It was painful to watch the news Saturday morning after the jihadist and Iran-backed Hamas Palestinian militants unleashed a surprise attack of over 5,000 missiles on at least 25 locations in Israel. More than 1,000 were killed and thousands wounded while at least 100 civilian and soldier hostages (including children and elderly) were taken captive into the Gaza. Americans are apparently among the hostages and those who were killed.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that Hamas said their attacks on Israel were backed and assisted by Iran.

Here’s a 1-minute YouTube video our dear friend and the head of our Israel security team (when we were visiting there) sent us right after the attack.

What’s Hamas’ goal? Hamas has stated it repeatedly: To pull in every enemy of Israel to join them in their battle. To spark an Islamic jihad and global war, including the largest terrorist-sponsoring nation, Iran. In short, to wipe out the state of Israel.

To add insult to injury, what’s pure international insanity is that the Biden administration just gave $6 billion (with a “b”) to the Iran government in exchange for five American hostages ($1.2 billion each).

And what message and precedent does Mr. Biden think that will give to other hostage-loving Islamic extremist regimes like Iran? Especially as Iran and Hezbollah praise the Hamas terrorists for launching a war on Israel over the weekend!

And it gets worse.

The New York Post added, “Multiple reports also suggest Washington is allowing Tehran to trade $7 billion in International Monetary Fund special drawing rights for fiat currency.

“At the same time, US officials now admit they’re allowing Iranian oil exports to China to skyrocket with estimates ranging from 1.4 to 2.2 million barrels per day flowing in August – their highest levels since President Donald Trump ended America’s participation in the old Iran nuclear deal.”

To add to that chaotic international cocktail, the Jerusalem Post recently reported that Iran can produce fissile material for nuclear bombs within two weeks.

And not to be an alarmist, but is it merely coincidental that Russia is preparing nationwide drills for a nuclear war scenario and the U.S. military is laying the groundwork to reinstitute the draft?

“This is a very, very dangerous situation,” said Bernard Avishai, a professor of government at Dartmouth, who has written extensively on Israel and spoke a while back to Yahoo News about the imminent danger a nuclear-equipped Iran presents to the Jewish state, the Middle East and the world.

“At the same time, Iran is engaging in what National Security Council spokesman John Kirby described … as ‘unprecedented defense cooperation’ with Russia, whose invasion of Ukraine has left it few other allies. Kirby told reporters that ‘Iran is seeking billions of dollars worth of military equipment from Russia,’ including fighter jets, in exchange for providing the Kremlin with Shahed-136 drones and Fateh-110 surface-to-surface missiles.

“‘Certainly, it’s not good for the Middle East,’ Kirby said. Iran has foes other than Israel in the area, Saudi Arabia foremost among them. But the desire to rid the region of the world’s only Jewish state is less a policy goal for Tehran than an overarching commitment. In 2020, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s top cleric, deemed Israel a ‘cancerous tumor’ [to be destroyed], echoing rhetoric that has changed little in its intensity since the founding of the Islamic Republic in 1979.”

Iranian-nuclear capability is a powder keg for an all-out Middle East war that could easily lead to Armageddon. And, tragically, the flint has been provided by the U.S. federal government from the Democratic administrations of presidents Carter and Clinton, down to Obama and now Biden.

I’ll never forget in 2015, reading an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll that revealed 70% of Americans doubted any deal could stop Iran from producing a nuclear bomb. Nevertheless, then-President Obama called the U.S.-Iran nuclear deal, “a good deal that meets our core objectives” and will cut off Tehran’s path to a bomb. But Middle East leaders couldn’t have disagreed more.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu retorted, “Such a deal doesn’t block Iran’s path to the bomb, it paves Iran’s path to the bomb.”

Saudi officials conveyed then to the White House, while they hoped an agreement would enhance security in the region, they were simultaneously countering Iran’s nuclear chess move by seeking the sources to build a bomb themselves to protect them from their neighboring Persian tyrants.

When I found out back then that the Obama administration secretly sent $400 million in cash to Iran as a ransom for the release of four hostages, which the White House denied​ was the case, I couldn’t believe it.

But then when I heard that the Obama administration also secretly sent an additional $1.3 billion in cash and gold to Iran, without telling Americans or Congress, I was furious.

To add insult to injury, when I learned the Obama administration sent a total of over $33.6 billion dollars to Iran over a few year period, I was fighting mad!

And now, the Biden administration just gave the terrorist-sponsoring Islamic state another $6 billion?!

Am I living in the government Twilight Zone?! Is the U.S. not funding its own demise?!

And did any of that funding stop the Iranian regime from threatening us or sponsoring terrorists like Hamas and Hezbollah? No! Did it make them think less about taking future hostages? No! Did it slow down their nuclear ambitions? No! Tragically, it just ramped them up. (Nuclear war remains among Americans’ top fears.)

America’s founders would have never made or endorsed such a radically dangerous and foolish fiscal or political move in a million years. They largely opposed permanent foreign alliances or entanglements. And they certainly never would have doled out tens of billions of dollars to a foreign hostile power when they were $33 trillion in debt!

George Washington spoke for most in his 1796 Farewell Address, when he said: “It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world; so far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it; for let me not be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing engagements. I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy. I repeat it, therefore, let those engagements be observed in their genuine sense. But, in my opinion, it is unnecessary and would be unwise to extend them.”

Quite frankly, I think the U.S. has been absolutely foolish to have any negotiations at all with an Islamic regime and state that harbors, empowers and finances terrorists who hate the U.S. The fact is, the feds have aided and abetted ours and Israel’s enemies. They are beyond ignorant and duped to believe Iran would not break its promises and produce nuclear bombs.

The U.S. is no longer worthy of the title “friend and ally of Israel,” at least while any Democrat president is in power. When the U.S. empowers Israel’s greatest neighboring enemy’s nuclear capability, is it not obvious we are traveling down the wrong road?

All of my life I have had a love for Israel. My mother raised my two brothers and me on Judeo-Christian values and beliefs. I even went on to film three of my action movies in Israel – “Delta Force” being my favorite. My wife, Gena, and I have also formed many great friendships there in the Holy Land, including with the prime minister and his wife.

A strong and secure Israel is imperative for Middle East stability. That is why I’ve repeatedly supported Bibi’s reelection, and why I vehemently opposed the disastrous U.S. nuclear agreement with Iran, which all U.S. senators (except one) oppose even in any newer version.

The U.S. recognized Israel as a sovereign state in 1948, and we need to continue to do so. We – including our next president – must never quit striving for Middle East peace, while always acknowledging that Israel is our chief ally there.

It is still remarkable to me that a piece of land so small – only roughly 263 miles long and 71 miles wide – has been at the center stage of Middle East politics and war for millennia, and its capital, Jerusalem, at the very heart of the debate and battles. (Here is a 5-minute video history summarizing 4,000 years of upheaval in that sacred city.).

It’s no coincidence that Megiddo, Israel, has also been at the heart of countless wars and battles, and it is where the Bible describes the apocalyptic war of Armageddon taking place.

Got Questions summarized, “Throughout history, armies have fought countless battles in that region: Egyptians, Assyrians, Greeks, Romans, and Crusaders fought in Megiddo, as well as the armies of Napoleon. Megiddo was the site of battles during World War I and the Arab-Israeli War of 1948 (Weintraub, P., “Rewriting Tel Megiddo’s Violent History,” Discover, Sep 30, 2015). In the future, the plain of Megiddo and the nearby plain of Esdraelon will also be the focal point for the battle of Armageddon.”

Anti-American and anti-Israeli terrorists – including Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, al-Qaida, ISIS and other terrorist-sponsoring states and groups – are right now on the move and strategizing, growing in power and hell-bent more than ever to overthrow Israel and seize every last facet of Jerusalem.

With further nuclear threats and bolstering coming from Russia, China, and even North Korea, all at once, is it not obvious that the end times’ final scenes are being further set by Iran’s nuclear armament? With antisemitism reaching all-time highs, doesn’t Mr. Biden see it’s not time to play passive-political tiddlywinks with nuclear bombs and fascist Islamic regimes?

Singer superstar Kenny Rogers once wrote in his No. 1 song, “The Gambler”: “You’ve got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em, know when to walk away, and know when to run.”

Then again, if you know very little about the international game of nuclear poker, it’s probably best simply to stay away from the poker table.

As Psalm 122:6 in the Bible entreats, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May they prosper who love you.”

This article was originally published by the WND News Center.

This post originally appeared on WND News Center.