Latest (and very revealing) details of Ahmed and his ‘clock’

On radio Tuesday, Glenn shared an update on the situation with the student in Irving, Texas who was arrested for bringing a supposed clock to school.

Lawrence Jones of the Dana show on TheBlaze TV, discussed the very latest details, and they were nothing short of shocking.

Take a listen below. Also, watch Glenn discuss the situation with the mayor of Irving and a security expert here.

Below is a rush transcript of this segment, it might contain errors.

GLENN: So here's -- let me start with the update. We all know the story now of the kid that was here in Las Colinas, Texas, or Irving, Texas, where our studios are located. This is the most diverse ZIP code in America, and they don't have any problems. We just don't have any problems. Everyone gets along. It's a great town. It's a great down.

This school, which is only 6 percent Caucasian, apparently is the most racist place in the world. Because if you're a Muslim, you're in trouble. Now, I've told you now for the last year, there's a problem with the Muslim community here in Irving, Texas. There is -- and I know this -- okay, so be it, if there's a war, there's a war over words, so be it. There is a problem here in Irving, Texas, and there is a concerted effort to move to Sharia law or at least Sharia compliant here in Irving, Texas. And the mayor of Irving, Texas, is not for that. The citizens of Irving, Texas, are not for that. The Muslims are.

Well, I'm sorry. If you want Sharia law, go live in an Islamic State. You can do that. You don't live here in the United States. We don't have any other law besides American law, period.

Now, I've said this for a while, this mayor is just getting beaten down all the time. She's a wonderful, wonderful mayor. I saw a -- who is the guy who is the TV guy who has been helping us -- or we've been helping him with the VA

PAT: Montel Williams.

GLENN: Did you see what Montel Williams just tweeted?

PAT: No.

GLENN: Yeah, he tweeted yesterday afternoon: Glenn Beck, you know, I know -- I love you and we get along and there's a lot we can work on, but your mayor of Irving is a bigot.

PAT: No.

GLENN: I want Montel Williams. I want you to schedule Montel Williams on the program. You go ahead. I want to know, has he ever met her? Has he ever talked to her? Has he ever been down here? You go ahead and spend some time in our community and see what's going on, and then I want you to go talk to the guys that we did at the mosques, where they're talking about, "Hey, you know, everybody agrees. I mean, it's not just Islam. Everybody agrees. You steal something, you cut the hand off." No, I'm sorry, that's not what we do in the United States, period.

Now, let me give you a couple of updates and Lawrence Jones will join us. First, first update, the activist father of this kid who took a clock from Radio Shack, took it out of its casing, then put it in a briefcase, May made it so it counts down, not up, brought it to school. As we told you yesterday, it was not a science fair, it was not a science project. He was not asked to make it. There was no reason to make it. He brought it to one of his teachers. The teacher did not say, "Oh, my gosh, Johnny, that's such a great clock." The teacher saw it and he said, "What are you doing, bringing this to school? This is wholly inappropriate. Go put that in your locker and never bring it out again."

He didn't. He brings it to another class, and it starts to count down. The teacher is freaking out, like, "What is that?" He's brought into the principal's office. I can't tell you the details of the principal's office because the family will not agree to let the details be released because he's a minor.

Now, let me tell you what I can share with you, this broke yesterday. His activist father, who, by the way, ran for president of the Sudan twice. He is a guy who is in with CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood. He is an activist. His activist father has pulled him and his two siblings out of the school here in Irving, Texas.

Then he's taking his son and his family to meet with dignitaries at the UN as they're starting to raise the Palestinian flag. You know that's happening in the next ten days. So this kid who was just an amazing scientist who went to Radio Shack, took a clock apart, put it in a briefcase, he's now meeting with the dignitaries at the UN. That's not all.

Then he's going to take his pilgrimage with his family to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Once they've walked around the cube, then they're getting on a plane and they're flying directly to the White House where they will sit down and meet with President Obama. Now, you tell me what the hell this story is all about.

You know, I saw a great -- who was it that just posted -- I think it was Mark Levin. I saw a post from him. He said, "You know, the president doesn't want to -- we have a problem figuring out if the president is Christian or not. There's a really easy way for the president to clear this up. Stop behaving in a non-Christian way. Start behaving like a Christian."

PAT: I think that's Erick Erickson from Red State.

GLENN: Erick Erickson. It's exactly right. Start behaving like a Christian. I don't understand this president. I've talked to the mayor of Irving. We've talked to the city council of Irving. We have talked to the police in Irving. We have talked to the school board in Irving. The president has not reached out, not one time, to get the other side of the story. Not once. He has reached out to CAIR and to the Muslim Brotherhood, but not once to the people here in Irving, Texas. So who are you serving, Mr. President? Who is it you are serving? This is a very bad situation.

Now, Lawrence, he came into the hallway -- and I don't want to even characterize anything, Lawrence, because I don't know what you can say or you can't say because some of this stuff, you know, just can't be said because of lawsuits. Quite honestly, I'd like somebody to be sued in this. I wish the family would sue the city because then a discovery period would happen and you would have to release all of the details. So what do you have on this story?

LAWRENCE: So there are a couple key players in this, and I know Beth really well, the mayor of Irving. I know people in the leadership of the school district, all the way up to the school board. And there's certain things they can't say, legally, and then there's certain things that they want to say and they can say legally, but they'll be attacked for.

GLENN: Yes.

LAWRENCE: So some of the information, they've known about this kid for a while. They've known about his father. As you can see in the photos and some of the photo ops of CAIR being in the photo with them, they've been working together for years.

GLENN: Well, before the school board had a chance to respond. Think of this. The school board found out about it the very next day they reach out to the family and they're trying to have a meeting, they want to arrange a meeting. They're meeting already with CAIR. So if you're really sincere about something, you will reach out to the school board first and say, "Hey, what is the deal?" They went right directly to CAIR.

LAWRENCE: Exactly. Because the city has no authority over the school -- in Texas, the school district is the government embodied. They have the authority to make something happen. They were upset with the school district because the school district refused to issue an apology. And the reason why they decided to do this, they believe their law enforcement and their director of security did the right thing. They followed protocol.

GLENN: I agree.

LAWRENCE: That's the first thing. The second thing, when Ali, an imam, got up there and they talked about the suitcase. All right, there's two things that you have to pay attention to. He said that I used wires instead of a lock because I did not want it to be suspicious. This is what the kid is saying.

GLENN: So he knew that somebody would --

LAWRENCE: Now, why in the world would a child say something is suspicious if it's totally innocent.

GLENN: Well, here's the thing, and I said this I think yesterday. And I think this is worth repeating. If I'm -- if I'm Muslim, I know what's happening in the world. I know how we're perceived.

LAWRENCE: Not a doubt.

GLENN: Okay. I'm not not self-aware. For instance, I'm a recovering alcoholic. When I go to a cocktail party or something and we're in a room where there's being liquor served, I never stand with a glass of ice water or anything else. I never ask for a soda. I always ask for a bottle of water. And if there's not a bottle of water, I don't drink anything while I'm standing there because I don't want a picture taken of me with something that could be conceived or perceived as a drink. Okay?

So I know people are judging me and everything else. So you're just uber aware. You can't tell me that a dad who is an activist has his son and brings -- let's just say he didn't even know. His son makes a clock, a countdown clock, puts it in with a bunch of wires, brings it to school, gets in trouble. And you can't tell me that a responsible American doesn't go -- and a responsible Muslim that is not an Islamist, doesn't go to his son at the police department and say, "What the hell did you just do? What did you just do? Do you know what people say about us? People already think that we're terrorists and everything else, and you're just adding to that? You apologize. You apologize."

That's the conversation I would have with my son. If my son went in -- I'm a Mormon. If my son went in and he was just doing stereotypical things that made Mormons look bad. We don't believe in polygamy. But let's just say he was handing out polygamies-for-everybody booklets, and he was for some reason arrested. I would go and say, "Do you realize what you're doing? Do you realize how much you're hurting our faith? You've just played into every stereotype, and you've given them reason to suspect. What are you doing, son?"

LAWRENCE: The reason is because they wanted reason to suspect. This was all calculated.

GLENN: Yes, it was.

LAWRENCE: This was all part of the plan, down to CAIR. And this lady, who is the executive director of CAIR is not an innocent body.

GLENN: Okay. So how is she involved with this?

LAWRENCE: Now, she's the person that's handling all the PR. She's the one who is staging all the media events. Now, we remember. Some of our Dana viewers may remember this lady. Because I did a special report on this. Now, before they attacked the Garland Special Event Center, there was an event there staying with the prophet, right after the attacks happened in France. And then Pamela Geller had this event in response to that event.

Now, who was there? Siraj Wahhaj, who was in New York who was an unindicted coconspirator of the trade center bombings. All right. Who was the head of PR doing that event? This lady right here.

GLENN: And she's the one now standing with this family.

LAWRENCE: Exactly. So we wanted to go into that event. We put our media credentials in right when they released it. And they were at first going to let us in. We get to the door, she says, "The information that we're discussing here is too sensitive."

GLENN: And go so you can't go in.

LAWRENCE: So we can't go in. So I pressed her on it. We want to tell people that if you guys are really peaceful, then let the public see what you guys are about. She said, "Okay, we'll let you come in for the first 20 minutes." But she would not let us stay when the speaker, the unindicted coconspirator, Siraj Wahhaj, stood up on the stage. Now, some people may say, "Oh, that doesn't matter." No, these people are connected. And if we're too ignorant to see all the writing on the wall, then we deserve another attack.

GLENN: How do you know -- I mean, do you have any information on this family being connected to her and to CAIR prior to this?

LAWRENCE: Oh, yeah. There are the pictures that we didn't have enough time to put them on the screen. But there's pictures of them health care connected. She's working on the council.

GLENN: I've seen a picture. Maybe they're in a car.

LAWRENCE: Yeah, they're in a car. She's driving the car.

GLENN: And the clock builder is in the back?

LAWRENCE: With her. She's driving the car. Her and the dad are friends. Okay. They've worked together. You've seen them before in press conference together. When different phobias, they say, come up.

GLENN: Okay. Lawrence, will you do me a favor, will you continue to follow this story? Because there are a lot of people that have information and want to talk.

LAWRENCE: Yeah. They're afraid. They're afraid. I've talked to leaders in the board. People that are in leadership that say they cannot say this. They just cannot.

GLENN: Right. Thank you very much, Lawrence. I appreciate it. I will tell you this, that I -- two years ago somebody came to me in my own company, one of the accountants, and said, "You're going to go broke, and you're going to go broke because of security."

And I pay seven figures for my security for me and my family, but it is worth it. I would rather have my family living under a bridge and be alive in the end than have something stupid happen. Now, I'm a guy who can afford this, barely. But I can afford this. People on the school board can't afford this. People in the mayor's office can't afford this. The police chief can't afford this. The average person who stands up in a city council or a board of education hearing can't afford this. We have to start standing together and standing for common sense because I'm telling you, read it in the book. It Is About Islam. There is a very well coordinated plan with the Muslim Brotherhood. That is the connection to CAIR. And they first anesthetize all of us and get us all to roll over. It is first a cultural jihad, and then it is a violent jihad.

In the book, it spells it out, all of their steps, according to the Muslim Brotherhood. All of the things they have to do. We're down to the last one. And the last one is violent jihad. I'm not saying necessarily this particular. But it fits in to their -- their pattern and their MO. This is the last kind of warnings that you will have trying to get you to just roll over, roll over, roll over, before it becomes violent. We must stand together and stand together -- not in hatred. Because that's not who we are. But in common sense and common ground.

Featured Image: 14-year-old Ahmed Ahmed Mohamed is comforted by his father Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed, as they attend a news conference on September 16, 2015 in Irving, Texas. Mohammed was detained after a high school teacher falsely concluded that a homemade clock he brought to class might be a bomb. The news conference, held outside the Mohammed family home, was hosted by the North Texas Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. (Photo by Ben Torres/Getty Images)

A Sharia enclave is quietly taking root in America. It's time to wake up.

NOVA SAFO / Staff | Getty Images

Sharia-based projects like the Meadow in Texas show how political Islam grows quietly, counting on Americans to stay silent while an incompatible legal system takes root.

Apolitical system completely incompatible with the Constitution is gaining ground in the United States, and we are pretending it is not happening.

Sharia — the legal and political framework of Islam — is being woven into developments, institutions, and neighborhoods, including a massive project in Texas. And the consequences will be enormous if we continue to look the other way.

This is the contradiction at the heart of political Islam: It claims universal authority while insisting its harshest rules will never be enforced here. That promise does not stand up to scrutiny. It never has.

Before we can have an honest debate, we’d better understand what Sharia represents. Sharia is not simply a set of religious rules about prayer or diet. It is a comprehensive legal and political structure that governs marriage, finance, criminal penalties, and civic life. It is a parallel system that claims supremacy wherever it takes hold.

This is where the distinction matters. Many Muslims in America want nothing to do with Sharia governance. They came here precisely because they lived under it. But political Islam — the movement that seeks to implement Sharia as law — is not the same as personal religious belief.

It is a political ideology with global ambitions, much like communism. Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently warned that Islamist movements do not seek peaceful coexistence with the West. They seek dominance. History backs him up.

How Sharia arrives

Political Islam does not begin with dramatic declarations. It starts quietly, through enclaves that operate by their own rules. That is why the development once called EPIC City — now rebranded as the Meadow — is so concerning. Early plans framed it as a Muslim-only community built around a mega-mosque and governed by Sharia-compliant financing. After state investigations were conducted, the branding changed, but the underlying intent remained the same.

Developers have openly described practices designed to keep non-Muslims out, using fees and ownership structures to create de facto religious exclusivity. This is not assimilation. It is the construction of a parallel society within a constitutional republic.

The warning from those who have lived under it

Years ago, local imams in Texas told me, without hesitation, that certain Sharia punishments “just work.” They spoke about cutting off hands for theft, stoning adulterers, and maintaining separate standards of testimony for men and women. They insisted it was logical and effective while insisting they would never attempt to implement it in Texas.

But when pressed, they could not explain why a system they consider divinely mandated would suddenly stop applying once someone crossed a border.

This is the contradiction at the heart of political Islam: It claims universal authority while insisting its harshest rules will never be enforced here. That promise does not stand up to scrutiny. It never has.

AASHISH KIPHAYET / Contributor | Getty Images

America is vulnerable

Europe is already showing us where this road leads. No-go zones, parallel courts, political intimidation, and clerics preaching supremacy have taken root across major cities.

America’s strength has always come from its melting pot, but assimilation requires boundaries. It requires insisting that the Constitution, not religious law, is the supreme authority on this soil.

Yet we are becoming complacent, even fearful, about saying so. We mistake silence for tolerance. We mistake avoidance for fairness. Meanwhile, political Islam views this hesitation as weakness.

Religious freedom is one of America’s greatest gifts. Muslims may worship freely here, as they should. But political Islam must not be permitted to plant a flag on American soil. The Constitution cannot coexist with a system that denies equal rights, restricts speech, subordinates women, and places clerical authority above civil law.

Wake up before it is too late

Projects like the Meadow are not isolated. They are test runs, footholds, proofs of concept. Political Islam operates with patience. It advances through demographic growth, legal ambiguity, and cultural hesitation — and it counts on Americans being too polite, too distracted, or too afraid to confront it.

We cannot afford that luxury. If we fail to defend the principles that make this country free, we will one day find ourselves asking how a parallel system gained power right in front of us. The answer will be simple: We looked away.

The time to draw boundaries and to speak honestly is now. The time to defend the Constitution as the supreme law of the land is now. Act while there is still time.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

The Crisis of Meaning: Searching for truth and purpose

Mario Tama / Staff | Getty Images

Anxiety, anger, and chronic dissatisfaction signal a country searching for meaning. Without truth and purpose, politics becomes a dangerous substitute for identity.

We have built a world overflowing with noise, convenience, and endless choice, yet something essential has slipped out of reach. You can sense it in the restless mood of the country, the anxiety among young people who cannot explain why they feel empty, in the angry confusion that dominates our politics.

We have more wealth than any nation in history, but the heart of the culture feels strangely malnourished. Before we can debate debt or elections, we must confront the reality that we created a world of things, but not a world of purpose.

You cannot survive a crisis you refuse to name, and you cannot rebuild a world whose foundations you no longer understand.

What we are living through is not just economic or political dysfunction. It is the vacuum that appears when a civilization mistakes abundance for meaning.

Modern life is stuffed with everything except what the human soul actually needs. We built systems to make life faster, easier, and more efficient — and then wondered why those systems cannot teach our children who they are, why they matter, or what is worth living for.

We tell the next generation to chase success, influence, and wealth, turning childhood into branding. We ask kids what they want to do, not who they want to be. We build a world wired for dopamine rather than dignity, and then we wonder why so many people feel unmoored.

When everything is curated, optimized, and delivered at the push of a button, the question “what is my life for?” gets lost in the static.

The crisis beneath the headlines

It is not just the young who feel this crisis. Every part of our society is straining under the weight of meaninglessness.

Look at the debt cycle — the mathematical fate no civilization has ever escaped once it crosses a threshold that we seem to have already blown by. While ordinary families feel the pressure, our leaders respond with distraction, with denial, or by rewriting the very history that could have warned us.

You cannot survive a crisis you refuse to name, and you cannot rebuild a world whose foundations you no longer understand.

We have entered a cultural moment where the noise is so loud that it drowns out the simplest truths. We are living in a country that no longer knows how to hear itself think.

So people go searching. Some drift toward the false promise of socialism, some toward the empty thrill of rebellion. Some simply check out. When a culture forgets what gives life meaning, it becomes vulnerable to every ideology that offers a quick answer.

The quiet return of meaning

And yet, quietly, something else is happening. Beneath the frustration and cynicism, many Americans are recognizing that meaning does not come from what we own, but from what we honor. It does not rise from success, but from virtue. It does not emerge from noise, but from the small, sacred things that modern life has pushed to the margins — the home, the table, the duty you fulfill, the person you help when no one is watching.

The danger is assuming that this rediscovery happens on its own. It does not.

Reorientation requires intention. It requires rebuilding the habits and virtues that once held us together. It requires telling the truth about our history instead of rewriting it to fit today’s narratives. And it requires acknowledging what has been erased: that meaning is inseparable from God’s presence in a nation’s life.

Harold M. Lambert / Contributor | Getty Images

Where renewal begins

We have built a world without stillness, and then we wondered why no one can hear the questions that matter. Those questions remain, whether we acknowledge them or not. They do not disappear just because we drown them in entertainment or noise. They wait for us, and the longer we ignore them, the more disoriented we become.

Meaning is still available. It is found in rebuilding the smallest, most human spaces — the places that cannot be digitized, globalized, or automated. The home. The family. The community.

These are the daily virtues that do not trend on social media, but that hold a civilization upright. If we want to repair this country, we begin there, exactly where every durable civilization has always begun: one virtue at a time, one tradition at a time, one generation at a time.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

A break in trust: A NEW Watergate is brewing in plain sight

Gary Hershorn / Contributor | Getty Images

When institutions betray the public’s trust, the country splits, and the spiral is hard to stop.

Something drastic is happening in American life. Headlines that should leave us stunned barely register anymore. Stories that once would have united the country instead dissolve into silence or shrugs.

It is not apathy exactly. It is something deeper — a growing belief that the people in charge either cannot or will not fix what is broken.

When people feel ignored or betrayed, they will align with anyone who appears willing to fight on their behalf.

I call this response the Bubba effect. It describes what happens when institutions lose so much public trust that “Bubba,” the average American minding his own business, finally throws his hands up and says, “Fine. I will handle it myself.” Not because he wants to, but because the system that was supposed to protect him now feels indifferent, corrupt, or openly hostile.

The Bubba effect is not a political movement. It is a survival instinct.

What triggers the Bubba effect

We are watching the triggers unfold in real time. When members of Congress publicly encourage active duty troops to disregard orders from the commander in chief, that is not a political squabble. When a federal judge quietly rewrites the rules so one branch of government can secretly surveil another, that is not normal. That is how republics fall. Yet these stories glided across the news cycle without urgency, without consequence, without explanation.

When the American people see the leadership class shrug, they conclude — correctly — that no one is steering the ship.

This is how the Bubba effect spreads. It is not just individuals resisting authority. It is sheriffs refusing to enforce new policies, school boards ignoring state mandates, entire communities saying, “We do not believe you anymore.” It becomes institutional, cultural, national.

A country cracking from the inside

This effect can be seen in Dearborn, Michigan. In the rise of fringe voices like Nick Fuentes. In the Epstein scandal, where powerful people could not seem to locate a single accountable adult. These stories are different in content but identical in message: The system protects itself, not you.

When people feel ignored or betrayed, they will align with anyone who appears willing to fight on their behalf. That does not mean they suddenly agree with everything that person says. It means they feel abandoned by the institutions that were supposed to be trustworthy.

The Bubba effect is what fills that vacuum.

The dangers of a faithless system

A republic cannot survive without credibility. Congress cannot oversee intelligence agencies if it refuses to discipline its own members. The military cannot remain apolitical if its chain of command becomes optional. The judiciary cannot defend the Constitution while inventing loopholes that erase the separation of powers.

History shows that once a nation militarizes politics, normalizes constitutional shortcuts, or allows government agencies to operate without scrutiny, it does not return to equilibrium peacefully. Something will give.

The question is what — and when.

The responsibility now belongs to us

In a healthy country, this is where the media steps in. This is where universities, pastors, journalists, and cultural leaders pause the outrage machine and explain what is at stake. But today, too many see themselves not as guardians of the republic, but of ideology. Their first loyalty is to narrative, not truth.

The founders never trusted the press more than the public. They trusted citizens who understood their rights, lived their responsibilities, and demanded accountability. That is the antidote to the Bubba effect — not rage, but citizenship.

How to respond without breaking ourselves

Do not riot. Do not withdraw. Do not cheer on destruction just because you dislike the target. That is how nations lose themselves. Instead, demand transparency. Call your representatives. Insist on consequences. Refuse to normalize constitutional violations simply because “everyone does it.” If you expect nothing, you will get nothing.

Do not hand your voice to the loudest warrior simply because he is swinging a bat at the establishment. You do not beat corruption by joining a different version of it. You beat it by modeling the country you want to preserve: principled, accountable, rooted in truth.

Adam Gray / Stringer | Getty Images

Every republic reaches a moment when historians will later say, “That was the warning.” We are living in ours. But warnings are gifts if they are recognized. Institutions bend. People fail. The Constitution can recover — if enough Americans still know and cherish it.

It does not take a majority. Twenty percent of the country — awake, educated, and courageous — can reset the system. It has happened before. It can happen again.

Wake up. Stand up. Demand integrity — from leaders, from institutions, and from yourself. Because the Bubba effect will not end until Americans reclaim the duty that has always belonged to them: preserving the republic for the next generation.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Grim warning: Bad-faith Israel critics duck REAL questions

Spencer Platt / Staff | Getty Images

Bad-faith attacks on Israel and AIPAC warp every debate. Real answers emerge only when people set aside scripts and ask what serves America’s long-term interests.

The search for truth has always required something very much in short supply these days: honesty. Not performative questions, not scripted outrage, not whatever happens to be trending on TikTok, but real curiosity.

Some issues, often focused on foreign aid, AIPAC, or Israel, have become hotbeds of debate and disagreement. Before we jump into those debates, however, we must return to a simpler, more important issue: honest questioning. Without it, nothing in these debates matters.

Ask questions because you want the truth, not because you want a target.

The phrase “just asking questions” has re-entered the zeitgeist, and that’s fine. We should always question power. But too many of those questions feel preloaded with someone else’s answer. If the goal is truth, then the questions should come from a sincere desire to understand, not from a hunt for a villain.

Honest desire for truth is the only foundation that can support a real conversation about these issues.

Truth-seeking is real work

Right now, plenty of people are not seeking the truth at all. They are repeating something they heard from a politician on cable news or from a stranger on TikTok who has never opened a history book. That is not a search for answers. That is simply outsourcing your own thought.

If you want the truth, you need to work for it. You cannot treat the world like a Marvel movie where the good guy appears in a cape and the villain hisses on command. Real life does not give you a neat script with the moral wrapped up in two hours.

But that is how people are approaching politics now. They want the oppressed and the oppressor, the heroic underdog and the cartoon villain. They embrace this fantastical framing because it is easier than wrestling with reality.

This framing took root in the 1960s when the left rebuilt its worldview around colonizers and the colonized. Overnight, Zionism was recast as imperialism. Suddenly, every conflict had to fit the same script. Today’s young activists are just recycling the same narrative with updated graphics. Everything becomes a morality play. No nuance, no context, just the comforting clarity of heroes and villains.

Bad-faith questions

This same mindset is fueling the sudden obsession with Israel, and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in particular. You hear it from members of Congress and activists alike: AIPAC pulls the strings, AIPAC controls the government, AIPAC should register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The questions are dramatic, but are they being asked in good faith?

FARA is clear. The standard is whether an individual or group acts under the direction or control of a foreign government. AIPAC simply does not qualify.

Here is a detail conveniently left out of these arguments: Dozens of domestic organizations — Armenian, Cuban, Irish, Turkish — lobby Congress on behalf of other countries. None of them registers under FARA because — like AIPAC — they are independent, domestic organizations.

If someone has a sincere problem with the structure of foreign lobbying, fair enough. Let us have that conversation. But singling out AIPAC alone is not a search for truth. It is bias dressed up as bravery.

Anadolu / Contributor | Getty Images

If someone wants to question foreign aid to Israel, fine. Let’s have that debate. But let’s ask the right questions. The issue is not the size of the package but whether the aid advances our interests. What does the United States gain? Does the investment strengthen our position in the region? How does it compare to what we give other nations? And do we examine those countries with the same intensity?

The real target

These questions reflect good-faith scrutiny. But narrowing the entire argument to one country or one dollar amount misses the larger problem. If someone objects to the way America handles foreign aid, the target is not Israel. The target is the system itself — an entrenched bureaucracy, poor transparency, and decades-old commitments that have never been re-examined. Those problems run through programs around the world.

If you want answers, you need to broaden the lens. You have to be willing to put aside the movie script and confront reality. You have to hold yourself to a simple rule: Ask questions because you want the truth, not because you want a target.

That is the only way this country ever gets clarity on foreign aid, influence, alliances, and our place in the world. Questioning is not just allowed. It is essential. But only if it is honest.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.