- Well, welcome to the 700 Club.

And thanks for joining us.

Our first story, we go to Iran,

where stopping Iran frombuilding a nuclear weapon

has been a big challengefor Israeli leaders

for now two decades.

Now a showdown may be coming.

- One former Israeli generalhas firsthand experience

in destroying nuclear threats.

He's proposing five steps.

Israel can take to stop Iran.

Chris Mitchell brings us the CBN news

exclusive interview from Jerusalem.

(radar beeping)

- You are listening to thesound of Israeli pilots

destroying Iraq's nuclear reactor in 1981.

26 years later,

Israeli pilots destroyedthis nuclear reactor

in the Syrian desert.

Retired general Amos Yadlintook part in both attacks.

He flew with seven other F16 pilots

to destroy SaddamHussein's reactor in 1981.

And as chief of militaryintelligence in 2007,

helped plan the attack inside Syria

- In a way maybe I am theonly human being on the globe

who was involved in destroying

two-and-a-half nuclear programs.

And I guess we arediscussing tonight the half.

- We are, exactly.

Tell us General, what makes Iran

in 2021 different than Iraqin 1981 and Syria in 2007?

- The Iranians are ready for a possibility

that attack will be launchedagainst the nuclear facilities.

So as they put them under the ground

in bunkers, in tunnels, in mountains.

They dispersed them.

They have a redundancy of programs,

and they don't want toreach the nuclear bomb

as fast as possible, theywant to reach the bomb as safe

as possible, not to pay the price.

- In this exclusive CBN News

interview General Yadlin said the change

in US Administrationshad an impact on Iran.

- After they see thechange of administration

in the US they lost the fear.

So they are breaching all the agreements

on what they are allowedto do in the nuclear field.

- Yet, he still believesIsrael can stop Iran's

nuclear program, and laid out five steps

he believes could make it happen.

One is a stronger diplomatic agreement

that blocks Iran's path to a nuclear bomb.

The second is sanctions, or other means

to make Iran pay a heavyprice for its nuclear program.

Third is covert, cyber,and clandestine operations.

- Number four is Air Force taking off.

It's a military attack, as itwas done in Iraq and Syria.

And number five is a regime change,

because I think we cansleep good at night,

if there is a regime that not calling

for the destruction of Israel

- Yadlin says over the years,

US Presidents from both partiesdeclared their commitment

to the state of Israel.

Now he wants to put that in action.

- I think the wisdoms that we need

in Jerusalem is how to take this title.

We are committed to the security of Israel

and make it an operationalcontingency plan

agreed by the two countries.

- A major obstacle, the US and Israel

look at Iran differently.

- Iran is not existentialthreat to the US.

Iran, with nuclear weapon isexistential threat to Israel.

- With the recent attackson Iran's nuclear program,

Yadlin puts Iran about ayear or a year and a half

away from a nuclear bomb.

He says Iran needs to enrichuranium to weapons grade level,

and develop a nuclear warheadto be able to build a weapon.

Now the race is on to see if diplomacy

or military action will stop this threat

to the existence of the Jewish state.

Chris Mitchell, CBN news, Jerusalem.

- I'm not sure diplomacy is going to work.

The Iranian government isclearly taking advantage

of our change in administrations,

and is now looking toget very aggressive in

in building up their nuclear capability.

For Israel, this isabsolutely unacceptable.

If, you cannot have Iranwith a nuclear weapon,

with a ballistic missile

that could deliver that to Tel Aviv.

That same ballistic missilecan reach capitals in Europe

but it can't reach theUnited States, at least yet.

They don't have that capabilityto be trans-continental.

So for the US, it's notan existential threat,

but it certainly is to Israel.

So they can't do it.

They can't allow this to happen.

You go back to the historyand what, what we just saw

back in the early 1980s,

Israel took out Saddam Hussein's attempt

to acquire a nuclear weapon.

Then during the Bushadministration, they delivered

all the intelligence that was needed

to show that the North Koreans

were helping Syria obtain nuclear weapons.

And they had a reactorspecifically designed

to enrich uranium to do that.

The Bush administration blinked.

They didn't take a coordinatedaction with Israel.

And so Israel had to do it on their own.

It shocked the world, but itwas necessary, because again,

Israel can't allow Syriato have a nuclear weapon.

What will happen now with Iran,

where they're, they'reobviously being sophisticated?

They've learned the lessons of Iraq.

They've learned the lessons of Syria.

They're not concentrating thisinto one particular location.

Israel has tried to do it with viruses,

with other kinds of attacksto slow their progress.

But the more they do that,

the more Iran responds by distributing it.

For the world, if Irangets a nuclear weapon

what does that do to the Middle East?

What does that do for Israeli security?

What does that do for ongoing peace?

And, and the answer iscompletely disrupts it.

Within their eschatology,their, their particular view

of end times in orderto usher in the Mahdi,

the new prophet promised in the Quran.

In order to usher that era in,

the world needs to be in absolute chaos.

So for them developing, andthen deploying a nuclear weapon

fits within their religious view,

fits within their cosmology.

The, they absolutely have declared that,

and they absolutely have declared

that they want to wipe Israel off the map.

We need to take that very seriously,

and do whatever is possible to keep them

from developing a nuclear weapon.

Well, in other news, becausethat was pretty bad news,

in other news, we can allbreathe a little easier.

The escalating tensionbetween Russia and Ukraine

has now been diffused,at least temporarily.

John Jessup has that story

from our CBN News Bureauin Washington, John?

- That is right Gordon.

Russia's defense minister hasordered some of its troops

to start pulling away fromthe border with Ukraine.

He sent them back to their permanent bases

following massivedrills, amid the tensions

with its neighboring country,

but he said they shouldleave their weapons

in Western Russia for anotherexercise later this year.

The US and NATO have said theRussian buildup near Ukraine

was the largest since 2014,when critics say Russia

illegally annexed Crimea.

Well, here at home, theBiden administration

filed an appeal this week to find a way

to force doctors and hospitals to perform

potentially harmful gendertransition surgeries on patients,

including children, even ifthose healthcare professionals

have religious objections.

The Daily Caller reports the appeal hinges

on the interpretation of aclause in the Obamacare law

which led to the, which led to a mandate

that required doctors andhospitals to provide the surgeries

upon the referral of amental health professional.

That mandate did not allow

for religious or conscience objections.

The appeal comes in alawsuit by religious doctors,

hospitals, and clinics.

Well, the Senate hasoverwhelmingly approved a bill

that would help fightthe rise in hate crimes

against Asian Americansand Pacific Islanders.

Currently more than 80%of Asian American adults

believe violence againstthem is increasing.

The measure would speed up the review

of hate crimes at the justice department.

CBN's Caitlin Burke has moreon this signal of support

for the Asian community.

- The US experienced itsfirst major COVID outbreak

in March and April of last year.

Right alongside, unfortunately,came a dramatic spike

in anti-Asian hate crimes.

- People are telling theirgrandparents and their parents

not to go outside.

People are telling theirchildren not to go play outside,

even though the weather is nice.

And it's been over a yearof these sorts of feelings.

And in recent weeks have onlyincreased with our attacks

on the elderly and themurders in Atlanta, Georgia.

Attacks like this, too brutalto show in its entirety,

a 65 year old Asian Americanwoman kicked and stomped

while walking to church in New York City.

In Oakland, California,

two cars belonging to Asian families,

set on fire.

Overall, these kinds of hate crimes

up by nearly 150% in 2020.

- In the Asian American community now,

we are fighting two viruses, right?

We are fighting COVID-19,

and anti-Asian hate virus.

- Both played a part inKim Horrigan's decision

to keep her eight yearold son out of school

when it reopened for in-person learning.

- It doesn't matter ifyou're a Chinese American.

It doesn't matter if you'reborn and raised here.

As long as you're Asian you're,you're, you're the target.

- In order to prevent attacks,state and local officials

are increasing patrols inAsian-American communities,

while encouraging the publicto report any incidents.

Federal lawmakers hope a new bill

will back up those efforts.

- This legislation quitesimply gives resources to

make it easier for ourfederal government to

record this data, andmakes it easier for victims

to report this data.

- The bill would requirethe Justice Department

to make investigating COVIDrelated hate crimes a priority,

and provide local police withmore resources to respond

to the violence.

- This is the first timethat we will stand up

as a body to say that wecondemn these kinds of crimes,

and we are going torecognize it for what it is,

hate crimes, and we are goingto do something about it.

This is very bipartisanand I worked very closely

with Susan Collins.

- Now that the Senate has passed the bill,

the Democrat led houseplans to follow suit.

It then heads to President Biden,

who's expected to sign it into law.

Caitlin Burke, CBN News.

- Thank you, Caitlyn.

Well, for the second straight year

the Democratically-controlledHouse of Representatives

has passed a bill to make Washington DC

the 51st state, along party line votes.

But it failed in the Senate last year,

and faces a similar uphill battle again,

even though Democratshave the edge there now.

CBN News Capitol Hillcorrespondent, Abigail Robertson,

brings us that story.

- If signed into law

HR 51 would add two Senateseats that would highly likely

be Democrats, leading Republicans to argue

this is a power grabby the majority party.

But House Democrats passed the bill,

despite their objections.

- In the opinion of theChair, the ayes have it.

- Democrats say it's allabout giving representation

to 700,000 residents who live in DC.

- The truth is there isno good faith argument

for disenfranchising over 700,000 people,

most of whom are people of color.

These desperate objections are about fear.

- And they described the bill,

which passed 216 to 208 as pivotal

to their voting rights platform,

and a way to restore equal citizenship.

Republicans counter,calling the DC Admission Act

an unconstitutional power grab.

- The only reason theDemocrats are doing it

is trying to get more electoralvotes and more senators.

- CBN's David Brody discussed the bill

with the top House Republican,

California Congressman Kevin McCarthy.

- And why they're doingit when they are, because

they know they're goingto lose the majority.

It was never created or should be a state.

If there's anything it should do,

it should go back to Maryland,

from that standpoint, if theywant to be within a state,

but it's unconstitutional.

- Under current rules,the bill needs 60 votes

to break a filibuster in the Senate.

President Joe Biden supports the bill,

but GOP senators arequestioning where the President,

who campaigned on uniting the country

and working together, is hiding.

- The crazies who were running the ship.

And so I'd like to see theJoe Biden we served with

escape from the basementand come out and say,

all right, we're notgoing to break the system.

- Even if Senate Democrats do away

with the legislative filibuster,

it's not clear, they have enough support

to pass DC statehood.

And other progressivepriorities like court packing,

don't seem likely topass the Senate either.

Reporting from Virginia,Abigail Robertson, CBN News.

- All right, thanks Abbie,Gordon, back to you.

- Well, it's a curious argument.

The argument for statehoodcoming from the left,

statehood for DC, is thatsomehow the residents

of the District of Columbiaare disenfranchised.

So you have 700,000 people.

That's the, that's the number.

Well, what about the disenfranchisement

of 328 million Americans, so the 700,000

get two Democrat votes in the US Senate?

This is clearly a power play.

The, the, there aren't anynoble aspirations here.

They want to solidify amajority in the Senate and,

and do that by manipulating the system.

From the beginning,

how the state of Virginiaand the state of Maryland

contributed their land,Maryland gave the most.

They, they gave their landaway to the federal government

in return for a pledge thatthe District of Columbia

would never be a state.

That was the deal that wasmade by the founding fathers.

From the very beginning, DCwas never supposed to have a,

a voice in the Congress.

That was the entire intent

to now say, well, we, we,we're disenfranchising people.

No, you're not.

If, if you, if you want tohave a Senator represent you,

well, there's plenty of room in Maryland.

You can go live.

There's plenty of room inVirginia where you can go live,

and you can have that representation.

We need to keep the status quo

of what the founders put in place.

And they were quite intentional.

DC is federal property.

It should never be a state.