Secure Freedom Minute

Onwards Christian - and Jewish - Soldiers!
It is indisputably history’s greatest crime against humanity that some 380 million Christians around the world are being
heavily persecuted. 
Events of the past few months offer hope that leaders of the civilized world are, at last, going to defend those persecuted simply for following Jesus Christ. Notably, President Trump warned jihadists in Nigeria, including its government, to stop such attacks or face U.S. military action – which he unleashed shortly before Christmas. Some Syrian jihadis butchering Christians and other minorities also faced American military retribution. 
And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently declared that, “We are joining an effort to have basically a united nations of countries that support Christian communities around the world. This is…a main part of our agenda and it’s going to continue with greater force and greater might in this coming year.”
Onwards Christian – and Jewish – soldiers!
This is Frank Gaffney.

“Happy New Year” is a wish, but not by any means a prediction. Whether it will prove to be a healthy, productive and prosperous one for Americans will depend in part on circumstances beyond our control, both domestically and externally. 
Here are a few ways in which we can improve the prospects for the twelve months ahead: 
Get right with God. With His Grace, all things are possible.
Prize this amazing country as we celebrate its first two-hundred-and-fifty years. We must devote ourselves to protecting and practicing our constitutional freedoms so that they can be enjoyed as well by future generations.
Recognize that there are those, both here at home and globally, whose aspirations for this year conflict with ours. Their hostile ideologies drive quests for power, control and dominance over us that must be deterred and, where necessary, resisted. 
This is Frank Gaffney.

After meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday, President Trump warned the Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestinian terrorist franchise Hamas that it must live up to its agreement to disarm. Then he added that, if that didn’t happen, there were numerous nations who would be willing to use force to “wipe Hamas out.” 
Unfortunately, Hamas spokesmen have repeatedly insisted that the jihadists never committed to lay down their arms. And it’s unclear whether even a single country – other than Israel – is prepared to engage in the kind of costly combat required to  disarm the terrorists, let alone eliminate their organization.
The likely sources for claims to the contrary are two unreliable so-called U.S. “allies”: Hamas’ enablers, Qatar and Turkey.
If Hamas is actually to be “wiped out” – as it must be – only Israel has the will and the capability to accomplish it. Make it so.
This is Frank Gaffney.

When President Trump meets Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu today, their conversation should reflect a fundamental transformation over the past year. Israel has emerged from a status some have described as a U.S. “protectorate” to an exemplar – and regional pillar – of the Trump Doctrine.
It expects American allies to bear the principal burden of their own security, and – with U.S. material support – that of their neighborhoods, as well. 
None does that more effectively than Israel.
She has laid low her enemies and ours and is greatly enhancing our mutual interests in the eastern Mediterranean and Red Sea.
Let’s pray that the partnership thus forged between Messrs. Trump and Netanyahu will be further strengthened today and that, pursuant to the Trump Doctrine, this powerful bilateral alliance – not misbegotten deals with actual foes – will be the centerpiece of U.S. Mideast policy going forward.
This is Frank Gaffney.

In recent days, President Trump has unleashed American military power against jihadists in Syria and Nigeria. Such actions are clearly necessary in light of their intensifying attacks in both countries and demonstrate his commitment that “our country will not allow Radical Islamic Terrorism to prosper.”
Fulfilling that warranted pledge, however, will require more than symptomatic treatment, important as it is. Prior to his first election to the presidency, Mr. Trump recognized and decried the ideology that animates such jihadism. 
And on December 20th, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard underscored the point, declaring that “the greatest near- and long-term threat to both our freedom and our security is…Islamist ideology.” 
Fortunately, the President can help counter this toxic ideology systemically by banning the organization that is its preeminent champion and enabler: the Muslim Brotherhood. 
Urge him to do so at BantheBrotherhood.org. 
This is Frank Gaffney.

On this holy day, Christians everywhere are celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior, a Jewish baby named Jesus, and the civilization those two faiths have bequeathed to the world. As we pray for peace in the year ahead, we must seek God’s grace in countering those who threaten that peace. 
For example, in countries like Nigeria, Syria, Communist China, Iran and North Korea, Christians are being subjected to brutal persecution. 
And in each, the persecutors and their respective regimes seek to replace our Western civilization with one kind of totalitarian global order or another.
If we are to continue to enjoy, among others, the freedom of religion guaranteed by our nation’s Christian founders strongly influenced by the Judaic traditions Jesus honored, we must pray for His help in protecting America and Western civilization from those determined to destroy them. 
This is Frank Gaffney.