Verdict with Ted Cruz - January 31, 2024


Biden Released Somali Terrorist into the U.S. & Funds UN Agency CAUGHT Participating in October 7 Terrorist Attack


Episode Stats


Length

33 minutes

Words per minute

167.43483

Word count

5,534

Sentence count

381

Harmful content

Misogyny

1

sentences flagged

Toxicity

4

sentences flagged

Hate speech

11

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is joined by Sen. Ben Fergus Ferguson (D-Massachusetts) and Ben Fjerstad to discuss a shocking news story about a terrorist who was released by the Biden administration after being caught crossing the southern border.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:00:02.720 Guaranteed human.
00:00:05.440 Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.
00:00:09.140 And Senator, we have got a lot to talk about, including later in the show,
00:00:12.000 we are going to get a live on the ground update from Israel of what's happening in Israel right now.
00:00:18.220 Something very important that I want to point out.
00:00:20.260 So make sure you stick around for that.
00:00:21.980 Also, before we get to that, there was a shocking news story that came out.
00:00:27.980 And I'm still trying to get my head around it, Senator.
00:00:30.540 Terrorists that have been caught illegally crossing the border in this country
00:00:34.800 were released and allowed to roam free for nearly a year
00:00:38.740 because apparently we don't have time to check backgrounds of terrorists
00:00:43.360 that we are allowing to go free in this country.
00:00:46.060 And the Biden administration is like, oh, yeah, that happens.
00:00:48.680 And oh, by the way, there's a hell of a lot of terrorists on the terrorist watch list
00:00:52.660 that are being caught now every single month in this country.
00:00:56.860 Well, that's exactly right.
00:00:58.800 I've said a number of times that I believe the risks of a major terrorist attack right now
00:01:05.420 are greater than they have been at any time since September 11th.
00:01:09.760 And this story that broke this week further underscores that.
00:01:14.100 So the story that broke was an internal federal memo that indicated that a terrorist
00:01:21.040 was apprehended by the Biden administration at the southern border
00:01:25.100 and they released him into the country.
00:01:27.240 They released him into the country for a year.
00:01:29.920 And this individual who was a member of the Somali terror group Al-Shabaab
00:01:34.900 was released shortly after being caught illegally crossing the southern border
00:01:40.660 near San Ysidro, California.
00:01:42.980 And that was on March 13th, 2023.
00:01:45.320 And the Daily Caller News Foundation published this.
00:01:49.480 They have a memo from the federal government that's been released.
00:01:53.660 And the terrorist screening center initially, quote, deemed him a mismatch.
00:01:59.400 So in other words, they said, OK, this guy is not a terrorist.
00:02:02.380 After running him through the terror watch list.
00:02:05.320 However, on January 18th, 2024, so just a few days ago,
00:02:10.020 the terrorist screening center made a redetermination that the individual was,
00:02:15.860 in fact, a, quote, confirmed member of Al-Shabaab
00:02:19.300 and was involved in the use, manufacture, or transport of explosive or firearms.
00:02:27.400 Two days later, ICE arrested the Al-Shabaab member in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
00:02:33.380 So understand, we caught a terrorist and the Biden administration let him go.
00:02:38.000 And he was in the United States for nearly a year.
00:02:40.760 And just last year, in 2023, do you know how many terror watch list suspects
00:02:47.380 were caught by Border Patrol last year?
00:02:50.520 Yeah, this is a number that I know, but I want you to share it with everybody
00:02:53.400 because it's so shocking and it should terrify everyone listening,
00:02:56.280 the fact that they're doing this in this country.
00:02:59.360 172.
00:03:00.240 Now, compare that.
00:03:02.340 172 last year.
00:03:03.680 By the way, during the Trump administration, most years, every year it was in single digits.
00:03:08.360 There were numbers like 0, 2, 4, 0, 172 last year.
00:03:15.340 Do you know how many were apprehended in the last three months, just October to December?
00:03:20.820 These numbers are even more terrifying.
00:03:22.500 And I say this because you're asking the question,
00:03:24.360 and it means that there is an uptick in terrorist activity of terrorists coming into this country.
00:03:29.800 Tell everybody this number.
00:03:31.520 50, 5-0.
00:03:33.260 5-0 in three months and 50 times 4, if you have four quarters in a year, is 200.
00:03:38.840 That means last year's 172 were on a pace to be at 200.
00:03:42.800 To put that in perspective, 50 terrorists on the terror watch list apprehended on the southern border
00:03:50.320 during just the last three months.
00:03:52.040 Do you know how many people on the terror watch list were apprehended
00:03:55.020 in the entirety of the Trump administration?
00:03:57.720 Four years.
00:03:58.240 How many?
00:03:59.660 30.
00:04:01.020 So more people on the terror watch list were caught at our southern border in October,
00:04:06.400 November to December than all four years of the Trump presidency.
00:04:10.800 That's how bad Joe Biden's open borders are.
00:04:13.700 You also have to compare it so people understand how staggering these numbers are.
00:04:18.040 When you have 50 in the last three months of the year that came in that were caught,
00:04:24.600 that doesn't count the number of gotaways who are on the terrorist watch list.
00:04:29.780 And to be clear, the people that are being caught, the 50 that were caught,
00:04:33.820 they're not walking up to Border Patrol agents like literally the millions of people that are coming into this country in total
00:04:39.640 who are looking to turn themselves in to government agents because they know they're not going to be kicked out and they get to stay here.
00:04:47.240 That's the other part is how many have we not caught, Senator, if we had caught 50 while there's an onslaught at the border of 10,000 a day?
00:04:55.380 No, that is exactly right.
00:04:57.380 The most terrifying number under the Biden administration is the over 2 million gotaways.
00:05:02.960 Those are the people that run that we know crossed into the border, but the Border Patrol did not apprehend.
00:05:09.120 We have 9.6 million, more than 9.6 million that we know of,
00:05:14.380 and the vast majority of them, 7 plus million of them, essentially turn themselves into the Border Patrol.
00:05:21.160 Those are less likely, although, to be honest, the 172 people on the terror watch list,
00:05:27.660 some of them are in that group, many of them are in the gotaways, or they were in the gotaways and they get apprehended.
00:05:32.660 But the 2.2 million, they're much more likely to be criminals, to be murderers, to be rapists, to be child molesters,
00:05:39.200 to be gang members, to be an MS-13, or to be terrorists.
00:05:43.440 And understand, the Border Patrol has sent out written memos, direct instruction to Border Patrol agents.
00:05:49.820 When I've been down on the border, Border Patrol agents have told me they are very, very concerned about Hamas
00:05:56.600 and Hezbollah terrorists crossing the southern border and the risk of an October 7th-style attack here in the United States.
00:06:05.700 And Joe Biden and the Democrats are increasing our vulnerability to that every single day.
00:06:10.600 Let's also put this into perspective, Senator, and if my memory serves me correctly,
00:06:15.140 it was 19 terrorists from al-Qaeda that hijacked those four commercial airplanes.
00:06:20.520 19.
00:06:21.560 So 19 people is what it took for 9-11 to take place on that day in the attack.
00:06:26.940 When you have 100-plus terrorists that are being caught in the last year, 170-plus,
00:06:33.300 and you have 50 at the end of the year, these numbers are staggering and there have been warnings.
00:06:38.360 How many hundreds or thousands more are in the gotaways that we do not know about that are in place in cities across America
00:06:45.260 and preparing to commit horrific acts of terrorism?
00:06:48.460 Well, and that goes back to the warning that we also learned about that's been very quiet,
00:06:52.660 that we mentioned on this show, I think it was several weeks ago now,
00:06:55.880 of a terrorist attack they're concerned about that could mimic the same style of attack that we just witnessed in Israel.
00:07:03.900 Now, that's exactly right, and it is, at this point, it's just insane.
00:07:10.160 It is Joe Biden and congressional Democrats exposing the American people to incredible vulnerability,
00:07:18.640 and, you know, I fear for what's going to happen this year because every day our exposure gets greater and greater.
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00:09:06.520 Senator, what is it going to take for this administration to wake up to these numbers?
00:09:10.560 Because this is no longer a conversation or debate about illegal immigrants under the Biden administration,
00:09:16.780 which, yes, has placed immense pressure on all of our federal resources.
00:09:22.260 And we have now many cities that are whining and complaining, liberal cities.
00:09:26.200 Denver, for example, is freaking out that it's going to bankrupt them with their budgets
00:09:30.080 because they have so many illegal immigrants there.
00:09:32.060 But this isn't about that. This is about national security.
00:09:36.680 This situation is endangering our nation.
00:09:39.280 It's clear that our safety is dependent on enforcing our immigration laws.
00:09:43.020 Otherwise, we get these terrorists on the watch list coming into our country,
00:09:46.640 and we don't know where they are.
00:09:48.340 Look, that's exactly right.
00:09:50.040 And Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and Chuck Schumer are the congressional Democrats.
00:09:54.060 They want this crisis to be happening.
00:09:56.620 The 9.6 million who have crossed into this country, they want them to come. 1.00
00:10:00.560 How do I know that? Because Biden could stop it tomorrow if he wanted to.
00:10:05.160 He does not want to.
00:10:06.460 He looks at every one of these as future Democrat voters,
00:10:10.500 and he's willing to accept the risk of terrorism,
00:10:14.680 the risk of Americans dying in order for Democrats to get a partisan advantage.
00:10:19.760 And by the way, this is not a phenomenon limited to our southern border.
00:10:24.040 This Biden White House, they have a consistent pattern.
00:10:27.240 It's a pattern, Ben, frankly, I don't understand.
00:10:29.640 They give money to people who hate us and want to kill us.
00:10:36.160 Joe Biden has flowed roughly $100 billion to Iran, an Ayatollah who chants death to America. 0.99
00:10:43.540 He's flowed hundreds of millions of dollars to Gaza that's gone directly to Hamas.
00:10:50.480 And I'll tell you, there was a story that broke the last week that is really stunning,
00:10:53.980 which is the United Nations.
00:10:56.620 Look, the United Nations is a global institution with massive problems, massive corruptions, massive anti-Americanism.
00:11:03.740 It is a terrible institution.
00:11:07.720 As bad as the UN is, there's actually an institution even worse than the UN.
00:11:12.900 And that is a part of the UN that's called UNRWA.
00:11:18.020 Now, what is UNRWA?
00:11:19.380 UNRWA is the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.
00:11:23.860 And UNRWA is established to focus on Palestinian refugees.
00:11:30.580 And the problem is UNRWA has been a pit of radicalism, of anti-Semitism, of anti-Israel hate, of extremism.
00:11:42.960 And there's a story that broke this last week that is really stunning.
00:11:46.820 And the Wall Street Journal broke it.
00:11:48.480 And a number of places broke it, which is at least 12 UNRWA employees were directly involved in the October 7th attack.
00:11:59.080 Understand that.
00:11:59.740 Let me repeat that, because that's a headline that people go, what? 0.99
00:12:02.780 Holy crap.
00:12:04.320 At least 12 employees who worked for the United Nations, for this subsidiary called UNRWA, 0.98
00:12:12.200 were actively involved in the October 7th terrorist attack.
00:12:16.600 And yet, you know what Joe Biden has been doing for three years?
00:12:19.980 Flowing money to UNRWA, because he gives money to terrorists who hate America and hate Israel.
00:12:25.480 What's even more shocking is there were warnings about UNRWA that have been going on for quite some time.
00:12:30.960 And I want to play this for everybody.
00:12:32.780 This is not that long ago, okay?
00:12:34.740 On December the 11th, so do the math here, December the 11th,
00:12:39.300 what happened before December the 11th of 2023 was the attack on Israel.
00:12:44.360 On December the 11th of 2023, the Biden State Department spokesman, Matt Miller,
00:12:50.280 was questioned about this type of radicalism from UNRWA.
00:12:56.020 And he defended UNRWA and said they were doing vitally important work for those on the ground.
00:13:04.940 Listen to this carefully.
00:13:06.160 This is at the State Department.
00:13:07.280 In light of a recent Jerusalem Post report about a UN agency UNRWA,
00:13:12.080 schoolteacher in Gaza holding a hostage captive in an UNRWA school,
00:13:16.140 as well as teachers at UNRWA schools in Gaza,
00:13:18.860 praising the attacks on social media with ties between Hamas terrorists and the agency schools.
00:13:25.140 Is President Biden now willing to defund this terrorist UN organization, UNRWA?
00:13:29.980 And I have a follow-up.
00:13:30.700 So I would just say with respect to that first report, we saw that report.
00:13:33.380 We saw the information from UNRWA about it.
00:13:35.360 I would add that to our knowledge, that report has never been verified.
00:13:39.660 Certainly, if that were the case, we would expect accountability for the individual involved.
00:13:44.040 But I do want to speak about UNRWA specifically.
00:13:47.160 UNRWA is providing life-saving work for Palestinians right now under very difficult circumstances.
00:13:52.980 Can we just hit pause there?
00:13:54.740 We'll continue the second part.
00:13:55.900 But I got to get your reaction to that, Senator.
00:13:57.700 I mean, not only is the State Department now defending terrorists,
00:14:03.380 they're saying that the terrorists are doing great work.
00:14:06.860 Look, I got to say, I'm just annoyed at listening to that White House hat go UNRWA.
00:14:12.760 Like he pronounces it almost like he's singing like a love poem.
00:14:18.860 UNRWA.
00:14:19.600 They do life-saving work.
00:14:22.240 Look, look, the report that has just come out is that 10% of UNRWA's staff,
00:14:31.620 its Gaza staff, have ties to Hamas and Islamic militant groups.
00:14:38.080 10%.
00:14:38.720 So you've got the UN funding Hamas terrorists.
00:14:43.000 And mind you, these are people who participated in October 7th.
00:14:46.260 And you know where UNRWA gets their money?
00:14:47.860 From Joe Biden.
00:14:49.400 Donald Trump cut off the money for UNRWA.
00:14:51.600 By the way, I've advocated, cut UNRWA off. 0.94
00:14:54.360 They're a pit of anti-Semitism, anti-Americanism, anti-Israel hatred, terrorism.
00:15:02.020 What did Joe Biden do when he came back into office?
00:15:04.580 He said, all right, let's give money to the people who hate us.
00:15:07.820 And I will say Biden, in the face of this shocking report, was forced to temporarily pause funding for UNRWA.
00:15:18.060 Temporarily, by the way.
00:15:19.720 But listen, let's go back to December.
00:15:21.360 I want to finish this so that people can hear how much they were defending the terrorists and their great work that they were doing on the ground.
00:15:27.520 I'm going to back up about 10 seconds so you hear the context.
00:15:30.060 Listen.
00:15:30.220 To our knowledge, that report has never been verified.
00:15:33.260 Certainly, if that were the case, we would expect accountability for the individual involved.
00:15:37.800 But I do want to speak about UNRWA specifically.
00:15:40.860 UNRWA is providing life-saving work for Palestinians right now under very difficult circumstances.
00:15:46.680 We've seen, I think, it's more than 100 UNRWA staff killed during this conflict.
00:15:52.520 While they are out trying to get food and water and medicine to the Palestinian people, the work that they are doing is essential.
00:16:00.920 It is saving lives.
00:16:02.660 The United States continues to be the largest donor of humanitarian access to the Palestinian people.
00:16:09.360 We continue to support UNRWA for the work that it's doing.
00:16:12.200 And we'll continue to do it because they are, I will say, as I said a moment ago, actually, they're on the front lines.
00:16:20.000 UNRWA staff putting their lives at risk to get food, water, medicine to children, to babies, to civilians.
00:16:25.940 So we absolutely support the work that they're doing.
00:16:29.060 One of the things that the White House there said that was accurate is UNRWA's on the front lines.
00:16:34.540 Yes, you're right.
00:16:35.340 They're on the front lines with Hamas engaged in terrorism.
00:16:39.620 And it is stunning that the Biden administration was happy to fund them.
00:16:44.600 This was known for a long time, that they spread anti-Semitism, that they were vicious, that they hire Hamas sympathizers.
00:16:53.440 And yet this Biden White House is willing to give them money.
00:16:57.340 Right now, the report is so stunning, they paused it.
00:17:00.820 But let's be absolutely clear, this Biden White House wants to resume funding to UNRWA as soon as a little bit of time passes.
00:17:08.240 And they could say, oh, we got rid of a few bad apples, let's keep giving them money.
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00:18:45.660 Senator, one other question I want to ask you about this story that comes out.
00:18:50.240 I love how this administration refused to admit that this story on UNRWA was real because it was reported in the Jerusalem Post.
00:18:58.520 And they immediately discredit it for like, oh, well, we don't count that as being a publication that we'll listen to.
00:19:04.680 And you notice how he shot back so hard.
00:19:06.560 He's like, well, this hasn't been verified.
00:19:08.120 We now find out all these other countries are pulling out their funding from UNRWA as well because the information is so damning.
00:19:16.480 And it was damning in December.
00:19:18.220 They just refused to look at it in December.
00:19:21.000 No, that's exactly right.
00:19:22.800 When the United States halted funding, we saw countries throughout Europe do so as well.
00:19:29.080 Germany halted funding.
00:19:30.700 The United Kingdom halted funding.
00:19:32.300 Finland halted funding.
00:19:33.400 Australia halted funding.
00:19:34.980 Canada halted funding.
00:19:36.020 Italy halted funding.
00:19:37.680 The Netherlands and Switzerland halted funding.
00:19:40.440 So it was at that point unavoidable.
00:19:44.000 But listen, many of those countries, particularly the European countries, have long been willing to stand with the Palestinians against Israel.
00:19:52.180 And it says something that the Biden administration is not willing to lead.
00:19:57.440 And they will only stop giving money to people supporting terrorism when the pressure becomes unbearable.
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00:20:36.020 Senator, you and I have talked so much about what is happening in Israel.
00:20:41.160 And look, there's a lot of other issues that obviously are happening in the news.
00:20:44.740 Other things that are happening in this administration and policies in Iran.
00:20:49.620 But I do want to pause, and you and I talked about this, and go back.
00:20:53.100 Joining us now is a guest.
00:20:54.660 Yael Eckstein is the president and the CEO of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews,
00:21:00.200 who's doing amazing work on the ground, especially with those who were affected by the horrific attacks in Israel.
00:21:06.880 First of all, thank you for coming on.
00:21:08.880 We really appreciate it and the work you're doing.
00:21:11.280 You're in Israel right now.
00:21:13.060 Correct.
00:21:13.700 Thank you so much for having me.
00:21:14.900 What an honor.
00:21:16.380 Yeah, welcome.
00:21:17.300 We're very glad to have you on, Verdict.
00:21:19.240 And tell us, where in Israel are we talking to you?
00:21:22.560 So I'm in central northern Israel, where we've had a few rockets from Hamas come in.
00:21:29.560 I've been in the bomb shelter both with my children and also with different senators from America.
00:21:34.820 Governor Huckabee, I was in the bomb shelter with him in Tel Aviv.
00:21:38.020 And the biggest threat right now in northern Israel is actually Hezbollah, 0.99
00:21:42.380 which would make the war with Hamas feel like something small.
00:21:49.180 So here in northern Israel, we're very on edge that a huge, bigger war with Hezbollah would break out,
00:21:56.060 which would see around 150,000 rockets on tiny Israel.
00:22:00.900 Tell us, what is the spirit, what is the morale that people are feeling in Israel with,
00:22:07.320 obviously in the wake of October 7th and the horrors that unfolded then and now several months of active warfare?
00:22:14.600 How are people doing on the ground in Israel?
00:22:17.420 Israel is resilient.
00:22:18.680 Israel has always been resilient.
00:22:21.060 We've never lost sight that since 1948 we've been in a fight for our survival,
00:22:25.240 and there's no other country to go to.
00:22:28.380 There are 22 Arab states with a population of 440 million people living there,
00:22:33.960 and there's one Jewish state with a population around 7.5 million Jews.
00:22:38.680 So no one in Israel has lost sight of that.
00:22:40.720 And we are all unified and resilient and finding moments of hope and moments of peace and comfort as well,
00:22:49.120 that we're together and that God is with us and that we see how there are hundreds of millions of mostly Christian friends around the world who are standing with us as well.
00:22:58.500 I just saw an estimate that there's around 700 million Christians around the world who are praying for Israel.
00:23:04.680 So I think what's in a way most difficult for Israel right now and the people is to see how anti-Semitism is rising again,
00:23:14.060 to see how once again the world is questioning if the Jewish people should have a right to exist,
00:23:21.540 being okay with Israel and the Jewish people's annihilation. 0.92
00:23:24.600 So I want to start off by saying thank you to you in a world that is lacking such moral clarity.
00:23:31.660 You, since October 7th and before, have been providing such a moral compass to all of your listeners,
00:23:38.060 all of your followers, which especially they feel unique and sacred,
00:23:41.700 and what everyone here in Israel is just appreciative for.
00:23:46.480 Well, Yael, thank you.
00:23:47.860 I will tell you we are proud to stand with the people of Israel.
00:23:51.260 Well, October 7th made clear to the world, to anyone paying attention,
00:23:56.520 that this is a battle between civilization and barbarism.
00:24:00.760 And this is Israel standing against the face of evil.
00:24:04.700 And I'll tell you, Heidi and I, our family, we are praying for the people of Israel.
00:24:09.000 The people of America stand with you.
00:24:11.220 And as horrific as what happened on October 7th was,
00:24:16.480 I believe there are at least two good things that will come of this.
00:24:22.160 Number one, Israel's stated commitment to utterly eliminate Hamas.
00:24:28.580 If and when that happens, and I think we've made real and meaningful progress towards that,
00:24:32.960 that is a very, very good thing for Israel.
00:24:35.240 That is a very, very good thing for America. 0.96
00:24:37.860 Because Hamas hates Israel and hates America, and they want to murder us both.
00:24:41.660 And secondly, you referenced anti-Semitism.
00:24:46.260 I think one of the things October 7th did is it laid bare and exposed the vicious anti-Semitism we see globally,
00:24:54.900 but tragically, especially in U.S. universities.
00:24:58.600 And listen, I believe that anti-Semitism was there on October 6th.
00:25:02.380 I don't think that was newly created.
00:25:04.180 But what happened on October 7th exposed it.
00:25:08.180 And I think shining a sunlight on it is a key step to eliminating it.
00:25:13.800 And so know that despite the viciousness you're seeing,
00:25:19.240 that millions and millions of Americans and people across the world stand with the people of Israel.
00:25:24.360 It's incredible.
00:25:25.580 It's so inspiring.
00:25:26.920 I read the words of Isaiah 5, for example, and it says,
00:25:30.060 In the last of days, good will be called evil, and evil will be called good.
00:25:34.680 And I see how in the beginning of the war, on October 8th,
00:25:38.280 people were debating if Hamas beheaded babies or just peacefully burned them alive.
00:25:42.980 And then it took less than one minute to spread the lie that Israel bombed the hospital,
00:25:46.600 which ended up in the Hamas rocket.
00:25:48.540 But there is so much hatred towards the Jewish people.
00:25:52.880 There's so much anti-Semitism.
00:25:54.100 What I see, Senator Cruz, is exactly what you're saying, that this isn't 1938.
00:25:59.600 Today, it's a different reality, because we have the state of Israel,
00:26:03.240 which is able to protect the Jewish people.
00:26:05.300 And we have millions of Christians around the world who stand with us.
00:26:09.640 And that's exactly the message of the fellowship.
00:26:12.740 You know, we've all learned about the righteous Gentiles during the Holocaust. 0.99
00:26:16.700 We've learned about the Corrie ten Boons and Oscar Schindlers.
00:26:19.300 And there's even a forest in Jerusalem that's planted outside of Yad Vashem for the righteous Gentiles. 0.83
00:26:24.660 And what I see today is if we had to plant a tree for every righteous Gentile who's standing with Israel, 0.56
00:26:30.480 cover an entire continent with trees.
00:26:33.320 And so what I represent on the ground here in Israel is millions of Christians who are feeding the hungry,
00:26:38.700 clothing the naked, who are not political at all,
00:26:41.680 that are standing with the biblical words of the Bible.
00:26:45.040 Nachamu, nachamu ami, comfort you, comfort you, my people,
00:26:48.400 by bringing food to Holocaust survivors in their bomb shelters and providing bulletproof ambulances.
00:26:54.100 And that is the difference today between 2024 and 1938.
00:27:01.040 And it's significant.
00:27:02.760 Well, I want to ask you.
00:27:03.820 Amen.
00:27:05.040 Amen.
00:27:05.660 Absolutely.
00:27:06.100 I want to ask you and inform the verdict listeners,
00:27:09.200 because there's so many listeners of the show that ask Senator Cruz when he's traveling,
00:27:13.600 and myself, they ask the same question.
00:27:15.660 What can we do to get involved?
00:27:17.440 Talk a little bit about what the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews does.
00:27:21.940 The mission you mentioned, and this is something that I learned from you
00:27:25.560 when we got to sit down and break bread,
00:27:28.720 is that there are these, for example, the ambulances that they need,
00:27:32.240 not just ambulances, but bulletproof ambulances.
00:27:35.460 And these are some of the resources that you guys are helping
00:27:38.660 with those on the ground that desperately need these life-saving,
00:27:42.320 not just care, but also the meals and everything else.
00:27:44.880 Thank you so much.
00:27:45.880 So the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews
00:27:48.080 is the largest philanthropic organization in Israel,
00:27:51.020 and we represent the Christian community on the ground in the Holy Land.
00:27:55.660 We have three different areas that we focus on.
00:27:58.880 One is Aliyah, bringing Jews from at-risk countries home to Israel, 0.99
00:28:02.900 and the vision of the Bible.
00:28:04.360 And that's actually continued since October 7th.
00:28:06.640 Almost every day we've had people landing in Israel from Ukraine,
00:28:11.180 from the Arab world, different places where they're persecuted.
00:28:14.220 The second is focusing on poverty and welfare,
00:28:16.340 where we provide food and meals and all the basic needs
00:28:19.500 to people who are hungry and hurting.
00:28:23.040 And the third is security.
00:28:24.720 And so on October 7th, we were already prepared on the ground.
00:28:29.300 We already provided over 5,500 bomb shelters on the ground in Israel.
00:28:34.800 We already distributed bulletproof vests.
00:28:36.800 We already distributed bulletproof ambulances.
00:28:39.620 We already, in Barzilai Hospital, which got four direct rocket attacks,
00:28:43.780 we already protected their labor and delivery and NICU unit
00:28:46.980 that's completely fortified so that they were protected.
00:28:50.820 And so October 7th, we were already mobilized.
00:28:54.980 We already had the connections with all of the security officials,
00:28:59.100 with all of the welfare officials.
00:29:00.900 And what happened on October 7th was that suddenly the people
00:29:04.120 who are normally there to provide aid became the victims.
00:29:08.680 We had a head social worker in southern Israel who was kidnapped.
00:29:13.400 We were calling her to say, what do you need?
00:29:15.240 How can we help?
00:29:16.140 She was in Gaza.
00:29:17.600 She was kidnapped by the Hamas terrorists.
00:29:19.280 We had heads of cities who their children were murdered.
00:29:23.920 And so the fellowship moved in on October 7th to say,
00:29:26.800 until the local and national government is able to get together
00:29:30.920 to care for the citizens, we're here.
00:29:33.120 We're on the ground in Staroth as there were terrorists roaming,
00:29:36.500 going shelter to shelter, bringing food.
00:29:39.200 As the first responders were going down south to fight the terrorists,
00:29:42.800 the fellowship was there providing thousands of bulletproof helmets and flap jackets.
00:29:49.960 Because, simply put, Israel wasn't prepared for October 7th.
00:29:53.860 It took us by surprise.
00:29:55.400 And so the fact that the fellowship has been there on the ground providing security for over 15 years,
00:30:01.860 we were able to mobilize on October 7th, and we haven't stopped since.
00:30:05.760 What are the needs right now for specifically people in the U.S. that do want to get involved
00:30:11.360 and want to help, and how can they get involved and help?
00:30:14.280 Well, one of the biggest needs right now is actually for food and basic needs for those who are evacuated,
00:30:19.600 people who haven't had a business, people who haven't had jobs, many of them for over four months.
00:30:24.820 We have reserve soldiers who were called up four months ago who have barely come home,
00:30:29.320 who haven't been able to work.
00:30:30.560 And those families, many of them were poor before October 7th.
00:30:34.560 And so one of the biggest needs that we're seeing is really for the basics,
00:30:38.240 to bring food to the families whose husbands are in reserve duty who were poor before the war
00:30:43.760 and now are desperate, to the evacuees, to the Holocaust survivors.
00:30:48.300 I was in Skerot just a week and a half ago.
00:30:52.420 Skerot is a city on the border with Gaza that was evacuated right after October 7th,
00:30:58.280 almost four months ago.
00:30:59.140 And there are 500 elderly, over 80 years old, who they said,
00:31:03.400 we would rather stay here and die in our homes than live again as refugees. 1.00
00:31:08.000 Most of them are Holocaust survivors.
00:31:10.180 And so there's no grocery stores open.
00:31:12.500 There's no infrastructure there.
00:31:14.280 And so it's the fellowship who's there providing food to these elderly
00:31:17.880 in the evacuated, war-torn city of Skerot.
00:31:22.000 So right now it's the basics, which means we're not looking for millions of dollars.
00:31:26.940 We're not looking for huge donations.
00:31:29.100 $25 provides a food box to one of those elderly and sterile. 0.78
00:31:34.200 It's incredible the work that you guys are doing.
00:31:36.700 Where can people find out more, specifically online?
00:31:39.320 So online you can go to our website, www.iscj.org, and you can get all the information there.
00:31:47.860 And I'm very dedicated to showing on a day-to-day basis what the fellowship is doing.
00:31:53.040 So you can follow me, Yael Eckstein, on all social media platforms, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn,
00:31:58.900 and get day-to-day, real-time updates on how donations are saving lives.
00:32:04.060 Well, Yael, thank you so much for joining us, and thank you for all that you are doing.
00:32:08.360 And know that our prayers are with you.
00:32:10.020 Our prayers are with the people of Israel.
00:32:12.620 And truth will prevail.
00:32:14.840 Israel will stand against the face of evil.
00:32:18.780 And America stands.
00:32:20.840 Amen.
00:32:21.360 I can't tell you how comforting those words are and how much you've put truth to action.
00:32:25.680 So thank you, thank you, thank you.
00:32:28.240 There you go.
00:32:29.260 Don't forget, we do this show traditionally.
00:32:30.960 Monday, Wednesday, Fridays, and a weekend review on Saturdays this week.
00:32:34.280 So we will see you back here on Friday morning.
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00:32:56.340 And the center and I will see you back here on Friday.
00:32:59.540 This is an iHeart Podcast.
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