Skip to content 3/24/2025 The Latest on Israel, Federal Injunctions, and the JFK Files Mar 25 · 59 min ...more
3/24/2025 The Latest on Israel, Federal Injunctions, and the JFK Files
March 25, 2025 · 59 min
Reflections on Netanyahu's convening of a security meeting over Turkish involvement in Syria, reining in federal judges issuing national injunctions, and the JFK files and budget reconciliation.
Series Washington Watch with Tony Perkins - Video
Family Research Council is serving in the kingdom of God by championing faith, family, & freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview.
March 25, 2025 · 59 min · Washington Watch with Tony Perkins - Video
Reflections on Netanyahu's convening of a security meeting over Turkish involvement in Syria, reining in federal judges issuing national injunctions, and the JFK files and budget reconciliation. ...more Show the full description Show less Reflections on Netanyahu's convening of a security meeting over Turkish involvement in Syria, reining in federal judges issuing national injunctions, and the JFK files and budget reconciliation.
Series Washington Watch with Tony Perkins - Video Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Support this leader
Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Give
Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
In this video 0:00 US-Venezuela Relations and Deportations2:30 International Diplomacy and Middle East Tensions9:07 Domestic Policies and Judicial Challenges17:07 Israel's Security and Internal Politics29:36 Government Transparency and Reform
1:32 responsible. Now in this case, Marco Rubio has a lot of big decisions to make, and he's got the authority to get bad people out of our country. And you can't stop that with a judge sitting
1:44 behind a bench that has no idea what goes on, who happens to be a radical left.
1:48 Trump also announced this morning that he would be imposing a secondary tariff on Venezuela. This means that any country that purchases oil or gas from Venezuela will be subject to a
2:00 25 percent tariff on trade with the United States. The president says this is in retaliation for Venezuela purposefully sending criminals to the
2:12 US. Now this comes as a new poll out by Fox News shows that nearly 2 thirds of American voters support president Trump's policy of deporting illegal immigrants. And in
2:23 international news, US and Russian officials met in Saudi Arabia today to discuss a ceasefire in Ukraine. This comes a day after Trump officials met with Ukrainian officials to hear their demands.
International Diplomacy and Middle East Tensions
2:36 While the Ukrainians describe the talks as productive, a wide gap in interest between the 2 countries remains. Russia says a ceasefire is out of the question unless Ukraine agrees to
2:48 not resupply or reorganize its troops. It also said Ukraine must never be allowed to join NATO. Meanwhile, Ukrainian president, Vladimir Zelensky, has put the onus on Russian president,
2:59 Vladimir Putin, to end the war because he started it. At a cabinet meeting this morning, secretary of state Marco Rubio said that the only way to end the war is through negotiation.
3:12 This is a war that's gone on for 3 years as you pointed out. That is you've rightly pointed out would have never had you been president, but now it's here. And it needs to be brought to an end. There is no military
3:21 solution to this war. It has to end through negotiation. And there's only 1 leader in the world that's capable of bringing 2 sides to a table, and that's our president, the president of the United States, president
3:31 Trump. And that's what he's done. And so today, even as we speak, we have teams on the ground in Saudi Arabia meeting with the respective sides in the hopes of making progress towards this outcome that we all want
3:43 to see. Ultimately, I think that the only chance we have for peace is through the president's leadership and you've shown that and we hope it'll bear fruit and today it'll hopefully be 1 step more in that direction.
3:52 And finally, in a win for the Trump administration, Maine's universities have agreed to keep transgender identifying men out of women's sports. 8 public universities in the state of
4:04 Maine had lost federal funding from the US Department of Agriculture after it violated President Trump's executive order protecting women's sports. Department said the university system is now
4:16 in compliance with Trump's order and has reinstated funds. USDA said that it has given over a hundred million to those universities in the last several years. Now this victory comes as
4:27 Maine's Department of Education has yet to comply with Trump's executive order. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights has threatened to refer the state to the Department of Justice for its
4:39 violations. And those are today's headlines. Up next is Washington Watch with Tony Perkins. We'll see you tomorrow. From
4:52 the heart of our nation's capital in Washington DC, bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and sound bites into conversations with our nation's leaders and newsmakers,
5:04 all from a biblical worldview. Washington Watch with Tony Perkins starts now.
5:11 Israel will continue to act with increasing military strength. Our ground forces are operating throughout the strip to eliminate terrorists and terror infrastructure to expand the security zone and create a
5:23 partial buffer between the north and the south of the strip. Decisively, Israel is destroying Hamas's capabilities and protecting our people.
5:33 That was David Minster, spokesman for the National Public Diplomacy Directorate in Israel earlier today discussing Israel's intensified military action in Gaza. Welcome to Washington Watch. Thanks for
5:45 tuning in and joining us on this Monday. We'll take a closer look at what's unfolding in Israel with Carolyn Glick, senior adviser to prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. We'll also explore developments
5:57 across the Middle East, including Turkey's role with the new Syrian government and how that might affect both Israel and the United States. Meanwhile, the house and senate are back in session this week, which means
6:08 reconciliation is once again front and center for president Trump's agenda. We'll talk about it with James Comer, chairman of the government oversight and accountability committee. Next, what do the
6:20 newly released JFK files reveal about the federal government?
6:25 President Trump also promised maximum transparency and a commitment to rebuild the trust of the American people in our intelligence community. Part of that promise was to fully release previously classified
6:36 records related to the assassination of former president John f Kennedy, and he made that happen yesterday.
6:43 I was White House press secretary Carolyn Levitt last week. We're gonna discuss the significance of these and other previously classified documents that are
6:55 being released. And finally, the left continues to lean on the courts.
7:00 Democracy is at risk. Look. Donald Trump is a lawless angry man. He thinks he should be king. He thinks he should do whatever he wants regardless of the
7:12 law, and he thinks judges should just listen to him. Now we have to fight that back in every single way.
7:20 That was, angry senate minority leader Chuck Schumer on Meet the Press yesterday. The house could actually take up a bill this week by congressman Darrell Issa that prevents federal district court judges
7:33 from issuing sweeping nationwide injunctions, which are designed to derail president Trump's policy agenda. We're gonna talk about that with the vice president of policy and government affairs here at the Family
7:45 Research Council, Travis Weber, later here on Washington Watch. Alright. Sec session 6 of our God in Government course is being released today. FRC's God in Government course, which I teach,
7:56 combines biblical principles with historical insights to offer a practical approach to governance. In this new episode, we examine the legislative and judicial branches and
8:08 the remarkable power of the jury. Yes. The jury, very powerful force in our system. You can find it exclusively on the Stand Firm app by texting app to 6 7 7 4 2 if you don't
8:20 have the app already, or go to the App Store and download the Stand Firm app. Again, that number 6 7 7 4 2. Text the word app. Alright. The war for Israel's freedom from
8:32 terror continues as the campaign against these Iranian backed terrorists resumes. Israel announced that it successfully eliminated another member of Hamas' political bureau, but are new threats
8:44 rising in Syria as Turkey is reportedly increasing its presence in that new government? Here to discuss this and more is Carolyn Glick, the international affairs adviser to the prime minister of Israel.
8:55 She previously was a senior contributing editor of Jewish News Syndicate and the host of the Carolyn Glick Show on JNS TV. Carolyn, welcome back to Washington Watch, and, congratulations on your new
9:07 role.
Domestic Policies and Judicial Challenges
9:09 Well, thanks very much. It's always wonderful to, be on your program, Tony, and now with my new hat.
9:14 Yes. You wear many hats. This is a this is a very timely hat for you to be wearing. I, I I I'm glad that the prime minister allows you to come back on the program because you're such a wealth of knowledge of what is
9:25 happening in Israel and in the Middle East. Let's start with this strike. On Monday, the IDF announced that it eliminated, Ishmael, Barham, I think is how you pronounce his name, the head of Hamas's
9:38 finances and institutions. What's significant about this latest elimination of the leadership of Hamas?
9:46 Well, it's very important that we be, destroying Hamas' leadership so that they're not able to reconstitute themselves. And, so we were able to eliminate most of their field commanders,
9:58 during the first leg of this war before we went into the latest ceasefire that just collapsed, in in a bid to receive our hostages home. And now that
10:10 we're renewing our operations, the goal as prime minister Netanyahu, has set out, is to annihilate Hamas and restore, and return the rest of the 59
10:22 hostages that are still being held in captivity, 24 of them alive, in Gaza. So, those are the 2 goals, that we're seeking in this, and part of the achievement of both of them is to
10:33 eliminate the Hamas leadership.
10:35 Now we heard, a clip earlier, from, David Minster who talked about latest operations there in Gaza. There is a a a kind of a separation dividing of north and south of the
10:47 Gaza Strip. Is there not?
10:50 Yes. There is. We, we had already established what we call the Netzarim corridor that barfered that bifurcates Gaza from north to south in order to control the flow of population
11:02 to prevent, the, reassertion of Hamas control over different parts of Gaza and particularly northern Gaza where it sits, close to many of the communities that
11:14 were overrun on October seventh 23. So it's very important that they not reassert their command structure there, in particular. But more generally, it's, easier we find, to control the
11:25 security situation when we have control of the, transit from north to south in Gaza, and we've reasserted our control over that corridor, in the renewed operation.
11:36 Now at the same
11:37 left during the hostage ceasefire.
11:42 What have you found? Were they able to to regroup and refortify during that break, during the ceasefire?
11:51 Well, they certainly weren't resting easy. I mean, you know, Hamas exists in order to attack Israel, in order to destroy Israel. That's that's what they do. That's who they are. That's what they live for, and that's what
12:02 they seek to die for. And so it's not surprising that every respite that they get and even when they don't have a respite from fighting, all they're doing is rebuilding their forces, which is why this,
12:14 the the goal of the war of annihilating Hamas as a military and political entity in in, in Gaza is so essential for Israel's national security. And so, yes, obviously, they used
12:26 the time. We knew they would, but we took a calculated risk because, we wanted to secure the release of our hostages, and we did secure the release of a significant number of them, over
12:38 the period of the ceasefire as long as it lasted, and it ended when Hamas, refused to continue releasing hostages.
12:45 Now Egypt is attempting to, mediate yet another round of ceasefires between Hamas and Israel. Do you think that another cease fire is possible?
12:57 Again, you know, I think the prime minister laid out very clearly what the goal is, which is, in terms of cease fire, no cease fire. We want the we want the hostages home. And so far and we wanna maintain our ability to
13:09 destroy Hamas. So we're not going to, accept a ceasefire that doesn't, bring home hostages in a significant way, and that does and that undermines our ability to achieve our war
13:21 goal of destroying Hamas. So, to the every cease fire offer, prevent presented by all sides is weighed against those 2 calculations.
13:31 Well, speaking of the hostages being held by Hamas, Hamas has recently released more footage of Israeli hostages being held. What's the what do you believe the purpose behind
13:43 that is on for for Hamas to be releasing that at this time?
13:50 It's to undermine the, it's to undermine our grand operation and our and our military offensive in Gaza because it's all psychological warfare. So it's also sorry, psychological warfare.
14:02 It's all about trying to frighten the Israeli public, trying to undermine public support for the war, by by presenting the war
14:14 as some sort of a choice that, there could be an outcome other than, disaster if Israel stopped or ended its goal of annihilating Hamas. Because everything that
14:26 Hamas does, including the use of hostages is a form of, psychological warfare, which is what they are, against the Israeli people, is done in order to achieve to advance
14:38 their goal of annihilating the Israeli people, the Jewish people. And so you have to see everything that they do inside of that context. They do nothing that doesn't that that they don't believe,
14:51 advances that goal. They'll do nothing that undermines that goal because that's the only reason they exist is to achieve that goal.
14:57 And that's the definition of terrorism. That that that is what they they do. I I know you work very closely with the prime minister in in his cabinet now or in his in his with his staff. This
15:08 has to weigh pretty heavily on him because Israel is such a small country. I've been there just 3 times since the the October seventh attack. But it is his goal to bring back these hostages, but at the
15:20 same time, he has to keep the rest of the nation safe. I mean, this is a heavy, heavy burden for 1 man to carry.
15:28 The prime minister, I I really think that he's a historic figure. I think, it's not simply that he's Chilean. I mean, I think that they're gonna coin a new phrase of, you know, Netanyahu or something like that. You know?
15:40 I mean, he he he he defines moral courage. I I I don't know that there's a better way of putting it, and I and I and I I I at the risk of sounding like a sycophant, I mean, it it really is
15:51 astounding, and it's a privilege to work, at his side, as he leads Israel in this war because I I really don't know, what anybody else would do, but he has
16:03 been heroic in his leadership of the war. And, you know, it's there's so many different pressures on him, on anybody who would be in that that position coming from, you know, a thousand 500
16:15 different angles. And, to be able to withstand them and to just barrel forward and maintain total allegiance to the war goals and to advance them. And sometimes you put
16:27 1 in in abeyance in order to advance the other. Sometimes you put the other in abeyance in order to advance the former, but always always moving forward and advancing both of them. And it's a miracle that
16:39 we came this far because, of course, the idea of taking 251 hostages is that Israel will not be able to destroy Hamas because it will be too concerned about the release of the hostages. Well,
16:50 here, you know, as we annihilate Hamas, we have already brought about the return of a hundred and 94 hostages. So it's true we have 59 that we still have to get out, but nobody thought that we'd come
17:02 this far, and we have. And I'd say that it's a testament to his moral courage and to his wisdom that we've been able to do that. I don't think I'd have been able to do it, put it that way.
Israel's Security and Internal Politics
17:12 It it has been quite, amazing to watch the, the way he has led through this. As you mentioned, many different angles, of attacks, both internally and extra, and we're gonna talk in a little bit about
17:24 the internal. But externally, over the weekend, the Houthis in Yemen fired another missile into Israeli airspace. You've got increased activity in Judea and Samaria,
17:36 but then also watching what's happening in Syria. Are you concerned about Turkey's involvement in this new government in Syria?
17:45 Yes. We're very concerned. I mean, we're concerned about this this new government. We're we're concerned because, you know, the leader of the new government is, is an ISIS terrorist. And so some people think he's
17:56 reformed, some people think he didn't reform, but, he's the 1 who has the burden of proof. And so far, you know, he hasn't, he hasn't, worn that burden particularly well, in terms of
18:08 proving his view. Israel, you know, if if there's some interest in Turkey in in Turkey or in in Syria and making peace with Israel, fine. You know, we're very happy to do so, but, you know, we're
18:20 not going to, in any way, endanger northern Israel. And that's why Israel seized the, top of the Hermon mountain range and, destroyed the Syrian armaments, the the of the Syrian
18:32 military after Assad was was, overthrown. So, you know, we're trust but verify
18:39 Right.
18:39 But or distrust and verify, but all it is is Israel's just defending ourselves. We're defending the Druze in southwest Syria
18:46 Caroline anybody else
18:47 We got we got we get to break. We'll come back and finish that conversation. Stick with us, folks.
18:52 At Family Research Council, we believe religious freedom is a fundamental human right that all governments must protect. That's why FRC president Tony Perkins went to Capitol Hill to
19:04 testify on behalf of persecuted Christians in Nigeria. Islamist terror groups target Christians and other religious minorities in Nigeria with brutal violence. Representative
19:16 Chris Smith, who chaired the hearing, said 55000 people have been killed and 21000 abducted in the last 5 years alone. The congressman also stressed that
19:28 89 percent of Christians in the world who are martyred are from Nigeria.
19:33 Yet the government of Nigeria has failed to make progress against religiously motivated persecution of Christians despite religious freedom being enshrined as an essential human right in their constitution.
19:44 Tony Perkins called for the United States to send an unmistakable message.
19:49 This is systematic religious violence. Nigeria must be redesignated a country of particular concern. Biden administration's removal of this designation was a reckless mistake that
20:01 emboldened the very terrorists who are slaughtering Christians. Redesignating Nigeria
20:03 will enable the US government to pressure
20:05 designating Nigeria will enable the US government to pressure Nigerian leaders to protect vulnerable Christians.
20:13 These are not just numbers. These are fathers, their mothers, their children, their families.
20:19 Bishop Wilfred Anagabe risked his life to speak out, sharing firsthand accounts of the danger faced in his church district in central Nigeria.
20:29 We live in fear because at any point, it can be our turn to be killed, but to remain silent is to die twice. So I have chosen to speak.
20:39 FRC is calling on president Trump to act now to promote religious freedom around the globe and speak up on behalf of Christians in Nigeria.
20:53 Download the new Stand Firm app for Apple and Android phones today and join a wonderful community of of fellow believers. We've created a special place for you to access news from a biblical perspective,
21:05 read and listen to daily devotionals, pray for current events, and more. Share the Stand Firm app with your friends, family, and church members, and stand firm everywhere you go.
21:21 Looking for a trusted source of news that shares your Christian values? Turn to the Washington stand, your ultimate destination for informed faith centered reporting. Our dedicated team goes beyond the headlines,
21:33 delivering stories that matter most to believers. From breaking events to cultural insights, we provide clear, compassionate coverage through a biblical lens. Discover news you can trust at the Washington stand,
21:45 where faith and facts meet every day.
21:54 Welcome back to Washington. Why thanks for joining us on this Monday. Still to come, congressman James Comer will join us to talk about the recently released JFK files. We'll discuss what's still in the pipeline of
22:06 secrets. For now, we're gonna continue our conversation about Israel and the Middle East with Carolyn Glick, the international affairs adviser to prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu. Carolyn, thanks for, staying
22:17 with us to continue this conversation. I I wanna make sure we wrap up here with the concern about, what's happening in Syria with Turkey. I know that, reportedly, the prime minister,
22:30 convened a security meeting on Turkey's involvement in Syria. I mean, this is just another layer of the threats toward Israel. I mean, this is a pretty pretty significant time
22:42 in Israel's history.
22:45 It is a significant time in our Israel's history. Look. You know, we have, we have a threat environment that would made it make anybody's skin fall. I mean, it's it's dizzying.
22:57 How many different fronts, we're dealing with are active and new ones that are arising, not even over the horizon. We see it very clearly. And, so
23:09 we're, you know, trying we have to win this war, and, and that's what the prime minister is, geared towards doing, and at the same time, get organized to handle looming issues that
23:21 are on our plate. But, you know, Syria, I I think it's important because, you know, what we see now is this new sort of, Sunni Jihadist regime appears to have arisen in
23:32 Damascus. And people say, well, you know, maybe we were better off with Bashar. And I think it's important to realize that Bashar Assad was an Iranian proxy who committed genocide, an actual genocide against the Sunnis
23:44 of this country, caused, refugee, flows, and crises throughout Europe and beyond. And, he is a monster. The fact that, you know, that
23:56 that it took a while, apparently, for Putin to agree to take him in, it's, I think, very telling. But, he he destabilized the region. He, served as a proxy
24:08 in Iran's operations against US forces in Iraq for years. And anybody who who thinks that, oh, well, he should have been protected does doesn't realize the situation. Iran is an
24:19 existential threat, not only to Israel, but to all of the countries of the region that, you know, if if they go if they're able to achieve nuclear capabilities, it'll be an absolute disaster, of of biblical
24:31 proportions. And so that has to be dealt with. And Syria was a linchpin of Iran's empire, that stretches from Tehran to the red to the Red
24:43 Sea with the Houthis and, the Mediterranean Sea with Hezbollah and Hamas in Gaza, and, and Assad in Syria. So taking him out was a
24:55 major blow to the Iranians and, to Hezbollah. And, it's very important, and we should all be thankful that he's gone. And what we what we have now, we'll have to deal with it now. Nobody thought that it was gonna
25:07 be easy with Syria.
25:08 Yeah. I I I agree, and I think the United States stands with you in the assessment of Iran. Mike Waltz, national security adviser yesterday, making comments very similar to that, on 1 of the weekend shows. I I wanna turn
25:20 we just have a few minutes left. I wanna turn to domestic issues. The Israeli cabinet passed a no confidence motion on Sunday against the country's attorney general to begin the process of dismissing
25:31 her. Now critics of the prime minister called the move, part of his effort to curb the independence of the judiciary and purge officials he considers disloyal. But explain the
25:43 situation with the attorney general. I mean, she's accountable essentially to no 1 but the court who is opposed to the prime minister.
25:51 So in in in the US constitution, you have, something called separate but equal branches of government. And, that's sort of the the the guidepost for everybody who's trying to assess,
26:03 balances of power between the 3 coequal separate branches of government of the United States, the executive, the legislative, and the judicial. In Israel, we don't
26:15 have the kind of clear cut separation and certainly not an assertion of equality between the different, branches of government. There had been equality, but because there
26:27 had had not been a clear, distinction or a clear designation of each of them as separate and equal, we found that, over time, the judicial branch has taken on more and more
26:39 powers from the executive and the legislative branches of government. And, there's an effort to on the part of the government to kind of even things out and and restore the
26:51 balance, from where it stands today. And that's gotten a lot of people with a lot of vested interest in the situation as it stands feeling very threatened. And, we're seeing that in the actions of the
27:02 of the attorney general and in other, actions by other appointed officials, that, that, are are empowered by the way that things are
27:14 today. So I think that what we're seeing here is, a bit of a power struggle inside of Israel, that makes things unpleasant and uncertain, domestically. But,
27:27 I think at the end of the day, the people's will out and, you have elections. The people determine who they want to lead the country. They made a decision. It was very clear. The polls today,
27:39 while they're in some cases, they're all over the map, the the public's position on prime minister Netanyahu and data's coalition is very clear. They want, the government to continue,
27:51 to, to be operative and to be functioning. And so we'll have to see how things will play out on this particular issue, but I I think over over the over over the
28:03 horizon on this case, things will kinda settle down.
28:06 Is part of the concern that from the left, from those that have that power in the judiciary, that when this war is over, that the prime minister will return to a focus of
28:18 judicial reform, which was where the nation was at prior to October seventh?
28:23 Well, I think the problem is is that the way that they've been behaving requires us to do it at the same time as we conduct the war. And that's that's the day that's the problem that we thought that, things could be held
28:35 in abeyance, but what we see is that the challenges to the authority of the government, as you said, the attorney general, is saying that the government doesn't have the authority to fire her or to fire the head of the
28:45 domestic, intelligence, agency, the Shin Bet, and that's manifestly untrue. So it's it's the kind of thing that you you you were not supposed to be here, but, unfortunately,
28:58 this is where we find ourselves. And so we have to roll with the punches and just deal with it.
29:02 We we don't have time to unpack this. We only have about 40 seconds left. But is this not a representation of the deep state in Israel?
29:11 It's very similar to what you're seeing in the United States. Yeah. And it's and it's the same sort of people with the same kind of, views of, their place in the universe and in the power structure of their countries
29:22 that are acting, acting, in both cases. Yes. It's it's almost identical, but, obviously, with, necessary, changes just because it's a different system and a different country, but very, very similar. Yes.
29:33 Caroline, I wanna thank you for joining us. And, please know that I know that many of our viewers and listeners, myself included, are praying for you, praying for the prime minister, and for all of Israel.Show more
Comments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
Tony Perkins94K followers
Comments
Keep it kind. Comments are public.