{"id":48569,"date":"2025-02-06T16:11:56","date_gmt":"2025-02-06T21:11:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/?p=48569"},"modified":"2025-02-06T16:11:56","modified_gmt":"2025-02-06T21:11:56","slug":"newsnation-tackles-charge-that-president-trumps-gaza-plan-is-ethnic-cleansing-and-the-last-moments-of-a-death-row-inmates-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2025\/02\/newsnation-tackles-charge-that-president-trumps-gaza-plan-is-ethnic-cleansing-and-the-last-moments-of-a-death-row-inmates-life.html","title":{"rendered":"NewsNation tackles charge that President Trump&#8217;s Gaza plan is ethnic cleansing and the last moments of a death row inmate&#8217;s life"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>Here&#8217;s the latest from the crossroads of faith, media &amp; culture: 02\/06\/25<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong>The upstart news channel NewsNation was on fire yesterday with notable segments on President Trump&#8217;s Gaza plan and the perspective of a death row inmate&#8217;s spiritual advisor who witnessed his execution.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"After Trump pitch, Gaza debate remains explosive | On Balance\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bYs3thh3VPc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--white-space-pre-wrap\" dir=\"auto\"><span class=\"yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color\" dir=\"auto\"><strong>IMHO:<\/strong> Bravo to <strong>Leland Vittert,<\/strong> host of <strong>NewsNation&#8217;s <\/strong><strong><em>On Balance<\/em> (weeknight, 7:00 PM ET) <\/strong>for pushing back hard on the charge that <strong>President Trump&#8217;s visionary and compassionate Gaza plan<\/strong> somehow equates to ethnic cleansing. By what logic is evacuating those living in an area of bombed-out rubble strewn with unexploded bombs and under the thumb of a terrorist regime that won&#8217;t even allow them to leave to a safer location ethnic cleansing? It seems to me that callously leaving there comes closer to meeting that definition. I&#8217;d certainly suggest that those Palestinians with no terrorist ties be given job training and first priority for the opportunities created for the new &#8220;Gaza Riviera.&#8221; If they want to return they should be allowed to return. In the meantime, it&#8217;s hard to imagine that anyone would choose to live in war-torn squalor if given a viable alternative. BTW, <a href=\"https:\/\/thenightly.com.au\/world\/how-beirut-was-once-known-as-the-paris-of-the-middle-east-before-it-came-to-a-brutal-end-in-1975-civil-war-c-15605589\">Beirut, Lebanon was once flourishing as the Paris of the Middle East<\/a> before terrorists wrecked it. It&#8217;s time to free the Palestinians from the clutches of a terrorist regime that misuses the American and international funds provided to it to create violence rather than prosperity.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Later that evening, in an interview presented on <strong>NewsNation\u2019s <i>Banfield<\/i> (weeknights, 10:00 PM ET)<\/strong>, host <strong>Ashleigh Banfield<\/strong>, spoke with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/biography\/\"><strong>Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood<\/strong><\/a> about witnessing the Texas execution earlier that night of <strong>Steven Nelson<\/strong> for the murder of <strong>Pastor Clint Dobson<\/strong> of the <strong>NorthPointe Baptist Church<\/strong> in Arlington. Per the <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/02\/06\/us-news\/texas-death-row-inmate-steven-lawayne-nelsons-chilling-last-words-for-warden-before-lethal-injection-revealed\/\"><strong>New York Post<\/strong><\/a>, Hood was convicted of beating, choking and suffocating Dobson to death. While imprisoned and awaiting trial, he was indicted, but never tried, for killing another inmate. It&#8217;s an interesting discussion with Banfield asking some very good questions. You can watch it below.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Death row&#039;s Steven Nelson said he &#039;regrets all of this&#039;: Spiritual adviser | Banfield\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/j1s3s6pTUwo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>John W. Kennedy is a writer, producer and media development consultant specializing in television and movie projects that uphold positive timeless values, including trust in God. <\/em><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong><em><span class=\"st\">Encourage one another and build each other up &#8211; <\/span><\/em><span class=\"st\">1 Thessalonians 5:11<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here&#8217;s the latest from the crossroads of faith, media &amp; culture: 02\/06\/25 The upstart news channel NewsNation was on fire yesterday with notable segments on President Trump&#8217;s Gaza plan and the perspective of a death row inmate&#8217;s spiritual advisor who witnessed his execution. IMHO: Bravo to Leland Vittert, host of NewsNation&#8217;s On Balance (weeknight, 7:00&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":225,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>NewsNation tackles charge that President Trump&#039;s Gaza plan is ethnic cleansing and the last moments of a death row inmate&#039;s life<\/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\/faithmediaandculture\/2025\/02\/newsnation-tackles-charge-that-president-trumps-gaza-plan-is-ethnic-cleansing-and-the-last-moments-of-a-death-row-inmates-life.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NewsNation tackles charge that President Trump&#039;s Gaza plan is ethnic cleansing and the last moments of a death row inmate&#039;s life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here&#8217;s the latest from the crossroads of faith, media &amp; culture: 02\/06\/25 The upstart news channel NewsNation was on fire yesterday with notable segments on President Trump&#8217;s Gaza plan and the perspective of a death row inmate&#8217;s spiritual advisor who witnessed his execution. IMHO: Bravo to Leland Vittert, host of NewsNation&#8217;s On Balance (weeknight, 7:00&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2025\/02\/newsnation-tackles-charge-that-president-trumps-gaza-plan-is-ethnic-cleansing-and-the-last-moments-of-a-death-row-inmates-life.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Faith, Media &amp; Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-06T21:11:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John W. Kennedy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"NewsNation tackles charge that President Trump's Gaza plan is ethnic cleansing and the last moments of a death row inmate's life","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\/faithmediaandculture\/2025\/02\/newsnation-tackles-charge-that-president-trumps-gaza-plan-is-ethnic-cleansing-and-the-last-moments-of-a-death-row-inmates-life.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"NewsNation tackles charge that President Trump's Gaza plan is ethnic cleansing and the last moments of a death row inmate's life","og_description":"Here&#8217;s the latest from the crossroads of faith, media &amp; culture: 02\/06\/25 The upstart news channel NewsNation was on fire yesterday with notable segments on President Trump&#8217;s Gaza plan and the perspective of a death row inmate&#8217;s spiritual advisor who witnessed his execution. IMHO: Bravo to Leland Vittert, host of NewsNation&#8217;s On Balance (weeknight, 7:00&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2025\/02\/newsnation-tackles-charge-that-president-trumps-gaza-plan-is-ethnic-cleansing-and-the-last-moments-of-a-death-row-inmates-life.html","og_site_name":"Faith, Media &amp; Culture","article_published_time":"2025-02-06T21:11:56+00:00","author":"John W. Kennedy","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2025\/02\/newsnation-tackles-charge-that-president-trumps-gaza-plan-is-ethnic-cleansing-and-the-last-moments-of-a-death-row-inmates-life.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2025\/02\/newsnation-tackles-charge-that-president-trumps-gaza-plan-is-ethnic-cleansing-and-the-last-moments-of-a-death-row-inmates-life.html","name":"NewsNation tackles charge that President Trump's Gaza plan is ethnic cleansing and the last moments of a death row inmate's life","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-02-06T21:11:56+00:00","dateModified":"2025-02-06T21:11:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/e5d5ef9caeb6b01bcbf08ca6de6591c2"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2025\/02\/newsnation-tackles-charge-that-president-trumps-gaza-plan-is-ethnic-cleansing-and-the-last-moments-of-a-death-row-inmates-life.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2025\/02\/newsnation-tackles-charge-that-president-trumps-gaza-plan-is-ethnic-cleansing-and-the-last-moments-of-a-death-row-inmates-life.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2025\/02\/newsnation-tackles-charge-that-president-trumps-gaza-plan-is-ethnic-cleansing-and-the-last-moments-of-a-death-row-inmates-life.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"NewsNation tackles charge that President Trump&#8217;s Gaza plan is ethnic cleansing and the last moments of a death row inmate&#8217;s life"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/","name":"Faith, Media &amp; Culture","description":"Beliefnet Voices - John W. Kennedy","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/?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\/faithmediaandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/e5d5ef9caeb6b01bcbf08ca6de6591c2","name":"John W. Kennedy","description":"John W. Kennedy is the founder and Dir. of Development of The Creative Universe Entertainment\u2122, a media consultation and development company focusing on the creation, development and support of high-quality mainstream entertainment that upholds positive timeless values, including trust in God. Current projects include \"Bryant Park\" (an uplifting romantic-comedy) and \"Photo Finish\" (an award-winning sci-fi TV pilot). He has written over 100 children's novels based on episodes of the Cartoon Network series \"Ben 10\", \"Ben 10: Alien Force\", \"Ben 10: Ultimate Alien\", \"Ben 10: Omniverse\" and \"Generator Rex\" among others. He also writes Beliefnet\u2019s \"Faith, Media &amp; Culture\" blog. Previously, he has produced successful news and talk programming for CNN, Fox News, Pax TV and SiriusXM. Specialties: Script Writing, Movie\/TV Novelizations &amp; Adaptations, TV Content Creation and Development, Creative Consultation, Producing and Booking News and Talk shows. He can be reached for writing, producing and consulting services at 516-640-1182.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/author\/jkennedy"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/225"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48569"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48590,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48569\/revisions\/48590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}