Join us as we engage with guest speaker Jeff Balaban, head of ACLJ Jerusalem, to discuss the impact of this tragedy on a personal and national level. This episode paints a detailed picture of the incident and explores the broader narratives of anti-Semitic rhetoric gaining traction in America. We reflect on how such horrifying events bring together communities while also scrutinizing the narratives propagated by those who seek to justify such acts. Through candid dialogues, we address the urgent requirement for vigilance and unity against all forms of hate.
SPEAKER 09 :
We’ve got breaking news. President Trump and other elected officials have responded officially to the killing of the Israeli diplomats at the Capitol Jewish Museum.
SPEAKER 14 :
Keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Sekulow. We want to hear from you. Share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110.
SPEAKER 09 :
And now your host, Logan Sekula. Welcome to Sekula. Will Haynes joining me in studio. We’re going to go next segment to Jeff Balaban, ACLJ Jerusalem Head, who is in the States right now. Of course, we are covering the breaking news that came out overnight. It’s going to be a somber show. This is not going to be our normal, joyous, fun, exciting. Hopefully, we’ll bring some levity to your day. But obviously, we are covering news. The breaking news, this tragedy struck last night in Washington, D.C. on Capitol Hill as two Israeli diplomats were murdered in cold blood outside of an event at the Capitol Jewish Museum. Again, these are people who are Americans by birth. The man in the situation is a Christian. believer, and they had planned to get married. These are young people in their 20s and 30s, and it’s an unfortunate situation to happen, but of course it’s happening because of the rise of not only anti-Israel, but anti-Semitic rhetoric that is happening throughout this country right now. I wouldn’t have been surprised to wake up and hear this happen on the streets of Tel Aviv, and I guess that’s sad, or hear it happen on the streets of Jerusalem, or even in some other countries. But now it is on our doorstep. Our office is blocks from there in Washington, D.C. This was a targeted murdering of two people just because of not only the government they work for, but because of their beliefs and their background. because of their cultural ethnicity. And you can come up with a lot of different reasons. I heard some really horrible versions of this will go, well, you know, it’s not about the fact that they’re Jewish. It has to do with, you know, they’re working for a government. I was like, why are we justifying murder ever? I don’t believe you should be able to walk the streets of America with any religion, with any background, with any creed, with anything, and not have to be worried about being murdered Because of maybe who your boss is or because of where your family came from. But this is what’s happening. So if we start justifying any of this, then we got to we got to stop. Now, President Trump has responded. So has Pam Bondi. President Trump’s was in text. He put these horrible D.C. killings based obviously on anti-Semitism must end now. Hatred and radicalism have no place in the U.S., condolences to the families of the victims. So sad that such things can happen. God bless you all. So a very simple, poignant statement from President Trump. A bit more of a audio statement and also a bit more extensive from Attorney General Bondi. I think we should play that as well before we get to the break. Here is Attorney General Pam Bondi.
SPEAKER 01 :
I spoke to the President of the United States multiple times tonight on behalf of the President. His prayers are with All of us, all of the Jewish community, everyone in Washington, D.C., state, local, and federal agencies, and our great U.S. Attorney, Jeanine Pirro, who will be prosecuting this case, will be doing everything in our power to keep all citizens safe, especially tonight, our Jewish community. Our prayers go out. We have the FBI. All of our federal agencies will work hand-in-hand with you, Chief, as we have done and you, Mayor, to do everything we can to keep our citizens safe. We will follow the facts, we will follow the law, and this defendant, if charged, will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yes, of course, I failed to mention that the shooter was captured. This wasn’t in a situation where he’s escaped or is dead, so you’re gonna get some answers, and we have some answers already, including some manifesto-type documents have started to show up, and of course, they’re everything that you think they are. I don’t even think we have to go through them because you know what they are. You know the reasonings behind this. I did want to do a quick clarification, quick correction. The man who was murdered was an Israeli but born originally in Germany. His what was soon to be fiance was born in Kansas and now is an Israeli citizen as well. I hate this is happening in America. And, you know, we’ve been talking about it here at the ACLJ for a long time, our support of Israel. There’s a reason why. We got to call it out. You got to call it out. You got to be a part of stopping what’s going on. If you really believe in sort of an anti-violent message, it can never be justified. It can never be claimed just because of someone’s background in the streets of America. We’ll be right back. Welcome back to Seculo. Jeff Balaban is joining us, head of ACLJ Jerusalem, currently in the States right now. But we obviously wanted to hear from Jeff. Jeff, I was at an event last night, 50,000 people, very joyous event. I was excited to get home. It was me and my son talk about it on social media. We had a great time. And of course, I open up my phone and this is the breaking news that comes out and everyone starts posting and everyone starts posting. And unfortunately, due to how we live, You click on what the comments are. And the comments are exactly as you’d expect. That this is somehow deserving. That somehow, or maybe this is not real. This is a false flag because it’s coming from Israel. Or maybe this is, the comments were just outlandish and absurd. And then I took to one of my friends who is definitely more on the other side of this issue. And the conversation quickly took a weird turn. It turned to, well, you know, they’re not doing this because they’re Jewish. They’re doing this because they don’t agree with what’s happening in Israel. And there is a difference here. And of course, we have to have that discussion, that real open discussion with a lot of people, even in private and say, no, no, no, you need to understand really what this all means. And it’s a somber day that this is now. I said in the first segment, if this had happened on the streets of Tel Aviv, on the streets of Jerusalem, I would be, you know, upset, but sadly that’s become a fairly regular commonplace thing over the years. But now it is on the streets of our nation’s capital. Now it is, the blood is on the streets of Washington, DC. Um, obviously we all have our own reactions to it, but I’ll just let you speak here, Jeff.
SPEAKER 07 :
Sure. Thanks. Well, actually one of the reasons I’m here now is I just came back from DC, uh, last night and, uh, I was asked if I wanted to show up at that event, but there are a lot of events now because it’s Jewish Heritage Month, so a lot of events in D.C., but I really needed to get back to New York, so I left last night, and then, like you, I saw it in the news. My reaction globally about this is the contextualization of this, whether it’s the murderer himself, and apparently there’s a manifesto, or it’s the media that have been doing this from the beginning, or it’s the terrorists who perpetrated October 7th, the atrocities against the Jews, and then try to cast themselves as victims. That’s what always happens. You know, there is for 2000 years, there were many corners of the world in which Jews were being killed and Jewish life was cheap. And the argument that, well, Jews killed Jesus. So it’s not only okay, but it’s somehow morally good that every Jew who ever exists, who lives anywhere in the world is appropriately held accountable and appropriately targeted as a victim. And that’s what in this generation happens. is the entire notion of the Palestinian. You know, they say Jesus was a Palestinian. Obviously it’s observed. Jesus existed well before the constant Palestinian was ever created. But it is true in the reverse, which is, you know, it seems to be that Palestinians are all Jesus and somehow every Jew in the world everywhere Their lives are cheap. Their lives are acceptable and understandable when they’re killed. And this idea is, it’s not only that it’s sick and disturbing, it’s the same idea that destroyed civilization after civilization around the world. This idea that we want to find someone to hate and blame. Let’s pick on the Jews. Let’s find some way to make them the eternal outsider, some way to blame them for everything. And so every Jew becomes a victim, but it does damage not to the Jews as well, but it does damage to the society that does it. And the fact that this is now here in America and that this has become normalized by politicians, by the press and media, and it’s taken up on college campuses, et cetera, this is the result. Murder.
SPEAKER 09 :
that just came in from dan bongino who said the fbi is aware of certain writings allegedly authored by the suspect and we hope to have updates as the authenticity very soon and that their office to the fbi believes there’s no ongoing threat to the public at this time of course he continues on it’s the same time we obviously have to have caution and and that’s what’s happening right now because uh there is still the news sort of trickling out as everyone tries to condemn and tries to talk about this but jeff this has not been strictly the left This has not been strictly the college campuses. We’ve seen the rise of this on the right as well. This sort of vitriolic anti-Israel, which becomes very quickly anti-Semitic behavior, anti-Semitic comments. You know, this is totally off the wall here, but you have this just came out. Kanye West, yee. just put out a big statement saying, please God, forgive him. He’s no longer anti-Semitic and that maybe this has changed his mind or whatever. I don’t know what’s going on with him, but I will say, I hope. if anything positive could come out of this horrible, horrible tragedy, is for those who are maybe in the conservative side, and those who are on the liberal side, can now finally open their eyes and see that the violence is happening here on the streets, and the violence has to stop by the way, and it doesn’t matter if you’re a Christian, if you’re a Jew, if you’re a Muslim, it doesn’t matter your ethnic background, you should be able to walk the streets of America and feel safe. One of our founding principles, maybe the first founding principle of the country,
SPEAKER 07 :
and there is no justification for murder sure by the way the a meeting i had on tuesday in washington one of the reasons i was there was with the senator who’s on the homeland security com you know committee and was asking me about what we thought at aclj what i thought going back and forth into israel in terms of america’s homeland security and this is what we talked about there is there is not enough of an awareness here israel there’s an awareness because of the nature of where Israel exists and its own history. But in the United States of America, there’s not enough awareness of what the threat is to our citizens here on our homeland. And the next day, this happens, not just in our homeland, but in Washington, D.C., you know, very nearby where I had that meeting with that senator talking about exactly this problem. We, in this country, need to be vigilant. We need to not only understand what the threat and the problem is in terms of narrative, but that we have to, our law enforcement, we must understand that this threat is real and viable. And as you say, Logan, it is not just coming from one part of the political spectrum. It is growing more and more across the spectrum and it endangers all of us as individuals and our society as a whole.
SPEAKER 11 :
And Jeff, I think what people on both sides of the political spectrum need to hear is what we talked about earlier this week when you had stepped out of a meeting in Washington, D.C. to join us by phone. And we talked about that clip that memory found from a Hamas leader, senior Hamas official on Libyan TV. talking about the American universities that are speaking from the river to the sea, which is even better than what the Arab leaders say. And it’s a dream come true. And then he says that we will rebuild houses and we will produce dozens more babies for each martyr. They are the price we need to pay. And this violence that was perpetrated is something we have been warning of. that that is the natural extension of what was happening on university campuses and the vitriol that’s coming from influencers and media personalities on both sides of the political spectrum, that that is the natural progression. And it is Hamas, the terrorist organization, not the people of the Palestinian territory in Gaza. It is Hamas who is celebrating today that their dreams are coming true, that in the nation’s capital, Jews are being killed.
SPEAKER 07 :
I’m with you until the last part, William. It is the people in Gaza and Judea and Samaria, the Arabs there who are celebrating. They always celebrate the murder of Jews. We have not seen that they disagree with October 7th. There’s a small, tiny percentage that may disagree about the timing of it because of the cost that’s been imposed on them. But philosophically, politically, they have been in support of the notion of genocide forever. The entire Palestinian enterprise has been river to the sea. There’s never been a Palestinian leader. There’s never been a Palestinian movement. There’s never been any evidence of a Palestinian base at all anywhere that has agreed that they can coexist with any Jewish state at all. So, no, the entirety of that enterprise is the genocide of the Jews. And River to the Sea is one aspect of that. And their charters, and the Hamas charter, you mentioned them by name, and basically every other major group in the Palestinian territories calls for the genocide of the Jews. And those who support them, that’s what they support.
SPEAKER 09 :
Jeff, I think that you’re right in the sense of we have these conversations and everyone’s like, well, yeah, but you’re a Christian or you’re a religious Jew. Shouldn’t you be praying for peace? Shouldn’t you want peace? And of course, the idea is, yes, of course, we all of us would want end of all war in the whole world. You want that? But that’s not the world we live in. And I think we also have to have our eyes open. We can’t just go into something like this blindly. We only got about a minute here, Jeff. So I want to say I appreciate you coming on. I know this wasn’t planned, but we wanted to hear your point of view as we head on to the rest of this show. By the way, if you have a question or comment related to this, I’d love to hear from you at 1-800-684-3110. But I’ll give you 20 seconds here, Jeff, to wrap up before we got to go to break.
SPEAKER 07 :
Sure. I want to pick up what you said. Absolutely. I think the people who truly want peace, the only people in the region want peace are the Israelis. And they recognize that there’s a population that’s been raised now for three generations by UNRWA, by money pouring, calling for them to be genocidal maniacs. And the only way out of that is to change the way they’re being raised. The Jews want peace there. The Israelis want peace there desperately. And they just can’t get it.
SPEAKER 09 :
Jeff, thank you so much for joining us. I appreciate it. We’re going to continue this coverage. And look, as people saw, I see the comments that people say, hey, the change of tone is a bit stark today, but what do you want us to do? I mean, when this kind of news comes across the line, you realize this is happening blocks away from our offices. This is happening on the streets of America. Time for everyone to wake up. I could be on here and yelling and screaming and giving you that. But instead, I think we need to be in mourning. I think we need prayers. for this family, for the Jewish community at large, for those who are having Jewish celebrations, Jewish weddings, bar mitzvahs, bat mitzvahs, holidays coming up, to walk without fear, to be able to have these without worrying about, do I need armed security at all of my events? You may have to. It may be the world we’re living in now. We’ll be right back. Welcome back to Secular. We are going to take some of your phone calls as well. And we’re going to try to talk about some other topics that are related. We have some ACLJ work that’s happening that’s related to Israel. We will get to that other content as well. But of course, we are talking. Some of you have asked about what are those statements that have been made. Maybe you saw the title if you’re watching on YouTube or Rumble saying President Trump responds. President Trump did respond. I’ll read it to you. It’s on Truth Social. It said these horrible D.C. killings based obviously on anti-Semitism must end now. Hatred and radicalism have no place in the USA. Condolences to the families of the victims. So sad that such things as this can happen. God bless you all. And there was also a response from Pam Bondi. There’s been a response from Dan Bongino, from many others. I mean, obviously a lot of people are calling out saying how horrible this is. But again, also remember what kind of media you’re taking in. I’m not going to call anyone out by name, but you know that there have been people on the right who have decided to take a pretty strong anti-Israel stance. And no, they’re like, well, we could be anti-Semitic. You don’t have to be anti-Semitic to be anti-Israel. But then they turn to anti-Semitism. They turn to the old blood libel, the old ways of throwing in essentially the controlling of the world, the controlling of the media. And you know who I’m talking about. Start getting your mind clear. I’m not saying you don’t need to listen to certain people, because look, it’s okay to hear other’s point of view, but remember what this ends up pushing. Ends up pushing for two people about to get married on the streets of Washington, D.C., getting murdered in the name of this chaos. Let’s go ahead and take a phone call. I want to go first to Adam, who is actually calling in Washington, D.C. Adam, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 12 :
Oh, thank you for taking my call. Can you hear me okay?
SPEAKER 09 :
Yep, it’s great, Adam.
SPEAKER 1 :
Thank you.
SPEAKER 12 :
Great. I was listening to Fox News or looking at Fox News last night when they gave the news about this awful event. I was so hurt. I was just so hurt, especially when they told me that it was a young couple getting ready to get married. I tell you, I am so angry about this. I don’t know what to do. Yeah, Adam. I just pray that President Trump and Congress, this thing is a cancer. Cancer is very, very dangerous. And it’s spreading throughout this country and throughout the world. I think that the people on college campuses, the professors, and all these other people who are spreading hatred, we have to do something. If the Constitution has to be changed, let’s change it. Because this cancer is killing us.
SPEAKER 09 :
Hey, Adam, I’m only cutting you off because there was some beeping going on for our radio audience. I apologize. I agree with you in terms of this cancer that has spread, it feels like, throughout this country. And this is where it ends up. It ends up with people getting murdered on the streets. Now, I think you need also here, and I think we have this bite, which is a clip from one of the leaders of Hamas. One of the leaders of Hamas went on a podcast and talked about, you know what he loved? He loves seeing what’s happening on those college campuses in America. Do we have that? Yeah, that’s bite four. We’re going to go and roll that.
SPEAKER 03 :
Who could have imagined that students in America at universities from which the politicians graduate would protest against their leaders and against Zionist occupation and say that Palestine must be liberated from the river to the sea?
SPEAKER 13 :
Not just the 1967 borders, like most of our Arab leaders say.
SPEAKER 08 :
They oppose the Zionist enterprise in its entirety.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right, this is a dream come true. Today, the number of Muslims is multiplying because of what is happening in Gaza. Today, Gaza is giving a new interpretation to the Holy Quran. People used to read the verses, but perhaps did not understand what they meant. Now, when they see what is happening in Gaza, they understand the meaning of many of these verses.
SPEAKER 13 :
because of many details that are evident every day in Gaza.
SPEAKER 03 :
So what is happening in Gaza is not about 100 destroyed houses or 1,000 martyrs.
SPEAKER 13 :
The story is much bigger.
SPEAKER 03 :
Gaza today has taught a lesson not just to the occupation, but to the Islamic nation and the world. The implications, fruits and outcome are extensive. We will rebuild the houses and will produce dozens more babies for each martyr.
SPEAKER 13 :
They are the price we need to pay.
SPEAKER 09 :
One of the leaders of Hamas doing a podcast interview, again, not only talking about what I was discussing, which was, could you imagine the students in the universities as they graduate would be protesting there on the university campuses? This is, again, Hamas celebrating what’s going on in America. And then talking about, you know, they talk a lot about life and whether life has any real meaning to the people in Hamas. And they say, no, I mean, they’re at least admitting it. Saying, look, we don’t care if it’s 10,000 babies. We’ll replace those babies four times. That’s the price to pay. That’s where we’re at. So remember, when this person claims to have been instigated by what was happening in Gaza and the lack of humanitarian aid, the alleged lack of humanitarian aid, which, by the way, the BBC had to retract a good portion of that statement. They said 14,000 children are going to die within 48 hours. And they had to come back and go, oh, we meant 48 months. Maybe it was a correction. And allegedly, that’s one of the things that motivated this shooter was seeing that in the news. So when you create lies, this is what happens. When you push a rhetoric that goes beyond just disagreeing with the government, but starts calling for people, calling for global conspiracy from a certain group of people, then you know where it’s going to hit. And then you hear there, of course, in those comments, and a lot of people have asked about what some of the responses are from maybe the other side. We’ve heard now from Dan Bongino. We’ve heard from President Trump. We’ve heard from A.G. Bondi. But what about someone like Congresswoman Omar, Ilhan Omar? Let’s hear what she had to say today.
SPEAKER 11 :
Congresswoman Omar, can I get your reaction to the shooting that happened in D.C. last night? I’m going to go for now.
SPEAKER 09 :
I’m going to go for now. So, you know, couldn’t even have anticipated that. Congresswoman Omar, we know you have no love for the Jewish people. We know you have no love for Israel. But how about you come up with a half sentence answer that could at least maybe calm people down. But instead, you knew you were going to get asked this. You knew it. First thing you knew you’d be asked this. But of course, you just say, I’m going to go for now.
SPEAKER 11 :
And what we have seen also, though, there are people on the Democrat side that have issued stronger statements, obviously, than Ilhan Omar. Hopefully. There’s not really a weaker statement you can make. The governor of Pennsylvania, who himself was targeted on Passover… Because he is Jewish and supports Israel. Josh Shapiro, he issued a statement and tied his own experience with he and his wife also got engaged in Jerusalem. very similar to what was about to happen in just the following weeks. And he said, Yaron and Sarah should have had the same opportunity and a life together far beyond what their murderer cut short. May the memories be a blessing and a call to action for each of us. And I agree with the governor here. One, he has been a victim as well of this hatred and this targeting because he is Jewish and supports Israel.
SPEAKER 09 :
And it should be a call to action. Between him and Fetterman, I think you’re going to have a large group of Democrats that are no longer Democrats very soon. I think you’re going to see them shift. Now, do I think they’re going to become Republicans? Maybe not. But you have a wake-up call both sides of the aisle here. You either can condemn this and actually condemn what’s happening and actually wake up to murder happening on your own streets. Or you’re going to stay silent still. Or you’re going to condemn Israel still only. You’re not going to have the important conversations. You’re going to say, I’m going to go for now. But it’s time we call it out where it needs to be called out. And look, we have a second half hour coming up. If you don’t get us on your local station, we’re going to continue this conversation as well as take your calls at 1-800-684-3110. We’re also going to talk about some of the news coming out of the International Criminal Court that the ACLJ is involved in and how that affects Israel as well. So find us right now broadcasting live on YouTube, Rumble, wherever else you get your podcasts. keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever this is seculo and now your host logan secular welcome back to secular we do a second half hour of the broadcast right now of course we are talking about the brutal murder that happened on the streets of washington dc of two israeli diplomats one of them originally born in america born in kansas uh the Man in this situation, this was a couple that were about to be engaged in Israel. The man in this situation, Christian, Messianic, believer. Not that that makes it any better or any worse, but I think you should know the facts of what you’re dealing with here. Some of them felt called to be a part of Israel, to work with them. Of course, both of them with citizenship, dual citizenship. But this was on the streets of Washington, D.C. As a gunman approached them… killed both of them, and then went inside the museum, pretended to be the victim or to be someone who had seen the crime, was offered water, was offered any kind of comfort, and then had to eventually fess up that, oh yeah, I was the one who did the murder, and then went on a rant for a free Palestine. Again, changing the narrative a little bit as well. When someone walks in and what do the Jewish people do in the Israeli event? Took care of them. Treated him with respect. Gave him water. Gave him food. Comforted him. And then, of course, had to admit that he was, in fact, the murderer. That’s what we’re dealing with right now. And, look, this show is very upbeat, typically. We try to keep it not necessarily light, but keep it moving and keep it energetic. Because we know you’re listening on your lunch break or you’re listening later on. But you can’t do that today. We have to be honest. And this has been such a big part of the ACLJ’s work, Will. We could talk about that because the ACLJ has been involved not only in our support of Israel, the ACLJ Jerusalem, but also our support of Israel at the International Criminal Court. And there’s some updates there.
SPEAKER 11 :
That’s right. And this entire lie that you see in this alleged manifesto that Dan Bongino said they’re trying to verify is a dehumanizing of Jews. It is saying that you can go after them, you can kill them because it dehumanizes them. And that’s not a… new evil that is an ancient evil that has been around and that has been fought for a long time but also part of that that same lie is what’s happening at the ICC where they’re trying to issue arrest warrants and go after Benjamin Netanyahu the defense minister for war crimes and And so they are furthering that lie at the ICC. Originally, the pretrial committee there moved it ahead. But it was pushed back by the appeal that they had jurisdiction to issue these arrest warrants by the appellate level at the ICC. We filed originally in that pretrial chamber and pushing back that they don’t have jurisdiction over Israel. But we now have another opportunity to engage again. We filed leave to be able to file another brief as the appellate level kicked it back down, saying, no, you actually need to listen to Israel’s side. What happened the first time? It was all based off of people that hate Israel and calling them war criminals. So it’s been pushed back down. We are going to engage again. We’ve already filed that leave to file another brief, something we have done prior, and we will continue to fight back against that lie at the ICC. Because if the global bodies are able to say they’re war criminals, what they’re doing is inhumane, it feeds in to this evil that you see on college campuses from this murderer, assassin, terrorist, whatever descriptor you want to call the man that carried out this attack last night. It’s that same mindset and ideology that Israel is evil and it dehumanizes Jews. And then it justifies for these evil people, their actions against them.
SPEAKER 09 :
All right. Phone lines are open for you right now at 1-800-684-3110. Of course, we’ve been supporting Israel the entire time. You can be a part of it as well. Help defend Israel against these global attacks and not only global attacks, attacks that are now happening. on the streets of America as two Israeli diplomats were just assassinated on the streets of Washington, D.C. Again, these are young people by a Hamas supporter. If you want to stand up against this, we’ve got the team to do it. Go to ACLJ.org. See how you can support. See if you can become a champion. We would appreciate it. But no, right now, we really could just use your prayers and your support. Be right back. Welcome back to Sekulow. Of course, a more somber day as we are talking about the assassination of Israeli diplomats on the streets of Washington, D.C. Not something I was hoping to say. Of course, we’re not talking about just high-level people or whoever this may be. We’re talking about two young people who were planning on getting engaged in the next few days in Israel. Will just read me a quote from the mother who said they’re worried about her traveling to Israel. They weren’t worried about her in Washington, D.C. Of course, I feel like that’s how a lot of us should feel. Understand there’s a war in Israel right now. Of course, going there is risky. I’m not saying you shouldn’t go. A lot of people do go. A lot of our team’s gone. But you understand the inherent risk of it. Going to an event in Washington, D.C. should not be that case. I do want to hear from Mike Huckabee, who we should listen to. He obviously is now the ambassador to Israel from the United States, something he felt very called to do. And someone who has been just probably one of the biggest supporters of Israel in our lifetime. someone who’s been so strong and passionate about this that this felt like his ultimate calling from God to do this. Mike Huckabee, former Southern Baptist pastor, I believe. We’re not talking about, again, a lot of these people are Jesus-believing Christians, including the man who was murdered. And again, nothing that makes it any better or any worse, but it’s just the facts. Because they’re going to paint it when you talk to your friends. Well, these were diplomats. They’re not going to paint it as this was a 29-year-old, 30-year-old Christian. So let’s hear from Mike Huckabee.
SPEAKER 02 :
People here in Israel are devastated, Brian. It is a disheartening act that happens in the U.S. nation’s capital. I think everybody is just in shock. I got a call early this morning, Jerusalem time, from Pam Bondi, the attorney general. She was at the scene. She gave me a brief on what was going on. I’ve spoken with the foreign minister. I’ve spoken with the minister, the ambassador of Israel to the U.S. and to the father of the young man who lives here in Israel. The tragedy is that they were expecting to be engaged to be married next week here in Israel. They had already bought the ring. They were coming to Israel to seal their engagement. And it’s just a horrific tragedy, an act of terror, and another way in which we have to recognize Jewish people all over the world are being singled out for these kind of horrible attacks.
SPEAKER 11 :
And I think it’s interesting also you brought up, you know, obviously that our ambassador to Israel was a former Southern Baptist pastor. And you also talk about the victim here, who one of his professor at the Argaman Institute for Advanced Studies in Jerusalem, who he had taken a year-long program under this professor, described him as a devout Christian, but he had tied his fate to the people of Israel. And I do think that there needs to be called out to some degree a rot that’s happening in many churches in this country and probably globally at this point where they’re buying the lies of jihadis and they are parroting the cause of terrorists. The one democracy in the Middle East where Christians can live and worship and visit are who they are turning on and believing ancient blood libels and tropes that the Jews killed Jesus, which is such a lie from the pit of hell when you think about how limiting they are of God, misunderstanding the redemption story of Jesus that… Christ died for everyone because of the world’s sin, not because he was murdered by an ethnic group. in the story of the Bible. This is not something that can be allowed to fester because it’s anti-Christian. It doesn’t understand the redemption story, but it is festering and rotting in many circles here in America that are buying the lies of jihadis and terrorists in their Christian churches.
SPEAKER 09 :
Let’s take a call about that. I want to go to Bill who’s calling in Texas, who’s an ACLJ champion. Bill, we always appreciate you calling in. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 08 :
Hey, I don’t think freedom of speech means that you can go around and say that you want to kill people and annihilate people from the river to the sea and all these other things that are said about the Jews. Well, what if these people were saying that about white people or black people or gay people? It wouldn’t be tolerated. It’s not free speech. It’s something else. And that’s what’s causing all these hate-filled texts and videos that people post, Jews and other people. That’s what causes this.
SPEAKER 09 :
You’re right. It doesn’t matter. There’s a book called Jews Don’t Matter, and it kind of goes into this situation, which is it’s the only ethnic group, the only religious group and ethnic group that can honestly be freely targeted and doesn’t get any of the response. And now you’re seeing that response not just from the left, but you’re seeing it from the right as well. You’re seeing it from the American people. You’re seeing murder on the streets. And look, do I think you should have freedom of speech if you don’t agree with what the Israeli government is doing? Of course. There are a lot of people in Israel that don’t like what the Israeli government is doing. It’s not unlike America in that sense. There are multiple parties. There are multiple people, different feelings. Not everyone is a conservative. Not everyone is a liberal. They certainly don’t fit into the same molds that we do here in America. Maybe the closest thing to America, but still not. Do I think you should have the right to do all that? To say these things? To take to the streets if you disagree with what’s going on? Sure. But get yourself educated. Like you said, they say from the river to the sea, which an explicit call to genocide. Yeah, you know what? Probably though, if you asked them, they probably don’t know what the river is. They probably don’t know what the sea is. And they certainly don’t even know what they’re saying. And I’ve learned that so abundantly clear when I talk to some of my friends. They see images online and all they do is form their opinions on that. They get no news sources. They do no facts. They see a headline. They share it. They move on with their day. They don’t actually know the details of what’s happening. And of course, then there’s the people that create those facts. And those people that create the facts, they are the ones that want the murder to be happening in the streets. They do want the ones, they are the ones who want to radicalize people throughout our country and around the world. And they do a pretty good job with it. So that’s why we’ve had to stand up. That’s why we’ve had to say stuff. That’s why we ask you to share our content. Because if not, we’re going to get lost. You have to embrace what’s going on in society. Or you have to make sure you put your content, like I said, not behind a paywall. Do you think you’re gonna reach anybody that way? Okay, we know what the radical right, if you will, and the radical left that are anti-Semitic and are anti-Jewish and anti-Israel, what they’re doing, they’re putting out content freely. Why? Because they want you to share it. They want you to post on X about it. They want you to share it on your Facebook. They want you to comment and say something snarky. They want you to play into old tropes and racism. And if we’re gonna call out, as he said, call out racism for every other race, If we’re going to call out sexism, if we’re going to call out anyone who has these issues, in America, we should be able to live as free as we’d like. Sure, there are standards that we have, what’s legal, what’s not, on the streets. But if it’s within those boundaries, you shouldn’t have to worry about walking down the street. You shouldn’t. I want to go ahead and take one more call before we head to break. Let’s go to John, who is calling in Maryland. John, go ahead.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, I just wanted to say, I think a lot of, I’m a Christian, I have Christian friends, and I have Jewish friends, and a lot of them, they need to get their head out of the sand. You know, they’re like that big bird, and they just stick their head down in the sand. And they think that what happened in Germany in the 30s can’t happen here. And when they say, from the river to the sea, what’s going to be next? After they take care of the Jews, then they’re going to come after the Christians, which is going to be, what, from the East Coast to the West Coast? That’s the only way America’s going to be free.
SPEAKER 09 :
Look, John, I’m looking at the comments right now on our YouTube channel. We are getting slammed right now with trolls that are coming in with anti-Semitic posts. I know our team has been hard at work at trying to shut down those that are in there doing this. I’ve seen it continually being posted today. They’re riled up. And maybe they’re real people, maybe they’re bots. Because honestly, they’ve been able to do that, as you said, and they’ve been able to get Jewish people to feel bad about their Judaism, to feel bad about their background, to disassociate themselves from the state of Israel. That’s not exclusive. That’s certainly not happening on all fronts, but it certainly is working. It’s why when I walk down the street, maybe occasionally I’ll take my Star of David and I’ll put it in my shirt. It’s not that I want to. It’s not that I don’t feel ashamed to do it. I do. but I’m worried about the safety of my family as I walk down the street. And now there’s a reason to. Now we’ve had the fear happen, which is not just someone in an argument, in a protest, getting hit over the head with a megaphone, which is horrible, but you’re in the middle of a protest. It’s heated. Stuff like that could happen. It’s terrible. Don’t condone it. But for someone to just walk out of a party, walk out of an event, and get assassinated because of their background, Because of their job? Because of their ethnicity? Again, not the country we live in. Fortunately, it is the country we live in, but it shouldn’t be. All right. Hey, when we get back, we’re going to take as many calls as we can. I’d like to hear from you. We got two lines open still. Maybe three, actually, when John’s gone. John, I appreciate your call. 1-800-684-3110. Support Israel. Support our work. We really would appreciate it and share this kind of content. People need to see it. I mean, again, the content that’s coming in right now, that I’m seeing on our YouTube channel and guys are we not can we get some better moderation here I mean I’ll be honest I don’t want to call out my own team here but it’s pretty brutal right now 1-800-684-3110 1-800-684-3110 to be on the air or you can give us a call and like I said go to ACLJ.org become an ACLJ champion if you can we’ll be right back Welcome back to Secula. We’re going to spend this segment taking your calls and comments. Again, I appreciate those who have been respectful to our phone screeners. I always appreciate that. I know that certainly helps you get on the air quicker. But some of you have been on hold for a long time. Let’s go to Scott in Nevada who is listening on the radio. You’ve been on hold for 35 minutes. I appreciate it, Scott. Go ahead with your comment.
SPEAKER 05 :
Hi, thanks for taking my call. I just wanted to say, going back to the second segment, we were talking about the residents of Gaza. I believe that they fully support the assassinations that they did yesterday and that the majority of them would care for more assassinations. And I believe a small minority in America believes that it was okay to do that. I think that until there’s a regime change or an ethical change, or some kind of change, it’s going to continue that way.
SPEAKER 11 :
Thank you for taking my call. Well, and Scott, you have to remember that Hamas was elected in Gaza. The Israelis left occupying, as they like to say, the Gaza Strip. They left the security arrangement that was there to stop the festering of terrorism. And they, during the Bush administration, left Gaza, And the people of Gaza held an election. The Palestinian Authority, which is no less terroristic, just not as overtly anymore, but they still support it. They still pay terrorists with their pay to slay program. But the people of Gaza didn’t elect ISIS. The more moderate terrorists, they elected Hamas. Now, Hamas hasn’t had more elections. They’ve maintained their grip on power. But you have an elected terrorist organization that rules over Gaza and takes the supplies from the UN to build tunnels to commit more terrorism. And they keep these people suppressed. And also, then the UN comes in with their UN schools. What are they teaching in the UN schools through UNRWA? Hatred of Jews. Their curriculum. All of these things. It works together. And oh, by the way, many UNRWA people, teachers and other aid workers, what did they help out with? October 7th. So this isn’t something that you can just separate the people of the Palestinian territories and the government they elected decades ago, because at the end of the day, This entire issue is continuing because of an ancient hatred of the Jewish people.
SPEAKER 09 :
Absolutely. We do know there were, honestly, more Palestinian Christians than there are now in these areas in Gaza and in the West Bank. We helped many of those families, many of those Christian families who a lot of their relatives were murdered, including a husband of a Christian bookstore. That’s an old case we did back in 2009 that we made a documentary on. I mean, this is how long, that’s a short term. Of how long this has been happening. So we don’t call out every person. We know there has been small uprisings within Gaza against Hamas. However, I hope that eyes are opened. And look, I understand you’re in wartime. It’s hard not to side with your own country in some sense. But we know that, as Will said, it’s deeply rooted in even their education system. So to change all of that is going to need radical change. And I pray for it and I hope it comes. I would love for the middle East to be in peace. Um, and hopefully in my lifetime, let’s go to Kathy. Who’s calling California. You’re on the air.
SPEAKER 10 :
Hi, thank you so much for taking my call. I listen to you guys every day and I love your stuff. And this is just really heartbreaking what happened to this young couple. And basically I just, I’ve been hearing conservative people that I’ve respected for years and even revered because they were intelligent and everything, saying crazy things that, you know, ascribing to things lately because of this whole conflict in Gaza that I never would have thought. And I just want to say that as a Christian, that we were grafted into the root of Jesse without the root, without the stump, without the life that comes from that, which is the Jewish nation. There is no Christ. There is no Christianity. So anyone who says they’re a Christian, I just can’t understand.
SPEAKER 09 :
I agree with you. I agree with you. It’s been shocking, to say the least, to hear some of the rhetoric coming out of some of these people, like you said, that you revered, that you thought of as intelligent people. A lot of energy was spent on Kanye West. We talked about this on Ye. Here’s my difference in opinion on that. is that I see him as someone who has a lot of issues, ups and downs, a lot of mental problems, talked about it very openly. He also is someone who has just struggled in general with his beliefs and all of this, and he’s surrounded a celebrity. But he’s surrounded by people who somehow are propping that up. Now, today he comes out, apologizes. You know what? I don’t look at Kanye West. I’m not really scared of Kanye West in that sense. I actually think he’s an artist who is a really disturbed individual. We should pray for him. I believe he believes what he says. However, I think we should pray for him. What does really bother me is these people who I know are either doing one of two things. They’re either just riling up a base on the right that still has their racist intuitions, who still has whatever part of the Klan that still exists. They still can rile people up and they either believe it themselves, which is terrifying, Or they’re doing it just for clicks. And I’m not so sure which one is which, but they know they’ll find an audience. And sadly, they’ll find an audience on the right. And it’s happening with some of those leading prominent names. We’ve seen some of these big organizations take really big hits because they have stood up against it. It’s really a shame. And it is shocking. And I agree with you. We got to pray for all these people as well. Let’s continue on. We got two and a half minutes. We’ll take a couple more calls. Michael’s calling in Florida. Watch it on YouTube. You’re on the air, Michael.
SPEAKER 06 :
Gentlemen, just to piggyback on what you just said, it almost seems like when it comes to racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, anti-Christian, whatever, it’s one that we all know what that is on the face. But what’s terrible is when you take that and pervert the truth of what’s happening just to support your own view or ideology, whatever.
SPEAKER 11 :
they’re israeli so of course they maybe deserved it or they you know why people are mad hamas is a death cult that dehumanizes all human life so that they can further their power agenda we know that because of the clip we played earlier earlier where he talked about thousands of death in gaza are the price we need to pay and then you also see that that ideology from this attacker does not have any pro-life view because it is morally justified because he dehumanizes Jews. So it’s the same death cult ideology.
SPEAKER 09 :
We got two more calls. I’m gonna see if we can get through them really quick. Pamela, we’re running out of time, but go ahead with your comment real quick.
SPEAKER 10 :
I’m just, frankly, very, very disappointed and probably offended at the Christian community, not only in the United States, but around the world. You know, number one, Jesus, our Savior, is a Jew. And they keep silent. They don’t say anything about anti-Semitism when they know, or should know at least, that their Bible, our Bible, which we’re all supposed to believe in.
SPEAKER 09 :
We share a big portion of it. Hey, I’m only cutting you off, Pamela. I hate it. But we are running out of time. But no, I feel the same way. They’re scared. Or they’re not sure what side to go with. But the ones who aren’t speaking that are pro-Israel, they’re scared. And look, look what’s happening on the streets of this country. I can’t blame them. I can’t say that I haven’t woken up in fear of these kind of things happening. Dee, I’m sorry we’re not going to be able to get to you today. Please call back, though, because I think you have a very important question. But we can’t get to you today. Support the work of the ACLJ. If you can, go to ACLJ.org. I appreciate all of you who watch this show, listen each and every day. We’ve got some amazing work that our team is doing. And thanks for getting through the show with us today. See you tomorrow.
