A Zoom meeting Monday of 247 U.S. activists developing a strategy to support Israel in the face of terrorist attacks featured Alabama's U.S. Sen. Katie Britt (R-Montgomery) and Auburn head basketball coach Bruce Pearl.
Organized by the U.S. Israel Education Association, the group called for immediate action by the Biden administration and Congress to assist Israel.
Britt told the group she signed onto a letter this morning to President Joe Biden urging him to immediately freeze the $6 billion he gave to Iran as part of a hostage deal. Iran has close ties to anti-Israel terrorists.
Pearl said, "We have been glued to the television for 48 hours. In this Zoom meeting, we have got a direction. Now, we need to come up with specific things to do."
"Jesus is coming back to Jerusalem, and I want to be there. We must stand with Israel," he added.
"I am disgusted by what is going on in Israel. I am disappointed and disgusted with the way the Biden administration handled things. It encouraged the terrorists," Britt said.
She added, "We should know by Tuesday what munitions and weapons are needed."
Britt said that Iran's stated goal is "to wipe Israel off the face of the earth," adding that Hamas and Hezbollah, along with the Houthis in Yemen, are proxies for Iran.
"We are not going to let this go," she declared.
Another Alabama leader in the Zoom meeting was Dr. John Killian, director of the Fayette County Baptist Association and former head of the Alabama Baptist State Convention. Killian serves as chairman of the Fayette County Republican Party.
Britt said she is working to "make sure we stand firmly with Israel. Those terrorists in the region want to create unrest."
She added that the U.S. House of Representatives needs to elect a new Speaker so that congressional action to help Israel would not be held up.
The meeting moderator was Heather Johnson of the U.S. Israel Education Association (USIEA). She said the group would continue to meet and serve as a "watchman for Israel." They will identify and support specific actions by Congress to defend Israel, she advised.
Ari Sacher, chief systems engineer for "Iron Dome," gave the group an on-the-ground report from his home in northern Israel, which was distant from the Gaza attack. He said citizens just received an order to stay inside as a paraglider was spotted in the area.
Iron Dome is the Israeli defensive system to deflect terrorist missiles. He said the system worked well this weekend and rendered the Hamas missiles "a nuisance," but the missiles were a diversion, drawing attention away from direct attacks by terrorists on the ground and in paragliders.
Sacher said Israeli defenders are mostly reservists and not full-time military. Three hundred thousand reservists were called up over the weekend, the most ever.
Three of Sacher's children were called up and reported on Sunday.
Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman told the group that Israel could have killed the entire Hamas and Hezbollah groups "at any time. They have the resources."
"We will do everything we can to limit civilian losses. No one is doing that in the Ukraine war, on either side," he added.
Friedman said people will see so much of the tragedy of war that they will start saying "enough."
"The terrorists are counting on the world to push Israel back," he advised.
He said the Biden move to send U.S. forces nearby "sends the right signal."
The group will continue to meet and send action requests to "friends in Congress."
Jim Zeigler is a retired Alabama Public Service Commissioner and State Auditor. He can be reached for comment at ZeiglerElderCare@yahoo.com.
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