- Well, welcome to the show.

Thanks for joining us today,

our first story we go to Israel

where there's yet anotherstalemate in the election.

The final votes have been counted

and once again no clear winner.

- So who holds the keysto Israel's future^?

And why are some saying the Jewish state

needs a miracle to free itfrom political gridlock?

Chris Mitchell has thestory from Jerusalem.

- [Chris] The results ofIsrael's fourth election

within two years look like the last three

with no clear winner.

The parties aligned withPrime Minister Netanyahu

total 52 seats,

the parties committed againstNetanyahu, total 57 seats,

two parties are uncommitted.

The right wing partyYamina hold seven seats,

Ra'am or the United Arab List

and Islamic party has four seats.

With those four seatsRa'am may hold the key

to who gets the 61 seatsneeded to form a coalition.

Its leader Mansour Abbas

wants any government in power

to provide more support to Israeli Arabs,

making the path towardforming a new government

even more complicated.

Some parties refuse to sit in a coalition

with other parties.

Once again, it puts Israel'spolitics in disarray.

- Israel is experiencingits worst political crisis

in decades.

It's apparent that our political system

finds it very difficult toproduce a decisive outcome.

This is a result of inherent weaknesses

in our electoral system

but it's also becauseof the Netanyahu factor,

a very popular Prime Minister

and it wants to remain in power,

although he was indicted

and the Israelis are splitright down the middle

on this question.

- [Chris] Now parties arescrambling for support

and defectors from other parties.

Israel will begin thecelebration of the Passover

on Saturday evening.

Some say Israel will need another miracle

to deliver it from its political plight.

- Well, Chris Mitchell isjoining us now from Jerusalem.

So Chris, tell us about the Ra'am party.

Who are they?

What are their goals?

- Well, right now, they madenews just a few weeks ago,

Gordon by saying that theywould be willing to work

with Netanyahu and actuallyNetanyahu reached out

to the Arab population this election.

Unlike the other three elections,

it may surprise people that that Ra'am

is a chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood.

They're nationalistic,what do I mean by that?

They want an Islamic State in Palestine.

That's why some partieswill not sit in a government

with Ra'am, for example,

the Religious ZionistParty won't sit with them.

They're on the other end of the spectrum,

both politically and religiously.

A number of parties areunwilling to sit with each other.

For example, Gideon Sa'arwon't it with the Joint List.

That's another Arab party.

The Joint Arab List won't sit

with some of the extreme right parties.

Another party Yamina wherewe mentioned in the report

won't sit with Meretz, a far left party

and that's what makes thispost election scenario

so complicated.

Some people describe it

sort of like a political Rubik's Cube.

- Well, what are thechances that Netanyahu

continues as prime minister

or is someone else emerging as a leader

that people can coalesce behind?

- Well, right now, it looksvery difficult for Netanyahu

to survive, but he's a survivor.

He's been the longestserving Prime Minister

in Israel's history.

He's trying to convince someof these extreme right parties

to be able to sit with Ra'am

even outside the governmentand what I mean by that

you can have a minority government

meaning you have less than 61 seats,

but you have parties thatwon't vote against you

and that's the way that could happen.

He's trying to get defectorsfrom some of the right parties

that are against him to join him

and defect from say New Hope,

come to his Likud party,

but in terms of Prime Minister Gordon,

is really four possibilities.

You have Benjamin Netanyahu,Neftali Bennett, Benny Gantz

and Yair Lapid and either of one of those

really does have a possibleshot at being Prime Minister.

So right now, lots ofhorse trading going on.

They may try to form a government

and actually pass a law,

outlawing any Prime Minister serving

who's under indictment,

certainly that's directed exactly against

Prime Minister Netanyahu.

There's also the possibilityof a one year government

just in order to pass a budget.

Israel's the only westerncountry without a 2020 budget,

they don't have a 2021 budget,

and we're looking at a 2022 budget

and that's really hurting Israel right now

being able to justfunction as a government.

- Well, I don't have much hopefor the Muslim Brotherhood

sitting down with anyof the Orthodox parties.

So are we going to see a fifthelection later this year?

- It could happen andif you talk to Israelis,

a lot of them just seem fatalistic.

Well, we're gonna go to fifth elections,

it really does depend on anumber of different factors

and so many variousscenarios could unfold,

what kind of coalition can be formed?

It really depends on who'sgonna be recommending

to the president withinprobably after Passover,

which starts on Saturday evening,

who will be the next prime minister,

and they have Shabbat coming up today,

Passover starting tomorrow night.

So right now,

I've been hearing somepeople in these campaigns

are gonna be turning off their phones,

and they'll be praying.

- Well, I've got to ask this.

What does this mean for Israel security?

There's a lot going on right now,

with international diplomacy,

the Abraham Accords trying tocreate a joint security deal,

even with Saudi Arabia.

So how can they find anydirection going forward

with this kind ofconfusion in the election?

- Yeah, great question Gordon.

I think internally,

there's lots of confusion going on.

I think in terms ofsort of the main threat

facing Israel right now with Iran,

I think almost everybodyon the political spectrum

is united on that.

So I think the IDF willstill being watching

any threats comingagainst the Jewish state.

On the other hand, you know,

with diplomacy and foreign policy,

you know, a number of countries,

particularly the US is gonna be wondering

who can I talk to right now tobe a caretaker of government,

with Benjamin Netanyahustill as prime minister,

but certainly the internal confusion

and disarray is reallyaffecting it standing

diplomatically around the world

but that's certainly thereason people should be praying

for the peace of Jerusalem right now.

- Chris, thanks for the insight,

and I'll echo that prayfor the peace of Jerusalem,

pray for the peace of Israel.

In other news,

President Biden held his firstpress conference yesterday,

after more than two months in office,

and John Jessup has thatstory from our CBN News Bureau

in Washington, John.

- That is right, Gordon.

The news conference camelater in the Oval Office term

than any other presidentin modern history.

And Mr. Biden made his caseon a wide variety of issues.

CBN white housecorrespondent Eric Phillips

brings us this look at whatthe President had to say.

- We're told the Presidenthad been preparing

for this press conference all week long,

and while there were somequestionable moments,

it certainly was not a disaster.

He started off toutingthe American rescue plan

and vaccine successes,

even increasing his originalgoal of 100 million shots

in his first 100 days inoffice to 200 million.

But immigration,

was clearly what was onthe minds of reporters,

especially the influxof unaccompanied minors.

- The idea that I'm gonna say,

which I would never do,

when unaccompanied childends up at the border,

we're just gonna let them starve to death

and stand the other side.

No previous administrationshas done either, except Trump.

- [Eric] Although administrationofficials have reported

that the crossings at theSouthwest border are on pace

for the highest levels in 20 years,

the President said the problemsat the border are not new,

and migrants aren't coming in droves,

just because they thinkhe's such a nice guy.

- The reason they're coming is that

it's the time they can travelwith the least likelihood

of dying on the way

because of the heat inthe desert, number one.

Number two, they're comingbecause of the circumstances

in country.

- [Eric] He says 5000 morebeds have been made available

at the border at Fort Bliss,

and that the US would be better prepared

to deal with the situation there

if it had not been for theprevious administration.

- What he did, hedismantled all the elements

that exist to deal withwhat had been a problem

and has continued to be aproblem for a long time.

He in fact shut down thenumber of beds available.

- [Eric] On the practiceknown as the filibuster

in the Senate,

the President said he's for reforming it,

but not necessarily abolishing it.

- It's been abused in a gigantic way.

- If not, why not abolish it?

If it's a relic of the Jim Crow era?

- Successful electoral politicsis the art of the possible.

- [Eric] Asked about the bills in progress

in states across the country

that Democrats say would restrict voting,

the President calledit a gigantic problem.

- This makes Jim Crow look like Jim Eagle.

The Republican voters Iknow, find this despicable.

On China,

the President says the USshould be in competition

with the country and notin confrontation with it.

And he says the US hasto step up its game.

- They have an overall goalto become the leading country

in the world, the wealthiestcountry in the world,

and the most powerfulcountry in the world.

That's not gonna happen on my watch.

- [Eric] And what aboutthe political future

of the president?

- No, the answer is yes.

My plan is to run for re-election,that's my expectation.

- Interesting that the Presidentwould give that response

about running again, when just Wednesday,

the White House rebrandedthe Biden administration

as the Biden Harris administration,

seeming to raise the profileof the vice president.

In Washington, Eric Phillips, CBN News.

- And republicans arguethat Biden's own rhetoric

led to more migrants coming to the border

and that both he and formerPresident Barack Obama

defended the filibuster whenthey were both in the Senate.

While the Big Tech CEOs of Facebook,

Twitter and Google were under fire again

on Capitol Hill Thursday,

taking heat from both sides of the aisle,

Democrats are unhappy withthe social media giants

for allowing misinformation about COVID-19

and other problems,

and helping people prepare

for the January 6th Capitalattack in Washington.

While republicans arestill criticizing them

for censoring conservative points of view.

- We're all aware of Big Techs

ever increasing censorshipof conservative voices

and their commitment to servethe radical progressive agenda

by influencing a generation of children

by removing, shutting down orhand selling any news books

and even now toys thataren't considered woke.

This is fundamentally un-American.

- Mr. Zuckerberg, Mr.Pichai and Mr. Dorsey,

you've failed to meaningfully change

after your platform has played a role

in fomenting insurrection

in abetting the spread of the virus

and trampling American civil liberties.

Your business model itselfhas become the problem

and the time for self regulation is over.

It's time we legislateto hold you accountable.

That's what we're gonna do.

- Congress has held severalhearings on the matter so far,

Gordon, but so far,Congress has yet to act.

- Well, they need to actand they need to recognize

that these Big Tech companies

have essentially become utilities,

that just as the electric utilities,

and water utilities and our trash

and all of this are allregulated, they need regulation.

And one of the easiest things to do

is extend constitutionalprotections of freedom of speech

to these tech platforms,

there's already an established case law,

you're not making up anything new.

You're just saying that these protections

of freedoms speech extendthrough the internet,

through these major platforms.

And if you do that, I thinkyou solve the problem.