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As the dust settles over the Middle East, we turn our focus to the strategic implications of Israel’s recent military actions against Iran. With esteemed guests like Dr. A.J. Nolte and Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin, we traverse the complex terrain of international diplomacy and military readiness. This episode also sheds light on the critical role of intelligence in modern warfare and the broader ramifications for U.S.-Israel relations.
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from the heart of our nation’s capital in Washington, D.C., bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and sound bites into conversations with our nation’s leaders and newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Sitting in for Tony is today’s host, Jody Heiss.
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In the past 24 hours, we’ve taken out top military commanders, senior nuclear scientists, the Islamic regime’s most significant enrichment facility and a large portion of its ballistic missile arsenal. More is on the way. The regime doesn’t know what hit them. They don’t know what will hit them.
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Well, that was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier today after Israel launched Operation Rising Lion to counter the imminent and existential threat posed by Iran. Welcome to this Friday edition of Washington Watch. I am Jody Heiss. Thank you so much for joining us and we’ve got a lot to cover today. After days of chatter about Israel’s potential strike on Iran, It finally happened earlier this morning, local time, last night, depending on where you live. But Israel says they really had no choice.
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Israel uncovered clear evidence that the Iranian regime was planning a surprise attack in coordination with their proxies. A surprise attack with a nuclear strike, which Iran was preparing for, would have been terminal. Israel could not and would not wait for that moment to arrive.
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That was Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Dunnan, earlier today. And I’ll discuss the latest on the attacks and Iran’s response when I’m joined by CBN News Middle East Bureau Chief Chris Mitchell. in just a little while. I’ll also get a reaction from Dr. A.J. Nolte, who’s the director of the Institute for Israel Studies at Regent University, who is live right now in Jerusalem, as well as Chris Mitchell. So a lot coming from Israel today. And just how significant is Operation Rising Lion, and what has it accomplished so far? We’ll get the latest read on that from retired Lieutenant General Jerry Boykin, who is FRC’s executive vice president and, of course, former deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence. And while many support Israel’s preemptive strike, there are always those who are quick to condemn the Jewish nation and not those who seek to annihilate them.
SPEAKER 02 :
The Secretary General condemns any military escalation in the Middle East. He is particularly concerned by Israeli attacks on nuclear installations in Iran. The Secretary General asks both sides to show maximum restraint, avoiding at all costs a descent into deeper conflict, a situation that the region can hardly afford.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, that was UN Spokesperson Alessandra Vellucci reiterating a statement from the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. So a lot happening right now. And of course, you know what the Middle East and the rest of the world absolutely cannot afford? Well, that would be a radical regime that wants not only to cleanse the world of Israel, but also they would love to cleanse the world of the United States. So why is there so much criticism against Israel and not against those who want to wipe them off the map? Well, I’ll discuss this later on the program when Tony Perkins himself joins me. So as always, we’ve got a lot, a lot to bring your way. You don’t want to miss any part of it. Our website, of course, is TonyPerkins.com. If you miss any portion of today’s program, you can get it there, as well as a lot of other resources. Again, that’s TonyPerkins.com. So all right, the conflict between Israel and Iran continues to unfold even as we speak. Updates from the IDF show that Iran is unleashing more attacks and retaliation for last night’s targeted strikes by Israel. And so we want to get the latest on those attacks, but also how the U.S. is responding to these attacks and what impact might they have on talks between the U.S. and Iran, which were scheduled at least to take place this Sunday. So here to discuss this and more is Dr. A.J. Nolte. As I said a while ago, he is the director of the Institute for Israel Studies at Regent University. And absolutely, in fact, he’s coming live to us from Jerusalem right now. Absolutely a scholar on this. Dr. Nolte, welcome back to Washington Watch. Great to have you.
SPEAKER 18 :
Great to be here, Jody, and as they say over here, Shabbat Shalom. It’s right just past midnight here in the old city of Jerusalem, and I’m glad to be with you.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, thank you so much for staying up. I know there’s a lot going on. First of all, we pray for you and the others in Jerusalem and Israel and this whole thing and just pray safety on you and the entire nation. Let’s begin with your take on last night’s strikes by Israel. It’s a pretty fascinating military maneuver that they pulled off.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, sometimes it’s evident when you see something like this that it’s been planned for a while. The fact that Israel was able to go in, hit Natanz, which was the major nuclear site that they hit as hard as they did, hit other sites around Tehran, and now we’re getting confirmations of some of the major military figures they took out. I’ve heard reports that the Air Force strike was matched with, let’s just say, considerable Israeli intelligence assets on the ground that were deployed very effectively. And so I think Israel has had the infrastructure in place for this for quite a while, the planning, all of that kind of stuff. And they were looking for a specific trigger, and I think a confluence of factors led them to decide this was the time when they had the opportunity to act and when also they had to act.
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Yes, and even as we speak, Israel’s in the process of intercepting Iranian missiles with the help of the U.S., I might add, and of course Iran also had a drone attack earlier, as we all know, but Israel is saying that Iran has crossed the red line because they’re now seemingly targeting civilian centers. I mean, really, Dr. Nolte, could the contrast be any more clear than it? I mean, you’ve got Israel, which is fighting to defend life and defend itself, while Iran and its proxies are fighting to kill.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, I can confirm. We were at dinner with friends. They had lifted, Homefront Command here had lifted the shelter in place. And so we actually had been on tour for a while. We needed to do laundry and some friends offered us to get dinner and come over for laundry. And then we actually saw, people saw and I could hear from where we were the Missiles coming in and the interceptors going, I can confirm. I don’t want to talk too much about locations because the IDF is wanting to keep that close held because they don’t want Iran to know what was successful and what was not, but I can confirm that at least some of the areas were very clearly targeting civilian areas, not military targets, and pretty widespread in different regions of the country. Yes, it is a pretty stark contrast. The sense that I got just being here and being in the middle of it is that perhaps Iran is firing everything they’ve got, just firing what they have as they have it. I can tell you the drone, what we were told over here was Israeli time was going to be sometime between maybe 1.30 and 2.30 a.m. um and you know normally if there’s something coming in you hear a siren it sounds the siren sounds basically like if you are for a blister from the front of the midwest it sounds like a tornado siren and there’s no way you can miss it um and the drones i think didn’t even get close because we didn’t even hear anything but there were absolutely multiple waves of missiles um i can confirm people i was with saw them we could hear them um and they were certainly not head toward military targets
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Well, reportedly, the U.S. is now moving a couple of destroyers to the eastern Mediterranean. Does this indicate, at least from your perspective, that the U.S. could potentially become more involved in this war?
SPEAKER 18 :
I think there was a very clear statement from the United States earlier. And sometimes you have to carefully parse this. So the statement that we heard, I think, was from President Trump saying, I apologize. It might have been Secretary of State Rubio. I’m not sure which. But they said the United States will not be involved in Israel’s offensive operations. Now, if you think about the military side, you’ll notice a huge gap there. And the gap is it says offensive. It doesn’t say anything about defensive. And so the United States – I think we’re going to see – if people remember the coalition that stopped Iran from hitting Israel in the past when Iran struck the first time, I think you’re going to see a similar coalition perhaps. Maybe some different actors. It’s hard to say. But I do think the US is going to be involved for sure in stopping Iranian retaliation. I think also there’s a signaling fact. President Trump has made it very clear in his statements to Iran, you need to negotiate or else. And I think President Trump is certainly wanting to add more leverage as well. Yep, absolutely. That’s where we are right now.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, let me come back to that. Let me come back to that in just a moment. But with all of this, I think certainly the U.S. would get involved if any U.S. bases or troops or whatever are targeted. Obviously, that would change things. But what do you think? I’d love your opinion on whether or not this is an open door for Israel to attack Iran’s oil assets. Is that becoming… a likelihood as Iran continues to retaliate?
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, I think that’s up to Iran. Are they going to escalate? Are they going to continue with the barrages? Eventually, Israel is going to run out of nuclear sites to hit. And so at a certain point, I think President Trump was very clear that Iran needs to make a choice. And I think we’ll know that very soon because if Iran continues to fire as they did tonight, these barrages at Israel, I think the Israelis are going to continue to respond. And what we’ve seen thus far in every exchange between Israel and Iran since October 7th directly is that Israel is a lot more effective than Iran. Obviously, it’s a little disconcerting being on the ground. But if you look at it just from a purely pragmatic perspective, Israel is doing a much better job of intercepting anything coming from Iran than Iran is. And Israel strikes have been a lot more effective.
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So going back to what you mentioned a while ago as far as the really choice being in Iran’s corner right now, it appears as though reports are at least coming out that they have or going to back out of the negotiations that were scheduled for this weekend. What do you think of that? Are the talks dead or do you think there’s any chance that they could still resume?
SPEAKER 18 :
I’m not sure. I mean, I think for Iran to pull out would be a mistake because – Basically, President Trump coming up with some sort of deal is probably the only chance they have of getting Israel to stop. I mean, some of the messaging that we’re hearing from the Israeli government is that this is just the beginning from their perspective. And today was a very heavy first day, but they’re not telling people like, They’re not saying this is going to be over tomorrow or this is going to be quick. They’re saying they will go on as long as it takes, and they’re saying this is just the beginning. So I think if Iran wants to stop the pain on them, I think they almost certainly will need to do some sort of off-ramp, and the only way they’re getting that is probably talks with Iran.
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Wow, so we’ve only got a couple of seconds here, but any chance you think Iran does back down?
SPEAKER 18 :
I think it’s unlikely. Ideologically, I think they’re so locked in for just this fight with Israel. In the same way that Israel’s been preparing militarily, I think Iran may continue to escalate, but we’ll see what happens in the next 20 hours.
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Dr. A.J. Nolte, Director of the Institute of Israel Studies, Regent University. Stay safe. God bless you and thank you for joining us. Next, I’ll be joined by CBN News Middle East Bureau Chief Chris Mitchell. He also coming from Israel. Stay tuned.
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Welcome back to Washington Watch. I am your Friday host Jody Heiss. So glad to have you joining us today. All right, I’m sure we’ve all seen it by now. Israel’s attacks on targeted Iranian facilities appears to be an amazing and major success. In addition to the facilities themselves, the IDF has confirmed the death of multiple Iranian officials as a result of all the attacks. But at the same time, obviously, the threat of an aggressive Iranian counterattack looms heavily over Israel. So how are those in Israel right now reacting to both the strike and the subsequent possibility of more war? Well, here to discuss this is Chris Mitchell. He is the Middle East Bureau Chief at CBN News. Chris, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thank you so much for staying up and for joining us.
SPEAKER 23 :
Great to be with you, Jody.
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All right, well, let’s begin. Chris, are you safe to begin with? And then beyond that, what can you tell us about the situation as it’s unfolding there?
SPEAKER 23 :
Well, the situation is unfolding as we speak, Jody. As we prayed before we got on here, we are under the Psalm 91 protection right now. There were sirens that went off here in Jerusalem just about 30 minutes ago. Apparently, Iran has launched about 100 ballistic missiles towards Israel. We understand, and I’ve just been watching some of the news, I think five have hit Tel Aviv. That’s all preliminary, and there are some injuries right now. But it’s called severe punishment. That’s the name of the retaliation by Iran right now. But as to your point what you’re saying it’s an amazing uh military operation that israel has been uh unfolding for the last nearly 20 hours right now some people call it epic the intelligence has been precise the operation has been extraordinary where dozens if not hundreds of israeli planes have gone nearly a thousand miles or more to uh to hit many of the Iranian nuclear facilities, including Natanz, one of their main uranium enrichment facilities that’s been dramatically destroyed. Also, we know today they have been attacking Fordow and Natanz, two other major nuclear facilities here, there in Iran. They’ve also knocked out much of the air defense systems of Iran, ballistic missiles, certainly not the ones that have been fired, but much of the ballistic missile capability has been degraded as well. And as you said, some of the top leaders have been eliminated, maybe 20 of the top leaders of the IRGC and the Iranian military. Just an extraordinary operation that’s been years, literally years in the planning, Jody. You know, the Iranian nuclear program hit the world stage in 2002, 23 years ago. And now we are finally, Israel is finally, after months of speculation and years of planning, hit Iran’s nuclear facilities. And just let me add, last night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went to the Western Wall. He put a note in the wall, and it was from Numbers chapter 23, verse 24. And I’ll quote. It says, he shall rise up like a lion and lift him like a lioness. And the name of the operation is called Operation Rising Lion.
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Yes, I was reading that passage. I’d heard that he had done that and was reading that passage before we came on and powerful. I’ll actually have Tony on a little bit later and we’ll talk about that in greater detail. But this is a continuing passage. unfolding story and the attacks on Tel Aviv, as you mentioned, maybe still taking place as we speak. But Iran also responded with the drone attacks after Israel attacked the strategic sites this morning. What happened, Chris, in that attack and how is the nation reacting?
SPEAKER 23 :
Well, in that attack, Jody, there was about 100 drones that were fired. Most all of them were eliminated or shot down before they even got to Israeli airspace. So that particular retaliation by Iran didn’t succeed very well. But on the other hand, Israel’s attacks not only against the nuclear facilities, as I said, but they actually were able to penetrate into Iranian territory with Mossad agents who had actually built apparently or established drones and missiles inside Iranian territory to be operated as soon as they gave the go-ahead, which was last night. And obviously, there had been sort of maybe a deception program or policy in the last several days, several weeks. People were wondering, are they going to have negotiations? Are they going to succeed? Is Israel going to attack? Nobody quite knew exactly what was going to happen, except, I’m sure, people in the White House and here in Israel.
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I understand that Israel now is in a state of an emergency following the attacks as well they should be. And at the same time, as you kind of referenced, I would think that’s not all that terribly uncommon. But for those of us here in the States, what does that mean, a state of emergency? Does life continue on or does everything shut down? What does it mean for the people there in Israel?
SPEAKER 23 :
Well, right now, Jody, it pretty well shuts down. There was no work today. Schools were closed, obviously. People are instructed right now to shelter in place, especially because of these ballistic missiles that have been fired at Israel. It means you’re likely to get an alert about 10 minutes before missiles may reach Israeli airspace. And so the sirens go all over the country. And that means you have to just find a shelter, go to a bomb shelter. Just outside the street here where I’m at, Jody, there’s hardly any traffic. And so people are just staying in place right now, staying put and trying to stay safe.
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Only about a minute left, Chris. The nuclear talks I just saw before we came on looks like they may be called off right now, but that is not confirmed. What can you tell us on that front? President Trump has said Iran missed their chance. What do you expect as far as future talks are concerned?
SPEAKER 23 :
I doubt they’re going to happen, Jody, but President Trump is still opening the door for negotiations. He says they still have an opportunity to go to the negotiating table, stop their nuclear program. But it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen the way Iran is acting right now. But we’ll see what happens. And I just an encouragement, Jody, to pray. for the peace of Jerusalem. Pray for wisdom for Prime Minister Netanyahu, President Trump, and all the leaders or the advisors for both leaders. It’s a very, very important time to be praying.
SPEAKER 07 :
Absolutely. And we are calling on people to do just that. In fact, we have a prayer pledge to that end. Thank you, Chris Mitchell, CBN News Middle East Bureau Chief. Thank you. God bless you. Stay safe.
SPEAKER 23 :
Thanks, Tony. Great to be with you again.
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All right, friends, coming up, I’ll be speaking with Family Resource Council’s Executive President, Lieutenant General Jerry Boykin on the military side of what’s going on in Israel. So don’t go anywhere. We’ll be back in just a moment.
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SPEAKER 07 :
Thank you so much for joining us today on Washington Watch. I’m your Friday host Jody Heiss. Glad to have you joining us. A lot in the news today and as we continue now our coverage of the fast-moving developments of Israel’s Operation Rising Lion. Well, we’ve looked at it already today from the perspective of Capitol Hill as well as on the ground from Israel, literally. But what about from a military standpoint? Well, here now to discuss this with his insights is Family Research Council’s Executive Vice President, retired Lieutenant General Jerry Boykin. He spent 36 years in the Army, serving his last four years as the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence. And he was also, proudly so, one of the original members of the U.S. Army’s Delta Force. General, welcome back to Washington Watch. Always an honor to have you, my friend.
SPEAKER 24 :
Oh, it’s good to be with you. Thank you for inviting me.
SPEAKER 07 :
All right. Well, General, break down, if you can, for us the targets that Israel hit from a military perspective. How strategic were the targets that Israel went after?
SPEAKER 24 :
Well, let me start just by saying the key to success of this is… unquestionable intelligence. In other words, you know exactly what’s on that target, and you go after it. So I’m going to assume that the Israelis have chosen these targets very carefully, and they know that ultimately what will happen is they will set the program back. There’s no way you can stop them, but you can set their program back and buy more time. And then it’s a matter of whether they’re you know, inclined to want to go through this again. But I think what you see here is they have gone after anything as best I can tell. They have gone after anything that has anything to do with the facilities that house or help to construct the the weapons that they’re trying to destroy. And the centrifuges are another issue that they have gone after because they need to destroy those so they can’t make any more uranium. Go ahead.
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Okay, no, we were just having some B-roll while you were joining us here by phone. You said that they can’t put a complete stop to this, but they can certainly slow it down. What do you mean by that? And to what extent do you think the effort for nuclear weapons have been slowed down for what Iran was trying to accomplish?
SPEAKER 24 :
Well, I think it depends on how effective they were to have the deep underground bunker busters. And because so much of theirs, their nuclear program is underground and these deep caverns and so forth. So it really comes down to a question of how effective has it been and have they had the right things that they needed, like the bunker busting bombs, to get down into the deep underground places. Now that said, regardless of what happens here today, their program has been set back because All of the things that the Israelis went after were selected very carefully to include the people, the leaders that they killed as well. So they have set this back because they have destroyed centrifuges. They’ve destroyed – different things that are involved in the making of the bombs as well as the delivery systems, which would be the missiles that they have. And so I don’t think you can say that they’ve destroyed it all, but I think they’ve destroyed enough of it that in the near future, in the foreseeable future, they don’t have to worry about it.
SPEAKER 07 :
And then you say it depends on whether or not Iran wants to go through something like this again at some future date. You mentioned the leaders. I think that’s an excellent point. Several of their top leaders and nuclear scientists have been eliminated in all of this. Unpack for us, General Boykin, just how severely that kind of impact has on this whole thing. I mean, they can replace leaders, but can they replace leaders with the same people quality and caliber, if you will? Just how severe of an impact is the assassinations, if you will, of these leaders?
SPEAKER 24 :
Yeah, well, I think it’s quite obvious that these guys were selected because they’re close to the bureaucracy in Iran. They are Shia 12ers. They are believers. And they were hand-selected and moved into these positions not only because they are considered to be leaders, but they’re also considered to be strong Shia 12ers. And I think that’s going to be very, very hard for them to replace in the short term. Nobody has had the experience that these three guys have had. And I’m sorry they didn’t get the fourth one. But nobody has had that kind of experience to this point. So they’re in a building period when this is over. I hope what this does is discourages them to the point that they don’t want to start over again and go through this again. But that’s unlikely. I think they’ll try to do it again. They’ll try to build a program.
SPEAKER 07 :
Thank you so much, Lieutenant General Jerry Boykin, FRC’s Executive Vice President. I know you’re on the road. You’ve got a thousand things going on in your world. Thank you for joining us by phone. God bless you, my friend. Thank you.
SPEAKER 24 :
God bless you.
SPEAKER 07 :
All right, friends, on the other side of the break, Tony will be joining me with his thoughts on Israel’s strike against Iran. Many of you will remember he was just in Israel just a few weeks ago, but he’ll be talking also about a conversation he had with Speaker Mike Johnson, as well as former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. We’ve got a lot yet to unpack for you, so don’t go anywhere. We’ll be back in just a moment.
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SPEAKER 07 :
Thank you so much for joining us today on Washington Watch. An honor to have you. I’m your Friday host, Jody Heiss. We’ve got a lot to cover today. As you well know, what’s happening in Israel is big, big news as we’ve been going across it from so many different angles today on this program. And as Israel’s leaders have been stressing all along, the Jewish nation is literally fighting against an imminent catastrophe. an existential threat. So I want to take this opportunity to invite you to join us in praying for Israel, for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for the entire country for that matter. And if you will simply text the word Israel to 67742, we’ll send you a prayer pledge that you can sign And I want you to know that we’re going to be sending this pledge to U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, as well as Prime Minister Netanyahu. So come on board with us. As you’ve heard Chris Mitchell earlier requesting prayer, sign up this prayer pledge and let those leaders know that we are praying for them. Text Israel to 67742. All right. In a video statement that was released shortly after launching what now is being referred to as Operation Rising Lion, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said Israel is at a decisive point in its history and certainly is fighting to maintain its own security in the region. Absolutely. An absolute truth. So what can Christians across the world do to support the nation of Israel right now? Well, I don’t know of anyone more suited to deal with that and a host of other issues that relate to Israel right now than our own president here at Family Research Council, Tony Perkins. He, of course, is the regular host here of Washington Watch and has his pulse on so many issues and certainly Israel being one of those. Tony, thanks so much for joining us today. I know you’ve got a lot going on. We appreciate you taking time to be with us today.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, absolutely. And Jody, as always, thanks for filling in and doing such a great job on Fridays for me as I generally am working on this week on Capitol Hill as I wrap up the week. And of course, a lot, as you said, to talk about this morning. I woke up to a couple of text messages, one from the House speaker and one from Ambassador Mike Huckabee in Israel, saying, pray, we have the whole country under a shelter in place. And, of course, we watched last night as we were going to bed as this was unfolding. So this is a big moment, as you’ve pointed out. It’s, I think, a very significant turning point. What I found, Jody, was kind of interesting last night is that one of the first statements out was from Secretary of State Marco Rubio stating that this was a unilateral move by Israel. The United States was not involved in the strikes. And that’s, quite frankly, encouraging to me because it shows that Israel realizes they have to stand on their own. Now, America has provided some material, and we are certainly supportive. But I think this is a new threshold of engagement by Israel that they have conducted this operation without outside help. This is a big game changer, I think, in the Middle East.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, I agree with you, Tony. I was a little surprised to begin with with Secretary of State Rubio’s comments. At first I thought, man, that just sounds like weakness on the part of the United States. But the more I thought about it and have gone through this, I agree with what you’re saying. And I think actually it’s a good move for Israel to stand on its own. Also, an effort to de-escalate, to some extent, some other countries, particularly the U.S., getting involved. I want to play a clip for you, Tony. I’m going to get to clip number one here in just a second, but I wanted to read this verse for you. Numbers 23, verse 24. This is, of course, in the context of Balaam, who went to curse Israel, only to have that backfire, so to speak, and God blessed them. But in the midst of all that, verse 24 of Numbers 23 says, a people rise up like a lioness. They rouse themselves like a lion. They will not lie down until they devour the prey. And we have now Operation Rising Lion coming after this passage. Play clip one, Tony, for me. And then, Tony, I’d like to get your response to this.
SPEAKER 13 :
Moments ago, Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, a targeted military operation to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival. This operation will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, powerful statements. Yes. And unequivocal that they’re going to see this through. And we’ve been seeing I’ve been watching the the collective body language from Israeli leaders and watching as they’ve been coming and going here in Washington, D.C., that the window they saw this window closing. And Iran was moving forward with the enrichment of their uranium and the ability to create a nuclear weapon. And nobody has better intelligence than Israel. And when you look at, and we’re early into this, and we’re just getting some preliminary reports, but the Mossad was operating deep within Iran, and the ground action was choreographed Just as the bombs were being dropped to try to limit it to limit the retaliatory actions of Iran And I think again I want to go back because I think this this point really is important Jody that Israel and this concern me Israel was really leaning on America for a lot They still do in terms of munitions and certain things and we’ve structured it that way. We’ve got to get away from that but israel was not looking to the united states for success in this i think more and more even by the name of this operation they’re looking to god and we don’t want to be as a nation in between them and god we want to support them and encourage them but we don’t want to be you know like an idol that they look to us as opposed to looking to god and again i think early reports are another I mean, God-blessed operation as they have taken preemptive strikes to protect and defend their country in the face of repeated threats from Iran.
SPEAKER 07 :
Excellent point, Tony. I think that is an excellent point that we need to embrace and take ownership of that Israel is not reliant upon any other than God himself. And that’s a great point. I know you were just over there in Israel just a few short weeks ago. In fact, one of the first thoughts I had when all of this unfolded was last night was you being there just a few short weeks ago. And in fact, we’re hearing initial reports even now. And Chris Mitchell referenced this just a moment ago, that even as we speak, Tel Aviv may be under attack right now, which is where you were, where you flew out of. All commercial flights and planes have been removed from there. It’s an incredible, just the timing of it all just has got to be very significant to you as well from a personal perspective. What did you see on the ground?
SPEAKER 09 :
I kind of wish I had been there. I was communicating with one of the… I’m not surprised that you would say that. Well, I mean, I was getting reports from Governor Israel Gantz, who is the governor over the area of Judea, where we spent a lot of time. And he was sending me messages this morning, and he was showing me the command center. They were in the command center because there’s – While this national effort is going on and there’s concern about the incoming missiles and rockets that might come from Yemen or obviously from Iran, there’s also the internal threat coming from the terrorist activity in Judea and Samaria. And so they’re on high alert. And so he was saying, you know, we’ve been up all night monitoring the situation. And I had been in his command center when I was there. And I said, man, If I were there, I would be hands on. I would be helping you. But unfortunately, can’t get there right now. But look, it’s just they live with this constant threat. And it’s been intensifying since October the 7th. And in the meetings, and I think I’ve been there four times since October the 7th and met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, I think three of those four times. And, you know, behind getting the hostages home from Gaza and eliminating Hamas, next on their list was Iran and this threat of the this constant nuclear threat from Iran. And so, again, I think they saw the window of opportunity beginning to close. They became very antsy, if you will. But this is, again, a very thought out plan. I was speaking to former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo this morning. And it is very evident that this plan has been on the drawing board, just waiting for the opportunity to execute it. And they did. And so far, it looks like they executed it with great precision, as they always do. Back in my days when I was working in the anti-terrorism field, I trained with the Israelis. And they’re some of the best, without question.
SPEAKER 07 :
Without question. And as a former Marine, I know you know exactly what you’re talking about. Tony, I want to hit on this with you as well, just from a sheer political perspective. I don’t think any of us are surprised, ultimately, that we are at this point where Iran has the capabilities that they have. But I want to go back several administrations ago. Play a clip for me, and then I want to get your reaction to this, Tony.
SPEAKER 25 :
For decades to come, inspectors will have access to Iran’s entire nuclear supply chain. In other words, if Iran tries to cheat, if they try to build a bomb covertly, we will catch them. So the bottom line is this. Whereas Iran was steadily expanding its nuclear program, we have now cut off every single path that Iran could have used to build a bomb.
SPEAKER 09 :
Should I laugh now or later? Your reaction. Or cry now or later, one or the other. So, two points on that. Again, referencing my conversation with Mike Pompeo this morning, and I worked with Mike pretty closely when he was Secretary of State because I was chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom during that time, and he made religious freedom his number one foreign policy objective. But you might recall his first speech as Secretary of State, he went to Cairo. and he very clearly articulated that he was a Christian, he was a follower of Christ, he believed the Bible. The big challenge we’ve had in our government for decades now, especially when it comes to our foreign policy, is that we have had those who have a secular mindset and are dismissive of religion and don’t believe that people believe what they say they believe. And even with some of those that have been in negotiations with Iran most recently, You can’t—these people are driven by an ideology that sees the destruction of Israel and any non-Islamic country as fundamental. And so there’s no reasoning to be had here. There’s no—and as I said, Mike Pompeo, as we were discussing, they said he didn’t see a positive outcome in terms of them laying down their nuclear program. It just wasn’t going to happen. One other aspect I do want to say, because I think this was I don’t know if it was a part of the decision that Israel made to go at this point. But earlier this week, the International Atomic Energy Agency, actually, the governing board issued a resolution saying that Israel was being noncompliant with their non. PROLIFERATION OBLIGATIONS IN THEIR NUCLEAR PLAN. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME IN 20 YEARS THAT THAT’S HAPPENED, THAT THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY ACTUALLY RECOGNIZED THIS. AND SO I THINK IT MAKES IT A LITTLE MORE DIFFICULT FOR THE U.N., ALTHOUGH IT CERTAINLY WON’T HOLD THEM BACK, BUT IT MAKES IT A LITTLE MORE DIFFICULT FOR THEM TO CRITICIZE THIS MOMENT OF ACTION BY ISRAEL GIVEN THE FACT THAT CLEARLY THEY WERE MOVING TOWARD THE NUCLEAR WEAPON.
SPEAKER 07 :
Absolutely. And, you know, with this, I think it’s also important for us to highlight that this move by Israel is not against Iranians in general, but against a tyrannical dictatorial regime.
SPEAKER 09 :
Great point. I think that’s important. Great point, because if you’ll recall a few months back, Prime Minister Netanyahu actually spoke to the Iranian people and said that very thing. We don’t have an issue with you. We want you to succeed. We have an issue with the regime that is suppressing you, repressing you, and threatening us. I think, Jody, I think the Islamic regime going into this had a choice. They could lay down their nuclear program, eliminate it, and hold on to power. or they could have their nuclear program taken from them and destroyed and lose their regime. I think you’re going to see a regime change in Iran.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, that’s another thing we need to be praying about. If that takes place, that change could be for the good or for the worse. And so that’s certainly something we need to pray for now. Let me ask you one more thing, Tony. Now, go ahead, finish your thought.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, I was just going to say, we know that from history. When one evil regime is replaced, if we’re not careful, that vacuum is filled by evil once again. So that is an issue that we need to be praying about and, from a policy standpoint, advocating for.
SPEAKER 07 :
Absolutely. All right. I think we just have time for one other question on which we had more time to go down other avenues. But not everyone is supporting Israel’s move here. Are they just turning a blind eye to the reality, the threat that Israel is posing? Or what do you think is behind this? And how can Christians be praying right now at this very important time?
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, Jody, I just say, why do we see the rise of anti-Semitism in the world today? And I think it is not just a hatred of Jewish people, and this is going to anger some people, but I think its reality is that really anti-Semitism is a hatred of God. And so I think anything that they do is going to be criticized by those who have an issue with God.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, at the end of the day, that’s what it all comes down to. There’s no question about this. Tony, I want to thank you so much. I know, boy, you’ve got a lot of conversations, a lot of meetings, a lot of plates spinning in your world just as a general rule. But this just added yet another two or three in your orbit. And I just want to thank you for taking time out of your schedule for joining us today.
SPEAKER 09 :
Always glad to do it, Jody, and encourage people to pray. Just text Israel to 67742 and join us in praying for Israel.
SPEAKER 07 :
Absolutely. We have a prayer pledge, and that pledge is going to be going to our ambassador, Huckabee, as well as Prime Minister Netanyahu. Again, text the word Israel to 67742, and you can participate as well. That’s all the time we have for today. Have a great, we’ll see you tomorrow.
SPEAKER 21 :
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