Allen Jackson NOW

Allen Jackson: Well good evening and welcome to Nashville. I'm Allen Jackson. Israel is facing a new round of pressure tonight, but this time it's not coming from Iran, Hamas, or Hezbollah. It's coming from some of Israel's longtime Western partners. Britain has moved to ban products from Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria, with British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband arguing that what London considers an unlawful occupation should now be reflected in its economic relationship with those communities. France and Canada have announced similar actions.

At the center of this dispute is a section in the West Bank called E1. It's a small but strategically important area east of Jerusalem. Western governments argue that Israeli construction there would divide the West Bank and make a two-state solution far more difficult to establish. Israel sees it very differently. Israeli officials say E1 is in the biblical heartland of Judea. They reject claims that development there would prevent Palestinian movement and they question why so much international attention is being focused on Jewish construction in an area where the final political status has never been settled.

There's another question that deserves scrutiny. Some of the same governments objecting to Israeli construction have financed illegal Arab development and supported Palestinian political claims in contested territory for years. Yet now the economic pressure is being directed overwhelmingly at Israel. At a time when Iran is restricting the flow of energy in the Strait of Hormuz, and at a time when Iran-backed Houthi terrorists are marching through Yemen openly shouting "Death to America, death to Israel," Canada, the UK, France, and other European nations have decided to sanction Israeli communities.

Where's this level of outrage and economic pressure when it comes to Iran or China, Russia, or North Korea? And why this insistence on a failed two-state solution? To have a legitimate peace deal between Israel and Hamas, or between Israel and Iran, you have to have people of integrity with which to negotiate. Iran and their terror proxies just don't meet that standard.

Let's zoom out a bit and look at the historical context of the region. In 1948, at the end of World War II, the UN, primarily through the prompting of the United States, recognized the birth of the modern nation of Israel. It's a tiny little strip of land at the end of the Mediterranean. It's not much larger than New Jersey. After hundreds of years, the Jewish people finally had a homeland. And it has to be noted that the Jewish people didn't take over someone else's territory.

There's a lot of confusion about the Jewish right to that land. But at that time, Palestine was not an Arab nation. Palestine has never been the name of any country, ever. It's a region. The global talking point, echoed by the European Union, the UN, and most of the elite voices in the global community, it's been echoed for decades: there cannot be peace in the Middle East until Israel gives up some land. However, the nations surrounding Israel are far from peaceful. Lebanon is in tatters, so is Syria. Iraq is a mess, Libya as well. Iran is a global sponsor of terrorism.

Israel didn't cause those things. And it's absurd to think that the Middle East will suddenly experience peace once Israel gives up some of their land. Another point is that until 1967, there was no concern for the Palestinian people. They were under Jordanian rule. They didn't have their own country. So this contrived push for a Palestinian state, it's happened since 1967.

Recent history's also made this push for Palestinian statehood somewhat farcical. Back in 2015, during the Syrian Civil War, we watched more than a million Syrians pour into Europe. Why haven't we heard anyone say those Syrian refugees must now be resettled in their historic homeland? We're not hearing the NGOs, the UN, we're not hearing anybody speak on the need for Syrians to maintain their place in their historic homeland. So why is the Palestinian homeland so preeminently sacred?

We can bring it a bit closer to home. In America, we had more than 20 million people pour over our border during the Biden administration. We were told that that was compassion. There's been nobody saying these people can't be uprooted from their historic homeland and peeled away from their communities. We haven't heard the media say they must go back to their homeland. We've heard quite the opposite.

This push for a two-state solution is a farce. It is leverage against the Jewish people and against the State of Israel. It has nothing to do with the Palestinians or the plight of the Palestinian people. Israel's very existence is a continual sign of God's faithfulness. In just a handful of decades, they have gone from a nearly third-world society to an agricultural and technological leader.

I first visited Israel when I was in the sixth grade. At that time, Israel was still very much a developing country, a still fresh gathering of people who'd been previously scattered throughout the nations of the earth. The best roads were two lanes. Many roads were unpaved. Today, Israel is one of the most technologically sophisticated nations in the world. I believe the Jewish people have a right to that land. God has already deeded that land to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob forever. I believe it will bring good things to us if we'll honor their right to that land and do our best to see that it's defended.

Coming up next, we'll visit with the distinguished US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, who'll join us from Jerusalem right after this short break. I'll be right back.

Guest (Female): Every day brings new reasons to worry: family, finances, health, the future. Sometimes it feels like the weight of tomorrow steals the peace we're meant to enjoy today. But Jesus gives us a different invitation. In Matthew chapter 6, He tells us, "Do not worry." Not because life will always be easy, but because our Heavenly Father is faithful.

In the updated book, *Freedom from Worry*, Pastor Allen Jackson shares practical biblical encouragement to help you replace anxiety with confidence in God's promises. Through scripture, discussion questions, memory verses, and daily reflections, you'll discover practical ways to experience the peace Jesus offers every day. Request your copy of *Freedom from Worry* with your gift of $20 or more at AllenJackson.com or call 800-880-5102.

Allen Jackson: Well tonight we're joined by the US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee. Welcome to the show, Ambassador.

Mike Huckabee: Allen, it is such a pleasure to be with you. Greetings from Jerusalem tonight.

Allen Jackson: Well we're honored to have a moment with you. It's a tense season in the Middle East. It's been that way since February the 28th. The US has transitioned. The war with Iran now seems to be primarily economic. Do you think that's going to be enough to bring an ultimate resolution to this?

Mike Huckabee: You know, I really hope so. I think what the President has done is the right thing. He hit them militarily, so he really crushed them hard with bombs. And now he's hitting them hard financially. He's trying to bankrupt them. And that one-two punch is probably what has put them in a position where they're the weakest they've been in 47 and a half years. It is going to take some time because this is pressure that they are prepared to withstand up to a point.

But as the sanctions continue to have an impact on their economy, and as military actions continue in the Strait of Hormuz when they try to manage it, take it over, destroy it, I think increasingly they're going to have to come to the conclusion that they cannot overcome the strength of the United States militarily or financially.

Allen Jackson: At some level, a lot of Americans are weary with that conflict. I think a lot of it's driven by gas prices. What would you say to them about what's happening and why it matters?

Mike Huckabee: A lot of Americans are naive. Maybe some of them weren't even born in 1979 when the Ayatollahs not just took over the embassy, but they frog-marched 51 US Embassy diplomats across the lawn of our US embassy. They burned our flag. They chanted "Death to America." They've been saying it for 47 and a half years. And anyone who does not understand that Iran and its proxies have killed thousands of Americans through the years.

Hezbollah, one of their proxies, is now in 12 Western Hemisphere countries. They're not there to sell snow cones during the summer. They're there because they are positioning themselves for a terror attack against the United States. They have been. They killed 241 Marines in 1982 in Lebanon. Allen, a lot of Americans don't realize this is not about gas prices. This is about our survival.

We think that maybe somewhere in the neighborhood of 60,000 Iranians came through our borders and took up residence somewhere in the United States during the Joe Biden years. We don't know where they are. We don't know who they are. Why are they here? Now let's just say that 10% of them are sleeper cells awaiting orders to do some hideous terror act. That's 6,000 operatives that could be living among us. We're paying their hospital bills. We're paying for their education. We're taking good care of them. And in some day, they're going to be told, "This is the day." And it's going to be a very, very sad day in America.

Allen Jackson: Well I understand that you recently visited the West Bank and had a meeting with some of the residents there. Tell us a little bit about that and your hope for maybe de-escalating that tension with the Palestinians.

Mike Huckabee: You know, I'm a strong believer that Israelis, Jewish people, have a right to live in Judea and Samaria. After all, 80% of the Bible happened in Judea and Samaria. Since Oslo, it got carved up into areas A, B, and C. Palestinians control area A. They control most of B. But the Israelis control area C. They have every right to live there. What they don't have a right to do is to trespass on land that is rightfully owned by Palestinian families, many of whom are American citizens.

My job as the US Ambassador is to serve US citizens, and it doesn't matter on which side of the green line they are on. If they're Palestinian or if they're Israeli, they're my constituency. I work for them. And when we had reports that American citizens, Palestinian, living in area A, land that they owned, land that they had every right to control, some of their homes had been squatted in by Israelis, some of their flocks had been stolen, some of their cars had been burned, there was a mosque that was torched.

I want to make it clear, I don't use the term "settler violence" because most of the people doing this are not even true settlers. They don't even live in Judea and Samaria. Half a million Israelis live in Judea and Samaria, and 99.9% of them are just law-abiding people who live in peace and they build nice homes, they raise their families there. But there are the people, they're not settlers, they're the "unsettlers." And they want to provoke violence. They want to create tension and escalate hostility. And when they do that and they commit crimes against Americans, then I feel like that it's important that we say it doesn't matter who's doing the crime. What matters is that crime is being done, it should be adjudicated, and it should be the same whether a person is a Palestinian or an Israeli.

Allen Jackson: Well you rightly reminded us that you represent the interest of the American people. In my lifetime, I have never seen the forceful expression of hatred for the Jewish people or the nation of Israel in America that we have witnessed in recent months. How do you process that with our friends in Israel? I don't think the media helps, and how do we respond to that? Because now it's even on the conservative side of the political spectrum. You've had some rather infamous interviews that highlight that.

Mike Huckabee: It's very disturbing to me that in a short period of time since I have left the US to come live here to serve the country, to serve President Trump as Ambassador, I've seen something happen in America that I never thought I would see, and that is this rise of Jew-hatred that is really dangerous. I keep asking myself, "Where does this come from?" But Allen, I think that this is not a geopolitical issue. It is ultimately a spiritual issue.

If people have a hate toward God, they may not view it that way, but if you reject the idea that there is a God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who not only gave the Jews this land, but who also gave all of us the law and said that some things are right all the time, and some things are wrong all the time. When that God has given us His law and His light, and there are people who say, "I don't like that particular God. I don't like what He says about marriage because I think I should be able to be married 11 times. I don't like what He says about transgenderism, that there are only two genders because I think there's 127."

Well if a person rejects God, then that person is going to reject the people who really do stand and have stood for God and His law for thousands of years. By the way, it includes the Christians. So I feel like that sometimes we try to make this a matter of ideology, philosophy, even economics, geopolitical interest. It isn't. It's ultimately a spiritual battle. And there are those in the US and across the world who are living as it was in the time of the Judges where everyone did what was right in his own eyes. And when people set themselves up as their own god, they're naturally going to reject the people who say we serve one God who gives us His truth, it is immutable truth, and we must live by it.

Allen Jackson: Mr. Ambassador, we need to take a short break. I know it's late in Jerusalem, but can you stay with us for another segment?

Mike Huckabee: For you I will do it. Not for anybody, but for you my friend, absolutely I'll stay right here.

Allen Jackson: Well thank you. And for those of you watching, if you've got a phone nearby, log on to AJNow.com. Send me an email. I'd like to hear your thoughts on what's happening in the Middle East. I'll be right back.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told us a handful of times, "Do not worry." Well here's what I know about Jesus. If He tells us not to do something, it's possible for us to put it down. Well we've put together a six-week email series to help each of us lead lives free of worry. Folks we live in a tumultuous world, lots of confusion, but I don't believe we have to be plagued by worry. You can go to AllenJackson.com/freedom, sign up for the email series. Let's live worry-free.

You are more than a conqueror. And the truth and the reality is you can't win without fighting. People in this community are looking for a gospel, they're looking for a faith that actually transforms their community and cares about their kids. But their purpose of bringing men to Christ and then spurring them to good works is what allows for a flourishing democratic society. There's a real battle in the world between light and dark, between good and evil.

And Jesus steps into our world to say, "I am the answer for an evil world." We should, as Christians, get beyond the four walls. The four walls is for us to come and congregate together and worship together. We need to permeate into society. Darkness doesn't overwhelm the light, the light is dimmed and the darkness grows more intense. So if we want to know the way out of this place, it's to turn up the light.

We're back now with US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee. Mr. Ambassador, the British Foreign Secretary made some comments in the House of Commons recently about Israel. I want you to hear what he had to say, and then I'll be interested in your opinion.

Guest (Male): Today I announce that the official view of the British government is that the occupation is unlawful. Because of Israel's entrenchment of its control, its intention to extend permanent sovereignty, and its expansionist agenda via illegal settlements. I do not believe the British people want us supporting the occupation by accepting products from settlements in our shops and supermarkets. So I can announce today that we will introduce an import ban on goods from illegal settlements in the occupied territories.

Allen Jackson: I know you've expressed some pretty clear thoughts about what he had to say. Can you tell us a bit about that?

Mike Huckabee: Well first of all, when he says things like "occupied." Of course it's occupied. It's occupied by the people that have a right to have been there for 3,800 years. If he would read the Oslo Agreement, he would know that Israelis have an absolute legal modern right to Area C in Judea and Samaria. Why didn't he know that? And the second thing when he talks about the occupation and then he talks about illegal settlements, I'm thinking there's nothing illegal about it.

It is a great irony. Think about this. Of all the people talking about colonization and occupying somebody else's property, it would be somebody from Great Britain that had colonies all over the world, including the British Mandate that was called Palestine, which by the way was not the Palestinian as in the Arabs. It included Jews. It was a geographical term. It was not an ethnic term. You know, the Brits have had colonies and have taken over land all over the world. I'm just stunned that the person saying that has no self-awareness, apparently, at all.

But let me briefly mention that what really is tragic about this, while some of these diplomats in many countries beat their chests about how we're going to protect the Palestinians, do you know who's going to lose the most from these actions? It'll be the Palestinian workers. Every time these boycott, sanction, divestiture efforts, the BDS, goes on, it does not hurt Israel as much as it really penalizes the people who can't afford to lose their jobs, and that's Palestinians who work in areas of Judea and Samaria. So congratulations, they're going to make life much more miserable for the people they claim to care about.

Allen Jackson: It seems to me that the plight of the Palestinian is more about leverage against Israel than it is any concern for the Palestinian people. There were more than a million Syrians pushed into Europe because of a Syrian Civil War, and there have been no calls from the Europeans or the NGOs that those people had to be resettled in their homeland. Closer to home, we had 20 million people pour across our border in the last administration. I don't hear anybody in the media saying the Guatemalans and the Hondurans and the Haitians need to be resettled in their historic homelands. It feels like hypocrisy regarding the Palestinian people. Am I misreading that some way?

Mike Huckabee: You're reading it exactly right. And I just marvel that either the press don't get it or they don't want to get it. I sometimes think they just don't want to know what the truth is, and if they know it, they don't want to admit it. But when diplomats who should know better, who should know something about the consequences of what they're proposing, and the Brits I don't think have a clue. This is the law of unintended consequences.

Already the Israelis have reacted. They've said, "Okay, Brits, you're not going to be able to have a consulate in East Jerusalem anymore." They've sent diplomats back home. So their own citizens now are not going to have services that they normally would have and would desire because they can't have their cake and eat it too. And I think Israel is responding so far not only forcefully, but still in a very measured way. But I'm just not seeing where the benefit of this is. I can tell you who won't be helped: it won't be the Palestinians.

Allen Jackson: It feels like to me they're just repackaging the old BDS—boycott, divest, and sanction. It's an old scheme. It wasn't helpful before; it won't be helpful this time.

Mike Huckabee: It never has been, and that's the real tragedy of it. But you have all these countries in mostly Europe lining up to try to do something evil to Israel. And you want to say, "If you really want to pick on some people that are doing some dastardly things, we got a long list we could go to—what's happening in places in Africa, we could go to China, we could go to Russia, who's killed a million people in the war against Ukraine." There are plenty of places on earth where some real tragedies are taking place. And I would suggest to you that what the Israelis have done is really build a remarkable country despite the fact that they're surrounded by people who every day are trying to kill them.

Allen Jackson: We've got time for one quick question. We're in election season here, I'm sure you know. We have a whole host of Democratic Socialist candidates, many of whom are Muslim or at least Islamic sympathizers. Do you think the Democratic Party has the courage to stand up to that or are they going to capitulate?

Mike Huckabee: Well if they do capitulate, and if people vote for them, then God help us all. I would hope that people would recognize that what Bobby Kennedy said in Dallas last week, which was a masterful speech—what even an atheist like Bill Maher has been saying—I'm just stunned that there are many traditional liberal Democrats who recognize that we're losing the country, not because of a two-party system, but because people have left the Democrat Party. They've moved so far to the left they've become completely "wacko." I hope it changes soon.

Allen Jackson: And "wacko's" a technical word and we all understand what it means. Mr. Ambassador, I thank you for your time today. Your insight is always helpful.

Mike Huckabee: Allen, my pleasure. God bless you, my friend. And keep us in your prayers and pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

Allen Jackson: Every day, I assure you. We'll be back in just a moment.

I want to give you a personal invitation to join my podcast *Culture and Christianity*. You don't compromise the truth, but you say it where the people know that you care about them. We're trying to understand how to take our faith outside the walls of the church and live it out in the marketplace. I just never understood the double standard because they punished me while my peers were allowed to talk about how devastated they were that Roe versus Wade was overturned.

I brought in some friends, people that are trying to do this on a regular basis. They're never going to stop me because the truth is the truth. I'd rather be on God's side than to be a coward. We've been living in a season of unprecedented deception, propaganda, manipulation. Our best option was to run. We were timing ourselves. I was trying to think, "How can I protect my kids?" Well I want to be a part of seeing culture and Christianity intersect. I hope you'll join the podcast soon.

Thank you for taking the time to send us your emails, your thoughts and opinions. They're always a highlight. Brian J. from Texas said, "It is said that if one doesn't stand for something, one will fall for anything. I thank God for your program. It's refreshing to hear the truth from a Christian perspective. It's time for us as Christians to humble ourselves, pray for the leaders, and vote."

Brian, I like your formula. If we'll humble ourselves, we've got to recognize only God can secure our futures. If we'll put our faith and trust in Him and serve Him in obedience, we'll get a lot of benefits. We have to pray for our leaders, and that's not just the ones you voted for. If someone has authority over us, we have a responsibility and assignment to pray for them. And vote, by all means. Participate in the process. There are no perfect candidates; Jesus isn't on the ballot, but we get to choose. Engage. Folks, God's moving in the earth. Let's join Him. Goodnight and God bless.