ARTICLES

By Arlene Bridges Samuels

A seemingly odd yet powerful statement from Jesus is recorded in Luke 19:40 during His final Passover week on earth. As He rode a donkey among the herds of sacrificial Temple lambs, crowds shouted for joy as He entered Jerusalem, the city He loved. The celebration surrounding His triumphal entry would soon unfold into the sacred drama of His death and resurrection.

What was unusual about this moment was the Pharisees’ demand that Jesus silence the crowds. His response was both poetic and prophetic, drawing from Old Testament imagery of creation itself giving praise to God. “I tell you,” Jesus replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” This verse is an eloquent reminder that even when humanity falls silent, creation continues to proclaim the glory of God.

Indeed, Israel’s ancient stones still cry out today, declaring a timeless truth: Israel belongs to the Jewish people. This truth is not just spiritual but tangible, documented for decades through the meticulous work of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA).

The IAA was founded shortly after Israel’s modern independence in 1948. Its first director, architect Dr. Shmuel Yeivin, made an insightful proposal to Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion: to conduct a full archaeological survey across the new nation. His goal was to identify and document artifacts, structures, and other historical features before development could alter the land. Yeivin’s reasoning was prophetic: “In future generations everyone will know what is hidden in the area of the state.” His vision has proven invaluable in confirming Israel’s ancient heritage amid modern hostility against the Jewish people.

Thousands of archaeological discoveries later, the Archaeological Survey of Israel continues to uncover and study stones, mosaics, and structures that provide undeniable evidence of Jewish life and worship in the Land of Israel. These discoveries trace the Jewish presence back to the tenth century B.C., when God established His covenant with the ancient kingdoms of Israel and Judah.

One week ago, on October 23, 2025, the Israel Antiquities Authority, Hebrew University, and Tel Aviv University hosted a major conference titled “New Discoveries in Jerusalem and Environs.” The event featured what scholars called a “biblical bombshell,” the discovery of a 2,700-year-old seal from the First Temple period. This seal, known as a royal bulla, was uncovered in a joint excavation by the IAA and the City of David Foundation. Found in soil once washed into a Temple-era drainage channel, the artifact was authenticated as an official Assyrian dispatch from the time of King Hezekiah of Judah. Written in cuneiform, it appears to have been a tax notice delivered by a chariot officer described as “the one who holds the reins.” The seal’s text even records the first day of the Jewish month of Av, linking the find directly to the biblical calendar.

The IAA continues to share these remarkable findings with the world. To explore more of its discoveries, visit www.iaa.org.

Among the most meaningful archaeological discoveries to me personally is the Magdala stone. In 2009, during a private VIP tour I helped coordinate, we visited the first-century synagogue where the stone had been unearthed. The site was not yet open to the public, but I felt privileged to walk among its ruins. Located on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, Magdala is believed to be the hometown of Mary Magdalene and dates from the Second Temple period.

The Magdala stone itself is small—only two feet long, twenty inches wide, and eighteen inches high—but its spiritual and historical significance is profound. Carved with intricate designs, it likely served as a ceremonial platform where rabbis placed sacred scrolls. Standing there, I imagined Rabbi Jesus reading Scripture in that very place. Touching the ancient mosaics on the synagogue floor, I felt a deep connection to the history of the Jewish people and to the Savior who walked among them.

Another of my favorite discoveries is the Pilgrimage Road, also known as the Pilgrim Road, in the City of David. This monumental street was rediscovered in 2004 when a sewage pipe broke in Jerusalem. Following Israel’s preservation laws, municipal workers contacted the IAA, which soon uncovered a Roman-style stone-paved road six hundred meters long and eight meters wide. This road once connected the Pool of Siloam to the Temple Mount, serving as the main route for Jewish pilgrims ascending to the Temple during the great festivals.

In 2019, I was blessed to walk the Pilgrim Road when it was open only for limited VIP tours. With our guide, a dear friend and I followed in the footsteps of ancient worshipers who traveled from across the world to celebrate in Jerusalem. As they walked, they sang the Psalms of Ascent, Psalms 120 through 134. I found myself softly reciting some of those same verses, imagining the Jewish Messiah walking on those very stones centuries ago.

Although the excavation is ongoing, the Pilgrim Road is now fully open to the public. On September 16, 2025, the City of David hosted a grand opening ceremony for the southern section, 350 meters long. U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio joined Prime Minister Netanyahu and other leaders from both nations. Ambassador Huckabee described the event as a moment that “lets the stones speak,” while Secretary Rubio called it “an extraordinary archaeological site.” Prime Minister Netanyahu declared that the unveiling symbolized the Jewish people’s unbreakable bond with Jerusalem and reaffirmed that the city will remain united.

In closing, Ezekiel 36:24 offers a powerful reminder of God’s promise: “For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land.” The stones of Israel stand as living witnesses to this fulfillment.

I pray that Bible-believing Christians will recognize archaeology as further proof that the Holy Land is indeed the ancestral home of the Jewish people. No one questions the pyramids of Egypt, the Colosseum of Rome, or the Great Wall of China. Why, then, should anyone question Israel’s history, when its very soil continues to reveal the evidence? Only hatred blinds the eyes of those who deny the truth.

When all is said and done, regardless of persecution or politics, God’s sovereign plan remains unshakable. The numbers themselves testify to His faithfulness. In 1948, when Israel declared its statehood, only about 600,000 Jews lived in the land. Today, more than 7.18 million Jews call Israel home.

Be assured that God is at work.

Our CBN Israel team invites you to join us in prayer and to share this message with others.

Prayer Points:

• Pray for Hamas to release all hostage bodies.
• Pray for proactive Christians to speak truth about Israel.
• Pray for Prime Minister Netanyahu and his security team to lead with wisdom.
• Pray for the families of the 1,152 security personnel who have given their lives since October 7, 2023.

By Arlene Bridges Samuels

Last Friday, twenty freed hostages sat down with families and friends for their first weekly Shabbat since terrorists kidnapped them and forced them into the tunnels of Gaza. Amid joy, tears, and shock, familiar customs and rituals gradually returned. Candle lighting, the reciting of ancient Hebrew prayers, and favorite dishes served with fresh ingredients filled the evening. Surreal conversations began to replace memories of darkness and deprivation as survivors struggled to recount their harrowing captivity.

Mainstream media would do well to pay close attention, as if they were sitting at those Shabbat tables or in a courtroom listening to witnesses whose testimony of evil is undeniable. For the past two years, mainstream outlets have launched a dangerous kind of journalism across cyberspace and its allied social media platforms.

I have named this phenomenon rogue reporting. The word “rogue” can have many meanings, but here it describes those who misuse their position or authority with destructive results. Rogue reporters chose to promote lies from Hamas, the aggressor, over facts from Israel, the victim. Their decisions helped spread a violent cancer of Jew hatred that has now metastasized across the world.

As more truths emerge from freed hostages and their families, will the media listen? Will they choose reliable sources such as the survivors themselves, Israeli leaders, and the IDF? Or will they continue to echo terrorist propaganda? Will they repair their platforms by returning to facts and integrity? Will they consult Christian media outlets that have long recognized the difference between good and evil?

This article touches on only a few stories among many. Will mainstream media share them widely and acknowledge the damage caused by giving credibility to terrorist lies?

Survivor stories are difficult to hear, but facts must rise above falsehoods. Each survivor endured unique cruelties, and nothing can erase their suffering and inhumane treatment, whether they were freed earlier or among the most recent group of twenty living hostages.

Rom Braslavski, a religious Jew, is piecing together two lost years. When he first saw his little brother, he did not recognize him, remembering him still as a boy. Among his many sorrows, Rom was devastated to have missed his brother’s bar mitzvah.

Like Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s cruelty defied comprehension. Rom survived in almost total isolation, sustained by the psalms he had memorized long before. At times, he was confined near the bodies of those who had perished. Chained inside a small cage for months, he endured agonizing pain in his hands and feet. When terrorists demanded that he convert to Islam in exchange for more food, Rom summoned the strength to refuse.

Upon arriving at the hospital after his release, he put on tefillin, small black leather boxes containing Scriptures, bound to his head and arm as a symbol of devotion to God. His family shared that he now prefers to be outside, looking at the sky. Supporters from around the world are sending him photographs of their own sky views as tokens of solidarity and hope.

Rom’s reliance on the psalms in such torment reminds us that Judaism formed the cradle of Christianity. The Old and New Testaments are one sacred book. God spoke through Jewish scribes who wrote and preserved the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament, and Jewish believers added twenty-seven books that became the New Testament. Rom’s faith amid suffering stands as a message for all believers. Without Judaism as God’s chosen foundation, Christianity would not exist. God’s unconditional love is a gift to both Christians and Jews who seek Him with repentant hearts through the Messiah, despite our human failures and flaws.

Another story that shocked Israel and its supporters involved Evyatar David. Hamas forced him to dig his own grave for a propaganda video after starving him nearly to death. So emaciated that his ribs and shoulders protruded, Evyatar’s image was used to pressure Israel. When the filming ended, the terrorists finally gave him food. A few days after his release, a photo showed Evyatar playing his guitar with friends as the sun set over the Mediterranean Sea. The twenty-four-year-old Israeli was once again surrounded by freedom, beauty, and music.

Many other accounts reveal both cruelty and courage. Elkana Bohbot was shackled in darkness for most of his captivity and lost all sense of time. His mother said that at one point, he asked his captors for a needle, thread, and scrap of fabric so he could sew a teddy bear for his young son Re’em. When Elkana arrived at Sheba Medical Center, he carried the handmade toy into a tearful family reunion.

Matan Angrest suffered psychological torment as his captors lied about his family and “treated” his severe hand injuries without anesthesia. Terrorists also deliberately starved hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal, boasting about turning their captives into “poster children of skin and bones.”

Israeli digital creator Yael Levontin described Hamas’s inhumanity as “the horror that defied humanity.” She wrote, “Because the terrorists burned bodies, tore people apart, and left behind only ashes and bone, Israel had to do something it had never done before: summon archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority, experts in ancient civilizations, to help identify the murdered.” One archaeologist explained, “We can recognize bones that are thousands of years old by texture and shape. But this was different. Bone fused with metal, plastic, teeth, and ash. This is not science. It is agony.”

Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and their allies have descended into a hatred that thrives on crimes against humanity.

After reading many hostage stories, I am compelled to suggest this: rogue reporting should be recognized as a modern form of complicity, an accessory to crimes against truth and humanity. Will mainstream media turn away from their Nazi-like adherence to Hamas propaganda that has endangered Jews worldwide?

On October 7, 2023, the terrorists gleefully recorded their atrocities on body cameras. Now, we have the testimonies of survivors who lived through the horror. Their stories are not joyful, but they are essential. They must be heard.

As Christians, we must commit ourselves to truth. We are called to pass on verified facts, not propaganda. We have our own trustworthy Christian media sources such as CBN News, International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, AllIsrael.com, The 700 Club Israel, The Watchman with Erick Stakelbeck and Yair Pinto, Boots on the Ground at TBN, and Amir Tsarfati at Behold Israel.

Proverbs 12:22 reminds us, “The Lord detests lying lips, but He delights in people who are trustworthy.” May we be those truth-tellers who honor God by speaking facts, not falsehoods.

Our CBN Israel team invites you to join us in prayer and to share this message widely.

Prayer Points:

• Pray for the recovery and healing of all freed hostages.
• Pray for families still waiting to receive the bodies of their loved ones.
• Pray for wisdom for Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump.
• Pray for Christians to stand boldly for truth in every arena of life.

Arlene Bridges Samuels is the weekly feature columnist for CBN Israel since 2020. Working on the staff of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) as their SE Regional Outreach Director for nine years, International Christian Embassy Jerusalem USA engaged her as the Leadership Outreach Director part-time for their project American Christian Leaders for Israel. Arlene is an author at The Blogs-Times of Israel, is published at AllIsrael.com and The Jerusalem Connection, and has traveled to Israel since 1990. By invitation, she attends Israel’s Government Press Office Christian Media Summits as part of Christian media worldwide. In 2024, Arlene and her husband Paul co-authored Mental Health Meltdown: Illuminating the Voices of Bipolar and Other Mental Illnesses. www.TheMentalHealthMeltdown.com.

By Arlene Bridges Samuels

I confess, I am a woman who rarely cries. But October 13, 2025, was different for me. It was a historic day with modern Israel in their ancient land and every living hostage freed after two long years in Israel’s longest war. It was a moment to release my pent-up tears of joy as a Christian Zionist, an American, a columnist, author, and advocate for our irreplaceable ally Israel for 25 years. October 13, 2025, will endure in world history, engraved in the hearts of every Israeli and in those of us who recognize God’s sovereign hand in world affairs.

Although I was not on the ground in Israel, I was there in spirit and with rapt attention. Watch parties took place throughout the country, and 400,000 Israelis stood all night in and around Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square, anxious that Hamas might cruelly change its mind at the last moment. Through media coverage, I witnessed the truth, beauty, and reality of prayers answered from millions of Christians standing united with the Jewish community around the world.

As vehicles carrying the freed hostages passed out of Gaza, members of the Israel Defense Forces lined the roads holding high the familiar blue and white flags of their nation. They stood both in celebration and in solemn remembrance of 915 fallen soldiers and thousands more who were injured while defending their homeland. Seven hundred twenty-eight days of captivity had come to an end through close collaboration between President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu, whose strategies advanced the President’s peace plan to its next stage.

After traveling by vehicle and then by helicopter, the freed hostages, viewed as precious cargo by the entire nation, were received at three hospitals specially prepared for their arrival. Crowds gathered, sang, and cheered as the hostages walked into freedom. At the same time, President Trump landed in Israel for a four-hour official visit before continuing to Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt, to sign the peace declaration. Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi invited Prime Minister Netanyahu to attend, but he declined because it was Simchat Torah, “the joy of the Torah.” It was on Simchat Torah in 2023 that Hamas had viciously attacked Israel along the Gaza border.

When President Trump arrived at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, Prime Minister Netanyahu welcomed him warmly. President Trump first met with families of the kidnapped, the wounded, and those bereaved by the October 7 attacks. He listened with compassion in the Chagall State Hall, whose walls display Marc Chagall’s magnificent tapestries depicting the story of Israel, ancient and modern. The meeting reflected deep empathy in a setting that has rarely hosted such personal and emotional moments.

Later, President Trump stepped to the podium in the Knesset to a long and enthusiastic standing ovation. I found myself applauding along with the crowd as a trumpet fanfare sounded and cheers filled the chamber. He waved toward the balcony where his daughter Ivanka sat beside her husband Jared Kushner, one of the peace agreement’s key architects. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, and other U.S. officials sat nearby.

Amir Ohana, Speaker of the Knesset, presided over the gathering, which was filled with applause and repeated standing ovations. In his remarks, Ohana described President Trump as “a giant of Jewish history, that Cyrus the Great would be the only parallel.” He added, “We do not need appeasers; we need more leaders who are brave. We need more Trumps.”

Introducing Prime Minister Netanyahu, Ohana praised him for “making the hard decisions.” Netanyahu responded by calling Trump “the best friend Israel has ever had in the White House. There is no match for Trump.” In his address, President Trump declared, “This is the historic dawn of a golden age in the Middle East. We are giving thanks to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

When the reunions of freed hostages with their families began circulating in the media, I cried again as I watched their embraces, shouts, and prayers of thanksgiving. Yet I also grieved for the families who lost loved ones in the Israel Defense Forces, for those who were severely injured, and for civilians murdered on October 7 or who died during captivity. Psalm 34:18 offers a profound way to pray for them and for all of Israel: “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

Each of the twenty reunions, and all those that came before, stand as a testament to the endurance of Israel and the steadfast friendship of the United States under Donald J. Trump. Before Bar Kupershtein was kidnapped on October 7, 2023, his father, Tal, suffered a stroke that left him in a wheelchair. He held on to one goal: to stand and embrace his son when Bar came home. On October 13, 2025, Tal rose from his wheelchair and fulfilled that dream. The family of Segev Kalfon did not know he had survived until February, when another released hostage told them. Even then, they could not be certain until October 13. Their reunion erupted in tears, joy, and gratitude.

Amid the joy sweeping through Israel, a shadow remains. Hamas delayed the release of twenty-eight bodies of hostages who had died in captivity. Their claims that they cannot locate all the bodies may be another cruel manipulation meant to prolong the pain. Only God knows the truth. May He show mercy in the months ahead. And may we as Christians fulfill our calling as true friends of Israel, our spiritual homeland, trusting in the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jesus.

Our CBN Israel team invites you to join us in prayer for Israel amid both joy and sorrow.

Prayer Points:

• Pray with thanksgiving for the twenty freed hostages.
• Pray for families still grieving and waiting for the return of their loved ones’ remains.
• Pray for supernatural wisdom for President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu in Phase II of the peace plan.
• Pray for the families of the 915 IDF soldiers who gave their lives for their nation.
• Pray for the physical and emotional healing of injured IDF members.