines are open i want to hear from you if you’re watching on youtube i’m going to ask you just to throw in a comment right now look we know this is interesting time in the news but it really does help us get more people onto this stream right now uh so just tell me where you’re watching from if you don’t have another thing to share Send me a fun emoji. I don’t care what it is right now. I just want to see some more comments in the chat right now. Hit that thumbs up. We appreciate it. With that, I want also you to call in. We got the second half hour coming up. We’re going to have CeCe Heil joining us, but we’ll take a lot of calls throughout the half hour. And we’re also going to have a special presentation to give you sort of a run through of the last two years and the work the ACLJ has been doing. Phone lines are open for you, though, at 1-800-684-3110. Actually, let’s go ahead and take Matt, who’s calling from Ohio. Matt, go ahead.
SPEAKER 14 :
Hi. This is definitely a time to celebrate, and the people that are getting their families back are elated. We’ve seen the videos. But I’ve got to say, what do we say to those families whose babies and children were brutally murdered? Is there no accountability? Are we just okay that there’s a ceasefire and that there’s a peace deal? Does that mean there’s no accountability for the horrendous atrocities that were done?
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, Matt, let’s back it up a little bit. A lot of that accountability was taken care of by Israel, meaning that the top brass of Hamas is not the same people that we’re talking about right now. There’s several levels. Like I said, the seventh string is of Hamas right now. So remember that there was a lot of accountability. Look at Gaza right now. Most of them were taken out. Most of that leadership is no longer there. Now, part of this deal does come with some form of immunity. Did I say I like that? No, I don’t. But I also understand concessions have to be made. Do I like the thousands of prisoners were released? A lot of them involved in mass murder and bus bombings and all of those kind of things were released. No, I don’t love that. I don’t care for that. But you know what? It got the remaining hostages home and it should prove a point. It should prove a point. You’re the people who would scream in genocide. Well, the genocide ended. When? Oh, when, I don’t know, the 20 hostages were released. Why? Because there was no genocide and this was an act of war to get these hostages home. It was the easy solution the whole time that they were not willing to do. But the pressure came on and it finally did happen. Finally, the last remaining hostages were released. Finally, now, of course, not all the remains have been released. That’s something Secretary Pompeo brought up. It is not over in that sense. But all of the living hostages are now back home with their families or in hospitals or whatever they need to be treated. But they’re back reunited with their families. They’re back in Israel. That’s a moment we should be celebrating. But yes, I believe there has been accountability. I believe it’s pretty clear there’s been accountability for this action, for the actions that were taken on October 7th, two years ago. Now, for those who are currently in Hamas, we saw the mass murders in the streets happening yesterday. Look, I don’t love all the deal points. And it’s not to say they can’t be held accountable for other things in the future. And we don’t know what this new government is going to look like either. But part of the deal was sort of this immunity, and you have to go with it. President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu and the rest of the world, I guess, know better.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, and I think one thing that’s different about the Trump administration, both the first time and now, is the audacity to do these things. Moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was said by the world that that would spark World War III, that that was going to be the catalyst for World War III, of this giant global conflict that stemmed out of the Middle East, and quite the opposite happened. You started seeing the Abraham Accords. You see these neighboring countries that had complete animosity and zero diplomatic relationship with Israel join together, seeing flights go back and forth. That was a bold step that no other Republican or Democrat president, even though it was the law of the land, was bold enough to take. And then President Trump did. And it didn’t have the fallout that the so-called foreign policy experts told us it would have. Now you see a deal that is audacious on paper. Like Logan said, there are many points that make us nervous. But we’ve never gotten this far in seeing Hamas willing to at least agree to lay down their arms, even if they don’t end up doing it. So we got to keep that pressure on. And I think President Trump will do that.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah. And look, we have an office in Jerusalem. That’s not going anywhere. And that’s only because of you. So go support the ACLJ at ACLJ.org. Do it right now. Become a champion if you can. We really appreciate it. CeCe Heil from our team is joining us next to go over the hostage situation. We’ll be right back. Welcome back to Seculo. Phone lines are open for you and I want to hear from you. What do you think about the last 24 hours, the release of the hostages and emotions you felt? Again, I spent a lot of time yesterday watching all the videos, reading all the stories, and I think that was important for those of us who have been so engaged with this topic to find that sense of relief. There was this weight that felt like it was lifted off of a lot of our shoulders, that we were not the families of the hostages, that we were not the hostages ourselves. I think a lot of us have been living Since October 7th, with this heaviness, with this, you know, just stress that has been on the backs of people that support Israel and people that support the Jewish people for the last few years. So to say that it was a relief, it’d be an understatement. I saw a lot of people removing their yellow ribbon pins, getting to do all the things that they were hopeful to do within weeks. But of course, it took multiple years You know, trees that were permanently marked with those yellow ribbons, you know, the clothing that had been permanently marked with the outlines because of how long it had been. No one expected it to last this many years. But here we are. And CeCe Heil, senior attorney here at the ACLJ, is joining us because we were involved from the very beginning. And we’re going to walk you through that, but also I’m going to show you some of the footage coming up in the next segment so you have an understanding of all the work that, when you support the ACLJ, what you’re supporting. You’re not just supporting our media work here, which is, by the way, excellent. I love our team here. We do incredible work. But obviously it’s our advocacy and our legal work that is important as well. And when it involved the hostages and the families of the hostages, we were involved in a way, and look, a lot of it, there were some successes and there were some heartbreaks. And look, it’s all heartbreaking. And that’s even what I said, is that you could look at yesterday as a joyous day, but it doesn’t come without major scars. So let’s just walk our audience through this.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, and I was just thinking, I was in Israel in March, and I visited one of the kibbutz and also the Nova Festival where horrible events happened on October 7th. And So, yes, just as you’re saying, as yesterday was a very much joyous, joyous day, I think about just the memories and all the ones, people that were lost, all the families that didn’t have, you know, their hostages come back alive. And I just continue to pray for those people. And one of them would be one of our clients was Guy Elouz, who Doris, his mother, is American. And I just texted her because we just found out that his. remains had been returned. One of the few. Yes, that’s right. And so again, this is an event that’s going to affect these people and their lives. And really, like you’re saying, Logan, all of us, we will remember this day and we should never forget what happened on October 7th. But what we were able to do with the hostages, not only were we able to bring the hostage families over to the United States and host them and take them to events on Capitol Hill and meet with congressmen. We also were able to represent 10 of the hostages before the working group on enforced or involuntary disappearances at the UN. And that is their mandate is basically to engage in the in the countries that possibly take these citizens hostages, as well as Israel. So working with Israel, and even though Hamas is not a country, working with Israel and Hamas, we had 10 of them. And like you said, we had victories and some sad moments. Eight of our clients were released. And that was, if you recall, the Brodich family, it was a mother and her three small children, 10, eight, and four. And then two of the women, Emily Damari and Dorn Steinberger, and actually Emily was one that was taken with the twins, Ziv and Gali Berman. They went to help her, and all three of them were abducted. And then Ziv and Gali were… were the two of the 20 that were released and alive. And we were very happy about that. And then we did have two clients. One, of course, Guy, who did not make it back alive. And then another one, Alon Shamriz, who did not.
SPEAKER 07 :
I think with the ACLJ team, there was some inevitability of knowing that there was a chance here. But we’ve also had a great number of years of success of freeing people who are falsely imprisoned or hostages in this sense. When that first wave came through and we realized that a lot of the hostages were no longer alive, I think it shocked a lot of us, and it put us in a different mode. That is something that is hard to explain, because remember, when you’re kind of batting 1,000, when you’ve done a great job, and your team has, and Jordan and my dad, and everyone who’s put together the legal teams around the world, and for the most part, massive successes over the years. The people have been freed. and you’re dealing with these families. And a lot of times we’ve been able to celebrate with these families to know, uh, two years ago, even cause some of these, we learned within weeks or months that they had died. It, changed the tone of the way that we even do our work here. And because now we weren’t dealing with the same kind of threat that we even were dealing with when you’re dealing with a person in an Iranian prison or you’re dealing with someone arrested in China. You’re dealing with a different kind of regime when it came to Hamas. And I think that was an eye-opening moment for a lot of us. Not that we thought Hamas was ever the good guys here or any sort of thought that they were gonna be operating like a normal government. But when you started to deal with the actual loss and knowing these people and seeing these families and being face to face with them, like I said, it caused a lot of heartbreak for them and it caused a lot of heartbreak for our team who had been there. You know, I try to set up our offices here for So you know that going in, that you know going in that there’s a chance that not just that it could be illegal, but it’s these stakes. It’s these stakes. It’s not a legal case that can be lost. It’s lives that can be lost. And that happens sometimes. And it’s brutal and it’s horrible, but it’s the reality of working in these high stakes things. And we can’t have… We have to have people like you who are unafraid of that and people who are at least willing to take on that stress and that responsibility, work all night because of the time change. All those different things that I don’t know if people put into perspective of what our team is doing around the clock.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, and I also wanted to bring up the fact that whether it’s a court case that lasts years or it’s advocating for someone that’s being falsely imprisoned or held hostage by Hamas, Our attorneys don’t stop. And we talked about the meetings in Capitol Hill. We had teams in Europe going to the European Union and representing before the UN. So there’s no limits to how far we will go to advocate and to fight. And we see results. Many of those families now have their loved one home. And those also, some have closure. now at the final end of this, but it’s a battle that is taxing and exhausting, but does not end for the team at the ACLJ that fights these.
SPEAKER 11 :
And we do, we are committed to fighting to the very end and it is a different level of emotional commitment when you’re not just fighting to get someone out of prison like if we’re talking about pastor brunson in turkey or these hostages in gaza when you’re literally fighting to keep them alive that’s that’s a different issue it’s not just trying to get justice you know in a court case it’s literally we need to do whatever we can do to keep these people alive and I’m hopeful that our efforts at the United Nations, because, you know, UNRWA was actually one of the places that held Emily Damari, who is one of our clients, and she was held at an UNRWA facility. So we are hopeful that as a hostage. Yes, absolutely. And so we’re hopeful that us bringing attention of their specific names to this UN working group in some small way, perhaps we helped keep them alive and we are thrilled that they have been released and that we could have played a small part in that, them being released alive. Absolutely.
SPEAKER 07 :
And I’m seeing a lot of the comments come in, a lot of people thanking our team and all that. Of course, You know, we have to thank our team. We have to thank God. We have to thank the Trump administration for really getting involved and figuring out a very unique roadmap to getting the release of these hostages. And I see a lot of people, CeCe, thank you, obviously, for the work from Pastor Brunson, for all the different things that we’ve worked on over the years. It is nice to kind of put closure on these cases to say, we are done. This is over. And that’s why I even said that if… if the peace plan works, fantastic. I mean, that’s, we all pray for that. But if even this was all the result, which was that these remaining hostages were freed, that would be worth it.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 07 :
And I think it’d be worth it for our team and it’s worth it for everyone here. Um, And I want to thank you because none of that happens without those of you who are watching right now and support the work of the ACLJ. You know, I’m not doing a big fundraising pitch right now because I think this is a day to just spend time and watch those videos, watch the stories. And in the next segment, we’re going to give you a full sort of rundown, like a five minute piece that our team put together that shows you how our team was involved from the very beginning of this until just yesterday. And of course, we’re going to be involved in the future planning as well. We still have ACLJ Jerusalem. That’s not going anywhere. We still have an incredible team that’s ready to. We know that the push for anti-Semitism and the push against Israel is going nowhere. But we can at least take a moment to breathe. Just a moment today. With that, I do want to thank you. I want to thank you for supporting the ACLJ. I want to thank you for giving so generously during the last few years because a lot of organizations were not willing to stand up and say, we support Israel in a way this strongly. The ACLJ never wavered. We never will. And know that when you support the ACLJ, that it’s going towards a greater cause around the world, not just here, not just the American Center for Law and Justice. You also have the European Center. You also have our work at the UN. You have work you don’t even know about, never will know about. And of course, you have the work at the ACLJ Jerusalem. We’ll be back in just a moment on Secula. Welcome back to Sekulow. Look, I may take some phone calls here in this segment. If you want to call in, this is a good time to do it at 1-800-684-3110 towards the end of the show. I’ll do that. We’ve got one more segment of the show today. I did want to give you a bit of a setup here, Will, because this is a piece our team put together that really gives you a broader look at everything that the ACLJ had done. I mean, obviously, everything, I put that in quotes because this is a five-minute version of… the history of what we’ve been working on here, and of course, the results from yesterday. And you’re going to hear a message from my dad, Jay Sekulow, that you’ll see that he recorded yesterday that we released on social media, as well as some other content throughout it.
SPEAKER 06 :
That’s right. So when we first learned of the horrific attacks on October 7th, just two years ago, The ACLJ is uniquely positioned because of our office in Jerusalem, because of our status at the UN to get right to work. And that’s what we did. Through other groups that we work with, we’re able to be in contact with families of hostages and be able to start advocating on their behalf Almost immediately. And one of the very early things that the ACLJ was able to do was take those members, those family members of hostages to Washington, D.C., not just to hold a sign or call for advocacy, but to meet with the Speaker of the House, Democrat leadership as well. having bipartisan meetings about what American Congress could do to put pressure on to get their family members released. And that work went on for two years. And so what you’re going to see is kind of some of that footage from when we first went to DC and then culminating with the historic day yesterday. So let’s go ahead and roll this piece for everyone to watch.
SPEAKER 03 :
The first thing we could do. is we knew, of course, leadership in Congress. And we also had connections to these families who wanted to come tell their stories.
SPEAKER 04 :
The Israelis decided who they were sending over. Kalev and whoever he was working with in Israel, officials, sent over a delegation. We hosted that delegation in our office. There were a series of meetings that we had been working on with bipartisan members of the House and Senate. Republicans and Democrats and even independents, that we thought it was essential for them to meet. The first order of business, though, when they arrived in the United States, was to meet at our offices in Washington, D.C., so that we could brief them on protocol what was to be expected and what they should be sharing.
SPEAKER 03 :
So my dad contacted me and said, we’re going to be able to bring some of these families to D.C. How do you want to use our government affairs team? I said, first, let me talk to them, but I’m going to go to some people I know. I’m going to go to Elise Stefanik, who’s the Republican conference chair. So she’s a third ranking member of the Republicans in the House of Representatives. And I’m going to go to Jared Moskowitz, who is a new congressman out of Florida, but he’s been very outspoken on issues involving Israel, and he’s worked across party lines before. He was able to bring in a group of Democrats that support Israel strongly that, again, we’ve been on the other side of the issues, many issues before, but on this issue we can work together. From there, it went from Elise’s office to the Speaker’s office, and Speaker Johnson, who had only been on the job, what, a week and a half at the time, said, let’s put together a press conference. We’ll first have a meeting. where we’ll bring in the family member representatives. We’ll meet with them. It’ll be about four or five of the House leadership. And then we’re going to go do a press conference with all the Republican leadership.
SPEAKER 09 :
Today, the House Republican Conference is joined by the families of four of the over 200 hostages taken by barbaric Hamas terrorists on October 7th. As a mother, sister, and daughter, my heart breaks for the unspeakable pain they are enduring every second of every day. On this issue of standing with Israel and these families, there can be no moral equivocation.
SPEAKER 08 :
House Republicans met with and heard from family members of some of the victims, not only to understand their grief and pain and worries, but to make clear why Israel must do everything in its power to wipe out Hamas and ensure that what happened October 7th can never happen again.
SPEAKER 01 :
We are pleading you, the world, to help us to speak with Hamas. We have no clue what’s happened to them. We only know that they are in Gaza. We don’t know if they are injured, if they are together, if they are still alive.
SPEAKER 08 :
And I will say again and reiterate once more, we will stand against these atrocities, and we will stand with Israel, and we’ll stand with each of you and your families. We’ll be praying for you, and we’ll be taking action, because that’s what we’re going to do here. That’s what it’s called. I know that your time is short and you have to leave. I want to thank Jay and Jordan Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice for helping facilitate the visit today.
SPEAKER 03 :
From that meeting, we took the group of family members to Hakeem Jeffries. Hakeem Jeffries is the Democratic leader in the House of Representatives. They meet with him for about an hour. In between that, I head down to meet with Jared Moskowitz, Democrat congressman from Florida, for the meeting he’s setting up and the briefing he’s setting up. That meeting had in it people like Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Jamie Raskin. I mean, some of these folks who have been on, again, very different positions than us, and yet this issue brought us all together and kind of for that moment in Washington, partisanship went away.
SPEAKER 02 :
With the historic agreement we’ve just signed, those prayers of millions have finally been answered. As you know, the hostages have been returned and further work goes on.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, you’ve heard the good news and that is President Trump arrived in Israel and announced that the 20 remaining hostages that were alive had been returned to their families and been reunited with their families. This is a major development. As you recall, the American Center for Law and Justice has been front and center representing hostage families. our office in jerusalem is monitoring the situation as it develops there’s going to be bumps in the road because that’s what happens in this region of the world but i am very hopeful that we are about to see a era of peace and prosperity for all sides i’m very optimistic and very pleased the president deserves a lot of thanks from the american people but also from the world for brokering this peace agreement. This was not easy. This kind of diplomacy is hard, but President Trump did a fantastic job building, of course, on the Abraham Accords. We will keep you posted. Our office in Jerusalem fully engaged. Support the work of the American Center for Law and Justice at ACLJ.org. You make all of this possible.
SPEAKER 07 :
And that was a great video put together by our team, hopefully giving you a good understanding of all the work the ACLJ has been doing over the last few years and that special message from my dad. I do want to take a call before we wrap up. Matthew’s calling online too. Go ahead, Matthew. You’re going to be the last word of the day.
SPEAKER 13 :
Good morning. Thank God for the release of the hostages. Thank President Trump for his work. Thanks to the ACLJ for their involvement. We really should hold some feet to the fire on those who said they wanted Palestine free and should be rejoicing when they forgot.
SPEAKER 07 :
yeah Matthew I see that message going around social media a lot having to thank President Trump for doing what you said you wanted and of course that’s not going to happen but Matthew thank you so much for calling thank you so much for your prayers and your support of not just our team here at the ACLJ but for Israel for all the hostage families it’s been a long road but we are happy to be here you know again it is a A happy day, a somber day, somewhere in between, but that’s okay. It’s okay to have these moments where you can also celebrate the work that our team has put together, that President Trump’s team has put together, and of course, everyone in Israel who should be rejoicing as the hostages are now home. That’s going to do it for today’s show. I want to encourage you, if you do have a chance, if you like what we do here, if you like the show, if you like our legal work, whatever it may be, Support the work of the ACLJ. This is the first time I’ve done this today, but I ask you to do it. Now that you’ve had this hour to think about it, it’s a great time to give and support the work because we want to keep everything outside of a paywall as possible. We want to make sure you can take this content, share it with your friends, that you can talk about it. We’re going to keep covering this, by the way. We’re going to cover the next steps, everything that’s going to happen. I’m sure things will unfold over the next few days. This topic isn’t going anywhere. But thankfully, even if this is it, the hostages, the living hostages are home. And you did play a part in that. Thank you for your support. Go to ACLJ.org. We’ll talk to you tomorrow.
