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By Arlene Bridges Samuels 

He’s not usually known for truthfulness, but in June Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei tweeted an honest, straightforward statement about what he considers the golden key for his homicidal proxies in Israel. “The continually growing authority of resistance groups in the West Bank is the key to bringing the Zionist enemy to its knees, and this of course must be continued.” 

That’s a statement we should take seriously. Also in June, a more than two-billion-dollar work-around by President Biden came to light. It amounts to a windfall for Khamenei to bolster Iran-backed terror in Jenin, a lawless Palestinian city located in Israel’s biblical heartland. Reuters reported on June 10 that in secret, Biden worked to unfreeze an economic sanction and authorized the transfer of $2.7 billion to Iran via Iraq, which owes Iran for electricity and gas imports, in order to secure the freedom of American prisoners held by Iran.

Although the Islamic regime’s Khamenei possesses his terror key, our U.S. Congress uses its powerful key of legislation to unlock doors of opposition to the world’s biggest terror-sponsoring nation. For decades, both Democrats and Republicans have implemented successful legislation that has benefitted both the U.S. and Israel. Current and past members of Congress are sounding the alarm. Among them is former Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman, who is now the chairman of United Against Nuclear Iran. He remains a champion of Israel’s safety. 

Lieberman wrote a blistering article on July 10 that called Biden’s Iran policy “a dangerous folly.” He urged Congress to intervene, describing Biden’s reckless diplomacy as “trying to bargain with a poisonous snake” and stating it “will not end well.” Lieberman referenced a 2015 piece of legislation giving Congress the authority to stop senseless agreements with Iran. 

He highlighted passage of the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act (INARA), which a big bipartisan majority in Congress voted in support of—400 in the House of Representatives and 98 senators. The simple explanation is that a president—within five days after reaching an agreement with Iran about its nuclear program—must submit a series of reports to Congress for review by leaders and lawmakers on the key committees. Congress then has power to prevent the president from suspending existing statutory sanctions against Iran. Clearly, Biden has already violated INARA by unfreezing a sanction, which then allowed the recent Iraqi payment to Iran. 

Lieberman explains that part of the Biden work-around is to call any Iran outreach an “understanding,” not an “agreement.” Apparently, Biden thinks this gives him an out. However, INARA is written to cover any language, whether an understanding or an agreement. Mr. Lieberman commends House Republican Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul for sending Biden and his Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, public letters warning them to comply with INARA and requiring Biden negotiators to answer questions in a congressional hearing.

However, Biden’s Special Envoy for Iran, Robert Malley, is being investigated for mishandling classified information. Malley’s security clearance is presently suspended, and he is on unpaid leave. He was disastrously deceived—along with former Secretary of State John Kerry—into thinking that Iran is trustworthy amid the Obama/Biden negotiations for the 2015 Iran deal. Biden then chose to keep Malley on board to pursue yet another deal using the same failed viewpoints and strategies. 

In addition to Mike McCaul’s letter, 26 Senators—14 Republicans, 11 Democrats, and one Independent—sent a letter to Biden. The bipartisan group is urging the president to drop any useless agreements that reward Iran and focus instead on robust deterrence of the terror-promoting Islamic regime. 

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is busy working with the U.S. Congress in a Summer Policy Blitz. It includes legislation to pressure the Islamic regime with sanctions on Iran’s oil sales to China and its drone and missile shipments to Russia. The blitz also focuses on passing legislation that could directly threaten the U.S. Iran has the largest ballistic missile arsenal in the Middle East. The expiration date for the United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR 2231 missile restrictions) expires in October 2023. Eventually, ICBMs could reach the U.S. homeland. Christians who care about U.S. and Israel’s safety can make a difference by contacting AIPAC, which makes it quick and easy to email your members of Congress with an Action Alert for these two vital laws to protect United States and Israel, our spiritual homeland.

Since 2021, Biden’s zeal for another Iran deal has already wasted energies in various meetings held in Vienna, Oman, and other locations. The European Union brokered some talks on behalf of the U.S. since Iran refused to meet directly with Americans. The perceived weak leadership on the part of the U.S. only further emboldens the Islamic regime’s Ayatollahs. Iran donates $100 million yearly to Jenin’s terror enclaves in Gaza and the West Bank (Judea and Samaria). 

Israel’s military was forced to act after it was determined that Iran’s terrorists were murdering a rising number of Israeli civilians. Unless and until the Biden administration realizes that Iran routinely lies, its members may not listen to the U.S. Congress, which is ultimately in charge of approving or denying spending. The history of U.S. negotiations with the Islamic regime is proof enough that Iran’s governing body is unreliable. Isaiah 5:20-21 is a fitting description for those who do not recognize evil. “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight!”

In closing, I quote a perspective by former Senator Lieberman: “The brave [Iranian] protesters are not chanting for a nuclear deal with the United States. They are calling for the end of the Islamic Republic. The freedom fighters in Iran are America’s allies.” Amen, Mr. Lieberman!

Our CBN Israel team welcomes you to join us for this week’s prayers for Israel and the U.S., applying this psalm to congressional leaders working together to advocate for Israel. Psalm 133:1 reminds us, “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!”

Prayer Points: 

• Pray with thanks for the U.S. Congress’s laws that benefit the U.S.-Israel relationship. 
• Pray that the Biden administration will heed congressional warnings about Iran.
• Pray that the U.S. Congress remains a staunch ally of Israel, the land God calls His. 
• Pray with thanks for leaders like Joe Lieberman who remain wise and committed. 

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

By Arlene Bridges Samuels 

True to form, much of mainstream media downplayed the IDF’s outstanding accomplishment in its recent Operation Home and Garden in the terrorist stronghold of Jenin. During this 48-hour operation in Israel’s biblical heartland, no Palestinian Arab civilians were killed—only terrorists. In a crowded urban setting where terrorist cowards habitually hide behind civilians, IDF’s success is close to a miracle. 

However, it also reflects one of the guiding principles of Israel’s military: to avoid civilian casualties at all costs. 

If this is the first time you have heard that truth, you will doubtless agree that the mainstream media has once again reported its own version of Middle East warfare: anti-Israel propaganda. The intense level of decades-long media bias against the Jewish state has built skyscrapers of shop-worn lies repeatedly used instead of reliable research. In fact, to hear much of the mainstream media describe this operation, it was the Israeli Defense Forces who attacked innocent civilians.

Israel’s latest operation to root out terrorists was launched six months after 25 Israeli civilians were murdered there. The Palestinian city, Jenin, is now an Iran-bankrolled terror base. Among their discoveries, IDF soldiers found basement tunnels in mosques packed with sophisticated weapons. IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht expressed another of Israel’s exemplary principles, declaring, “Places of worship should never be used as a front for terrorist activity.”

One of the most glaring examples of slander occurred on July 4, when a BBC news anchor interviewed former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. She made this contemptible accusation: “Israeli forces are happy to kill children.” The BBC, considered the top tier of journalism for western media, was forced into a lackluster apology. Her seven words, like so many other lies, could have lingered in a stack of daily fictional accusations against the IDF and Israel. Thankfully, the BBC’s apology—which admitted “the language used in this line of questioning was not phrased well and was inappropriate”—was reported by other mainstream media outlets.

The good news is that not all media outlets are so quick to demonstrate bias against Israel. Instead, we are hearing voices of reason—admitting the Jenin raid was a counter-terrorism response on the part of beleaguered Israel, acknowledging how Palestinian terrorists routinely hide behind civilians and utilize tunnels to target Israeli civilians and soldiers, and that many Palestinians are now blaming the PA for its role.

Here are some excellent examples of what responsible journalism looks like:

A Newsweek contributor, writing about how close Jenin is to Jerusalem, said: “Israel’s surgical strike was totally justified. … Americans would never abide terrorist mega-centers in New Haven, Connecticut, 70 miles from New York, or in Richmond, Virginia, 90 miles from Washington, D.C.

From Reuters: “The Jenin camp has long been a hotbed of militants with an array of light weapons and a growing arsenal of explosive devices.”

An article in The Washington Post included this powerful promise by Netanyahu: “If Jenin will return to terrorism, then we will return to Jenin!”

Propaganda is one of many weapons Israel is fighting. Tragically, Israel-haters and most media outlets may not necessarily realize or even care that they are reenacting Hitler’s strategies. Revisiting Nazi era history is an informative and important backdrop when you are consuming most media. By definition, propaganda is “information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, or nation.” Before and since Israel’s modern establishment in 1948, Germany’s Joseph Goebbels was prominent in Hitler’s detailed propaganda plan. In the early 1930s, Goebbels made sure poisonous lies began crawling into German society little by little until the devastation of Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, burst into global awareness.

Historian and Holocaust survivor Professor Zvi Bacharach describes Kristallnacht, which took place when he was 10 years old. He describes some of the final grim results of November 9–10, 1933. “Ninety-one Jews were murdered, more than 1,400 synagogues across Austria and Germany were torched, and Jewish-owned shops and businesses were plundered and destroyed.” Professor Bacharach also explained that Nazis arrested 30,000 Jews and then sent them to concentration camps. The one-night rampage, book burnings, yellow stars, arrests in the thousands, and prolific media propaganda surged into the public domain with a vengeance. 

During Hitler and Goebbels’ rollout, many German citizens were star-struck by glamorous parties, massive rallies, and cultural events under Hitler’s hypnotic hold. Some prominent churches welcomed Nazis and hung Nazi flags in their sanctuaries—naively misunderstanding, denying, or choosing cowardice amid the lurking evil. Apathy embedded itself in the church with too few brave “Righteous Gentiles,” while the Third Reich regime’s industrialized scale of murder took place in concentration camps.

Goebbels, “Reich Minister of Propaganda of Nazi Germany,” earned another title after coming under Hitler’s demonic spell. The 5-foot, 5-inch Nazi was nicknamed the “Poison Dwarf.” His evil brilliance to take over Germany’s newspapers, radio, magazines, and films also incorporated media control of conquered countries. Today, we live in a world regulated by a leftist media complicit in lies and slander that trap the United Nations, social media, International Criminal Court, governments and some mainline churches that blame Israel for “oppressing Palestinians.” Goebbels’ strategies alert us now to inform ourselves then act to spread truth and facts.

Goebbels mimicked Hitler’s book, Mein Kampf, which propagated the “big lie.” He described his lies as “so colossal” that no one would even credit as true the “impudence to distort the truth so infamously.” For success,  propaganda must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over. Compare Hitler’s strategies to the outrageous dishonesty/distortion and repetition of anti-Israel propaganda today.

In 1942, the U.S. Office of Strategic Services commissioned psychoanalyst Walter C. Langer to develop a secret psychological analysis of Hitler. That information, now declassified, appears in Langer’s 1972 book, The Mind of Adolph Hitler. In it, he reveals: “His [Hitler’s] primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong.” 

Honest and accurate news must include context. In the 48-hour IDF operation, 12 Palestinian terrorists were killed. Even the Gaza terror group Hamas bragged that the 12 Palestinians were all terrorists. Yet, in the midst of unrelenting terror threats and attacks, thousands of Palestinians are able to go to work in Israel from Judea, Samaria, and Gaza. The truth is that Israelis want peace above all, whereas Palestinian leaders and Iran-backed terrorists thrive on hate, not peace. When terrorists use cars, sophisticated weapons, and knives in unabated violence against Jewish civilians, the IDF must defend their citizens and homeland.

How are we in the pro-Israel evangelical community to respond? Follow fact-based media such as CBN Israel, Honest Reporting, and Palestinian Media Watch. Join others who pass on important facts. Write congratulatory letters to the editor when they get coverage of Israel right, to encourage responsible journalism. 

Refusing to imitate the German church’s apathy, we must set aside the ineffective tools of anger and emotion. Instead, we must grasp the facts, then pass them on through social media, email, letters to Congress, and other means of spreading the truth. Our small actions, banded together, will honor God and His Son born into the Jewish lineage in the land God calls His own. 

Please join CBN Israel this week to pray for the IDF and Israel, pondering Psalm 59:1-2: “Deliver me from my enemies, O God; be my fortress against those who are attacking me. Deliver me from evildoers and save me from those who are after my blood.”

Prayer Points:

• Pray for Christians to stay educated and join up as truth-tellers about Israel.
• Pray for all branches of the IDF that must remain alert to terror 24/7. 
• Pray with thanks for media broadcasting facts and good news about Israel.
• Pray for PM Netanyahu and his coalition for wise decisions about security.

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

By Arlene Bridges Samuels

Amid the mountain of Jew hatred metastasizing into a global cancer, it is indeed encouraging to recognize lawful efforts to do what is right as reflected in Proverbs 28:4: “Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but those who keep the law strive against them.” 

Advocacy in the halls of justice is vital when it comes to exposing the many forms of anti-Semitism. The Zachor Legal Institute is a legal think tank, battling forces that are against Israel as a nation and Jews as a people. Zachor is a Hebrew term meaning to remember—to remember not just the covenants between God and His chosen people but also historical events such as the Holocaust, and the rhetoric and acts that led to it. Zachor Legal Institute (ZLI) therefore rests on the brilliance of learning past lessons to infuse courage and strength in defending the Jewish people today. Producing legal, scholarly research for all organizations under a Zionist umbrella is part of ZLI’s widely respected activism. 

Americans might be surprised to learn where anti-Semitism is lurking in our country among businesses, universities, and government sectors. Zachor, however, is not surprised. This 501(c)(3) non-profit, which was founded in 2015, uses well-established legal principles—such as anti-terrorism and anti-racketeering laws. They litigate to expose wrongdoing, so that financial and criminal penalties might be imposed on anti-Israel movements in the United States. 

The discriminatory Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement is one of ZLI’s main targets. BDS, in simple terms, is economic warfare against Israel. It has three goals: to boycott Israeli goods, institutions, and companies; divest from outside manufacturers of Israeli military equipment; and sanction Israel wherever possible. BDS is an engine of hate against Israel. Founded in 2005 with 146 Palestinian organization signatories, it promotes numerous lies—including accusations that Israel is an apartheid state. The BDS slogan embodies their destructive theme against the ancestral Jewish homeland, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

As a side note: BDS is not new. Nazis officially implemented violent boycotts of Jewish businesses on April 1, 1933, with the slogan, “Germans defend yourselves. Do not buy from Jews.” Ninety years later, will June 25, 2023, become a date similar to April 1, 1933? A reporter revealed that, on this date, the Biden administration revived an Obama administration boycott against scientific and technological cooperation with Jews living in Judea and Samaria. Former President Trump reversed the Obama/Biden decision and approved the cooperation. President Biden reenacted it in secret. Biden’s present-day action is an example of a government gone wrong. 

Zachor’s founder and president, attorney Marc Greendorfer, and its COO, Ron Machol, have dedicated their extensive skills and shared goals to making sure BDS does not advance in the U.S. and Israel. Their 2023 Midyear Report with research, activism, publications, and new projects is outstanding.

An AP report last summer described the Jewish community in Massachusetts as being “on edge” after an anonymously produced (and perhaps Palestine-based) website was launched. Named The Mapping Project, this interactive site lists a number of companies that it accuses of “complicity in a range of ‘harms,’ from ethnic cleansing to colonialism, ‘surveillance’ and Zionism.”

Zachor recently released two reports about the Boston Mapping Project, which ZLI researched in Al Jazeera media. In the first report, Zachor describes Al Jazeera as “Qatar’s foreign intervention masked as an American news outlet.” The Boston Mapping Project may sound innocent, but details indicate otherwise. In Marc Greendorfer’s briefing to Congressional staff about the Mapping Project, he revealed that the anonymous website maps 505 locations—including Jewish targets—in Massachusetts. Zachor’s first report rightly denounced the inclusion of Jewish institutions, synagogues, and connections to Israel.

However, Zachor’s second report, endorsed by 17 other American NGOs, adds that two-thirds of the 505 targets show the exact locations of 271 police stations and nine U.S. military bases, along with Homeland Security, FBI, and Secret Service offices. The Mapping Project combines dangerous security challenges to all locations, pinpointed on one map. Evidence is emerging that Iran’s state-owned PressTV praised the project and suggested that it should expand to other states. In an ominous remark, The Mapping Project site warns, “Every entity has an address, every network can be disrupted.”

Marc Greendorfer remarked, “There is no logical explanation for why the map was published other than to serve as a kill list for extremists to use when targeting United States’ national security infrastructure and prominent Jews in America.” He asserts, with good reason, “This has all the hallmarks of Iranian terror.”

Thirty-six states already have anti-BDS laws on the books, along with excellent bipartisan legislation in the U.S. Congress. Zachor Legal Institute has added a resource to its website to track companies violating state and federal laws and to send no-cost reports to states. 

In its research, Zachor unearthed the fact that Palestinian Arab terror organizations were using U.S.-based charities to raise money. In early 2023, they then launched a campaign to inform credit card companies about one of the main perpetrators, an Arizona charity called Alliance for Global Justice (AFGJ). More than 100 left-wing and Soros-backed organizations rely on AFGJ. Success was achieved when almost every credit card company denied access to AFGJ. Zachor staff is dedicated to pursuing other non-profits funneling large, tax-deductible donations to terrorists. 

Finally, ZLI is already addressing the roll-out of anti-Semitic K-12 ethnic studies in California. They contain brazen Marxist ideas and deny the Jews’ right to their homeland. The curriculum defies state and federal laws, as well as the U.S. Constitution. COO Ron Machol, who made Aliyah to Israel 30 years ago from California, reveals his serious concerns. “Critical Race Theory ethnic studies are beginning in California and throughout the country in K-12 schools,” he said. “We are pushing back aggressively.” If you or family live in California, Machol welcomes your examples of “discriminatory materials from children or grandchildren’s schools by emailing info@zachorlegal.org.” He also expressed his appreciation for “loving support we receive from international religious communities.” 

An excellent law review article, “History of Arab Colonization of Historic Jewish Lands,” is the foundation for their legal actions. Marc Greendorfer observes, “A review of history and Marxist terminology shows that if there are settler-colonialists in the Middle East, it is those who refer to themselves as Palestinian Arab Muslims, not Israeli Jews.”

We welcome you to join our CBN Israel team this week to pray for the sanctity of laws, focusing on Psalm 19:7-9: “The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether.” 

Prayer Points:

• Pray with thanks for the commitment of Zachor to stop terror funding.
• Pray for Zachor’s increased success and cooperative networks. 
• Pray for trustworthy firms in the U.S. and Israel to uncover hidden lawbreakers against Israel and the Jewish people.
• Pray for other excellent law firms like Shurat HaDin in Israel and the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ). 

Scripture is taken from the English Standard Version.

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