U.S. State Department Stabs Israel in the Back, Twists the Knife

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Biden administration promotes Hamas propaganda by smearing Israel as a human rights abuser.

On Tuesday, the State Department published its 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. What should have been a non-political document completed the betrayal of Israel that the Biden administration began on March 25, when it refrained from having the U.S. veto a UN resolution calling for a Gaza ceasefire, the impact of which would enable the leadership of Hamas to survive and launch more attacks on Jews and Jewish babies. The clear meaning of the October 7 massacre was witnessed in Palestinians burning infants alive to cries of “Allahu Akbar” as though the incineration of the innocent – should they be Jews – is a holy sacrament rather than a sick episode in the wretched history of humanity’s inhumanity to its weakest members.

Far from being horrified by this celebration of evil, the Biden administration conflated the practices of the only civilized society in the Middle East with the monsters seeking its destruction.

Fox News noted that the Biden State Department report “highlighted Israel prominently, featuring concerns over the country’s precautions to minimize the civilian toll of Palestinians on the first page, which is normally reserved for the most egregious of human rights abusers.”

Not only does the report include Israel among the most barbaric human rights abusers – China, Putin’s Russia, the Taliban, and Iran, the would-be exterminators of the Jewish state — but “Israel was mentioned before the Biden administration’s State Department addressed ‘ongoing and brutal human rights abuses in Iran’ or ‘the Taliban’s systemic mistreatment of and discrimination against Afghanistan’s women and girls.’”

In Iran, they chant “Death to America” and have been waging war against their own people, brutally suppressing nationwide riots that broke out after Sharia police murdered a young woman, Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested for not wearing her hijab properly. In Afghanistan, girls have been denied the right to an education, and the Taliban regime’s Supreme Leader announced in late March: “We will flog women in public, we will stone them to death in public.” No similar quotes were offered by the State Department from Israel’s leaders… because there are none.

The State Department report treats Israel as a worse human rights abuser than any of the above.

As far as the State Department is concerned, Israel’s alleged human rights violations are so egregious that they warrant being discussed immediately after the report mentions “the Kremlin’s disregard and contempt for human rights,” which “are on full display in its war against Ukraine,” and the “horrific violence, death, and destruction, including mass killings, unjust detentions, rape, and other forms of gender-based violence” that the Sudanese Armed Forces have unleashed in that country. In other words, Israel – the only non-racist democracy in the Middle East – is worse than the slaveocracy in Sudan, when it comes to the Jews’ human rights records.

This is an obscene libel. John Spencer, who is chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute (MWI) at West Point, analyzed the IDF’s actions in Gaza and reported in late March that “Israel has implemented more precautions to prevent civilian harm than any military in history—above and beyond what international law requires and more than the U.S. did in its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Likewise, the British Colonel Richard Kemp stated early this month that in Gaza, “the ratio of deaths of civilians to military personnel was far lower than in other wars where armies had not been accused of war crimes, adding that he was ‘not aware of any war crimes [committed by the IDF].’”

The State Department has ignored both Spencer and Kemp, and shown its appreciation for Goebbels’ infamous advice that people will more readily believe a Big Lie than a small one – as it happens in this case also to further the latest campaign – to exterminate the Jews “from the river to the sea.”

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has insisted that not a single Jew will be allowed to live in a Palestinian state. This is not a plan for coexistence; it’s a recipe for genocide.

An Egyptian imam, Muhammad Hussein Ya’qoub, made that plain in a 2009 televised sermon in which he articulated the neo-Nazi character of the anti-Israel war, saying that Muslim hatred of Jews had nothing to do with Israel and everything to do with the Qur’an:

“If the Jews left Palestine to us, would we start loving them? Of course not. We will never love them. Absolutely not…. Your belief regarding the Jews should be, first, that they are infidels, and second, that they are enemies…. You must believe that we will fight, defeat, and annihilate them, until not a single Jew remains on the face of the Earth.”

Got that, Secretary of State Blinken? This is a thousand-year Islamic imperative, rooted in the Qur’an’s calls to “kill them wherever you find them” (2:191, 4:89, cf. 9:5).

Israel is in the midst of a war for its survival – not as a state but as the home of the Jews. The war against the jihadist military base in Gaza is not a political war but a desperate effort to stave off a genocidal campaign which has been pursued without relief for 75 years in Gaza and more than a thousand years in the historic home of the Jews – the land around the Jordan. Yet its principal foes are radical Islamists – aided and abetted by a criminal White House seeking votes and support from a neo-Nazi Left based in American universities and funded by a self-hating Jew – George Soros – who long ago should have been prosecuted for organizing illegal street demonstrations attacking Wall Street and endangering the lives of ordinary Americans in the process.

Thanks to the oddities of American elections, the Jews’ main enemy at this point is a criminal sitting in the White House who is desperately seeking votes in Michigan and selling his political influence to America’s enemies – and giving less of a damn about American citizens than any president in history before him.

AUTHORS

DAVID HOROWITZ AND ROBERT SPENCER

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

More God, More Peace

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These are crazy times. How does one retain sanity in these tumultuous days? Read the world’s best seller—and read it often—and it will give a great deal of comfort. Indeed, many of our great American leaders have found comfort and solace in the Word of God.

Want to change your life? Here’s a simple practice, which I have engaged in fastidiously for the last four years or so. Everyday, in addition to other personal Bible reading and studying, I read the chapter of Proverbs for that day. There are 31 chapters in Proverbs, just as many months have 31 days.

As I began this column on April 19th, I read my corresponding Proverbs for the day and came across Proverbs 19:23, “The fear of the Lord leads to life; then one rests content, untouched by trouble.”

But many are troubled today, because they have rejected God and the church. In that connection, there was a recent article by Ira Stoll in theeditors.com, which provided evidence that the lack of church attendance may be bad for mental health.

After mentioning the potential deleterious effects of social media on children, Stoll pens, “Yet there’s another, non-technology possible contributor to the mental health crisis that’s getting less attention but may be just as significant. That is the decline in church attendance.”

Hmmmmm. Interesting. Church attendance goes down. Mental health problems go up.

Stoll cites a Harvard Public Health study which suggested that the decline in church service attendance from 1991 to 2019 could account for nearly 30 percent of the rise in depression among teenagers.

Stoll also notes that a major review in 2022 of 215 studies (each with more than 1000 participants), showed that: “weekly religious service attendance is longitudinally associated with lower mortality risk, lower depression, less suicide, better cardiovascular disease survival, better health behaviors, and greater marital stability, happiness, and purpose in life.” More God, more peace.

Stoll adds, “plenty of mental-health clinicians I know see in religious-service attendance some of the habits and attitudes that can help to combat depression and anxiety. There’s the supportive community, the face-to-face interaction, the getting out of bed and out of the house, the sense of purpose and meaning, the expressions of gratitude and humility.”

In a blog for Psychology Today, Harvard professor of epidemiology Tyler VanderWeele notes the downturn for today’s youth: “Relatively speaking, young people are not doing as well as they once were. They report being less happy and less healthy; having less meaning, greater struggles with character, and poorer relationships; and less financially stable compared to their older counterparts. The differences in well-being with age were, in fact, much larger than they were for gender or for race. Some of the issue may also pertain to a crisis in meaning.”

Life can be painful. Life without meaning and purpose can be unbearable. But life has meaning because there is a God, and He has revealed Himself in creation and in the Holy Scriptures. Through the years, many noteworthy Americans allowed themselves to be shaped by the Bible.

George Washington read the Bible so frequently, that many of its phrases come out in his speeches and writings. Appendix 2 of the book I co-wrote with Peter Lillback, George Washington’s Sacred Fire, demonstrates this. It’s as if you were to cut him, he would bleed Scripture.

When Thomas Jefferson’s daughter Polly died in 1804, his other daughter Martha came upon him, and remarked that she “found him with the Bible in his hands seeking consolation from the Sacred Volume.”

Abraham Lincoln read the Bible all the time. It comes out in his speeches too. Chiseled in stone at the Lincoln Memorial are some of them, including his Second Inaugural Address. That speech alone has three direct Bible quotes.

When he received a gift of a Bible, the 16th president noted, “All the good the Saviour gave to the world was communicated through this book. But for it we could not know right from wrong.”

Ronald Reagan once said, “Inside the Bible’s pages lie the answers to all the problems that mankind has ever known. I hope Americans will read and study the Bible.”

Despite those who would reject virtually anything Christianity would have to offer, the invitation of Jesus to those who will listen still stands: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

Even in our highly secular age, multiple studies show that good things come from walking with God, in prayer, through His Word, and attending church.

©2024.  Jerry Newcombe, D. Min. All rights reserved.

Where Is the Safe Space for Jews?

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A recent trend on college campuses is to install “safe spaces,” places where students — or certain identity-group subsets of students — can go to feel safe. These safe spaces are exclusionary by design; they protect students by insulating them. In extreme cases, safe spaces have been deemed to cover entire campuses, leading to the exclusion or disinvitation of undesirable visitors.

This “safe space” trend has been rightly ridiculed for its tendency to protect college students’ feelings from exposure to opposing viewpoints. Such exposure serves to sharpen the mind and used to be college’s main virtue. Thus, protecting students from “harm” by sequestering them from intellectual diversity undermines the whole point of college education.

But the silly “safe space” trend adopted the language of harm and safety because those are important considerations. Sticking with the collegiate context, students can’t devote themselves to their studies if they take their life in their hands every time they walk across campus. Fertilizing their mental acreage is orders of magnitude more difficult when outside sounds like a warzone, or a rock concert, or both at the same time.

The safety of college campuses — most of whom have a department devoted to preserving it — is often taken for granted, else loving parents would think twice before sending sweet Suzy off to a dormitory. Basic physical safety should be a guarantee on which all students can rely, regardless of their background. Unfortunately, that guarantee is no longer universal.

Where is the safe space for Jews?

On Sunday, Rabbi Elie Buechler of Columbia University’s Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus (JLIC) strongly recommended that Jewish students “return home as soon as possible and remain home until the reality in and around campus has dramatically improved.”

“The events of the last few days, especially last night, have made it clear the Columbia University’s Public Safety and the NYPD cannot guarantee Jewish students’ safety in the face of extreme anti-Semitism and anarchy,” wrote Buechler. “It is not our job as Jews to ensure our own safety on campus. No one should have to endure this level of hatred, let alone at school.”

Last Thursday, anti-Semitic activists took over Columbia University’s central quad, turning it into a tent city overnight. The activists, many of whom are students, have praised Hamas’s military arm Al-Qassam, called for the destruction of Israel, and openly invited the killing of counter-protestors. Despite more than 100 arrests on Thursday, the rabble have only grown bolder.

Now, university administrators appear to have given up any hope of reasserting control of their campus property. The rabbi’s counsel to Jewish students was “the reason why classes went virtual at Columbia today,” Rabbi Yaakov Menken, managing director of the Coalition for Jewish Values, said Monday on “Washington Watch.” By Tuesday, Columbia University announced it was switching to hybrid classes for the remainder of the semester.

“There was one professor, Shai Davidai, who was having none of it,” Menken continued. “He said, ‘I am bringing 10 students and alumni with me Monday morning. We’re going to go on to the campus. We’re going to go right into the middle of that anti-Semitic demonstration, and we insist you keep us safe.’”

Rather than keep him safe, “Columbia deactivated the access card of their professor,” Menken related in disbelief. “Professor Shai Davidai of Columbia University had his access card deactivated by the university to prevent him from interfering with the anti-Semitic, pro-Hamas demonstration at that campus.” Columbia University COO Cas Holloway personally appeared at the campus gate to prevent Davidai from entering the.

Davidai is an assistant professor in Columbia Business School’s Management Division, and he also leads Columbia’s anti-Semitism task force. Columbia administrators had to know that barring the head of the anti-Semitism task force from campus would provoke outrage, yet they chose to confront the backlash rather than confront the unruly mob that has taken over their campus. “Columbia was confronted with a clear choice either the anti-Semitic barbarians or the Jews. They expressly chose the anti-Semitic barbarians,” exclaimed Menken. “The entire administration of Columbia is utterly compromised by Jew hatred.”

Where is the safe space for Jews?

Certainly not at Columbia University, nor at Yale. Sahar Tartak, a Jewish student at Yale who is also a conservative reporter, was physically assaulted and blocked by protestors while attempting to film the pro-Hamas demonstration — which included taking down an American flag on a university flagpole — at that university. After demonstrators surrounded and blockaded her, a keffiyeh-garbed man stabbed Tartak in the eye with a Palestinian flag he carried.

At this point, the terrorist groupies aren’t even pretending to be motivated by non-violent, humanitarian concern for Palestinian civilians. “Anti-Semitism is always about finding a façade, a pretense, and then moving on to their end goal, which has always been ethnic cleansing and genocide,” argued Menken. “They were never anti-Israel protests. They were always anti-Semitic protests that glorify terrorism, that glorify atrocities, actual beheading of babies and rapes and holding hostages. These are not decent human beings.”

Where is the safe space for Jews?

You won’t find one at MIT, NYU, University of Michigan, Ohio State University, UC Berkeley, or Boston University. I’m sure that’s only the tip of the iceberg, since the anti-Semitic protests have reached even smaller, lesser known schools like Cal Poly Humbolt or UNC Charlotte.

At this point, it seems like American Jews are safest anywhere that isn’t a college campus. But that’s obviously not a workable solution in the long run. Today’s students are tomorrow’s lawyers, bankers, and politicians — not to mention professors. Are American Jews simply supposed to accept a second-class status, where they don’t get to go to college and are governed by those who hate them? How well did that work in 1930s Germany? If Jews aren’t safe on American college campuses, then ultimately they won’t be safe anywhere else in America.

Where is the safe space for Jews?

Jews could perhaps find a safe haven on other shores. But a cursory glance around the world shows the same violent anti-Semitism on shameful display in American universities. Judging by U.N. voting records, America sits near the top of the list of pro-Jewish countries. If Jews can find few countries friendlier than the U.S., and they are hated here, where can they go?

Where is the safe space for Jews?

The obvious exception is the world’s only Jewish-majority nation-state (although two million Arabs also live there peacefully), the postage stamp-sized parcel of seacoast known as Israel. Established in 1948 in response to the Holocaust, the modern state of Israel has provided a safe haven for persecuted Jews of every nationality.

Yet Israel’s Jews are not safe even within their own paper-snowflake borders. Hamas proved that on October 7, 2023, when they launched an unprovoked invasion on a Jewish holy day, slaughtering more than 1,200 Jews, kidnapping more than 200 prisoners, burning, raping, and pillaging wherever they could. Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group supported by America’s geopolitical adversary Iran, openly calls for Israel’s “annihilation” and has broadcast its intention to repeat its October 7 attack as often as it is capable.

Hamas is not Israel’s only threat. Hezbollah, another Iran-backed terror group, operates out of Israel’s northern neighbor Lebanon, and it has kept up frequent rocket barrages against Israel to divide its attention. “There are, I believe, about 80,000 Israelis who can’t go home every night because the rockets being shot in by Hezbollah out of Lebanon,” Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wisc.) remarked on “Washington Watch.” “Obviously Israel cannot permanently tell 70 or 80,000 of their citizens, ‘you can’t go home at night.’”

Behind these groups lies Iran, a global terror sponsor, which is close to developing a nuclear weapon and is avowedly committed to Israel’s destruction.

Where is the safe space for Jews?

But perhaps the campus mobs openly supporting Hamas are ignorant of Hamas’s goal and merely want American Jews to return to Israel. If that were true, they would also have to be ignorant of the words coming out of their own mouth.

“From the river to the sea, Palestine is almost free,” they chanted. That’s a strange twist on their classic, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” By “free,” they mean free of Jews. By “from the river to the sea,” the chant invokes (and confuses) the boundaries of the land God promised to give to Israel in Deuteronomy 11:24, “from the River, the River Euphrates, to the western sea.” The technical term for seeking to drive all people of a given ethnic group out of a given territory is “ethnic cleansing.”

Again, they chanted, “There is only one solution: intifada, revolution.” “One solution” echoes the Nazis’ “Final Solution to the Jewish problem”: extermination camps. Intifada and revolution — both terms for riots or armed uprisings — are the means by which this chant proposes to achieve its end: the annihilation of all Jews everywhere.

No, the protestors know very well what unthinkable barbarity these chants call for. They share the end of Hamas.

Where is the safe space for Jews?

The utmost irony is that these disgraceful displays of anti-Semitism were sparked by the attack on Israel. When most sovereign nations suffer an unprovoked attack by an international terrorist outfit, they receive universal acknowledgements of sympathy, solidarity, and solace, even from parties who usually maintain a frosty distance. But when Israel was attacked, that outrage provoked not only sympathy for Israel but also expressions of solidarity with those who attacked her — even before Israel had mounted any military response.

This has led some Jews, even non-Zionists, to the inevitable conclusion that Israel’s demise would only result in further attacks on Jews everywhere. “The idea that Jews can be safe anywhere if they’re not secure in Israel has just been shattered,” said foreign policy expert Caroline Glick. “It’s very clear that the security of all Jews everywhere is contingent on Israel defeating our enemies in Israel.”

Under the Biden administration, Israel’s closest and most powerful friend is working overtime to snatch that rightful victory away from them. If that happens, it will lead right back to the question we’ve been asking all along.

Where is the safe space for Jews?

AUTHOR

Joshua Arnold

Joshua Arnold is a senior writer at The Washington Stand.

RELATED ARTICLE: Remembering the Passover in Troubled Times

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Columbia University’s President on 9/11 Attacks : ‘Terrorism is a Form of Protesting’

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Who hired her? Why hasn’t she been fired?

The leftist/Islamic cabal, a.k.a. Red/Green Alliance, has hijacked every major institution, government agency, and legacy media outlet in the cause of America’s ruin and destruction.

In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, Columbia University’s current president, Minouche Shafik, sparked controversy by referring to terrorism as ‘a form of protesting’ during an event just two months later.

This statement has ignited a heated debate on social media, with various users questioning the implications of such a characterization and expressing a range of opinions from outrage to support. The discussion has touched on broader themes of terrorism, its victims, and the perception of protest in the context of violent acts.

WATCH: Columbia’s president Minouche Shafik call the 9/11 attacks a ‘form of protest’ just two months after thousands of Americans were killed.

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

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EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

WATCH: Biden Praises AOC’s Vile Defense of Violent Anti-Jewish Pogroms on University Campuses

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AOC, speaking alongside Joe Biden at a climate hoax event, endorses the pro-Hamas takeover of college campuses.

This is the awful depths America has sunk to under the party of tyranny.

AOC lauded by Biden after she applauds ‘peaceful’ student protests at Columbia, Yale, and Berkley

By Ryan King, NY Post, April 22, 2024:

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez hailed the “peaceful” student-led protests at Columbia University Monday, one day after campus rabbi Elie Buechler warned Jewish students to leave due to “extreme antisemitism.”

The “Squad” member’s praise for the demonstrations on Morningside Heights came as she introduced President Biden at an Earth Day event at Prince William Forest Park in Triangle, Va.

Keep reading.

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

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EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

WATCH: Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Passover Message

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“We will overcome those who seek our lives.” 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began his Passover message with the eternal question, “What makes this night different from all other nights, citizens of Israel?””

“On this night, 133 of our dear brothers and sisters are not around the Seder table, and they are still held hostage by Hamas in hellish conditions,” he continued.

“But why is this night not different? … This time as well, we will overcome those who seek our lives – thanks to the faith of our people, the daring of our fighters, and the unity among us.”

WATCH: Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Passover Message

PM Netanyahu and wife hosted IDF “Lone Soldiers” at Pesach seder

PM Netanyahu wrote on his Telegram account about his seder with “lone soldiers” – Soldiers whose parents live abroad.

“Sarah and I hosted individual soldiers and female soldiers for an exciting Pesach seder night.

The soldiers who immigrated from the USA, Canada, Great Britain, France, Italy, Russia and South Africa are serving in combat units, and most of them fought in Gaza.

We left an empty chair in the center of the seder table and on it we displayed photos of all 133 hostages who are still in Hamas captivity.

I am committed to returning all the hostages home.

I congratulate the soldiers for choosing to tie their fate to the State of Israel, and to take part in the generational effort to prevail over those who “rise up against us to annihilate us”.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Newsrael column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

The Largest Christian University in the U.S. Was Fined $37 Million. Coincidence or Targeted Attack?

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A dust storm of political madness is brewing in Phoenix, Arizona as Grand Canyon University faces the continued threats of Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. Christians have watched as the Biden administration attacks biblical views left and right, with a particularly vehement disregard of the sanctity of life and marriage. As such, it can’t be too surprising that Cardona, a part of this leftist administration, has “vowed” to shut down America’s largest Christian university.

In late October, GCU was hit with “a $37.7 million fine brought by the federal government over allegations that it lied to students about the cost of its programs,” AP News reported — an accusation GCU President Brian Mueller described as “ridiculous.” Around the same time, Liberty University, America’s second largest Christian university, was also fined $37 million “over alleged underreporting of crimes.” GCU appealed its fine in November even though a hearing is not expected until January 2025. But the question Mueller has is one of integrity. Is this genuine consideration for the well-being of students, or is this a targeted attack against religious institutions?

“It’s interesting, isn’t it, that the two largest Christian universities in the country, this one and Liberty University, are both being fined almost the identical amount at almost the identical time?” the college president speculated in a speech. “Now is there a cause and effect there? I don’t know. But it’s a fact.”

This April, the House Appropriations Committee held a hearing specifically about the administration’s decision to “crack down on GCU and other universities like it.” During the proceedings, Cardona and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), made their disapproval for GCU and similar universities obvious. “[W]e are cracking down not only to shut them down, but to send a message to not prey on students,” Cardona emphasized.

Supporters of GCU agree the fine seems unprecedented and motivated by ideological bias, including American Principles Project Policy Director Jon Schweppe, who said, “The federal government’s education agenda is punishing schools that do not conform to their progressive ideology. It’s time we take a stand against this egregious abuse of power.” Another conservative think tank, the Goldwater Institute (GI), sued the Department of Education for “refusing to turn over” public “documents that explain why” they’re fining GCU. The goal of their lawsuit is to unmask the reason behind the fine.

“With its motto of ‘private, Christian, affordable’ and its track record of graduating students into high-demand and high-paying jobs, GCU is a success story by any metric. And it stands apart from universities across the country that are facing declining enrollment, that are indoctrinating students with radical politics, and that are under attack for failing to defend the First Amendment,” GI wrote. “So then why are the feds targeting GCU, a popular university that seems to be doing everything right? That’s exactly what we’re going to find out.”

While there is still immense uncertainty surrounding this case, GCU president took the time to share with The Washington Stand how his staff, faculty, and students are fairing in these troubling times and how believers everywhere can help. Mueller emphasized that GCU has faced various issues over the years. But despite the government’s action, he wanted people to know that “interestingly enough, “it has had zero impact on anything that we’re doing.”

He continued, “The enrollments are just continuing to grow … [and] the morale is very high in terms of our faculty and staff. The campus is extremely vibrant. I mean, the students absolutely love this place. They’re extremely loyal to it, and so we just keep marching through it.” And while the fine they’re being dealt by the Department of Education is “a problem,” Mueller is just thankful that GCU remains optimistic.

The Christian “mission, not politics, is our motivation and it is our hope,” he told TWS. As a university, Mueller explained how they exist to “pour into” the community around them. He added, “[O]ur reach into the neighborhood and caring for disadvantaged populations has been a way to live out our faith” in a way “that has risen above … political divide.” Ultimately, with support from “both sides of the aisle” in Arizona, he noted, “[A]ll the issues we have are with a very small number of people in Washington D.C.”

“We encourage people to be involved politically and vote,” Mueller said. “… But our faith will stand above the politics always, and our politics will never become our religion.” Because, for “many people in our country today, their politics have become their religion, and that’s when things … go really bad in our society.” He pointed out that GCU is “trying to be an example of a Christian community that can rise above those things and focus on helping people” through service, as Scripture calls believers to do.

Mueller concluded with a request for prayer as they work through these troubling times and for “the hearts of certain people in Washington, D.C. to be softened,” adding that “it’s hard to make progress and resolve differences when people just … don’t want to talk to each other.”

AUTHOR

Sarah Holliday

Sarah Holliday is a reporter at The Washington Stand.

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

‘That Is Not a Religion’: DeSantis Bars Satanists from Florida School Chaplaincy Program

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The Sunshine State is now welcoming chaplains into public schools, but Satanists need not apply. On Thursday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) signed a bill into law allowing chaplains to volunteer to offer counseling at public and charter schools. However, the Catholic governor warned that Satanists would not be accepted into the program, as some Christian and conservative groups had feared.

“Now some have said if you do a school chaplain program that somehow you’re going to have Satanists running around in all our schools,” DeSantis said in a press conference. “We’re not playing those games in Florida. That is not a religion. That is not qualifying to be able to participate in this. We’re going to be using common sense when it comes to this, so you don’t have to worry about that.”

The Florida Senate version of the Bill was approved in February and the House version approved early last month. The legislation’s text states, “Each school district or charter school may adopt a policy to authorize volunteer school chaplains to provide supports, services, and programs to students as assigned by the district school board or charter school governing board.” The new law requires volunteer chaplains to pass a background check and would require school administrators to publicize each volunteer chaplain’s religious affiliation and obtain parental consent before a student begins counseling.

“Any opportunity that exists for ministers or chaplains in the public sector must not discriminate based on religious affiliation,” said The Satanic Temple’s (TST) “Director of Ministry” Penemue Grigori in February. “Our ministers look forward to participating in opportunities to do good in the community, including the opportunities created by this bill, right alongside the clergy of other religions.” Ryan Jayne of the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s Action Fund added, “I think there is a 100% chance you see satanic chaplains, and also of course other religious minorities that the majority-Christian population might not be a fan of. The Satanic Temple is a church, whether people like it or not.”

“It is wonderful to have such a strong statement denying the legitimacy of Satanism as a religion or church from Governor DeSantis. But I worry that appeals to common sense will not hold in the most ideological school systems, even in Florida,” Family Research Council’s Senior Fellow for Education Studies Meg Kilgannon commented to The Washington Stand. “Regardless, this is an important step in acknowledging the role that faith plays in our lives and how important it is that the big questions students have about morality, life and death, and God’s plan for their lives are best answered by a parent or priest, pastor, or chaplain.”

DeSantis has criticized Satanism in the past, arguing that it is not a religion. In December, after military veteran and outspoken Christian Michael Cassidy toppled and beheaded a Baphomet idol erected in the Iowa state capitol building by TST, the Florida governor declared, “Satan has no place in our society and should not be recognized as a ‘religion’ by the federal government. … Good prevails over evil — that’s the American spirit.”

On its website, TST responds to the question “Do you worship Satan?” The organization states, “No, nor do we believe in the existence of Satan or the supernatural.” TST adds, “Satan is a symbol of the Eternal Rebel in opposition to arbitrary authority, forever defending personal sovereignty even in the face of insurmountable odds. … Our metaphoric representation is the literary Satan best exemplified by Milton and the Romantic Satanists from Blake to Shelley to Anatole France.”

Now that it has been signed by DeSantis, Florida’s new law goes into effect on July 1.

AUTHOR

S.A. McCarthy

S.A. McCarthy serves as a news writer at The Washington Stand.

RELATED ARTICLE: The Largest Christian University in the U.S. Was Fined $37 Million. Coincidence or Targeted Attack?

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

VIDEO: Rob Reiner’s dialectic attack on Christianity on behalf of the hidden hand of the COMINTERN

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Listen to this carefully and note who funded the documentary and the title seems suddenly less cryptic. The method is dialectical, and that becomes increasingly obvious through this interview, as you hear them point out what they think is hypocritical, and the people who had this made are the COMINTERN agencies we are all familiar with.

WATCH: Tucker Carlson Reacts to New Anti-Christian Documentary

How did a self-described conservative evangelical like Mike Johnson wind up supporting the anti-Christian policies of the Biden administration? He’s not the only one, as Megan Basham explains.

EDITORS NOTE: This Vlad Tepes Blog column with video posted by Eeyore is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Is America A ‘Failed Historical Model’?

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Virtually every week there is some news item about the war on America’s founding ideals.

In Concord, Massachusetts on April 19, 1775, the “shot heard round the world” rang out, which was the very beginning of the American War for Independence. But, syndicated columnist Don Feder notes, that town recently “removed three historical markers, which had been in place since 1930, that commemorated the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony 300 years earlier,” lest the signs offend woke sensitivities.

In the state of Michigan recently, we have seen Muslims in what has been called “Dearbornistan” chanting “Death to America.” What ingratitude.

We also see people in high places of America who, it would seem, want to see the nation die.

Conservative critics would argue that one way of killing off America is by forcing woke policies until they bankrupt us spiritually, socially, militarily, culturally, academically, and so on.

Woke policies often use the acronym DEI for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. But isn’t Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson correct when he says that DEI should be more accurately called DIE? Because whatever things the woke policies touch ultimately die.

President Biden hired Anthony Blinken as Secretary of State. Blinken hired Zakiya Carr Johnson, who does not have a high view of the founding principles of America, to put it nicely.

In a now-deleted post, Carr Johnson wrote, “I understand that we cannot have equity without dismantling structural racism, patriarchy and heterosexism.”

She also pens, “These are chinks in the armor of traditional leadership that refuse to reconcile with a colonizing past, or recognize that time has run out for experimentation and tweaking of a failed historic model.”

Carr Johnson’s role in the State Department? Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer.

What is she saying? America has a “colonizing past” and is a “failed historic model.” Gary Bauer of Our American Values responds to that remark: “I’d like to know what her preferred ‘model’ is.”

To this day, people risk their lives to come to America. Perhaps the DEI revisionists should go to the border and tell migrants to turn around, since we’re just “a failed historic model.”

But are we? The founding fathers weren’t perfect. But they got a lot of things right.

America’s framers showed the world a better way to promote lasting good in the world. You begin with the foundational truth that our rights come from God, not the state. And then, building on that clear structure, because of man’s inherent sinful nature, you divide power so that no one man or small group can seize all the power for themselves. As James Madison, a key architect of the Constitution, summed up well: “All men having power ought to be distrusted.”

In my documentary on the Constitution (“We the People”) for Providence Forum, some of the guests from different backgrounds remarked how pleased they are to be Americans.

Alveda King, the niece of Martin Luther King, Jr., told our viewers, “I’m very grateful, very blessed, and delighted to be an American, because there’s so much liberty still in this great land.  Many problems, and I will not deny that we have those problems. But there is still opportunity in America. There is still hope in America. There is still prayer in America, and I continue to pray for America.

The late Billy Falling, a pastor and author, said, “As a Native American, the Constitution means to me that I have a protection, I have a wall, I have something that covers me, and that is the rule of law.”

Father Leon Hutton, a priest based in Ventura, California, noted, “As a Catholic, the Constitution has meant to us the opportunity to freely practice faith as we see it and to celebrate it and to share it with others and allow it to be part of the human discourse in the United States of America.”

Dennis Prager, the Jewish founder of PragerU, remarked, “Let me take the question of what America’s meant to the Jews and incorporated in that is the Constitution. This is the Judeo-Christian country. Christians rooted in [Judaism] founded the country; Jews knew this. Jews who came to America from Europe called it the ‘Golden Medina,’ the golden country, not money gold, but the prize place. Look, ‘God Bless America’ was written by a Jew. Jews were in love with this country and for good reason.”

There’s a famous aphorism that circulates around Washington, D.C.: “Personnel is policy.” The beliefs of the people working in powerful positions in various departments will eventually become the policy of those departments. It’s distressing to see enemies of America’s founding principles in so many high places. Too many of our public officials are woke. The rest of us need to be awakened before we lose the country.

©2024. Jerry Newcombe, D. Min. All rights reserved.

Non-Muslims: Islam’s Useful Idiots

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Islam enjoys a large and influential ally among the non—Muslims: A new generation of ‘Useful Idiots,’ the sort of people Lenin identified living in liberal democracies who furthered the work of communism. This new generation of Useful Idiots also lives in liberal democracies, but serves the cause of Islamofascism—another virulent form of totalitarian ideology.

Useful Idiots are naïve, foolish, ignorant of facts, unrealistically idealistic, dreamers, willfully in denial or deceptive. They hail from the ranks of the chronically unhappy, the anarchists, the aspiring revolutionaries, the neurotics who are at war with life, the disaffected alienated from government, corporations, and just about any and all institutions of society. The Useful Idiot can be a billionaire, a movie star, an academe of renown, a politician, or from any other segment of the population.

Arguably, the most dangerous variant of the Useful Idiot is the ‘Politically Correct.’ He is the master practitioner of euphemism, hedging, doubletalk, and outright deception.

The Useful Idiot derives satisfaction from being anti—establishment. He finds perverse gratification in aiding the forces that aim to dismantle an existing order, whatever it may be: an order he neither approves of nor he feels he belongs to.

The Useful Idiot is conflicted and dishonest. He fails to look inside himself and discover the causes of his own problems and unhappiness while he readily enlists himself in causes that validate his distorted perception.

Understandably, it is easier to blame others and the outside world than to examine oneself with an eye to self—discovery and self—improvement. Furthermore, criticizing and complaining—liberal practices of the Useful Idiot—require little talent and energy. The Useful Idiot is a great armchair philosopher and ‘Monday Morning Quarterback.’

The Useful Idiot is not the same as a person who honestly has a different point of view. A society without honest and open differences of views is a dead society. Critical, different and fresh ideas are the life blood of a living society—the very anathema of autocracies where the official position is sacrosanct.

Even a ‘normal’ person spends a great deal more energy aiming to fix things out there than working to overcome his own flaws and shortcomings, or contribute positively to the larger society. People don’t like to take stock of what they are doing or not doing that is responsible for the conditions they disapprove.

But the Useful Idiot takes things much farther. The Useful Idiot, among other things, is a master practitioner of scapegoating. He assigns blame to others while absolving himself of responsibility, has a long handy list of candidates for blaming anything and everything, and by living a distorted life, he contributes to the ills of society.

The Useful Idiot may even engage in willful misinformation and deception when it suits him. Terms such as ‘Political Islam,’ or ‘Radical Islam,’ for instance, are contributions of the Useful Idiot. These terms do not even exist in the native parlance of Islam, simply because they are redundant. Islam, by its very nature and according to its charter—the Quran—is a radical political movement. It is the Useful Idiot who sanitizes Islam and misguides the populace by saying that the ‘real Islam’ constitutes the main body of the religion; and, that this main body is non—political and moderate.

Regrettably, a large segment of the population goes along with these nonsensical euphemisms depicting Islam because it prefers to believe them. It is less threatening to believe that only a hijacked small segment of Islam is radical or politically driven and that the main body of Islam is indeed moderate and non—political.

But Islam is political to the core. In Islam the mosque and state are one and the same—the mosque is the state. This arrangement goes back to the days of Muhammad himself. Islam is also radical in the extreme. Even the ‘moderate’ Islam is radical in its beliefs as well as its deeds. Muslims believe that all non—Muslims, bar none, are hellfire bound and well—deserve being maltreated compared to believers.

No radical barbaric act of depravity is unthinkable for Muslims in dealing with others. They have destroyed precious statues of Buddha, leveled sacred monuments of other religions, and bulldozed the cemeteries of non—Muslims—a few examples of their utter extreme contempt toward others.

Muslims are radical even in their intrafaith dealings. Various sects and sub—sects pronounce other sects and sub—sects as heretics worthy of death; women are treated as chattel, deprived of many rights; hands are chopped for stealing even a loaf of bread; sexual violation is punished by stoning, and much much more. These are standard day—to—day ways of the mainstream ‘moderate’ Muslims living under the stone—age laws of Sharia.

The ‘moderate’ mainstream of Islam has been outright genocidal from inception. Their own historians record that Ali, the first imam of the Shiite and the son—in—law of Muhammad, with the help of another man, beheaded 700 Jewish men in the presence of the Prophet himself. The Prophet of Allah and his disciples took the murdered men’s women and children in slavery. Muslims have been, and continue to be, the most vicious and shameless practitioners of slavery. The slave trade, even today, is a thriving business in some Islamic lands where wealthy, perverted sheikhs purchase children of the poor from traffickers for their sadistic gratification.

Muslims are taught deception and lying in the Quran itself—something that Muhammad practiced during his life whenever he found it expedient. Successive Islamic rulers and leaders have done the same. Khomeini, the founder of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, for instance, rallied the people under the banner of democracy. All along his support for democracy was not a commitment of an honest man, but a ruse. As soon as he gathered the reins of power, Khomeini went after the Useful Idiots of his time with vengeance. These best children of Iran, having been thoroughly deceived and used by the crafty phony populist—religionist, had to flee the country to avoid the fate of tens of thousands who were imprisoned or executed by the double—crossing imam.

Almost three decades after the tragic Islamic Revolution of 1979, the suffocating rule of Islam casts its death—bearing pal over Iranians. A proud people with enviable heritage is being systematically purged of its sense of identity and forced to think and behave like the barbaric and intolerant Muslims. Iranians who had always treated women with equality, for instance, have seen them reduced by the stone—age clergy to sub—human status of Islamic teaching. Any attempt by the women of Iran to counter the misogynist rule of Muhammad’s mullahs is mercilessly suppressed. Women are beaten, imprisoned, raped and killed just as men are slaughtered without due process or mercy.

The lesson is clear. Beware of the Useful Idiots who live in liberal democracies. Knowingly or unknowingly, they serve as the greatest volunteer and effective soldiers of Islam. They pave the way for the advancement of Islam and they will assuredly be among the very first victims of Islam as soon as it assumes power.

©2024. Amil Imani. All rights reserved.

Global Imams Council Issues Statement Condemning Iran’s Attack On Israel

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Iran | Special Dispatch No. 11285

On April 14, 2024, following Iran’s large-scale missile- and drone-attack on Israel, the Global Imams Council (GIC) issued an English-language statement that strongly condemned this attack, which “brought with it a new phase of tension, uncertainty and confrontation in the Middle East,” endangered the religious sites in the Holy Land and could spark an escalation threatening the the security of Millions of Muslims across the region. Rejecting Iran’s claim that it was acting in self-defense and highlighting the Iranian regime’s “history of sponsoring terrorism, sheltering terrorist organizations,” the statement also urged the world democracies to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization.

The statement was signed by 295 Imams who are members of the GIC, representing 38 countries, in addition to endorsements from the GIC Governing Board, GIC Senior Imams Committee, GIC Advisory Committee and the Members of the GIC General Council.

The GIC is the world’s first and largest international non-governmental body of Muslim religious leaders from all Islamic denominations and schools, and advocates for peaceful coexistence, tolerance, and interfaith dialogue and for tackling extremist ideologies and militant Islam.[1]

The following is the text of the statement:

PUBLIC STATEMENT CONDEMING IRAN’S TERRORIST ATTACK

By the authority vested in the Global Imams Council by the Islamic Seminaries of the Holy Islamic Cities of Najaf and Karbala, we condemn in the strongest terms the terrorist attack conducted by the un-Islamic regime occupying the Iranian Republic on the 13th of April 2024.

The wave of drones and missiles that the regime launched has not only brought with it a new phase of tension, uncertainty and confrontation in the Middle East, but also targeted the Holy Land and place religious sites, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in serious danger.

The Global Imams Council rejects the regime’s self-defense pretest, and we highlight its history of sponsoring terrorism, sheltering terrorist organizations, and exploiting Mosques, Holy Shrines and diplomatic venues to shelter terrorists. For the last four decades, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has been the main source of Islamist terrorism in the world, with its leader Ali Khamenei financing organizations not limited to Hamas, Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis:; as well as harboring Al-Qaeda members on Iranian territory.

This escalation and threat of open warfare threatens the safety and stability of millions of Muslims, compelling us, as religious leaders, to denounce the regime in Iran and demand accountability for its acts of terror in the name of Islam.

Furthermore, The Global Imams Council urges all democracies yet to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization to do so promptly in response to this egregious attack.

GIC Governing Board
14 April 2024

View the 295 GIC signatories here and here.

ABOUT THE GLOBAL IMAMS COUNCIL

The Global Imams Council is dedicated to making peace a lived reality. We work both locally and globally to support peacebuilders, as well as collaborate with leading faith-leaders to establish dialogue and promote an innovative approach to peacebuilding. Our Council believes that the establishment of peace amongst all human beings is an essential objective.

Our peacebuilding efforts include, and are not limited to:

  • Developing and or mediating relations with different religious groups.
  • Defending religious freedom.
  • Promoting coexistence between all religious groups.
Interfaith

The Global Imams Council has established an Interfaith Network which comprises of leading faith-leaders from different religions, and who have been provided with constitutional powers to surpass all Council Committees. Members of our Interfaith Network provide direct advice to our Governing Board about matters that concern Islam and their respective religion or region. Our Council invites all prominent voices to join us on this peacebuilding journey.

Countering Terrorism and Extremist Ideologies

The Global Imams Council rejects violence and all violent ideologies. Our President and Director previously served as motivational speakers to the Iraqi Government’s Department of Defense during the war against ISIS. Our council is focused on tackling extremist ideologies and countering Islamic Extremism, terrorism, political and militant Islam (Islamism). We cooperate with security agencies and engage communities and faith-leaders of both Islam and other religions to reaffirm a commitment to developing cooperative programs that prevent violence.

Women’s and Children’s Rights

The Global Imams Council champions women’s rights and strongly believes that women have a right to an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives.

We are the first Imams Council in history to appoint women to an administerial board, and establish an ‘Office for Women’ that works with women’s rights organizations around the world. We believe in equality and reject all forms of discrimination against all minorities, including women and children.

Our Council is actively fighting (and lobbying) for women’s rights within the Islamic Seminaries, as well as meeting with different Muftis and Grand Ayatollahs to bring an end to Female Genital Mutilation, Child Marriages, Honor Killings and other matters which harm girls and women alike.

Minority Rights

The Global Imams Council believes that fighting for Human Rights is meaningless if we do not include Minority Rights. Our Council’s Counter-Extremism Project focuses on global attacks against Religious Minorities and our Imams work and cooperate with government departments as well as the police in every continent and major city.

We utilize new technologies, including social media, to dynamically raise awareness regarding Christian Persecution and Anti-Semitism.

Source:

[1] On January 27, 2023, the GIC issued a statement on the occasion of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, in which it pledged “to never forget the six million Jewish men, women and children who were murdered by the terrorist Nazis and their collaborators” and to “continue the fight against antisemitism and Holocaust denial and distortion.” See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 10456 – Global Imams Council Issues Statement On Occasion Of International Holocaust Remembrance Day: We Pledge To Remember The Six Million Jews Murdered In The Holocaust, Fight Extremism And Holocaust Denial – February 2, 2023.

RELATED ARTICLE: Rep. Ilhan Omar’s daughter arrested and released amid NYC anti-Israel protests at Columbia University

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EDITORS NOTE: This MEMRI column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

If the World Sees Us [with a] Lack of Resolve, ‘They Will Come with Guns Blazing,’ Johnson Warns

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Americans woke up to plenty of terrifying headlines Sunday after Iran lobbed more than 300 missiles and drones at Israel. “The world stands at the brink of an all-out war,” The Telegraph insisted. Columbian President Gustavo Petro publicly despaired, calling the weekend’s attack “a prelude to World War III.” Here at home, President Joe Biden continued to walk a political tightrope, declaring his “ironclad commitment to the security of Israel,” while privately urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to suck it up and take whatever Iran dishes out.

Like most people watching the scene unfold, the editors at National Review can’t believe the White House’s suggestion that the Jewish state sit on its hands. “Any effort to impede Israel’s retaliation would be morally disgraceful and strategically inane,” they wrote. “… No nation could live under a situation in which another nation vowing to destroy it can threaten its population in this manner, and rest on the hope that it can meet every future attack with the same amount of success in shooting down weapons.”

On the Hill, leaders saw right through Biden’s cheap political ploy. This is a country, Rubio said of Israel, that has faced “constant existential threats to their existence on a repeated basis. … What I don’t understand is why Joe Biden and the administration would leak to the media, the contents of a conversation which he tells Netanyahu he doesn’t think that Netanyahu should respond at all,” unless, as he suspects, it’s to placate their pro-Palestine, anti-Semitic base. “It is the continuing part of the public game they are playing which frankly encourages Iran and Hezbollah.”

But then, as plenty of experts have pointed out, Biden has already done more than his share to help the Islamist regime. “Within weeks of taking office, Biden removed the terrorist designation on Iran’s proxy in Yemen, the Houthis,” NRO’s editors pointed out. “[H]e allowed the U.N. sanctions against the Iranian missile and drone program to expire. Those were the types of weapons not only that were used [Saturday] night but that Iran has sold to Russia for use against Ukraine.”

When pressed about the decision to relax sanctions — ultimately giving Iran five months to build up its missile capabilities and cash reserves — U.S. National Security Council Coordinator John Kirby defended Biden. Asked by Fox News’s Shannon Bream if the administration could’ve done more to deter Tehran, Kirby claimed that it was “hard to look at what President Biden has done with respect to Iran and say that he hasn’t been tough on Iran.”

That’s interesting, former National Security Council member Richard Goldberg said, since Biden hasn’t stopped the flow of money to Iran since the weekend’s attacks. The U.N. Security Council called an emergency meeting Sunday only to adjourn without taking “any meaningful action.” It’s unfathomable to Goldberg, who pointed out, “This was a massive, unprecedented, and unacceptable strategic attack on Israel. It would be a huge mistake to pull Israel back from a military retaliation — but it’s downright insanity to keep $10 billion accessible to Tehran in the aftermath. The president needs to lock down all the money he made available to Tehran these past months.”

Although American Ambassador Robert Wood made a tepid promise that Washington “will explore additional measures to hold Iran accountable,” no one is quite sure what that means. Meanwhile, Mark Dubowitz wanted people to know, there’s been a “massive increase in Iranian nuclear enrichment since President Biden [was] elected.” “Facts are stubborn things,” he warned. “So is [Ayatollah] Khamenei when he faces minimal American pressure and massive sanctions relief.”

At the very least, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told the press, Congress can finally finish the work of Israeli aid that he started more than five months ago. As Family Research Council President Tony Perkins pointed out on “This Week on the Hill,” the first substantive bill that the House passed after Johnson took the gavel was $14.5 billion in assistance for Israel — which the new speaker offset by cutting an IRS slush fund. Democrats voted against it. “And what has the Senate done with it?” Perkins asked Johnson.

“Well,” he replied, “nothing. It’s been sitting on [Schumer’s] desk. I tried again to do a clean Israel [bill] just a full unpaid for assistance. One hundred sixty-six House Democrats voted against it, and Joe Biden threatened to veto it. A clean Israel funding bill. They said no. That’s a pretty amazing thing.”

Even more incredible, Johnson invited Netanyahu to speak before a joint session of Congress, and Schumer refuses to authorize it — despite being the highest-ranking, longest-serving Jewish member of Congress. “It’s stunning, it really is,” the speaker agreed. What happened to Israel being a bipartisan issue, Perkins wanted to know? “Right,” Johnson replied. “The Democrats are turning their back on Israel now [from] the president on down.”

It’s all “deeply concerning” to Netanyahu, the speaker relayed after multiple conversations with the prime minister. “It’s almost unbelievable that the president has turned his back since October 7th on Israel. They’re leaning into the pro-Hamas, pro-protestor branch of their party. … [T]hey’re fearful of that wing of the party. And it’s a rising number of young progressives who are screaming that Israel is the enemy somehow. … You had 50 House Democrats just a few days ago, sent a letter saying that we should no longer have arms transfers to Israel so they can defend their very existence,” he pointed out. “It’s incredible.”

This whole shift in the Democratic Party is alarming, Johnson agreed. “The reason we stand with Israel, for us, it’s a matter of faith, but it’s also a matter of geopolitical stability. They’re the only democracy in the Middle East.”

Before he was speaker, Johnson talked about a meeting with Netanyahu and his cabinet, where they told him, “We want to remind you all that the reason that Israel can stand is because they know that our brother America — the big brother — as it were, is standing behind them, looking over their shoulder.” In other words, he explained, “If the world ever sees that we lack that resolve, they will come with all guns blazing, literally, against Israel. It’s a dangerous, dangerous situation right now. We cannot show a lack of resolve.”

And “the idea that we would not roll out the red carpet and invite our close friend and ally to come and update the Congress on [the war], to me, is unconscionable,” he reiterated. But these issues are going to come home to roost, Johnson warned. If the Democratic Party continues to be held hostage by radical forces that want to abandon Israel, it spells trouble for Biden and company.

“I think they’ve got a very real political problem on their hands. But this should transcend politics. This is bigger than that. This is about safety and security, not just [for] Israel, but the American people. We have got to stand strong right now. They need to put politics aside. But, yes, they’ve got a real problem going into an election year when a rising number of their base is now turning against Israel.”

The Americans who care about this situation, who understand the importance of our ally Israel, need to “let their voices be heard,” Johnson urged. “They need to prevail upon members of Congress to get this job done. I’ve tried to get Israel funded [with] the supplemental, the defense package, that they need. It’s about $14 billion.”

The Middle East is a tough neighborhood, Perkins pointed out. Most of the surrounding nations have threatened to wipe Israel off the map — including Iran. And “you cannot fight to a draw. You have to fight to win. The prime minister understands that. But apparently, the Biden administration does not.”

AUTHOR

Suzanne Bowdey

Suzanne Bowdey serves as editorial director and senior writer at The Washington Stand.

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

The Mullahs Ruling Iran Are Not Iranians

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I have repeatedly said that the mullahs ruling Iran are not Iranians. They truly despise Iran and its glorious past. Genetically, they are mostly Arabs. They even hate its name. There were never any questions about the Islamists denigrating Iran and exalting Muhammad. These creatures owe their very livelihood to the lucrative business that Muhammad launched for their parasitic, shameful existence. It is vital for these leeches to continue trumpeting the sainthood of the founder of their business and driving all the competition out of business.

Just recently, Sayyid Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami became a senior Iranian cleric, as well as a senior member of the Assembly of Experts, also Tehran’s Friday prayer leader. He once proved me right. Give this worm credit for paying homage to the source of his shameful livelihood.

“How dare the people of Iran even think of having a revolution or a referendum! This government belongs to Imam Zaman (The Lord of the Age), and if anyone considers himself an Iranian, he needs to get the hell out of here. This soil belongs to us, the followers of Imam Zaman and his tribe. Iran’s name was created by ignorant people, and incidentally, this name is very provocative. This ignorant name (Iran) must be changed to something like “Velayat” lest it provoke our enemies (Iranian people).”

The battle against these inhuman (subhuman) oppressors in Iran has been arduous and long. It is the battle of Iran’s true sons and daughters and the rest of mankind. It remains our duty to work our hardest to remove these leeches from power.

We recognize that the dysfunctional Islamic software is deeply ingrained in the minds of many Muslims, who opt to remain in mental bondage rather than purge their minds of this software and join the rest of the human family with a new emancipating program for life: liberty.

Islamic clergy, the parasitic prime beneficiaries of Islam, are master practitioners of the carrot-and-stick strategy. By drawing heavily from the Quran and the Hadith, the conniving mullahs and imams have assembled a potent arsenal of threats and promises to keep the faithful in line. They had little trouble in so doing since Islamic scripture is replete with descriptions of the graphic horrific punishment awaiting the wayward and the unbelievers, while the rewards for the obedient and docile if they are male, are described as an endless variety of sensual pleasures. Anyone daring to leave the corral of Islam is apostate and automatically condemned to death. And that’s just for starters. The punishment awaiting the ungrateful deserter of the one and only true path, Islam, is horrific eternal torment in Allah’s hell.

The Islamic Republic of Iran, which holds in great contempt any non-Islamic belief or heritage, has embarked on destroying many pre-Islamic archeological sites in Iran, such as Pasargad and Persepolis — some of humanity’s most prized cultural heritage — on the pretext of building a dam. The heinous destruction of the two Bamiyan Buddha statues by Afghanistan’s Taliban pales in comparison to the present barbaric designs of the Islamic Republic. Pasargad and Persepolis are more than a mere collection of ancient structures. They are an embodiment of humanity’s historical respect for liberty and tolerance of diversity.

But the high clergy of Iran is not exactly living up to its brand. The mullah Mafia has a great scam going. They promise the ignorant Islamic devotees the phony “paradise” of the afterlife while they themselves enjoy their paradise of women, wealth, and wine on this earth. They are unrivaled in duplicity and heartlessness. So, in nearly perfect emulation of Muhammad and his leadership 1400 years ago, the pious mullahs go about plotting earthly destruction as they enrich themselves and enjoy earthly pleasures on the backs of their people.

Many Iranians are praying that help is on its way and that the ongoing protests now will not result in a repeat of 2009, when Obama threw a lifeline to the mullahs’ regime by not supporting the Iranian people, in effect siding with the genocidal mullahs. The turbaned thugs were taking their final breath, being completely broke, and the good old USA came to the rescue, releasing billions of dollars and easing other sanctions. I will never understand this.

My aspiration for my motherland is to see it freed from the evil that has been visited upon it ever since our people bought into a most depraved version of Islam. Whether people become Baha’is, Zoroastrians, or Christians, this should be a free choice for each person. Even if a person insists on remaining Muslim, that is his or her prerogative. Yet imposing the suffocating intolerance of Islam on an entire nation is something that neither I nor any person who lives in Iran can accept. Our beloved Iran deserves to be a country where, once again, we take pride in being its children instead of the present, when we often do all we can to conceal our nation of birth when visiting abroad.

©2024. Amil Imani. All rights reserved.

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No one will be deported. No one will even be investigated. It isn’t as if these were “insurrectionists” or some other group that is out of favor with the regime.

AUTHOR

ROBERT SPENCER

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.