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By Arlene Bridges Samuels

The Islamic Regime’s savagery against Israel comes in many forms—all right out in the open. Israel, in Iran’s crosshairs in the Middle East, is defending its land on the ground, in the air, and at sea against Iran’s proxies—who are literally a stone’s throw away. In the United States, Iran’s chaos manifests in another way: disguising itself in a covert cloak of social media, using online bots armed with repetitive software in fake accounts to stir up protestors on university campuses across the country.

Demonstrators who buy the lies not only become Hamas supporters, they aid the largest terror-sponsoring country in the world, Iran. The United States is a major target for these radical Islamic terror groups. The bots take the place of humans, but the apocalyptic Islamic imams control these messages of hate. Also using Artificial Intelligence (AI), Iran counterfeits reality with the goal of sowing hatred between everyone in America.

The assassination attempt on July 13 targeting former President Trump is a shocking example of conflict in our nation. Not that the failed assassin was directly prompted by Iranian disinformation, but no one questions the weaponization of words filling conversations and airwaves. Although millions witnessed a true miracle in real time when God saved Trump’s life, it is not wise to dismiss any future attempts against the Republican candidate for president.

A combination of quieting the weaponized words and focusing on policy, plus increasing security for viable candidates, is a necessity. Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu weighed in with his valuable perspective: “This wasn’t just an attack on Donald Trump. … It was an attack on democracy.”

At a time like this, memorizing Proverbs 18:21 is a helpful antidote: “The tongue has the power of life and death.”

Last week Avril Haines, U.S. Director of National Intelligence, reported that Iran is hard-hitting “in their foreign influence efforts, seeking to stoke discord and undermine confidence in our democratic institutions.” Haines also mentioned Iran’s financial support for some protest groups.

Surely weaponized words create a hostile atmosphere. Even so, our southern border is another Islamic strategy. A few statistics paint an alarming canvas of dangerous possibilities.

Steve McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, reported that 151 people on the terrorism watch list have been apprehended at the southwest border since 2021. In a thumbnail statistic for the month of October 2023 alone, Border Patrol caught four Iranians. Two were on a security threat watch list.

Expanded information about what are called “special interest countries” shows that more than 10,000 illegals from Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, and Syria were arrested at the border between October 2021 and October 2023, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Among the illegals, 659 were Iranian. It is well-nigh impossible to know exactly how many Iranians or others are bent on destruction in our country. Given the lack of freedoms in Iran, though, it is easy to conclude that many of its citizens are simply escaping the Islamic Regime’s harsh rule.

Here is the other special interest countries’ breakdown between October 2021 and October 2023: Border agents encountered 6,386 nationals from Afghanistan, 3,153 from Egypt, and 538 from Syria. However, when adequately armed with one of Iran’s most-used weapons—Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), which can be made right here in the U.S.—one Iranian terrorist with a single IED can cause mayhem and murder on our soil. The Islamic Regime, which is weaponizing the biblical heartland in Judea and Samaria among Palestinian terrorists, is already murdering Israeli soldiers with IEDs. One more piece of data since 2021 shows that more than 1.5 million “gotaways” have managed to avoid our overwhelmed border agents forced to operate under ineffective orders from the Biden administration. Were Iranian or other terrorists among them? Where are they now?

Diverging somewhat from Iran’s use of our southern border and their bot battle against the United States, the Israel Defense Forces’ cloud-computing network reports an alarming and astonishing figure. Since the Hamas War began on October 7, the IDF’s network has received over 3 billion cyberattacks! Also astonishing is that Israel intercepted all the attacks—resulting in no damage. Many of the attacks were focused on IDF troops fighting on the ground. Civilian computer systems were hacked, including the Israel State Archives that were attacked in November. Thankfully, as of June, they were finally back online.

Gaby Portnoy, Israel’s cyber defense czar, issued a warning that the nature of cyber attacks by Iran has been more aggressive, not just against Israel, but also against its own allies. Portnoy went on to say at Cyber Week 2024 (Tel Aviv University’s annual conference): “That makes Iranian cyber aggression an international problem, not only an Israeli one, and therefore the solution needs to be international.”

Portnoy adds, “We see the Imperial Kitten work [Imperial Kitten is an Iranian hacker group], operated by the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps], both in Israel and the U.S., where four activists and four straw companies were sanctioned for operating against federal facilities.” The cyber defense chief highlighted the fact that Iran is violating international privacy laws and conventions, “causing worldwide damage to innocent civilians.” Once again, it is plain to see how the Islamic Regime is multi-layered as the largest terror- sponsoring country in the world.

Our CBN Israel team invites you to pray with us using the anthem America the Beautiful as our prayer: “America! America! God shed His grace on thee, and crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea!”

Prayer Points:

• Pray with praises and thanks for God’s modern miracle to save Donald Trump’s life.
• Pray for protesters who are often ignorant about the true nature and genocidal hatred behind Hamas, Hezbollah, and their sponsor, Iran.
• Pray for all cyber security staff in Israel and the U.S. to maintain online vigilance.
• Pray for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the IDF to make wise decisions to enact victory against evil.

Arlene Bridges Samuels pioneered Christian outreach for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). After she served nine years on AIPAC’s staff, International Christian Embassy Jerusalem USA engaged her as Outreach Director part-time for their project, American Christian Leaders for Israel. Arlene is an author at The Blogs-Times of Israel and has traveled to Israel since 1990. She co-edited The Auschwitz Album Revisited and is on the board of Violins of Hope South Carolina. By invitation, Arlene attends Israel’s Government Press Office Christian Media Summits. She also hosts her devotionals, The Eclectic Evangelical, on her website at ArleneBridgesSamuels.com.