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By Arlene Bridges Samuels

Last week, Dr. Tricia Miller returned to the United States from Israel, part of a seven-member solidarity trip sponsored by National Religious Broadcasters (NRB), the largest Christian media organization in the world. NRB’s significant role cannot be underestimated as an influential organization that views support for the world’s only Jewish state a top priority. Since the Hamas War, NRB’s combined worldwide media influence provides an indispensable ballast against the anti-Jew, anti-Zionist, anti-Israel propaganda flooding the airwaves 24/7.

In the NRB membership of more than 1,100 Christian media communicators, Dr. Miller, PhD and author, is the director of the Partnership of Christians and Jews for CAMERA—the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis. Since 1982, CAMERA staff and volunteers have monitored and researched media output—and motivated laypeople to be part of advancing accurate, balanced coverage of Israel and the Middle East. 

Dr. Miller and I have networked on various pro-Israel projects for more than 15 years. She is a respected friend. After reading her first-person experiences and conversations with Israelis, you will discover simple, quick, yet powerful ways to volunteer as a “sleuth for truth” with CAMERA. The seven solidarity trip leaders interacted with wide-ranging segments of Israeli society. These included members of Knesset, Israel Defense Forces, President Herzog, hostage survivors, hostage family members, and rescuers.

As a small nation, with currently hundreds of thousands serving in Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as either active-duty members or reservists, Israel embraces soldiers as sons and daughters. Their funerals are attended by hundreds—sometimes thousands—of Israelis. Tricia spent much of her time listening—a valuable, compassionate trait for interacting with a nation that has been suffering a daily national trauma since October 7.

“I felt the pain in the souls of the people. I saw it in their eyes.” She explained that no one is exempt from suffering because “literally everyone is related to, or knows someone who is related to, someone killed, wounded, who escaped, or taken hostage.” Tricia reiterates that Israel is dealing with an existential battle for its survival against terrorists funded by the Islamic Regime, with its goal to destroy the Jewish State. “Every Israeli lives with this reality every day of their lives.”

Although Israel’s Government Press Office hosted and briefed more than 4,000 journalists in the weeks following the fatal assaults, more pain is heaped on Israelis now—since most of the world is turning against them, even blaming them! Tricia goes on to note that “Israelis feel like the world has forgotten what happened, as Israel is demonized for defending itself—and the media ignores or denies the numerous precautions IDF takes to protect Gaza’s civilians.” Where are the 4,000 “journalists” now?

Over and over, within the pain and “tangible sense of isolation” she mentions, the message Tricia heard about the Hamas invasion and massacre is the same from everyone in Israel—including President Herzog. All are unified and agree on one thing: the absolute necessity for the Jewish state to survive.

Dr. Miller highlighted their meeting with Jerusalem’s former Deputy Mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum. “What’s going on is a civilizational battle between the forces of good represented by democratic, peace-loving Judeo-Christian countries and very dangerous Islamic jihadi fundamentalism that wants to take the world back 500 years when nobody had any rights,” Fleur commented. “They really dream that the whole world will become one huge caliphate and they are represented by the heads of Iran and Hamas who attacked Israel brutally on the 7th of October.”

Fleur went on to say, “The Jewish people are a peace-loving people, we are trying to survive. This is an existential war, we didn’t want to fight it, we didn’t want to go to war.” She concluded, “This is not just Israel’s problem; it will come everywhere. … The free world really needs us to win this war and should do everything in their power to help us get rid of this terrible cancer we have right on our border.” Remember: the IDF is a DEFENSE Force.

However, no matter what events transpire globally, God will keep His enduring promises in Deuteronomy 33:29 NIV: “Blessed are you, Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord? He is your shield and helper and your glorious sword. Your enemies will cower before you, and you will tread on their heights.”

To help others make sure our enemies will “cower” before us, Tricia is pioneering a new effort that’s uniting Jews and Christians in tangible ways. Launched in southwest Florida, it is called Naples Partnership of Christians and Jews under the umbrella of CAMERA’s Partnership of Christians and Jews. She welcomes your interest in organizing a similar effort where you live. Tricia will provide information and guidance to form these much-needed alliances amid the outbreak of lawless antisemitism here in the U.S. and worldwide. She will integrate the superb, proven work and techniques CAMERA is known for.

To volunteer for CAMERA is what I call being a “sleuth for truth.” You do not need to be a professional. If you care about opposing the lies regarding Israel, your heart is equipped to motivate you—with tools you already use to send emails or talk/text on your mobile phone. CAMERA does the research, and with your extra set of eyes, voices, and hands-on activism it becomes a winning combination: [learn more here].

CAMERA’s varied opportunities are quick and easy if we remain alert each time we read or look at the media. Yes, we are often upset, but emotions are not a strategy when we encounter biased reporting. Instead, act! Join CAMERA’s international team of activists who call and write the media with facts. You will receive talking points, analyses of news articles, and contact information for reporters, editors, producers, or executives.

Jonah Cohen, CAMERA’s Director of Communications, revealed that with added volunteers since October 7, record-breaking milestones have “prompted 303 on-the-record admissions of error about Israel from some of the world’s most influential news outlets.” In May 2024, “a record 75 corrections from major media outlets” not only correct inaccuracies “but also deter recurrence of misrepresentations.”

These successes prove that supporters of Israel are changing the media environment, yet we face a David-and-Goliath challenge. After you read my next paragraph, remember that David defeated the enemy with just five smooth stones. Joining with CAMERA means providing well-aimed smooth stones.

In a YouTube video from June 14, 2024, Alex Traiman, CEO at the Jewish News Syndicate, interviewed tech entrepreneur and philanthropist Yossie Hollander. Hollander gave statistics about the infection of lies and bias against Israel. The Chinese Communist TikTok algorithm ratio against Israel is 200 to one. Iran’s algorithms are mostly based not on real people but on fake bots. Yossie adds, “Social media companies do not necessarily want to shut down fake news, because traffic is money.”

No matter what, as truth sleuths let each of us pick up our stones of truth against the Goliath of lies against Israel—and together help CAMERA.

Tricia’s resounding words give us courage and hope. “The Israelis understand the existential danger, they know who the enemy is, and they will have the victory! Am Yisrael Chai” (“the people of Israel live”). That saying is a declaration of Jewish survival and resilience echoed in Jewish prayers, songs, and ceremonies as a reminder of the enduring nature of the Jewish people and their faith.

We welcome you this week to pray with our CBN Israel team, recalling Zechariah 4:10 that points to an important concept for our activism. “Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin.”

Prayer Points:

• Pray for more sleuths for truth volunteers to join with CAMERA.
• Pray for God’s redemptive hope in a world invaded with lawlessness.
• Pray for Israelis who remain in deep mourning after more IDF deaths.
• Pray for PM Netanyahu amid the heavy burdens he carries.
• Pray for God’s angel armies to defeat His enemies in the battles between good and 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.

By Arlene Bridges Samuels

Most of us are aware of the mounting mental health crisis in our country and across the globe. We see it first-person—whether in our families, among our friends, in workplaces or churches. Research conducted in various international collaborations affirms what we already know. It shows that our world is facing unprecedented manifestations of mental illnesses, including depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and post-traumatic stress.

A 2023 Harvard study claims that half of the world will develop a mental health disorder in their lifetime. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describes our nation as being in a “catastrophic” mental health crisis. The irrational Jew hatred promoted and enacted by Iran and its proxies—Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis—is a perfect example of another kind of illness with minds and hearts twisted and distorted with hate doing the unthinkable. The mental and emotional state the terrorists exhibited to carry out the brutal assaults and atrocities against Israeli families and communities on October 7th is unimaginable yet true.

Our Israeli and Jewish friends are the prime targets of hatred and hostility. They valiantly endure traumatic stress and other anxieties. Last weekend the bold, well-designed, and complex rescue of four hostages generated desperately needed waves of joy for Israelis. The people of Israel also honored a hero:counter-terrorism officer Arnon Zmora, 36, a top cop in the Border Police’s magnificent Yamam unit. After leading the charge in a rescue firefight, hours later the married father of two children succumbed to his wounds. Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu named the outstanding rescues of four hostages in the fallen policeman’s honor: the Zmora Operation. 

With swirling lawlessness, challenging mental health issues, and disturbing news filling the global atmosphere, how do we cope? Holding on to faith and hope can be a simple daily reading out loud from King David’s ancient hymnbook of Psalms. King David was no stranger to depression, anxiety, loneliness, grief, and fear.

Other news surrounds us—good news. God is at work, and we must make it a point to recognize this truth. We are assured in Psalm 34:18, “The LORD close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” Several of the most promising public efforts in modern times from two Christian leaders is generating landmark events that draw Gen Zers and all ages together in hope. God is raising up Sean Feucht and Nick Hall for the next generation amid the passing of Christian statesmen like Billy Graham and Pat Robertson, who bequeathed the world with huge legacies of spiritual hope and humanitarian aid.

Feucht, a 43-year-old author, artist, and activist, is the founder of global worship and prayer movements across six continents and more than 250 cities. Burn 24-7 (Light A Candle) is a missions and compassion movement spreading humanitarian love to some of the darkest, most isolated places on earth. Let Us Worship is well known since the arrival of COVID-19, when Feucht and a praise team stood on the Golden Gate Bridge singing and praying for our country during the pandemic. Since then, the outdoor worship movement across America has shown up with praise music through Kingdom to the Capitol in states across the USA. The singer’s Let Us Worship albums often hit number one on Apple Music. The world’s hunger for hope is evident.  

Due to the outbreak of Jew hatred on college campuses all over the U.S., in April 2024 Feucht arrived at the gates of Columbia University in a “United for Israel March.” Leaders Eric Metaxas, Russell Johnson, and Luke Moon joined in. Feucht compared the current anti-Semitic demonstrations to the 1930s Nazis and proclaimed, “We are coming to bring the light; we’re coming to say … we’re going to join with our Jewish brothers and sisters.” Hundreds, possibly thousands, of Jews and Christians came together at Columbia’s gate. 

Another rising leader is 42-year-old Nick Hall, who founded Pulse Evangelism on his North Dakota State University campus in 2006. Early on, he served as part of the student advisory team for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA). Later,he attended a BGEA event at The Cove launched by the U.S. Lausanne Committee. Approximately 300 evangelists attended. Hall, now a board member on the National Association of Evangelicals, was mentored in part through the BGEA. He recognizes the Billy Graham and Luis Palau teams for his training. “I’ve MC’d events for both teams and traveled with both organizations around the world.” He credits their mentorship with really “launching Pulse.” 

Hall’s career has grown into prayerful and active excellence with a solid set of board members who together are unveiling initiatives that appeal to Gen Zers in person and through social media. In his book, Reset, Hall writes, “Jesus says, ‘Come to me dirty, and I’ll clean you up. Come broken, and I’ll reassemble the parts. Come desperate, and I’ll replace pain with joy. Come to me with all your questions, all your confusion, all your fear. I can reset your purity, your self-image, your faith. Come.’” Last Sunday morning, the evangelist appeared on Fox News. Watching this clip is a source of hope [watch here]!

One of Pulse’s most outstanding initiatives is Pulse 100, a training program that equips Gen Zers as evangelists in an immersive 10-month program. In April, my husband and I were invited as guests to a Founder’s Weekend in Florida and left with a deep excitement for this next generation. Two of their Gen Zers evangelists spoke, and we were mesmerized by their authenticity and inspiring words. Another Pulse initiative is Anthem of Grace, which was broadcast on Good Friday (March 29, 2024), impacting over 300 million people—with 2 million saying yes to Jesus. Anthem of Grace will continue.

Sean Feucht and Nick Hall are single-minded in their particular styles in an era of world history where praise, prayers, worship, evangelism, compassion, hearts for Israel, and solid biblical teaching are present and prolific. One day, for believers in our Jewish Jesus, our mental health will reach perfection in God’s Presence with no more sorrows or stresses.  

Our CBN Israel team welcomes you to join us in prayer,recalling Romans 15:13: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Prayer Points:

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.

By Arlene Bridges Samuels

The world’s only Jewish state is fighting for survival against an Islamic Regime that is also targeting the United States of America. Our citizenry and government would do well to remain vigilant—not only among Bible believers on behalf of Israel and its existential war—but because Israel is the USA’s irreplaceable intelligence partner. In casting a wide net across the globe, the Regime has quietly established formidable operations in the Western Hemisphere—notably, in Latin America.

Seven years ago, I wrote about a Cuban threat to the U.S. as one of the Islamic Regime’s goals: to establish a “Little Iran” 90 miles from Florida. In my high school in 1962, we practiced ducking under our desks during the Cuban Missile Crisis when the Soviet Union threatened our country. Although Cuba and Iran have cooperated with us on various levels since 1960, when the Shia Islamic Regime took over Iran in 1979 it energized its cooperative agreements in opposition to the United States, which it called the “Great Satan.”

Prior to his death last month in a helicopter crash, Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, made a point a year ago—June 2023—to visit not only Cuba but also Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. Each of those nations is run by an authoritarian leader. A 2023 report from the Interamerican Institute for Democracy reveals that “the dictatorial consortium in the Americas is led by Cuba and includes Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Bolivia.” Raisi chose well—and the results of his tour paint a worrisome picture. (Incidentally, China and Russia are also active in our hemisphere, with Iran 7,000 miles away in a 15-hour flight.)

Bolivia, no longer in a diplomatic relationship with Israel, has requested Iranian drones and welcomed more than 700 military members from Iran’s Quds Force. Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro wants to increase flights between Iran and Venezuela and has signed 25 agreements, including oil, petrochemicals, and other trade efforts they anticipate increasing from $3 billion to $20 billion in the years ahead.

The Nicaraguan/Iran ties have not been as high volume. However, Foreign Minister Denis Moncada attended Iran’s International Conference on Palestine in December 2023, attended by political and religious heavyweights, as well as media figures and scholars from over 50 countries. President Raisi spoke, accusing the U.S. of being the “first and biggest violator of democracy in the world,” which of course is the Islamic Regime’s own goal. The colossal lies of the world’s largest terror-sponsoring country are uttered by a regime that has not one ounce of compassion for Gazans. Instead, it is fully supportive of its Middle Eastern proxies—the terror trio of Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis.

Raisi appeared on Telesur, a Venezuelan TV channel, which outlined his perspective. “In the past, Latin America was considered to be the backyard of the Americans, but over time, each of the Latin American countries regained their independence.” Proud of the 1979 regime’s rule, Raisi claims that “harmony” has increased between people in Iran and Latin America “who have the same spirit and follow the same ideals.” His statement is like a red flag of warning for the United States.

In this historic era where personal and world events seem overwhelming, as believers we must proactively stand on the rock of our faith, the birthplace of Christianity. Psalm 46:1-3 assures us that “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.”

This brings me to our southern border chaos. The U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security released transcribed interviews with border patrol testimony from December 2023. One of the most concerning facts revealed by Committee Chair Mark E. Green, MD (R-TN), is the following: “The number of individuals apprehended illegally crossing the Southwest border and found to be on the terrorist watchlist has increased 2,500 percent from Fiscal Years 2017-2020 to Fiscal Year 2023. And those are only who we’ve caught.” Under Alejandro Mayorkas, secretary of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection sources report that over 1.7 million illegals are known gotaways—a number that could possibly be 20 percent higher.

FBI Director Christopher Wray’s comments about Homeland Security Committee’s annual worldwide threats provide added evidence about our enemies’ s infiltration through our Southwest border. When asked if the FBI can guarantee that known or suspected terrorists, including any from Hamas or other tour groups, are not amongst the reported gotaways, Wray responded, “The group of people that you’re talking about are a source of great concern for us. That’s why we are aggressively using all 56 of our joint terrorism task forces.” He also indicated that the threats coming from the other side of the border are affecting every state.

Like the people of Iran—once a vibrant nation and friend of Israel before the Islamic Regime took over—Venezuela’s people under two dictatorships have endured terrible economic conditions that forced its innocent citizens to flee to neighboring countries and to the U.S. However, it is impossible to determine who among Venezuelans are covert Iranian Regime operatives. In September 2023, Venezuelans comprised the largest number of illegals—54,833 crossing the U.S. southern border, outpacing Mexicans. The totals since 2014, under Venezuela’s dictatorships, represent the largest displacement ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere.

More alarming, the Federation for American Immigration Reform reports that “Iran’s ally, Hezbollah, designated as a terrorist group by the U.S., has a network operating in 11 different states.”

On her recent trip to Israel Nikki Haley, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, reminded us: “Iran has said the easiest way to get into America is through the southern border.”

Amid paragraph after paragraph filled with darkness, we must meet the realities of evil with prayers and actions to shed God’s Light by helping each other standing on the Bible’s certainties. Our CBN Israel team invites you to join us this week remembering Psalm 119:105 NIV—“Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.”

Prayer Points:

• Pray for U.S. citizens who live along the southern border and encounter many traumas.
• Pray for the U.S. Border Patrol and its ability to freely enforce our border laws.
• Pray for the U.S. government to utilize every available resource to root out known or suspected terrorists who have gained legal or illegal entry into the country.
• Pray for Israel’s leaders facing global pressures to abandon total victory over Hamas.

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.

By Arlene Bridges Samuels

Jew hatred has clearly shown itself as a widespread addiction since the “New Nazis” attempted another holocaust last October 7—torturing, then slaughtering, Jewish men, women, and children in their ancestral homeland. Based on Nazi strategies, decades of unleashed propaganda from Palestinian leaders, the Islamic Regime’s theocracy, and its Triple H proxies (Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis) have destabilized brains and emotions. Minds that either look for the next high of violence, or find excuses to imbibe the lies of victimization, or possess a worldview full of naïve ignorance—each resulting in a new kind of cartel: the cartel of hatred.

Demonstrators, institutions, and international bodies are dangerously consuming lies that lead to poorly formed decisions. The failure (or deliberate refusal) to distinguish good from evil and right from wrong is an assault on Judeo-Christian values—values that have generated the greatest freedoms, well-being, and hopes the world has ever known. The most horrific examples of hate in the last 90 years began in pre-World War II with Hitler’s hypnotic evil. Hamas’s murderous October 7 rampage reenacted Nazi evil in a pattern that continues today: in Gazan tunnels torturing hostages held in underground concentration camps and murdering Palestinians above ground.

Many of Hamas’s hate addicts are high on an amphetamine called captagon, an addictive stimulant that permits higher levels of stamina while lowering inhibitions. Captagon’s history reveals this mind-altering drug—which has been available throughout Arab countries in the Middle East—to be a source of terrorist money. In a short summary, here are a few facts based on a detailed report from NewLinesInstitute.org. The German company Degussa Pharma Gruppe designed the drug in the 1960s to help with narcolepsy, attention deficit disorder, and for use as a stimulant. Beginning in the 1980s, many countries banned it due to a dangerous chemical in the formula. Criminal organizations in Turkey and the Balkan nations began smuggling operations, then in 2011 Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad hijacked the drug operation to bolster his failing economy after the horrific civil war exploded.

Now, Syria is the top captagon cartel of the “jihad drug,” whose consumption makes billions of dollars each year from the six nations comprising the Gulf Cooperation Council: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Amid such a vast drug trade, the Council is very concerned about the drug’s usage and ensuing health and security concerns. Further, a detailed Council report about captagon’s expansion into Europe and Africa outlines the serious threat it represents beyond the Gulf. The report notes that trafficking this drug is “a revenue source for state and non-state actors such as the Syrian government, Hezbollah, and state-affiliated militias [fueling] malign activities that have exacerbated insecurity, encouraged corruption, and empowered authoritarian behaviors.”

Learning about the billions of dollars earned from captagon sales by Syria’s cartel dictator and other criminals, it is important to realize that the billions are used not just for the terrorists themselves who are taking the drug. Since Syria harbors Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), we must question where the money goes. Other countries also finance terror with expensive media propaganda, buying weapons, making payoffs not only to demonstrators and agitators but also to powerful institutions and authorities. For instance, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) employs mostly Palestinians. The agency funds 30,000 employees; a small international staff in New York, Geneva, Brussels, and Cairo; plus, five field offices in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and the West Bank (Judea/Samaria.)

Israel’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Oren Marmorstein, stated in April that “more than 2,135 UNRWA workers are members of either Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad.” Hamas has successfully permeated UNRWA so that “it is no longer possible to determine where UNRWA ends and where Hamas begins.” The drug cartels boost a multiplicity of promoting the world’s oldest hatred—a hatred targeting Israel, God’s Land, and His people, the Jews.

In the global judicial arena, it is highly unlikely that the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the United Nations International Court of Justice (ICJ) are taking captagon. However, they are consuming another drug: hate disguised in lies. Last November, I wrote my CBN Israel column proposing that Israel itself hold a war crimes tribunal. Indeed, historic precedent affirms such a move. In December 1961, a Jerusalem court tried and sentenced Nazi SS Lieutenant Colonel Adolf Eichmann to death for crimes against humanity, crimes against the Jewish people, and war crimes. He had escaped U.S. custody in 1946 and was found by Mossad—16 years after the war’s end. The Hamas charter imitates the Nazi’s “Final Solution” to “obliterate an entire people [Jews] from the world.” Israel will not relent in pursuit of those like Eichmann in Gaza, West Bank, or anywhere in the world for their crimes against humanity, crimes against the Jewish people, and war crimes.

The United Nations established the ICC in 2002 as the world’s first permanent international criminal court, with its 18 judges chosen allegedly for their legal qualifications, impartiality, and integrity. The ICC investigates war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity. It was extraordinary, then, that on May 20, ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan announced seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Putting Israel’s leaders into the same category is outrageous, equating them with the top Hamas terrorist leaders Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh, and Mohammed Deif. Note the word impartiality as a qualification to serve on the ICC court. A verdict of disbarment is a good decision to levy against these judges. They are unqualified, unable, and/or unwilling to acknowledge the vast differences between good and evil.

Despite different roles, the ICC and ICJ are twins when it comes to reckless decisions about Israel. The ICJ’s ill-informed decision on May 24 after South Africa had accused Israel of genocide and demanded that Israel completely withdraw from Gaza. Israel is the only army in the world that consistently notifies citizens living in an enemy territory to leave the area before they take military action. The IDF also sets up safe zones for Gazans, first in northern Gaza and now in Rafah, for 900,000 civilians.

The ICJ, established in 1945, serves as the United Nations judicial branch with 15 judges. Their role is to arbitrate between nations, to settle disputes, and to offer legal advisory opinions. Although ICJ did call for the immediate and unconditional release of hostages, I am left to wonder if ICJ’s judges read anything other than Hamas “facts” or the South African government’s absurd accusations. The ICJ is located at the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands. Yet neither the judges in the Peace Palace, nor the world, will encounter peace if they prohibit Israel from fully defeating Hamas—which clearly declares it will repeat October 7 again and again.

True justice is mostly a missing commodity in this era of world history. Nevertheless, take heart in Proverbs 24:24-25, which assures us: “Whoever says to the guilty, ‘You are innocent,’ will be cursed by peoples and denounced by nations. But it will go well with those who convict the guilty, and rich blessing will come on them.”

Our CBN Israel team welcomes you to pray with us this week—prayers for the Jewish nation and people are needed now more than ever.

Prayer Points:

• Pray that our Christian faith, founded on the rock of Judaism, will strengthen standing for righteousness.
• Pray for the IDF and their families in a particularly dangerous mission in Rafah.
• Pray for true justice within world courts.
• Pray for God’s justice, Creator of true justice, to rule and reign in His perfect timing.

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.

By Arlene Bridges Samuels

Last Sunday, Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi died in a foggy-weather helicopter crash in a mountainous region of Iran. Reactions to his death are coming in amid converging narratives. Some narratives offer hope despite the Regime’s ongoing harsh theocracy under 85-year-old Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranians, though, are celebrating Raisi’s death with fireworks and sweets. Yet the population suffers under the ironclad Ayatollah’s policies that endure—embedded in Shia Islam’s oppressive rule.

Why are Iranians celebrating the “Butcher of Tehran’s” death? Epoch Times cites Raisi’s judicial role on the “death committee” prior to his election in 2021. Human Rights Watch reported that, under Raisi, mass executions of thousands of political prisoners in Evin and Gohardasht prisons occurred in 1988 and beyond. Raisi called it “divine punishment” and a “proud achievement” for the regime. His evil disposition never changed when he attained the presidency in a low-turnout, possibly rigged vote. One of the most infamous examples of cruelty took place in 2022 amid protests about the death of Mahsa Amini murdered in police custody. Her crime? Not wearing a headscarf (hijab). The Islamic Regime adheres to inhumane actions against its own population and for its proxies against Jews and Israel. 

World leaders are adding to an interesting obituary of condolences including, for example, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, China, and Russia. Hamas, in its condolences, states they are mourning an “honorable supporter” of the “Palestinian resistance.” Pakistan and India observed a day of mourning. Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Al-Thani, sent condolences to the government and people of the Islamic Republic. Maybe it is bad manners to mention the truth about Raisi, the has-been probable successor to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. But by the same token, who mourned Hitler?

However, on Monday the United Nations did mourn a Hitler—Raisi, the “Butcher of Tehran.” Russia, China, and Algeria requested that the UN Security Council stand up for a minute of silence to honor Raisi. U.S. Deputy Ambassador to the U.N. Robert Wood, stood up. Only one utterance of truths was spoken. Israeli U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan rightly condemned the council which “bowed its head for a man responsible for massacring and murdering thousands in Iran, in Israel, and around the globe.”

My good friend, author Marzi Amirizadeh—now an American citizen—knows first-hand about the Islamic Regime’s tyranny. The authorities arrested and imprisoned her in 2009 when she and a good friend covertly distributed 20,000 Bibles. Like many Iranians, she met Jesus in a dream. It transformed her life into one of hope, despite horrors that later followed her into prison. Miraculously released after nine months from Evin Prison’s hellish confines, Marzi is an advocate for her Iranian people, for the United States, and for Israel.

Marzi observes that before she was arrested, she talked to thousands who were receptive—and many also who had visions of Jesus. “There are many underground churches, and research shows that Iran has the fastest-growing church.” Marzi added an important fact: that “most Iranians do not consider themselves Muslims and believe the Islamic Regime does not represent them. They believe that Persian King Cyrus is their father and Iran has been taken hostage by terrorists.” She is prayerful that “after the fall, millions are going to worship Jesus.” Operation World reports that in 1979, only 500 Muslim-background believers were known—and now estimates that more than 1 million Iranians are Christians.   

Part of Marzi’s post on Facebook expresses the intensity of the facts: “Islamic Regime criminals like Raisi have the blood of countless innocent Iranians, Israelis, and other people on their hands. They are now burning in hell as millions of Iranians and people around the world are celebrating their death. However, we should not forget that the head of this evil octopus—the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and his son—are alive. As long as he is in place, nothing will change because Raisi and the others were only his puppets.” 

Here is how Proverbs 28:15-16 describes the Islamic Regime’s leadership: “Like a roaring lion and a rushing bear is a wicked ruler over a poor people. A leader who is a great oppressor lacks understanding, but he who hates unjust gain will prolong his days.”

In a post on Monday, Amir Tsarfati, president of Behold Israel, observed that “Israelis did not set off any fireworks after news of Raisi’s death.” But justifiably, Iranians did set off fireworks. He went on to add how lies take on a life of their own, this time due to a joke. Someone posted the joke saying that the helicopter pilot was a Mossad agent named “Eli Copter.” Israel haters are now calling it a FACT across the world. They will blame Israel in any way possible, even with jokes. Tsarfati adds, “His death spares other deaths.” I pray that Raisi’s replacement will not be more of the same. Stay watchful. 

As expected in any governmental change, speculation about a Raisi replacement is in the news—with an election in less than 50 days, according to their Constitution. However, the Persian-language television news station, Iranian International, reports that the Supreme Leader has plenipotentiary power (full authority to take independent action) over Iran’s government (executive, legislative, and judiciary). It mimics Muslim caliphs in the Middle Ages.  

With Iran’s first vice president, Mohammad Mokhber, currently set to take over prior to an election, a fight is already unfolding with ex-president Hassan Rouhani (2013-2021) opposing the privileged Guardian Council, which passes muster on candidates. It is highly questionable whether the 85-year-old ailing Ayatollah Khamenei will allow an open election since he absolutely dismisses a preference for more moderate candidates.

Amid the ongoing war that the Islamic Regime is financing and directing against Israel, the longing for freedom in its population is only increasing. Added to economic crisis, policies will remain the same unless the population rises again to protest.

We welcome you to join our CBN Israel team this week to pray for Iranian freedom, remembering Ephesians 6:12. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” 

Prayer Points: 

• Pray for Iranians to protest in a vast army of unity and freedom for regime change. 
• Pray for worldwide practical helps for Iranian freedom from oppression.
• Pray for new Christian believers for their strength, hope, and safety. 
• Pray for the right leader to emerge and miraculously win Iran’s presidency.

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.