{"id":2454,"date":"2012-03-02T12:11:14","date_gmt":"2012-03-02T17:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/faithandjustice\/?p=2454"},"modified":"2012-03-02T12:13:36","modified_gmt":"2012-03-02T17:13:36","slug":"jay-sekulow-obama-must-stand-with-israel-against-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/2012\/03\/jay-sekulow-obama-must-stand-with-israel-against-iran.html","title":{"rendered":"Jay Sekulow: Obama Must Stand With Israel Against Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>We have seen firsthand that Iran rejects human rights, rejects international law. Christian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani faces death because of his religious beliefs. Following a unanimous vote in the U.S. House\u00a0condemning Iran<\/a> and calling for his immediate release, our efforts are expanding to secure the release of Pastor Youcef, whether it is through our Tweet for Youcef<\/a> campaign, or our work with officials in this country and abroad.<\/p>\n

As Iran continues to flex its political and military muscle on the international scene<\/a>, Iran and its fast-track development of nuclear weapons will be topic number one when Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Obama meet at the White House on Monday.<\/p>\n

Iran is a serious problem. It continues to threaten Israel and continues to promise that it will destroy Israel and the Jewish people. Netanyahu understands what’s at stake and knows that Iran’s nuclear program poses a significant danger to both Israel and the U.S.<\/p>\n

“Iran has been exposed for being the most irresponsible power on earth today. The one that exports terror with abandon is murdering people and breaking all the rules,” Netanyahu told reporters <\/a>recently during a one-day visit to Cyprus. “For such a regime to have nuclear weapons is something of enormous concern for the United States and for Israel,” he said.<\/p>\n

And Israel wants Obama to step-up<\/a>\u00a0and tell Iran that the U.S. is prepared to stand with Israel – to take military action if necessary to keep Iran from advancing this lethal program.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Israel wants clarity from Obama, too. There are reports that Netanyahu will strongly argue<\/a> not only for Obama’s acceptance of whatever action Israel decides to take against Iran, but for stronger language against Iran that goes beyond the “all options are on the table” mantra that’s been the mainstay of U.S. intentions to this point.<\/p>\n

Now, with that critical face-to-face meeting just days away, the White House is mobilizing. Top Obama Administration officials, including Secretary of State Clinton, have gone on the offensive<\/a> – trying to blunt criticism by defending Obama’s Middle East policy and its relationship with Israel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With the Netanyahu meeting ahead, the president appears to be ratcheting up the language against Iran and his support for Israel. Obama told The Atlantic magazine<\/a> that Iran and Israel both understand that “a military component” is among a mix of many options for dealing with Iran, along with sanctions and diplomacy.<\/p>\n

“I think that the Israeli government recognizes that, as president of the United States, I don’t bluff,” Obama said in the interview. “I also don’t, as a matter of sound policy, go around advertising exactly what our intentions are. But (both) governments recognize that when the United States says it is unacceptable for Iran to have a nuclear weapon, we mean what we say.”<\/p>\n

Many are predicting<\/a> the Obama\/Netanyahu meeting on Monday will be tense. It doesn’t have to be. President Obama should recognize this upcoming meeting with Netanyahu as an opportunity, not just an obligation.<\/p>\n

Mr. President, it’s time to back up your words with actions. Israel is our most important ally. Iran is not backing down. Its goal is clear: develop nuclear weapons and destroy Israel. Israel wants our help. Israel needs our help. And time is running out.<\/p>\n

Jay Sekulow<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We have seen firsthand that Iran rejects human rights, rejects international law. Christian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani faces death because of his religious beliefs. Following a unanimous vote in the U.S. House\u00a0condemning Iran and calling for his immediate release, our efforts are expanding to secure the release of Pastor Youcef, whether it is through our Tweet…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":401,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[171,59],"tags":[62,783,782,759,383,399,768],"class_list":["post-2454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-iran","category-israel","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-christian-persecution","tag-iran","tag-israel","tag-nuclear-weapons","tag-pastor-youcef-nadarkhani","tag-president-obama"],"yoast_head":"\nJay Sekulow: Obama Must Stand With Israel Against Iran - Faith & Justice<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/2012\/03\/jay-sekulow-obama-must-stand-with-israel-against-iran.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jay Sekulow: Obama Must Stand With Israel Against Iran - Faith & Justice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We have seen firsthand that Iran rejects human rights, rejects international law. Christian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani faces death because of his religious beliefs. Following a unanimous vote in the U.S. House\u00a0condemning Iran and calling for his immediate release, our efforts are expanding to secure the release of Pastor Youcef, whether it is through our Tweet…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/2012\/03\/jay-sekulow-obama-must-stand-with-israel-against-iran.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Faith & Justice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-03-02T17:11:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-03-02T17:13:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/faithandjustice\/files\/2012\/01\/95000038-300x201.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jay Sekulow\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Jay Sekulow: Obama Must Stand With Israel Against Iran - Faith & Justice","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/2012\/03\/jay-sekulow-obama-must-stand-with-israel-against-iran.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Jay Sekulow: Obama Must Stand With Israel Against Iran - Faith & Justice","og_description":"We have seen firsthand that Iran rejects human rights, rejects international law. Christian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani faces death because of his religious beliefs. Following a unanimous vote in the U.S. House\u00a0condemning Iran and calling for his immediate release, our efforts are expanding to secure the release of Pastor Youcef, whether it is through our Tweet…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/2012\/03\/jay-sekulow-obama-must-stand-with-israel-against-iran.html","og_site_name":"Faith & Justice","article_published_time":"2012-03-02T17:11:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-03-02T17:13:36+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/faithandjustice\/files\/2012\/01\/95000038-300x201.jpg"}],"author":"Jay Sekulow","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/2012\/03\/jay-sekulow-obama-must-stand-with-israel-against-iran.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/2012\/03\/jay-sekulow-obama-must-stand-with-israel-against-iran.html","name":"Jay Sekulow: Obama Must Stand With Israel Against Iran - Faith & Justice","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/2012\/03\/jay-sekulow-obama-must-stand-with-israel-against-iran.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/2012\/03\/jay-sekulow-obama-must-stand-with-israel-against-iran.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/faithandjustice\/files\/2012\/01\/95000038-300x201.jpg","datePublished":"2012-03-02T17:11:14+00:00","dateModified":"2012-03-02T17:13:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/#\/schema\/person\/fd4c384af0620d4b82ae09cf1d77bdb4"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/2012\/03\/jay-sekulow-obama-must-stand-with-israel-against-iran.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/2012\/03\/jay-sekulow-obama-must-stand-with-israel-against-iran.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/2012\/03\/jay-sekulow-obama-must-stand-with-israel-against-iran.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/faithandjustice\/files\/2012\/01\/95000038-300x201.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/faithandjustice\/files\/2012\/01\/95000038-300x201.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/2012\/03\/jay-sekulow-obama-must-stand-with-israel-against-iran.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Jay Sekulow: Obama Must Stand With Israel Against Iran"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/","name":"Faith & Justice","description":"Jay Sekulow - ACLJ","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/#\/schema\/person\/fd4c384af0620d4b82ae09cf1d77bdb4","name":"Jay Sekulow","description":"Jay Sekulow is Chief Counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), a law firm and educational organization that focuses on constitutional law. He is also Chief Counsel of the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ). Jay Sekulow is one of the leading defenders of constitutional rights and religious liberties in the United States. Over the past 25 years, Jay Sekulow has amassed an unparalleled record of accomplishment, arguing before the U.S. Supreme Court on 12 occasions. His aggressive litigation strategy before the Supreme Court has led to many landmark First Amendment victories. In his first case before the Supreme Court, Jews for Jesus, Jay Sekulow secured the right of religious groups to pass out tracks in airports. In Mergens, Jay Sekulow successfully protected the right of students to form Bible clubs and prayer groups on public school campuses. In Lamb\u2019s Chapel, Jay Sekulow cleared the way for churches to have equal access to public facilities in the same way that other groups are permitted to utilize those facilities. In the Bray and Operation Rescue cases, Jay Sekulow protected the free speech rights of pro-life advocates to be free from criminal prosecution for conveying their pro-life message. In McConnell v. FEC, Jay Sekulow protected the right of young people to engage in the political process by donating to the campaign of their choice. In Pleasant Grove, Jay Sekulow paved the way for governments to be able to display Ten Commandments monuments, and other monuments of their choosing, in public parks. Through the ACLJ, Jay Sekulow engages the political, legal, and cultural battles facing America today. He routinely works with Members of Congress, advising them on proposed legislation and representing them in critical legal matters. Jay Sekulow has also testified before Congress on the constitutionality of proposed legislation. Also, in addition to being a successful Supreme Court advocate, Jay Sekulow is a highly respected broadcaster. Jay Sekulow is the host of Jay Sekulow Live! which airs each weekday on over 850 radio stations nationwide, in addition Sirius and XM satellite radio. He brings insight and education to listeners daily through this national call-in radio program. He is also the host of the ACLJ This Week, the ACLJ\u2019s weekly television program. Jay Sekulow regularly appears on major media outlets, including FOX News, CNN, ABC, CBS, and NBC, where he is sought out for his vast experience in constitutional law and his unique insight into many of the pressing legal and political issues facing America today. He is frequently quoted in the nation's leading newspapers and often contributes opinion editorials to national publications. Jay Sekulow has also published numerous law review and other scholarly articles. Jay Sekulow has received numerous honors for his groundbreaking legal work in the area of free speech and religious liberties. The Legal Times has named Sekulow one of \u201cThe 90 Greatest Washington Lawyers of the Last 30 Years\u201d and the National Law Journal has twice named Sekulow one of the \u201c100 Most Influential Lawyers\u201d in the United States. In addition, TIME Magazine listed Jay Sekulow as one of the \"25 Most Influential Evangelicals\" in America. Jay Sekulow\u2019s legal work in defense of religious liberties and human rights extends beyond the United States, having founded the ECLJ in Strasbourg, France, which maintains consultative status with the United Nations. He has also opened offices in Pakistan, Africa, and Jerusalem, Israel. Jay Sekulow is a staunch defender of Israel, presenting arguments before the International Criminal Court at the Hague. His efforts in support of Israel\u2019s right to defend itself from terrorist attacks have been commended by Israeli government officials, one official stating, \"Jay was instrumentally-involved in projects that the President of Israel and the Prime Minister put on our national agenda.\" Jay Sekulow also has a passion for educating the next generation of religious liberty advocates. He is a member of the Regent University Law School Faculty as a Distinguished Professor of Law and routinely teaches courses on constitutional law and presents guest lectures. Jay Sekulow has also started educational programs in international human rights law in Strasbourg, France and at Handong University in South Korea. Jay Sekulow is a graduate of Mercer University, earning both a bachelor\u2019s degree and doctor of jurisprudence. Sekulow served on the editorial staff of the Mercer Law Review and graduated cum laude. He later earned a Ph.D. from Regent University, writing his dissertation on American Legal History. Jay Sekulow also serves on the Board of Trustees for The Supreme Court Historical Society in Washington, D.C. Jay Sekulow, ACLJ Chief Counsels full biography and video. Jay Sekulow on Facebook. Jay Sekulow on Twitter. Jay Sekulow on YouTube.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/author\/jay_sekulow"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/401"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2454"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2467,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454\/revisions\/2467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}