Hegseth Spars with Dems: 'Who Are You Pulling For?' | CBN NewsWatch - April 30, 2026

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[00:00:01]This is CBN News Watch.

[00:00:04]>> Thank you so much for joining us for CBN News Watch on this Thursday, April 30th.

[00:00:08]I'm Efron Graham. We're going to begin this half hour with news from the Middle East. Secretary of War Pete Hex sparred with House Democrats at a hearing on the Iran war. At one point, the secretary asked the lawmakers, "Who are you pulling for?" Meanwhile, President Donald Trump says the US naval blockade is putting so much pressure on Iran's regime, more fighting might not be necessary. CBN News Middle East correspondent Julie Stall has more in our top story.

[00:00:34]>> President Trump praised the naval blockade in the straight of Hormuz.

[00:00:38]>> The blockade is genius. Okay, the blockade has been 100% foolproof. It shows how good our navy is. I can tell you that. Nobody's going to play games.

[00:00:47]>> He says negotiations are continuing with Iran by telephone, and he doesn't know if another round of fighting will be necessary.

[00:00:54]>> They've come a long way. The question is whether or not they're going to go far enough. So at this moment, there will never be a deal unless they agree that there will be no nuclear weapons.

[00:01:06]>> However, there are reports that Sentcom will brief the president on potential short and powerful strikes on Iran as well as a plan to take over parts of the straight of Hormuz to open it to commercial shipping. The Pentagon says the war is estimated to cost $25 billion so far, mostly in munitions.

[00:01:26]>> President Trump, unlike other president, has had the courage to ensure Iran never gets a nuclear weapon, and he's ironclad in that.

[00:01:34]>> Secretary of Defense Pete Hegsth defended the war at a House Armed Services Committee hearing against accusations from Democrats that the US has been drawn into a quagmire. Don't say I support the troops on one hand and then a two-month mission is a quagmire.

[00:01:50]That's a false equivalation. Who you cheering for here? Who you pulling for?

[00:01:54]Our troops are doing incredible work.

[00:01:56]They've done incredible things for the entirety of this mission and achieved incredible battlefield successes.

[00:02:02]>> Meanwhile, the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford reportedly is due to leave the Red Sea and set sail for home soon. The ship has been deployed for more than 300 days, including operations in Venezuela and Iran. The move represents a significant loss of firepower in the Middle East at a time when tensions are still high. In London, another sign of growing anti-semitism in the United Kingdom. The Metropolitan Police said that a stabbing attack of two Jewish men in a Jewish neighborhood has now formally been declared a terrorist incident. There's been a series of incidents over the last four or five weeks. Uh an attack against an ambulance, Jewish charity, two or three attacks against uh Jewish synagogues, but today somewhat worse because it's a physical attack against uh two human beings. So it's a completely different ballgame at the moment. So you know, it's much worse.

[00:02:58]>> Going to continue our coverage now with Julie Stall joining us from Jerusalem.

[00:03:02]So Julie, what is the situation right now between Israel and Lebanon? And what is the state of that ceasefire?

[00:03:10]>> Well, it's not exactly a ceasefire. Uh between Lebanon and Israel, it's a ceasefire. Between Israel and Hezbollah, it's not a ceasefire. Um you know, uh today the president of of Lebanon kind of scolded Israel and said, "You're breaking the ceasefire." And Israel responded by saying, "Well, we have a right to defend ourselves." So, Israel has pretty much kept its operations in this southern kind of uh security zone that it it has uh portioned off where they have troops and that's pretty much where Hezbollah is. Hezbollah has kind of damped down its attacks. They're not doing missiles. They're just only drones, only explosive drones. So, you know, and then Israel responds to that.

[00:03:56]At one point, uh, Israel said that, you know, they launched, uh, they launched, um, attacks at Israel and then Israel responded. It's its Alpine unit, you know, it it completed a targeted operation to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure in an area called Mount Dove. And it it also began strike recent last couple hours began striking Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon.

[00:04:23]Um, you know, it's it's very tricky. Uh, I was up by the Sea of Galilee this weekend and it was quiet and peaceful and then way in the distance you can still hear boom boom or hear Israeli jets flying and it's so it's it's been an intense time. It's intense for Israel. It's still intense for Israelis who live in the border area. Uh it's it's not quiet up there.

[00:04:48]>> The justosition between peace and war is extremely tense indeed. Uh there was reporting that Israel intercepted a flotilla on its way to Gaza. Uh what's that all about?

[00:05:00]>> So apparently there was a a flotillaa on its way of like nearly 60 ships, 58 ships, something like that, and Israel intercepted them near Cit uh 17 of them or or uh something like that. and uh they they kept took 170 people in and they're sending them back home. They called on the other ships to uh to either turn back or they said, you know, if you have humanitarian aid for Gaza if that's why you're coming, so come to the Israeli port of Ashdo, you know, and we'll take care of it from there. But uh who knows what exactly is in that flotillaa but um the foreign ministry put out a statement saying that it's committed to um it's that the driving force behind the flotillaa is provocation by Hamas and they're joining hands with the professional provocators with the aim of sabotaging President Trump's peace plan uh transition to its second phase and you know it's intended to divert attention from Hamas's refusal to disarm. You know, Israel's committed to the freedom. They say, this is part of the statement, they're committed to the freedom of navigation due to the large number of vessels participating in the flotilla and the risk of escalation and the need to prevent the breach of uh of a law lawful blockade. Um so anyway, so then they they they took this action early. So that's uh we'll see exactly what happens with that.

[00:06:39]>> One of many things to continue watching indeed. How is Israel responding to the latest anti-semitic terror attack in London?

[00:06:48]>> Well, you know, uh President Herzog, Israel, the Israeli president, he wrote on X that he was horrified by yet another violent attack on Jews in broad daylight on the streets of London. uh he said you know no Jew anywhere in the world should be a target because of their faith and it's it's one of the greatest capitals of the west it's become a dangerous place to openly walk uh the streets as a Jew he says this is un an unacceptable situation uh the ministry of diaspora affairs uh for and combating anti-semitism also said you know they've been warning for weeks that this terrorist organization which is linked to Iran h was you know planning attacks and that's who claimed responsibility for this attack yesterday. I think you know the it's very unsettling and they're really calling on the government uh in England the prime minister there not just to talk about it not just to say oh we condemn this but do something about it and I think that's that is where Israel is at at this point. All right, Julie Stall, thank you so much. We appreciate your insight. Always good to see and hear from you. Want to come back here at home now. In a six to3 decision, the conservative justices struck down a majority black congressional district in Louisiana. It stretches more than 200 miles from Shreport to Baton Rouge. The justices said it relied too heavily on race. In the majority opinion, Justice Samuel Leo wrote, "The map is an uncon unconstitutional gerrymander. The ruling weakened section two of the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 aimed at reducing discrimination in voting. In a descent for three liberal justices, Elena Kagan wrote, "The consequences are likely to be farreaching and grave.

[00:08:41]Today's decision renders section two all but a dead letter." The ruling comes as states nationwide are redrawing maps to gain partisan advantage in the midterm elections. On Wednesday, the Florida legislature became the latest state to approve a new congressional map. It gives Republicans an edge.

[00:09:01]Coming up, we've got more on the London terror attack that Julie mentioned a moment ago. Plus, a recent summit in Italy that's geared toward fighting Europe's raging anti-semitism. Stay with us. You are watching CBN Newsatch.

[00:09:26]We're back now with a look at some other news making headlines in the CBN newsroom at this hour. Gas prices continue to rise across the United States. The national average sits at $4.30 a gallon. That is up more than 20 compared to last week. Just a year ago, the national gas price was $318.

[00:09:45]Officials in London released a video showing officers detaining a man accused of stabbing two Jewish men on the street. It is the latest in the city's anti-semitism attacks. The video shows the suspect walking towards the officers with a knife as the officers deploy their tasers. The suspect falls to the ground before being arrested. Police are investigating to see whether the stabbings are linked to recent arson attacks on synagogues and other Jewish sites.

[00:10:12]Global anti-semitism has been on the rise since October 7th and it is raging across Europe. Earlier this year, faith leaders, activists, and academics gathered together in Italy to fight this horrific trend. Chris Mitchell brings us the story.

[00:10:28]From Italy, England to Australia, violent, sometimes deadly anti-semitic attacks and hate speech flooding the web. This outbreak prompted Giovani Meliona of the National Pro-Israel Network in Italy to put together a summit just outside of Florence, Italy.

[00:10:47]Mel Konda brought together experts including professors, European pastors and the rabbi from Florence. Jews, Christians, religious and secular all joined together against anti-semitism.

[00:11:01]>> We are in the time of a strong anti-semitism. Europe it's in huge spiritual and idealistic crisis because politics because of wrong teaching because young rebels. Dr. Jonathan Kchi an international law specialist from Switzerland lays the blame at the feet of a lukewarm church that he believes has failed to support traditional values and its European identity. He sees the result as a vacuum creating a friendly climate for hatred.

[00:11:35]>> Where are our churches? Where are the young people in the churches? What do they believe? It's normal that a strong identity like Islam comes to substitute the lack of identity to this Europe that has totally lost the Judeo-Christian values, principle, history. and the Jews are fleeing from this place.

[00:12:00]>> Belgium pastor Luke Henris says rejecting the Jewish people's role in God's plan is driving others to take a strong stand against Israel and the Jews.

[00:12:11]>> It's a spiritual problem. We see from the beginning of times that uh God has chosen the people of Israel, but most people reject the idea of God. And therefore by rejecting God they've also rejected his word and his people. And that is why we have now reached the situation where there is so much anti-semitism in our western countries because of this rebellion against God.

[00:12:39]Because of social media anti-semitic incidents like this riot in Italy are now highly visible appearing in places once considered unlikely such as our educational institutions or among the youth. Now in the school in Italy the teachers the professor they influence a lot especially the young student very uh manipulating situation.

[00:13:04]>> Dr. Kchi believes governments have been too passive in implementing measures or responding to specific incidents which has allowed anti-semitism to spread. The politicians have not yet understood without a fight to suppress the causes of this problem, this obsession with Israel and the word Zionism, which is a biblical word for a movement of liberation of the Jewish people so suppressed, condemned and persecuted in Europe. But the problem of government is they don't speak loudly. Of course, the people protest in the street are the minority, but the riots are very violent and very problematic.

[00:13:51]>> While many are asking if it's too late for Europe and the world, Paul Schaefer, a Bible teacher from Canada, still has hope.

[00:13:59]>> It's not too late if we can get the people to uh wake up, to understand, and to start acting in the right direction.

[00:14:08]But we don't have a whole lot of time and it's getting more and more intense every day.

[00:14:14]>> It's a time that the Lord will raise up the people, wake up the people because this situation is very risky.

[00:14:21]>> Chris Mitchell, CBN News.

[00:14:24]>> Singer and songwriter Matthew West is taking us inside the pages of his book, Don't Stop Praying. Stay with us. You're watching CBN News Watch.

[00:14:41]Welcome back to CBN News Watch. Singer, songwriter, and author Matthew West. His song, Don't Stop Praying, was an anthem for people to pray and to not give up.

[00:14:51]Well, that song is the inspiration now for a book.

[00:14:55]>> What's your impossible?

[00:14:58]I need a mcle.

[00:15:02]What's got you barely hanging by a single thread?

[00:15:07]>> One of the songs you've done that we've talked about before, but I'd like to talk about again uh is Don't Stop Praying. What gave birth to that song?

[00:15:16]>> Yeah, that song uh there's uh somebody in my life that I've been praying for for a very long time.

[00:15:24]>> Um that my family's been praying for for a very long time. And if you've ever had to persevere in prayer for someone or something >> for a long time and maybe your your faith starts to feel tested and you start to let doubt creep in and wonder like are my prayers just kind of bouncing off the ceiling. God, are you really hearing me? And cuz you're not seeing the result that you think you should be seeing. The answer won't come and you don't know why and you wonder if you can bow your head even one more time. Don't stop praying.

[00:16:00]>> And and then we've also just we started getting prayer requests at our concerts from people who come into the concerts and we put a prayer wall out in the lobby >> and people walk in and they fill out a little prayer tag and tell me what they're praying for.

[00:16:12]>> And I tell you what, man, that's called perspective. Everybody's fighting a battle. And so I wanted to write an anthem that inspired people to persevere and pray to to not give up.

[00:16:26]>> Don't stop praying for the pray.

[00:16:33]Hallelujah.

[00:16:34]Hallelujah.

[00:16:36]Amen.

[00:16:38]And and then on a very personal note, I spent so much of my life talking about Jesus >> that I've been convicted in the last handful of years ago. Have I spent more time talking about him than talking to him >> and starting to just take an honest look at my own prayer life and going, >> man, am I am I too f am I reading my Bible just to get a song idea today?

[00:16:58]Those all kind of were swirling around me as I was sitting down and putting pen to paper to write that song.

[00:17:05]>> Wow. And now we have a book, Don't Stop Praying. The God Who Hears is just a breath away. So, was this book song inspired? What happened?

[00:17:14]>> Yeah. So, a lot of times I'll write a song. You know, the crazy thing about telling a story in a song is you got to do it in three minutes.

[00:17:21]>> And at different points in my music career, I finished a song and I felt like there's more to unpack there.

[00:17:28]>> Do you know what I mean? And that's probably because I'm a preachers's kid and like, you know, there's that, >> you know, that communicator in me that wants to come out even when I'm done singing the song. And so this was one of those songs where I mean, you talk about the thousands of prayer requests that I've received and scooped up as I've traveled around the country. My mom puts them in like this big scrapbook for me and I keep them in my studio. And so I'm flipping through these prayer requests from people and just praying for people and just started thinking, man, what is it what does it look like for me to do a 40-day journey um taking an honest look at my prayer life, examining some of the things that keep me from praying? Uh examine some of the tricks of the enemy and how he's tried to build a separation between me and God and how can I go deeper in my prayer life. And so that was the genesis of the book was like taking that three minute song and then unpacking it and inviting people to take a journey with me to go there's no more important conversation than with God.

[00:18:26]How can we go deeper in that?

[00:18:28]>> Take us inside the pages. What's at least one of the lessons you're unpacking for people?

[00:18:34]>> Yeah. The first thing that comes to mind just as as we're talking was >> there's been so many people who've come up to me and shared how like they're in need of a breakthrough.

[00:18:45]>> Yeah.

[00:18:45]>> And uh and so there's a chapter in the book about >> praying breakthrough prayers. You know what I mean? And I had to put in this book the miracles that I'm seeing as I'm traveling around the country, right?

[00:18:57]Like keep praying for breakthrough.

[00:18:59]Breakthrough might look different >> than we think. Do you know what I mean?

[00:19:02]Like they were marching around those walls of Jericho. They probably wanted it to happen faster, right? But uh let's not miss the main point of the story is that our God still does miracles and our breakthroughs coming.

[00:19:14]>> Don't stop praying.

[00:19:20]Oh, don't stop praying.

[00:19:23]Don't you give up now.

[00:19:26]No, don't stop.

[00:19:32]>> Don't stop praying. Want to remind you you can purchase Don't Stop Praying. The God that Hears is just a breath away wherever you get your reading material.

[00:19:42]Matthew also has a new single out. It is called Good. Of course, you can find that wherever you purchase, download, or stream your listening material. Stay with us. Your Thursday thankful is coming up next right here on CBN Newsatch.

[00:19:58]Here's your Thursday thankful. An attitude of gratitude opens the door for more. In all things, give thanks. Be grateful even when gratitude doesn't make sense. In sickness, thank God. In uncertainty, thank God. In heartbreak, thank God. I've said it before and I say it again. Gratitude opens the door for more. Thank you so much for watching.

[00:20:18]We'll see you right back here same time tomorrow. Goodbye and God bless.