ARTICLES

By Arlene Bridges Samuels

The Jewish community lights its candles for Shabbat tomorrow evening, September 15, signifying the arrival of the Jewish new year, 5784, for Rosh Hashanah (“Head of the Year”) celebrations. It also marks the beginning of the Days of Awe that end on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, 10 days later. 

Globally, millions of Evangelicals will express genuine greetings especially toward Israel, our spiritual homeland. Delicious apples and honey treats served at the dinner table reflect wishes for a sweet new year. We might adopt a few well-wishes in Hebrew, including Shana tova (“Have a good year”) and Gmar chatima tova (“May you be inscribed in the Book of Life”).

Entering 5784, Israel simultaneously inhabits two contradictory realities. The nation thrives with bold innovations, long-desired alliances in the Abraham Accords, and countries newly locating their embassies in Jerusalem. The covenant-keeping God of Heaven has kept His eternal promises, preserving a Jewish remnant for thousands of years and into their new year 5784. Unfortunately, the waves of hate—and those choosing to ignore facts about the world’s only Jewish state—are still intruding into the chosen people’s history, decisions, and privileged stature as a parliamentary democracy. And some of Israel’s most dangerous security challenges are escalating.

One such challenge can be found in the United States Congress. Last Friday, 15 Democratic senators sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, requesting a phone call. They asked Blinken to stop granting visas to Israelis until Israel makes certain concessions for Palestinian Arabs who live in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria). Recent (and long overdue) discussions have been ongoing for a Visa Waiver Program, and a September 30 deadline is looming. In July, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed that allows Israeli citizens to travel to the U.S. without a visa and remain for 90 days. 

In a lead-up pilot program, Israel agreed that Palestinian Americans in the West Bank, as well as Iranian Americans and other Arab Americans, could transit Israel to enter the United States for 90 days without background checks. Right now, Blinken and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas seem positive about approving the waiver. A last-ditch effort from a minority in the Democratic Senate caucus accuses Israel of a two-tier system when it comes to Palestinians. This particular group of senators tends to lean toward varying criticisms of Israel, claiming that the Jewish nation discriminates against Palestinian-Americans—ignoring essential facts about Palestinian policies. 

Israeli officials report that during the pilot program, over 12,000 Palestinian Americans living in the West Bank entered Israel under the new regulations within the last two months and several thousand Palestinian Americans who live in the U.S. used the new regulations to land at Ben Gurion Airport. 

However, if Israel must reconsider aspects of the MOU, it is because increased terror is emerging from Palestinian towns emboldened and supplied by Iran’s Islamic regime. As of August 21, 2023 is now the deadliest year for terrorism since the Second Intifada (2000-2005). Thirty-four Israelis—men, women, and children—have been murdered, some simply innocently driving along a highway. These 15 Democratic senators could certainly moderate their positions by recognizing the real terror threats on the ground and remembering that Israel has no Palestinian negotiating partner to help shape a peace plan.

Eighty-seven-year-old Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas has refused direct negotiations with Israeli leaders since 2009. Yet Arab refusals began decades ago. For those too young to know or who have forgotten, on November 29, 1947, the United Nations voted for two states, one Arab, one Jewish. Arabs refused the two-state deal. Jews accepted it and established a modern Jewish state on May 14, 1948. Since then, PA leaders have refused several generous offers from some U.S. presidents and Israeli prime ministers. 

Do Palestinian leaders want peace? History says no. For them, it is all or nothing. Elected in 2005, Abbas is still president in his “four-year” term. His civilian population rightly considers him corrupt. He praises Palestinian terrorists as martyrs, names streets after them, donates money to their families, and approves a sewer of hate to flow through Palestinian state media.  

Despite these facts, the letter itself, penned by Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Brian Schatz (D-HI), was co-signed by Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Tom Carper (D-DE), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Jack Reed (D-RI), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Peter Welch (D-VT), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), and Tina Smith (D-MN).

The bottom line is, this letter brings into view Israel’s necessary security reality. First Yassar Arafat, and now Mahmoud Abbas—Arafat’s 40-year terror sidekick—have rejected Israel’s consistent efforts to restart stalled peace talks. Without fail, criticisms also emerge not only from segments of the U.S. Congress, but also from the United Nations, European Union, and others when Israel is forced to defend its civilians. 

In the meantime, I encourage readers to contact these senators to respectfully ask them to reconsider their support for our best ally in the region, Israel? 

Please join CBN Israel this week in prayer for the Jewish nation and people:

• Pray for the U.S. Congress to maintain its highest levels of support for the longstanding U.S.-Israel relationship.
• Pray for the safety of Jewish Israelis during the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
• Pray for vigilance on behalf of Jews in the United States and worldwide.
• Pray for Secretary of State Blinken to cautiously approve the visa agreement mindful of Israel’s security.

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 a volunteer on the board of Violins of Hope South Carolina. Arlene has attended Israel’s Government Press Office Christian Media Summit three times and hosts her devotionals, The Eclectic Evangelical, on her website at ArleneBridgesSamuels.com.

By Arlene Bridges Samuels

Both history and the sacrifice of U.S. military troops are vital proofs to help us understand threats in our world today. Although significant facts may have slipped from the minds of most Americans, our military, their families, and friends have not forgotten the direct, deadly attacks engineered by the Iranian regime for decades.

Forty years ago, a horrific terror attack killed 241 U.S. marines, soldiers, and sailors deployed to Beirut, Lebanon, as part of a multinational peacekeeping force during the Lebanese Civil War. The attack had the highest single-day death toll for the U.S. Marine Corps since the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945. That day—October 23, 1983—a Hezbollah terrorist financed and armed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps drove a 19-ton Mercedes truck into an American barracks near the Beirut airport. Marines standing guard outside were following the peacetime rules of engagement, which required their guns to be unloaded. The truck plowed through concertina wire and exploded at the barracks while our soldiers slept. Although our military came in peace, it mattered not to the Islamic regime and its proxies. Then, as now, terrorists’ rules of engagement do not value life and freedom as we do in the United States and in Israel.

The Iraq War (2003-2011) is still fresh and painful for American families whose loved ones died or suffered traumatic wounds to mind and body during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Iran’s border with Iraq, stretching for 994 miles, allowed easy access to our heroic American soldiers on the ground.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) used “asymmetric (irregular) warfare” against our troops. Using a simply made, deadly mixture that utilizes homemade elements such as fertilizer, gunpowder, and hydrogen peroxide, Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) are quite versatile. Ranging in size from small pipe bombs to larger, sophisticated devices, IEDs can be hidden in the dirt, thrown from a distance, or placed in cars or inside innocent-looking packages. Tucked out of sight, they can exact massive damage. Explosively Formed Penetrators (EFPs) are roadside bombs that penetrate even armored vehicles. Overall, Iran is responsible—either directly or indirectly—for nearly one out of every six American combat deaths in Iraq.

The number and severity of injuries—and the devastating loss of life—from Operation Iraqi Freedom are heartbreaking, with 4,492 U.S. service members dead and 32,292 wounded. During the Iraq war, American deaths were a cause for elation among Iranian leaders and their elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Iran has established itself more deeply now in Israel, within Palestinian-run towns right in Israel’s biblical heartland. Remember that the Islamic regime views the United States as the “great satan” and Israel as the “small satan.” Our freedoms and cooperation are closely tied together as targets of the biggest terror-sponsoring state on earth.   

Security threats are tightening around Israel. The Islamic regime’s surrogates surrounding the tiny Jewish State have now implemented the use of IEDs and EFPs to murder Israeli civilians and members of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). On 24/7 alert, Israel is already fully engaged in tracking every inch of its borders due to terrorists in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria funded by Iran’s apocalyptic leaders.

Not since the Second Intifada (2000-2005), where terrorists murdered over 1,000 Israelis and injured thousands more, has Israel faced such a growing number of internal dangers. In that uprising, Palestinians enlisted human suicide bombers to kill and maim Israelis. Now IEDs and EFPs are becoming murder weapons for Palestinian terror groups that are banding together, united by hate. Among them are Hamas, the Jenin Lion’s Den, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, IRGC in Syria, and others—inside, outside, and alongside Israel.

Now, the deadly devices can be manufactured in Palestinian towns. Thus, in early July, the IDF were forced to carry out a two-day defensive operation in Jenin to find and remove weapons and manufacturing labs. An example of what they discovered: The IDF located a large weapons cache in tunnels dug within the al-Ansari mosque. During the 48-hour counterterrorism operation, Israeli Ambassador Mike Herzog tweeted: “Over the past two years, Jenin has become a major hub of terrorism and an Iranian stronghold close to Israeli population centers. Most of the terror attacks against Israelis originated from Jenin. No nation would sit idly by as terrorists strike its citizens.”

Stabbings and car rammings are already prevalent, with added cross-border weapons smuggled from terrorists to terrorists. Last week, an IED injured four IDF soldiers. It was set off while the soldiers were securing the entrance for Jewish pilgrims visiting Joseph’s Tomb in Shechem located in Samaria. 

However, two incidents last month make it clear that Iran is also activating its dangerous assaults anywhere possible. Israeli Arab citizens were caught smuggling explosives into Lod, a city in central Israel. Then two large explosives were stopped, this time coming in from Jordan.

Commemorations will take place once again in the United States marking the 40th anniversary of the 241 peacekeepers—service members who were murdered in Lebanon while they slept in their beds. Our great ally Israel has encountered (and will encounter still more) loss, trauma, and burials due to actions sanctioned by the evil Ayatollahs and their surrogates, who applaud when IEDs, EFPs, cars, knives, and guns enable the murder of innocents—even among their own desperate population.

In closing, the Biden administration’s appeasement plan to release billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets via Iraq and South Korea empowers Iran. Although those funds are ostensibly to pay Iraq’s gas and electricity debt to Iran—so Iranian gas will keep flowing to Iraqi citizens—the Iranian regime will undoubtedly use that money to do what it’s always done: perpetrate hate and killings and imprisoning its freedom-starved population. For decades, Iran has annually provided roughly $700 million to Hezbollah, $100 million to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza, and hundreds of millions to IRGC in Iraq and Syria to attack Israelis and Americans. Does the Islamic regime need more money to murder Americans, Israelis, and others?

A fact: Mr. Biden is bypassing Congress despite their Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act (INARA). The legislation does not allow the president to issue any “statutory sanctions relief for Iran in connection with any broadly defined agreement … regardless of the form it takes … and regardless of whether it is legally binding or not.”

Although John Kirby, a spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council, stated that Iran is only using the money for “humanitarian purposes,” the Iranian foreign minister has declared, “The decision on how to utilize these unfrozen resources and financial assets lies with the Islamic Republic of Iran.” Again, history shows American naivete. The relief money will not reach Iran’s desperate population. Instead, it will empower Iran’s terror and its unceasing quest for a nuclear weapon.

Our CBN Israel team welcomes you to join us this week to pray by holding fast to Psalm 46:1-3 NIV: “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.”

Prayer Points:

• Pray for Gold Star families amid their tragic losses.
• Pray for American soldiers wounded in mind and body from traumas of war.
• Pray for Israeli families burying their loved ones to sense comfort and relationship with the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jesus.
• Pray for wisdom for the Biden administration.
• Pray for Americans and Israelis to remain strong together.

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 a volunteer on the board of Violins of Hope South Carolina. Arlene has attended Israel’s Government Press Office Christian Media Summit three times and hosts her devotionals, The Eclectic Evangelical, on her website at ArleneBridgesSamuels.com.

By Arlene Bridges Samuels 

Although there has been some friction in the past over issuing visas to Christian organizations and clergy, International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) and Israel’s Ministry of Interior have quietly settled those issues behind the scenes. However, the Interior Ministry’s recent surprising move to deny essential visas to ICEJ—a prominent international Christian organization home based in Israel—is now out in the open. 

ICEJ’s Vice President and senior spokesman, David Parsons, explained that the Interior Ministry refused to issue visas during the COVID-19 pandemic, but he’s concerned because the rejections have now expanded into three years. Parsons comments, “We finally had to go public, and they are saying now we are not a religious organization.”

Since its founding in 1980, ICEJ has been registered as a religious organization. The hopes are that an upcoming hearing will expose a bureaucratic mistake, followed by a possible reversal. Israeli law clearly confirms that the decisions of the Ministry of Interior require that granting or denying visas must be based on correct, reasonable facts without bias.

Parsons described the results if the decision is not reversed: “We are slowly being squeezed out of existence by the Interior Ministry. We cannot continue our vital work to build global Christian support for Israel under these strict new rules.” No explanation is forthcoming yet to ICEJ. Moshe Arbel, interior minister in the Knesset, would do well to seriously reconsider several deeply troubling consequences of its damaging decision. Arbel must pay attention to the relational damage toward dedicated Christian staff and 600 million evangelicals worldwide who financially support a range of respected Christian ministries and media in the Holy Land. 

Using the concept of return on investment (ROI), the Shas religious party’s ultra-Orthodox Rabbi Arbel might consider an evaluation of the economic and humanitarian benefits to Israel from ICEJ and numerous other respected Christian organizations in Israel. One fact to note is explained in an article written by American Rabbi Dr. Daniel Friedman. He explores the concept, “Is It Permissible to Accept Charity from Christians?” He estimates that American Christians donate “hundreds of millions of dollars to both Christian and Jewish charities in Israel.”  

Here is what Interior Minister Arbel would discover about ICEJ if he were to examine its past actions:  

In 1980, ICEJ drove a stake in the ground through prayer and established a Christian embassy. The Knesset had officially declared Israel’s sovereignty over all of Jerusalem on July 30, 1980, enacting Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel. Abandoning biblical history and Israel’s sovereign decision-making rights, nations (including the U.S.) reacted by relocating their embassies from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. The minimally funded founders of ICEJ, who met in a small, cramped Jerusalem office, made the decision to stand with Israel in Jerusalem—Israel’s eternal capital. 

Now in its 43rd year, ICEJ has offices in 93 countries, and an immeasurable humanitarian imprint on the ground in Israel. Israel’s citizens—Jews, Arabs, Druze, Ethiopians, and more—benefit from ICEJ staff and volunteers in numerous outreaches throughout Israel. Aiding women in crisis, distributing food, and improving children’s homes, ICEJ’s merciful work with Holocaust survivors is also essential in the waning days of their lives.  

Sadly, a quarter of Israel’s 165,000 Holocaust survivors live in poverty. Ninety percent of survivors are above 80 years old. Illness and loneliness are rampant. ICEJ provides food and friendship with in-person visits—especially to those living alone. CBN Israel also carries out an active ministry to Holocaust survivors in need. In 2009 ICEJ—partnering with a local Jewish charity—founded the Haifa Home for Holocaust Survivors, which provides assisted living and a loving staff. ICEJ has also established an emergency call line for Holocaust survivors in crisis. 

Another lifesaving achievement implemented by ICEJ, with the financial commitment of churches and individuals worldwide, is the placement of more than 150 portable bomb shelters manufactured in Israel that protect Israeli civilians under fire from Gaza terrorists. ICEJ’s efforts have also resulted in more than 160,000 Jews immigrating (making Aliyah) to their ancestral homeland from all over the world. ICEJ works closely with the Jewish Agency for Israel and many other organizations in this massive effort. Isaiah 49:22 NIV captures the spirit of Aliyah—“This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “See, I will beckon to the nations, I will lift up my banner to the peoples; they will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their hips.” 

I daresay Rabbi Moshe Arbel, interior minister, would not want to slow down the arrival of Jews to their homeland based on God’s promises in Isaiah 49:22. But with visas presently denied, the number of staff and volunteers is reduced—and Israelis go wanting without the love and help that Christians provide. How will the Ministry of Interior overcome such a shortfall? 

Additionally, the Christian media presence inside and outside Israel is an important factor that Interior Minister Arbel hopefully will consider. As a Christian journalist, I have attended several Christian Media Summits hosted by Israel’s Government Press Office. At both summits, in Prime Minister Netanyahu’s keynotes, he praised Evangelicals and Christian media in glowing terms. He described Christian media as “Ambassadors of truth—you’re not merely the greatest ambassadors that Israel has around the world—you’re champions of truth.”

ICEJ is among respected Christian media worldwide that report news, educational resources, and truths about Israel. It also hosts tours, and annually implements the biggest tourist event in Israel, the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot). Upwards of 5,000 evangelicals worldwide travel to Israel each year for weeklong celebrations. Their presence is not only an economic boon; it is an outflow of encouragement to Jewish families lining Jerusalem’s streets during Israel’s Parade of Nations. This year’s celebration, held September 29 through October 6, has the theme King of All the Earth.

ICEJ—and many other fine Christian ministries in Israel, worldwide Christian media, and Evangelicals—are what I call “information armies of facts.” We stand as a bulwark—with God’s help, strength, and wisdom—to oppose the poisonous propaganda of Israel’s enemies. 

May Rabbi Moshe Arbel and Israel’s Interior Ministry view us all as friends who will continue to exert prayers and actions on behalf of Israel’s diverse population. 

CBN Israel staff welcome you to join us in prayer this week: 

• Pray for ICEJ and all Christian ministries in Israel for visa approvals. 
• Pray that Rabbi Moshe Arbel will accept the sincere friendship of Christians and restored cooperation.
• Pray that we as Christians will react to these challenges in a way that honors our Lord. 
• Pray for Christian ministry personnel, their strength, shalom, and blessings. 

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 a volunteer on the board of Violins of Hope South Carolina. Arlene has attended Israel’s Government Press Office Christian Media Summit three times and hosts her devotionals, The Eclectic Evangelical, on her website at ArleneBridgesSamuels.com.

By Arlene Bridges Samuels 

The United Nations General Assembly is prepping for its annual meeting, which opens on September 5. Israel remains high on its agenda—expressly in meetings conducted by the Human Rights Council and their star pupil, the Commission of Inquiry. Although the UN purports to be fair, the Human Rights Council has exhibited a clear pattern of singling out and targeting the world’s only Jewish state.

Israel receives “special” treatment from the Human Rights Council, since it is the only nation where a human rights inquiry lasts forever! Now with 193 members, the United Nations has undergone an unwelcome transformation—distorting truth with artificial “facts”—ever since it voted favorably for the Partition Plan on November 29, 1947. Six months later, this resolution resulted in votes for Israel’s modern statehood on May 14, 1948—which took place 75 years ago. History tells us that Israel’s leaders accepted the partition plan while Arab leaders rejected it. It is indeed unfortunate that Arabs rejected statehood for their population and instead chose hatred and war as a substitute. 

On the two dates mentioned above—November 29, 1947, and May 14, 1948—the United Nations played a critical role in helping to fulfill prophecy, voting to return their ancestral homeland to the Jews, its indigenous people. The UN had no idea that God in His sovereignty enlisted the Jewish people as vessels to enact Isaiah 66:8 NIV—“Who has ever heard of such things? Who has ever seen things like this? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children.” 

Let’s take a look at how the Commission of Inquiry (COI) was formed. On May 27, 2021, a Palestinian and Pakistani delegation requested a special session about “the Grave Human Rights Situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.” The delegation represented a coalition of Islamic states—the Organization of Islamic Cooperation—with a membership of 57 countries on four continents. 

Heading up the COI is South African Judge Navi Pillay, who lugs her anti-Israel biases into Commission meetings. She has frequently slandered Israel, calling it an “apartheid state,” and lobbied governments to “sanction apartheid Israel.” One of Pillay’s most glaring actions occurred when she convened the 2009 Durban II conference in Geneva, Switzerland. She welcomed former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to spew his anti-Israel poison. Thankfully most democracies boycotted the Durban II. Ms. Pillay saw apartheid firsthand in her home country, which was itself cruelly apartheid. 

I do not know if Ms. Pillay has visited Israel. If so, has she met with any of the thousands of Ethiopian Jews airlifted to freedom by Israel? Has she met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the United Nations General Assembly to question his policy of establishing hate filled anti-Israel media? Has she visited factories in Israel’s Barkan Industrial Park to see thousands of Palestinians working alongside Jews, all who receive equal pay—and some holding management positions?

The COI’s latest report in a June 2023 session of the UN Human Rights Council reveals that not one Palestinian terrorist or terrorist organization was mentioned. Not one. Months later, after a contentious COI meeting in November, during an interview with Israel’s i24 News Ms. Pillay claimed, “I’m 81 years old and this is the first time I’ve been accused of anti-Semitism.” Her comment was aimed in part at Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, who vigorously questioned her impartiality and accused Pillay and the COI of “Jew hatred,” blatant anti-Semitism, and being part of a “terror-supporting Commission.” 

In meetings, Pillay seemed shocked that Erdan and 18 member states spoke out in a debate describing the Commission of Inquiry as biased against Israel after a COI Report. It was the first time in decades that such bias was leveled—a much-needed change! The United States weighed in, stating that it remained “deeply concerned about the creation of the Commission of Inquiry … [and its] unwieldy scope. We also reaffirm our condemnation of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias.” 

Hillel Neuer is executive director of UN Watch, a nonprofit organization whose purpose is to hold the United Nations accountable to its founding principles. Appearing before the U.S. Congress last June, Neuer highlighted proofs of anti-Semitism. During that appearance, he eloquently pointed out: “While dictators are honored, a democracy is scapegoated. The only country in the world with a standing agenda item at the Council is not China, which denies basic human rights to 1.5 billion people, nor is it Iran which beats, blinds, and poisons women and girls for protesting. It is Israel.”

UN Watch is a valuable news source for those who want to learn more about the UN’s outright bias against the world’s only Jewish state. The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) was established in 2006 and its anti-Israel record is statistically revealing. As examples, they have passed 14 resolutions on Iran, 16 on North Korea, 42 on Syria, and fewer resolutions on other countries. Yet they denounced Israel in 103 resolutions—more than Iran, North Korea, and Syria combined.

The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA) defines the COI as “wanting to launch a global dragnet for the guardians, builders, and defenders of the Jewish state.” Now more than ever, Israel needs its evangelical guardians and defenders at the United Nations. 

With facts provided by UN Watch, Christians have an opportunity to advocate for Israel. Using this link, Sign up | CiviCRM (unwatch.org), you will know what is happening and can act by signing important petitions disseminated by UN Watch from time to time. We cannot underestimate the small steps when thousands of us are united to oppose the Jew hatred rampant in the United Nations! 

Ultimately, we are often assured in the Bible that Israel rests in the sovereign Hands of the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jesus. Nevertheless, we honor Him by acting on behalf of Israel—a land and a people that He chose to transmit the Old and New Testaments and come to earth through Jewish lineage. Let us stand with Israel, our spiritual homeland, in prayer, facts, and actions.  

Our CBN Israel team welcomes you to join us this week to pray for Israel with hope by reading God’s promises in Ezekiel 37:21-22 (NIV): “This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel.” 

Prayer Points: 

• Pray for the current 47 members of the UN Human Rights Council, which includes China, Cuba, and Pakistan.  
• Pray for COI’s chairperson, Navi Pillay, to have a change of heart toward Israel. 
• Pray for Christians to actively pursue education on how to advocate for Israel, including UN Watch.  

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 a volunteer on the board of Violins of Hope South Carolina. Arlene has attended Israel’s Government Press Office Christian Media Summit three times and hosts her devotionals, The Eclectic Evangelical, on her website at ArleneBridgesSamuels.com.

By Arlene Bridges Samuels 

Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, is one of Israel’s most important visitor destinations. Walking through the museum is a near-indescribable revelation, one that is displayed in heart-wrenching detail. Some might say “heart wrenching” because it is a walk-through hell—a hell that might be hard for non-Jews to fathom. Yet a visit to this place is fundamental to helping us understand the emotional DNA of the Jewish people. Millennia of Jew hatred manifested itself unspeakably in the Holocaust (Shoah)—and intensified Jews’ determination to live life to the fullest while guarding their ancestral homeland.

I visited Yad Vashem on nine separate occasions during the years I served as Southeast Regional Christian Outreach Director for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). AIPAC strengthens the mutually beneficial U.S.-Israel relationship with Congress on a bipartisan basis. Yad Vashem always appeared on AIPAC’s American Israel Education Foundation (AIEF) Educational Seminar itinerary. At the end of each guided tour, I gathered our Christian leaders to walk a few steps over to the railing that looks out over the beautiful Jerusalem Forest. The serenity of this lovely view and the fresh air helped them deal with the shock of what they had seen, their voices silent, some with tears falling, as they attempted to process what they had just heard and seen. 

Gently drawing them into a circle, I quietly mentioned the familiar watch phrase “Never Again,” which they could now deeply understand. I encouraged them to adopt this profound declaration into their prayers and actions. One of the pastors offered a prayer that I had privately requested earlier. Each person felt free to speak their hearts or pray. In the nine different Christian leadership groups I staffed, I also invited our Jewish tour guide to join the circle. Afterward, the guides expressed to me their heartfelt reactions to the Christians’ comments.

I prepared my groups as best I could for their next steps, which led to the nearby Children’s Memorial. They entered the space in silence, feeling for the railing as they walked along in a deep darkness lit only by simulated candlelight. With each step, a recorded voice read out names of 1,500 Jewish children whom the Nazis murdered. Their names echo in our memories, never to be forgotten.

Part of a Yad Vashem visit includes strolling along the Avenue of the Righteous Among the Nations (Hassidei Umot Haolam) honoring the courage, selflessness, and extraordinary risks of Gentiles who saved Jews during the Holocaust. Located on 45 acres of forest and groves in the Jerusalem hills, Yad Vashem was dedicated on Holocaust Remembrance Day, May 1, 1962. Foreign Minister Golda Meir (who later served as Israel’s Prime Minister) spoke on that occasion. She poignantly described the non-Jews as “drops of love in an ocean of poison.” Among the now more than 28,000 Righteous Gentiles are three Christians I especially want to mention: Corrie ten Boom of the Netherlands, Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, and the only American soldier recognized as Righteous Among the Nations in World War II, U.S. Army Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds. 

Walking through Yad Vashem, I concluded early on that shock is a necessary wake-up call for Christians. At the least, an acquaintance with Holocaust history in a two- or three-hour tour of Yad Vashem is ample motivation to commit to proactive support for Jewish citizens both in Israel and worldwide—especially amid Jew hatred that is intensifying once again.

 Visiting Yad Vashem or learning about it online has enormous value; it is an essential resource for evangelicals to advocate for Israel. The Yad Vashem Law was officially passed by the Knesset in 1953, which voted “to collect, examine, and publish testimony of the disaster and the heroism it called forth.” For the heart of Yad Vashem’s name, ‘a name and a memorial,’ is drawn from Isaiah 56:5: “And to them will I give in My house and within My walls a memorial and a name … that shall not be cut off.”

The Yad Vashem Law was preceded by a horrific dream in 1942. Mordechai Shenhavi, a Zionist, had made Aliyah to pre-state Israel from Odessa on January 2, 1919. Although news about the Nazi deportation of Jews to death camps was scant during World War II, what little he knew kept Mordechai awake at night. In August 1942 he had a nightmare that made him determined to remember the names of those murdered in the Holocaust. In frequent meetings with various groups, he explained his vision with detailed ideas.

Four years later, Shenhavi recounted his dream to Vaad ha-Leumi at the National Council. “Fearing that my feelings might be mistaken, I saw all those millions in a dream. I didn’t know then that it was six million. Those millions walked toward Zion with monuments on their shoulders. Can you imagine the length of that chain, the faces of those people, carrying the flame of life? … They chose one place for themselves, lay down the monuments, and placed them there in an orderly or disorderly manner. The monument to their lives, the monument of testimony, was established.”

Shenhavi’s goal, “Remembrance of Our Suffering for Building Our Future,” finally led to the Yad Vashem Law in 1953. He lived to see his dream come true when the cornerstone of the Yad Vashem building was laid in western Jerusalem on July 29, 1954. Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek honored Shenhavi as a Distinguished Citizen of Jerusalem. Shenhavi died in 1983 at his kibbutz, Mishmar ha-Emeq, at the age of 82. The new expanded museum that I often visited was dedicated on March 15, 2005.

Today, may we emulate the shining, brave examples of Mordechai Shenhavi’s persistence to envision Yad Vashem and the heroic stories of the righteous non-Jewish rescuers. Around one million people visit Yad Vashem annually, and millions more visit its website, www.YadVashem.org, with content available in eight languages in addition to Hebrew and English. With prayer and action, let us educate ourselves to stand up for the rights of the Jews in their ancient homeland and recognize the Jewishness of our Savior who has redeemed us with His sacrificial love. 

Please join CBN Israel this week in prayer: 

• Pray that Christian advocacy for Israel would grow and expand to new levels.  
• Pray for every Christian tour group to add Yad Vashem to its itinerary. 
• Pray for determined believers to spread facts about Israel through trusted news sources like CBN News and CBN Israel.
• Pray for Christians to deepen their education through valuable experiences and resources offered through Yad Vashem. 

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 a volunteer on the board of Violins of Hope South Carolina. Arlene has attended Israel’s Government Press Office Christian Media Summit three times and hosts her devotionals, The Eclectic Evangelical, on her website at ArleneBridgesSamuels.com.

By Arlene Bridges Samuels

A heat wave is hovering over many parts of the globe, and the words food insecurity are popping up like unwelcome weeds. Although we cannot control the weather, we can take sensible steps to protect the earth and help poor nations to survive. Israel pioneered survivor solutions even before God established its modern state in 1948. Jews began returning to their ancestral homeland in the 19th century—and when they stepped on the shores of their native land, they got underway with backbreaking work in the desolate, mostly arid region. The early Jewish pioneers faced daily battles with the adversaries of malaria, mosquitos, and minimal resources. 

Hanson Ely, a decorated World War I general, made a statement about military battles that also applies to Israel’s agricultural pioneering—and to all of life’s challenges: “Men must be trained that when they have been in battle for days and nights, when perhaps they have been badly handled by the enemy and have had heavy casualties, yet when the signal comes to go they will go again to the limit of their endurance. … It is the last five percent of the possible exertion that often wins the battle … not the first attack nor the second or the third, but it was that last straggling fourth attack. … Battles are won by remnants, remnants of units, remnants of material, remnants of morale, remnants of intellectual effort.” 

The Bible’s Old Testament frequently mentions the word and concepts of a remnant. Isaiah 37:31-32 predicted that, “Once more, a remnant of the house of Judah will take root below and bear fruit above. For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.” 

Against all odds, the early Jewish remnants of the Diaspora—the five percent, so to speak—resulted in Israel (despite its small size) creating outsized food and water innovations for its own population and providing food and water solutions worldwide. Today, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv rank an enviable fourth in the world for agriculture technology (AgTech) startups. 

The following examples show that Israel simultaneously makes its own land bloom and benefits other countries and businesses. Dganit Vered, CEO of Smart Agro Fund, explains that 350 Israeli ag-tech startups lead the world in precision irrigation, wastewater reuse, and seed breeding. The CEO’s name is fitting; dganit is a flower that grows near grain fields, and vered is a rose. 

CEO Vered cites PepsiCo, which uses N-Drip—an Israeli gravity-powered micro irrigation system in 60 countries to grow 25 different crops. Among other benefits, N-Drip improves the efficiency of water in PepsiCo’s seven million acres of farmland and gives jobs to more than 250,000 people in its agricultural supply chain. This applies both to farmers with one-acre plots and those with huge farms. 

Founded in 1965 and pioneered at Kibbutz Hatzerim, Netafim irrigation took hold across the world, with 5,000 employees in 110 countries. Its drip irrigation has been used in over 10 million hectares (nearly 25 million acres) of land. Before it was sold in 2017, Netafim had produced over 150 billion drippers. More than two million farmers benefitted across the globe, whether with potatoes in Italy, sugar cane in Mexico, tomatoes in Azerbaijan, melons in Vietnam, or corn in the United States. General estimates indicate that Israeli drip irrigation technology uses 70 percent less water and increases harvests by 150 percent over traditional irrigation methods.

Another innovation addresses the endangered bee population. Israeli beekeepers developed BeeHero, matching beekeeping with technology. Using year-round SmartHive sensors, it vastly improves pollination and thus naturally aids in the growth of trees and flowers. Estimates show that the SmartHives have pollinated more than six million trees and 90 billion flowers over 45,000 acres. As pollinators, bees are essential for the world’s food supply. 

Nuri Awel, an Ethiopian farmer, shares a superb story about Israel’s Fair Planet, a project that provides seeds, cutting-edge technology, and training to small farmers. The Ethiopian farmer at first hesitated to take advantage of the offered training, but after the seeds produced high-quality plants, the Israeli non-profit won a big fan! Nuri’s tomato crop doubled on his 1,000-square-meter plot (about a quarter of an acre). The increase and training enabled him to fix his home and send his son to college. He now buys his own seeds and has tripled the output of his crop. 

When pioneers first immigrated (made Aliyah) to pre-state Israel to farm the land, they populated it with agricultural communes (kibbutzim). Kibbutzim remain important today. Israel’s desert farmers have cultivated their land with peppers, flowers, olive trees, and more. Uri Yogev, at Kibbutz Revivim in the southern Negev, decided to use brackish water to grow olive trees, which usually grow in plentiful rain and rich soil. After five years, his olive grove is the biggest in Israel and the only one in the world that’s cultivated with salt water. It now yields 200 tons of olives annually. 

Israeli ingenuity is thriving in agricultural innovations both large and small. Their resourcefulness is proof of what Albert Einstein once said: “In the midst of every crisis, lies great opportunity.” Israelis have used their “share” of 24/7 crisis and now lead the world in opportunities and innovation. It is my hope that Israel’s accusers and detractors will join the many communities and countries across the world that are grateful for Israeli agricultural and water innovations. 

Join our CBN Israel team this week by reflecting on Zephaniah 2:7 NIV, which affirms this fact: “That land will belong to the remnant of the people of Judah; there they will find pasture. In the evening they will lie down in the houses of Ashkelon. The LORD their God will care for them; he will restore their fortunes.” 

Prayer Points: 

• Pray with thanks for the Israeli example of using a crisis to create something good.
• Pray for leaders to use wise, productive ways to manage God’s beautiful earth.
• Pray especially for the world’s poor, who suffer the most from lack of food.   
• Pray that helpful agricultural techniques might be managed with integrity. 

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 a volunteer on the board of Violins of Hope South Carolina. Arlene has attended Israel’s Government Press Office Christian Media Summit three times and hosts her devotionals, The Eclectic Evangelical, on her website at ArleneBridgesSamuels.com.

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

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.

By Arlene Bridges Samuels 

The global community is increasingly being ensnared by ruthless dictators who are banding together to assert their brand of world dominance. Each day, news emerges about evildoers entrapping entire populations with lies and deceptions that stir up confusion, chaos, and disorder. We are living in what some are calling a “five-twenty” world—based on Isaiah 5:20, which describes a world that calls evil good, and good evil.

An upside-down atmosphere and internal challenges within both the U.S. and Israel are unsettling. Let’s take a brief look at the troubling trends across the world, then a close look at how to embrace and add to the good trends surrounding us. 

Iran’s Islamic regime is ever-present in the mix. Our open U.S. Southern border beckons not only anyone from more than 100 countries but also, and more disturbingly, those set on destruction—from Iran, its proxies, China, and others. Shifting our focus to Israel’s border, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) stationed in neighboring Syria. We honor our 900 American soldiers also stationed there since 2015. They play an essential role in hindering the Islamic regime’s weapons shipments into Syria bound for the IRGC. Weaponry is also destined for Iranian proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Military Times in varying reports indicates some 41,300 U.S. military are stationed in nine other nations in the Middle East such as Iraq, Kuwait, and Oman. 

Part of the Biden administration’s naiveté is to view another Iran deal as the means to providing a solution. Biden thinks a planned $17-billion payoff—which is being called a “mini deal”—will magically make the rogue regime comply with his wishes. However, the Ayatollahs and other bullying regimes respond to appeasement with disdain for the appeaser, not respect. They congratulate themselves for amassing more power to threaten and oppress not only their own citizens but also nations they view as weak. 

It is valuable to listen to reports from our troops in northeastern Syria and to others who suffer the Islamic regime’s cruelty firsthand. My close friend Marzi Amirizadeh—and thousands of other Iranians—are fully aware of the Ayatollahs’ evil intentions. 

Marzi, a Christian and now an American citizen, was arrested in 2009 for her faith. Her “crime”? Covertly giving out 20,000 Bibles in a nation opposed to Christianity. After nine torturous months, Marzi was miraculously released. Just last week, on June 20th, she wrote a Townhall op-ed that everyone, including the current U.S. administration, should read. No Deal for Iran (townhall.com) 

She reveals, “It is impossible for me to read reports of the Biden administration negotiating a deal to placate Iran’s Islamist regime today, without bringing me back to my cell in Iran’s notorious Evin prison in 2009.” She also blames former President Obama [and then-Vice President Biden] for turning their backs on the Iranian people in Iran’s first nationwide protests about election fraud that same year. Eventually, thousands were arrested and executed. One of Marzi’s statements should be emblazoned in the minds of any leader, anywhere, who is negotiating with Iran: “If Iran is so callous and violates human rights at home, how can anyone trust the regime to be any better around the globe?”

Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei recently held friendly meetings in Tehran with two of their proxy leaders from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, who also victimize their own people. Worse yet, Hezbollah, Iran’s proxy in Lebanon, has for the past few months successfully smuggled rifles into Palestinian-run Jenin, located in Israel’s biblical heartland. Hezbollah has set up a sophisticated weapons operation that has resulted in more Israeli and Palestinian deaths and injuries. 

Earlier this month, Iran’s president Raisi got busy linking like-minded countries by visiting three of them to form a coalition. Each of those nations—Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela—is under sanctions imposed by the United States. Raisi repeatedly denounced the “imperialist” United States while multiple trade and other agreements clinched the coalitions. The Islamic lust for nuclear weapons at any cost energizes every so-called “agreement” lie they tell. Domination is their goal, evident through their efforts to revive an oppressive worldwide caliphate. 

Among Iran’s other pursuits, they are selling thousands of drones to Russia and Communist China. Iran and China are active in Communist Cuba—only 90 miles from Florida—where both countries have embassies. China has now opened an embassy in Iran. 

Watching these global shifts, what can we do as Christians? Is it fruitful to complain and wring our hands? Do we give up and wait for the end to come? One answer can be found in 2 Corinthians 5:20—“We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors.” We must rest in foundational, time-tested habits to read our Bibles, mature in our love, share the Gospel message, and serve those in need as unto Jesus while purposely looking for where God is at work.

Here are a few examples. The Asbury Revival generated prayer and salvation movements across the U.S. and the world. The Isaiah 62 Global 21 Days of Prayer for Israel engaged several million Christians worldwide between Passover and Pentecost. A majority in the U.S. Congress remains committed to passing important legislation benefitting both Israel and the United States. Brave pastors are eloquently reminding believers to walk in truth in our culture and exert influence wherever possible. Finally, CBN News reports that “a great awakening is exploding in Iran with visions, dreams, and miraculously answered prayers.”

The Apostle Paul offers us his example, as a Jewish believer kidnapped, beaten, imprisoned, shipwrecked, and ridiculed. In Romans 5:3-5 he says, “But we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”

We are not exempt from difficulty or hardship. Nevertheless, remember that God will ultimately triumph over evil! 

Join our CBN Israel team with this week’s prayers based on Jeremiah 32:17: “Ah, Sovereign LORD, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for You.” 

Prayer Points:

• Pray with thanks for the outpouring of God’s Presence in Iran.
• Pray for increased internal security in Israel’s biblical heartland. 
• Pray that the Biden administration will abandon the “mini deal” with Iran.
• Pray for courage for all believers to maintain trust in God and stand for truth. 

All Scripture is taken from the New International 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.