Iran’s Raisi WELCOMED at UN; Israeli General Calls For RENEWED U.S. Leadership | Watchman Newscast

Today on the newscast, Iran's president in New York City speaking at the U.N. should he have been blocked from entering the United States. Plus, a former Israeli general gives his take on the state of American leadership. That's next. Hey folks, Eric Stakelbeck here. Welcome to the Watchman newscast. He's known as the Butcher of Tehran and he is an avowed enemy of the United States, representing a regime recognized as the world's number one state sponsor of terrorism. I'm talking, of course, about Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. He is in New York City today, Tuesday, September 19th, speaking at the U.N. General Assembly. Now, as I come to you about 1 p.m. Eastern time, Raisi has not yet taken the stage at the U.N. But folks, we can give a pretty good guess as to what he's going to say. He's going to blast the United States, blame the U.S. for the tension between Iran and the United States dating back to 1979 and the advent of the Iranian Revolution. He will likely blast Israel as well. So we can have a pretty good idea based on past speeches from Raisi at the U.N. as to what he is going to say. We'll talk about that more tomorrow on the newscast. We'll give you a debrief on his comments. Again, I don't expect much new to come to Raisi. And by the time you watch this, you may have the transcript and you may have a better idea of what exactly he said. In the meantime, the issue we want to focus on today is whether Raisi should have been permitted to enter the United States in the first place. Now, that's coming up in a minute. Before we get into it, two quick programming notes. Number one, Route 60, the biblical highway, is still in theaters nationwide right now. You can pick up tickets at route60.movie. It's a great new TVN production starring former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman as your tour guides on an incredible journey through the Holy Land, hitting every important site along the biblical highway. Folks, I strongly recommend this brand new film. It is powerful, beautifully shot. Again, route60.movie. Check your local listings in theaters nationwide tonight, Tuesday, September 19th. And quick programming note, our Watchmen newscast live stream, we usually do them on Wednesday. This week, it will be on Thursday. Mark your calendars, Thursday, September 21st, right here on our channel. We'll be going from 4 to 5 p.m. Eastern Time live and we will take your questions, so be sure to send along some good ones. Okay, programming notes out of the way. Quick reminder, of course, as well, if you have not subscribed, give us a subscribe here in the channel and click the notification bell so you get alerts every time a new video is posted. We would greatly appreciate it. We did not appreciate the fact that Ibrahim Raisi, the Iranian president known with good reason, as the butcher of Tehran, was permitted to enter the United States and he is on U.S. soil as I speak to you. Raisi was here mainly to address, again, the U.N. General Assembly. And once we have that transcript, we will bring it to you tomorrow, exactly what he said. And number two, he also had some meetings, reportedly, including with the Council of Foreign Relations in New York City. Now, the Council of Foreign Relations was roundly condemned in many quarters for inviting Raisi to speak. A number of U.S. senators actually tried to block him from entering the United States in the first place, but no, no, no, Raisi was indeed permitted to enter and reportedly he will have a secret, a U.S. Secret Service detail watching his every move and ostensibly protecting him in his travels throughout New York City. Now, folks, wrap your heads around this. And the State Department, by the way, says, well, there's nothing we can do. It's a U.N. thing. We can't stop him. That's basically the M.O. He is looked at by many as a possible successor to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei. The two are very close. What a message it would have sent for the United States to deny entry to Raisi to this country where I'm standing right now. It would have been a bold move and laying down the gauntlet to the Iranian regime and saying a few things. Number one, we will no longer accept you, Iran, attacking U.S. soldiers in Syria and Iraq, at least 80 attacks since Joe Biden took office in January 2021. That's number one. Number two, we will no longer accept you seizing merchant vessels at sea. And that's why U.S. Marines, thousands recently deployed to the Middle East to deter Iran from doing just that. Number three, Iran, we will no longer allow you to plot assassinations of former and current U.S. officials on American soil, which the regime, as we've detailed for you here in the newscast, has done over the past year. Number four, we will not accept your illicit nuclear weapons program. And number five, we will not accept you slaughtering, imprisoning, and torturing your own people. And number six, instigating war against Israel, funding your proxies that surround the world's one and only Jewish state. We will not accept you exporting arms to rogue regimes throughout the world, in particular those so-called suicide drones that Iran is mass producing right now. That's seven points that the Biden administration could have rolled out off the top of my head. Again, they were not in order of importance, in no particular order, but nonetheless would have certainly sent a message to the Iranian regime. Folks, I want to know what you think. Should the United States have tried to block or denied Raisi's entry to the U.S., number one? And number two, does this show a failure of American leadership? Along those lines, I recently sat down with a former Israeli Brigadier General, Amir Avivi, who called on the United States to once again step up as leader of the free world. He says it is sorely needed, and he shared why during our interview. Take a look. You know this well, obviously, as a former general in the Israel Defense Forces, when it comes to military planning, intelligence, you know of what you speak, to say the least. When we talk about deterrence, the United States also sees enemies around the world growing emboldened, whether it's China, Iran, Russia. What can the U.S. learn from Israel when it comes to establishing and maintaining deterrence against its enemies? Let's first understand what's going on. There is a huge change in the last year. You know, we have seen the Russian-Ukrainian war. We have seen harsh sanctions imposed on Russia, and rightly so, and also on China and Iran. And the East is in a process of adapting to these sanctions. The East is getting closer and closer together, creating their own economical ecosystem in a way that makes the sanctions not really effective. And when they look at the West, and they see that the West is strong militarily, but with zero willingness to use power, they say, OK, if we can overcome sanctions and the West is not willing to fight, we can do whatever we want. And this is destabilizing the whole globe. We see the Chinese more emboldened in the Pacific with a possible attack, you know, on Taiwan. We see the Russians continuing their offensive in Ukraine. And we see Iran, which today is very much aligned with Russia. Russia has become very dependent on Iran capabilities. They are backing up the Iranians. You know, the director of the CIA already in December said there is a Russian-Iranian bloc emerging in the Middle East. And this is backed up by Chinese economy. And this is a danger not only to Israel and the region. It's a danger also to American interests, because America at this pace might lose the whole Middle East to Russia and China. You know, I talked about that in March when I came to Senate and Congress. I said the Middle East is changing very fast. We are not adapting at the right pace, you know. I came back to Israel, and two weeks later, Saudi Arabia renewed relations with Iran, with the Chinese brokering this deal, right? So, look, the U.S. is amassing forces in the Pacific, building bases in the Philippines, having forces in Europe. But really challenging directly the Chinese or the Russians, that's not smart, you know. This can bring a global war. But the Iranians, they are the weak link. So if you challenge Iran, if the U.S. steps forward, builds a coalition in the Middle East with Israel and the Sunni world, imposes a credible military threat on Iran, this will build up American leadership in the world and will deter both the Chinese and the Russians from further aggression in other areas. So it's good to be strong on Iran. This will also bring peace with Saudi Arabia. Not only with Saudi Arabia. The Saudis are willing to bring to this peace also Pakistan, Indonesia, Oman. This is a huge deal. It's a huge peace agreement. It's stabilizing the Middle East. It's enhancing oil production, getting a better economy. And what is the alternative? The alternative is Israel having to deal alone with the Iranian threat. We can do that, but there will be consequences. And the consequences will be a regional war that will destabilize the whole world economy. It will bring recession everywhere. It will get oil prices crazy. Every single American will be affected by that. This is not just about telling Israel, you know, guys, you do what you need to do. Deal with the Iranians. No, this is a global issue. And America needs to address it and needs to show leadership in the Middle East and get again this Sunni-Israeli alliance, an American alliance, and, you know, be able to enlarge this Abraham Accords. Thanks again to former Israeli General Amir Avivi for those great insights. Hey, speaking of Israel, before we go, Israel right now is in the midst of the high holidays, of course. Just celebrated Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur is coming up, and also Sukkot. This is a great time to support Meir Panim, an organization that we love and stand with here on The Watchman Newscast. They are feeding Israel's needy, including children, including Holocaust survivors. So important, especially during this time of year, the high holidays, for the people of Israel. You can check them out and lend your support at mpgive.org. That's mpgive.org. We strongly support what Meir Panim is doing, and hey, you are fulfilling the biblical mandate, Genesis 12.3, to bless the people of Israel when you support Meir Panim. Good stuff. Hey, thanks so much for joining us here today on The Watchman Newscast. Until next time, God bless you, and remember, never hold your peace. Hey, everyone, thanks for checking out The Watchman Newscast. 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