U.S. won’t grant visa for Iraqi nun

May 01, 2015

WRITER

As an Iraqi Christian, Sister Diana Momek has seen her fair share of persecution. She was shocked, however, when the U.S. government refused her visa after she requested to visit the United States. Their reason? They’re afraid she’ll never go back. Since when has the amnesty touting Obama administration cared if immigrants ever go back? Ridiculous.

WATCH:

Glenn: This is going to really kind of hack you off. This week, Sister Diana Momeka was denied a visa by the US Consulate office in Erbil, Iraq. Now, this is the denial letter. Remember, we are just letting people in who come across the border. We don’t care. We just turn them away. Somebody comes in with a reason, there’s a reason to come into the country, we don’t let them in. It’s not even signed.

The reason that they won’t let her in is she wasn’t able to provide enough evidence that she would actually return to her home country, this, despite having a letter from her superior—she’s a nun—that she has been employed since last February at the local college and is contracted to teach there next year. Sister Diana joins me now from Iraq. Hello, Sister. How are you?

Sister Diana: I’m good. How are you? Thank you for having me.

Glenn: I’m good. Sister, I have a hard time sometimes. I so want to be more Christlike. I so want to be more like Mother Teresa and Gandhi, but sometimes I hear stories like this, and man, it’s only the table turning over part of Jesus that comes out in me. So, I’m going to try to be really calm here because this drives me crazy. As we are trying to get the word out about the plight of Christians in Iraq, you asked to come over to meet with whom, exactly?

Sister Diana: Well, the truth is many organizations have come to Erbil when we were forced to leave our homes and so the situation or the displacement actually, and we’ve been working at Dominican Sisters underground since the displacement. So, we’ve met lots of friends that they came through organization, NGOs especially, the 21st Century Wilberforce and the Institute of Global Engagement. When we met with the members of these two organizations actually and they learned a lot about the situation of the IDPs, they suggested if I can come and speak about our work or experience as IDPs and the crisis and challenges that we’ve been facing since August 6 up to this day. After thinking about how to do this, I said yes, and they sent me the invitation letter through the two NGOs that are very considerate and the US that I know, actually. Besides, I have a support letter from a congresswoman and an issue supporting that I’m coming to speak about our situation.

Glenn: Right. I have that you were going to meet with the Senate and House Foreign Relations Committee, the State Department, US Aid, and various NGOs. You have more than one sponsor in Congress, and the State Department is calling you a liar basically.

Sister Diana: Well, I was quite shocked actually because I had lived in the US for almost over than six years, and I had my masters there. I had my doctorate there. I was so surprised that I was denied for one reason because I have all the supported letters. I didn’t expect that answer that it hurt me bad that it’s not enough that I am an IDP, but to said in my face when they told me, when the consular told me your visa has been denied,. I asked for the reason. He said just because you’re an IDP. I questioned myself, IDP is not a human anymore?

Glenn: An IDP, so people know is internally displaced person, so in other words, a person with no home.

Sister Diana: Yes. He said I can’t grant you a visa until you return home, and my answer was right away but we don’t know when are we returning home. Maybe that will be in 10 years or 20 years. Does that mean I’m not allowed to travel anymore? So, that was quite a shock for me. How would I do that, you know? To say it in my face because I am an IDP with all these supported letter that I handed to the consular to look at. So, that’s what shocked me the most. It just makes me question, aren’t we human that we are without home? But we still have dignity, you know? I am so honored to be an Iraqi Christian who has been persecuted, but I just felt I was so persecuted by this answer, to tell you the truth.

Glenn: Sister, I just got out of our screening room before I came on set here. I saw the last ISIS murder, and I’ve got a couple of guys on staff that were dissecting their message for me. What they have come up with, and we’re hopefully going to be releasing this next week, the media has this all wrong. We believe that ISIS is actually terrified of these Christians, and we’ll explain it next week, because of the faith that they have. They have not encountered people that will not pay a tax. They have not encountered people who say I’m not going to kill you, but kill me if you must; I will stand with Christ. They’re freaking out. They don’t know what to do. Would you agree with that?

Sister Diana: I totally agree. I would say Middle East has been suffering from the first century from persecution, and this has been strengthening our faith actually because we have three choices. We have either to convert to Islam or to be killed or to pay taxes, and we refuse to do either one of them because we want to keep our faith, and we are so honored to be Christ’s, you know, power. So, we’ll keep doing that as much as we can, even in the face of death. Lots of people stayed in our hometowns because they did not know that, and they were asked to convert or to get killed. They chose to get killed, but then they released them after they tortured them very badly, and they kept their faith. They did not want to convert to Islam or even to pay taxes or ransom, what you call it or whatever.

Glenn: Sister, you have right now an open microphone and video where you’re looking people in the eye, and this is a very engaged audience. They care. What would you tell them? What can we do? What do they need to know on what’s going on?

Sister Diana: You know, the message that I always carry in my heart and tell the people who really care that you have brothers and sisters in Iraq who have been many times abused. They need to feel that they are loved, they are cared for in so many ways, you know, now especially that we don’t know if we have any future anymore because our children are without proper schooling. Our students are without universities.

So, what I would like to say to people who care about us really that please, please, please, keep us in your prayers as we are facing a very, very difficult time. If any way that you can help us, remember, there are lots of people or many thousands of families that still live in prefabs. Actually now I am talking with you, I’m sitting on my prefab. That’s where I live. It’s a container made from a sandwich panel. That’s how I live. It’s very hot in the summer and very cold in the winter, and that’s how people are living.

Some, they are living in warehouses that they don’t have any heat or air condition in the summer. Lots of families, let’s say three or four families, they are living in one house without any privacy. So, any way that you can help, your heart tells you, please do for your brothers and sisters, please.

Glenn: Sister, I’m going to be real honest with you. I don’t think I’m alone that we know what’s going on. We know that God won’t hold us blameless. But we feel ill-equipped. Every day I come into the show, and I do this show, and I feel like—I mean honestly, I’m watching you in a monitor, and I see the camera take the angle from our jib operator where I’m sitting in this nice chair in this air-conditioned studio, and I’m talking to you and I’m thinking to myself—honestly, part of your comments I wasn’t even listening to you because I’m thinking to myself, What the hell are you doing? You should be out helping. But I don’t know how to help, and I think that most of our audience feels the same way. We know what’s going on, Sister. We just don’t know what to do. Pray for us, will you?

Sister Diana: Pray for us that we could return to our homes, because without our homes, we become people without identity. And if we lose our identity, it’s so easy to lose our humanity. The simple example that I can recall again is when I was told in the US consular that I can’t have a visa because I’m an IDP. This is a simple example, and there are many that I can’t mention, you know? So, if you keep praying and tell the world to find some ways to help us to return to our towns, to our churches, to our schools, to our universities, to our, lives this is the most important thing.

Glenn: Sister, I want you to know that there are millions of people that are praying for you. My family is not alone in praying for the people of Iraq and Syria and the Middle East of all religions that they may stop seeing the evil that they’re forced to see and live with every day. If you would just pray for us, we’ll continue to pray for you. Know that you are loved, and we will talk again, Sister. God bless you.

Sister Diana: Thank you. Thank you.

Breaking point: Will America stand up to the mob?

Jeff J Mitchell / Staff | Getty Images

The mob rises where men of courage fall silent. The lesson from Portland, Chicago, and other blue cities is simple: Appeasing radicals doesn’t buy peace — it only rents humiliation.

Parts of America, like Portland and Chicago, now resemble occupied territory. Progressive city governments have surrendered control to street militias, leaving citizens, journalists, and even federal officers to face violent anarchists without protection.

Take Portland, where Antifa has terrorized the city for more than 100 consecutive nights. Federal officers trying to keep order face nightly assaults while local officials do nothing. Independent journalists, such as Nick Sortor, have even been arrested for documenting the chaos. Sortor and Blaze News reporter Julio Rosas later testified at the White House about Antifa’s violence — testimony that corporate media outlets buried.

Antifa is organized, funded, and emboldened.

Chicago offers the same grim picture. Federal agents have been stalked, ambushed, and denied backup from local police while under siege from mobs. Calls for help went unanswered, putting lives in danger. This is more than disorder; it is open defiance of federal authority and a violation of the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause.

A history of violence

For years, the legacy media and left-wing think tanks have portrayed Antifa as “decentralized” and “leaderless.” The opposite is true. Antifa is organized, disciplined, and well-funded. Groups like Rose City Antifa in Oregon, the Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club in Texas, and Jane’s Revenge operate as coordinated street militias. Legal fronts such as the National Lawyers Guild provide protection, while crowdfunding networks and international supporters funnel money directly to the movement.

The claim that Antifa lacks structure is a convenient myth — one that’s cost Americans dearly.

History reminds us what happens when mobs go unchecked. The French Revolution, Weimar Germany, Mao’s Red Guards — every one began with chaos on the streets. But it wasn’t random. Today’s radicals follow the same playbook: Exploit disorder, intimidate opponents, and seize moral power while the state looks away.

Dismember the dragon

The Trump administration’s decision to designate Antifa a domestic terrorist organization was long overdue. The label finally acknowledged what citizens already knew: Antifa functions as a militant enterprise, recruiting and radicalizing youth for coordinated violence nationwide.

But naming the threat isn’t enough. The movement’s financiers, organizers, and enablers must also face justice. Every dollar that funds Antifa’s destruction should be traced, seized, and exposed.

AFP Contributor / Contributor | Getty Images

This fight transcends party lines. It’s not about left versus right; it’s about civilization versus anarchy. When politicians and judges excuse or ignore mob violence, they imperil the republic itself. Americans must reject silence and cowardice while street militias operate with impunity.

Antifa is organized, funded, and emboldened. The violence in Portland and Chicago is deliberate, not spontaneous. If America fails to confront it decisively, the price won’t just be broken cities — it will be the erosion of the republic itself.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Colorado counselor fights back after faith declared “illegal”

Drew Angerer / Staff | Getty Images

The state is effectively silencing professionals who dare speak truths about gender and sexuality, redefining faith-guided speech as illegal.

This week, free speech is once again on the line before the U.S. Supreme Court. At stake is whether Americans still have the right to talk about faith, morality, and truth in their private practice without the government’s permission.

The case comes out of Colorado, where lawmakers in 2019 passed a ban on what they call “conversion therapy.” The law prohibits licensed counselors from trying to change a minor’s gender identity or sexual orientation, including their behaviors or gender expression. The law specifically targets Christian counselors who serve clients attempting to overcome gender dysphoria and not fall prey to the transgender ideology.

The root of this case isn’t about therapy. It’s about erasing a worldview.

The law does include one convenient exception. Counselors are free to “assist” a person who wants to transition genders but not someone who wants to affirm their biological sex. In other words, you can help a child move in one direction — one that is in line with the state’s progressive ideology — but not the other.

Think about that for a moment. The state is saying that a counselor can’t even discuss changing behavior with a client. Isn’t that the whole point of counseling?

One‑sided freedom

Kaley Chiles, a licensed professional counselor in Colorado Springs, has been one of the victims of this blatant attack on the First Amendment. Chiles has dedicated her practice to helping clients dealing with addiction, trauma, sexuality struggles, and gender dysphoria. She’s also a Christian who serves patients seeking guidance rooted in biblical teaching.

Before 2019, she could counsel minors according to her faith. She could talk about biblical morality, identity, and the path to wholeness. When the state outlawed that speech, she stopped. She followed the law — and then she sued.

Her case, Chiles v. Salazar, is now before the Supreme Court. Justices heard oral arguments on Tuesday. The question: Is counseling a form of speech or merely a government‑regulated service?

If the court rules the wrong way, it won’t just silence therapists. It could muzzle pastors, teachers, parents — anyone who believes in truth grounded in something higher than the state.

Censored belief

I believe marriage between a man and a woman is ordained by God. I believe that family — mother, father, child — is central to His design for humanity.

I believe that men and women are created in God’s image, with divine purpose and eternal worth. Gender isn’t an accessory; it’s part of who we are.

I believe the command to “be fruitful and multiply” still stands, that the power to create life is sacred, and that it belongs within marriage between a man and a woman.

And I believe that when we abandon these principles — when we treat sex as recreation, when we dissolve families, when we forget our vows — society fractures.

Are those statements controversial now? Maybe. But if this case goes against Chiles, those statements and others could soon be illegal to say aloud in public.

Faith on trial

In Colorado today, a counselor cannot sit down with a 15‑year‑old who’s struggling with gender identity and say, “You were made in God’s image, and He does not make mistakes.” That is now considered hate speech.

That’s the “freedom” the modern left is offering — freedom to affirm, but never to question. Freedom to comply, but never to dissent. The same movement that claims to champion tolerance now demands silence from anyone who disagrees. The root of this case isn’t about therapy. It’s about erasing a worldview.

The real test

No matter what happens at the Supreme Court, we cannot stop speaking the truth. These beliefs aren’t political slogans. For me, they are the product of years of wrestling, searching, and learning through pain and grace what actually leads to peace. For us, they are the fundamental principles that lead to a flourishing life. We cannot balk at standing for truth.

Maybe that’s why God allows these moments — moments when believers are pushed to the wall. They force us to ask hard questions: What is true? What is worth standing for? What is worth dying for — and living for?

If we answer those questions honestly, we’ll find not just truth, but freedom.

The state doesn’t grant real freedom — and it certainly isn’t defined by Colorado legislators. Real freedom comes from God. And the day we forget that, the First Amendment will mean nothing at all.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Glenn Beck joins Megyn Kelly LIVE — One night ONLY in Fort Worth!

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What will happen when two of America’s sharpest voices collide under the spotlight? Will Glenn finally reveal the major announcement he’s been teasing on the radio for weeks? You’ll have to be there to find out.

This promises to be more than just an interview — it’s a live showdown packed with wit, honesty, and the kind of energy you can only feel if you are in the room. Tickets are selling fast, so don’t miss your chance to see Glenn like you’ve never seen him before.

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What our response to Israel reveals about us

JOSEPH PREZIOSO / Contributor | Getty Images

I have been honored to receive the Defender of Israel Award from Prime Minister Netanyahu.

The Jerusalem Post recently named me one of the strongest Christian voices in support of Israel.

And yet, my support is not blind loyalty. It’s not a rubber stamp for any government or policy. I support Israel because I believe it is my duty — first as a Christian, but even if I weren’t a believer, I would still support her as a man of reason, morality, and common sense.

Because faith isn’t required to understand this: Israel’s existence is not just about one nation’s survival — it is about the survival of Western civilization itself.

It is a lone beacon of shared values in the Middle East. It is a bulwark standing against radical Islam — the same evil that seeks to dismantle our own nation from within.

And my support is not rooted in politics. It is rooted in something simpler and older than politics: a people’s moral and historical right to their homeland, and their right to live in peace.

Israel has that right — and the right to defend herself against those who openly, repeatedly vow her destruction.

Let’s make it personal: if someone told me again and again that they wanted to kill me and my entire family — and then acted on that threat — would I not defend myself? Wouldn’t you? If Hamas were Canada, and we were Israel, and they did to us what Hamas has done to them, there wouldn’t be a single building left standing north of our border. That’s not a question of morality.

That’s just the truth. All people — every people — have a God-given right to protect themselves. And Israel is doing exactly that.

My support for Israel’s right to finish the fight against Hamas comes after eighty years of rejected peace offers and failed two-state solutions. Hamas has never hidden its mission — the eradication of Israel. That’s not a political disagreement.

That’s not a land dispute. That is an annihilationist ideology. And while I do not believe this is America’s war to fight, I do believe — with every fiber of my being — that it is Israel’s right, and moral duty, to defend her people.

Criticism of military tactics is fair. That’s not antisemitism. But denying Israel’s right to exist, or excusing — even celebrating — the barbarity of Hamas? That’s something far darker.

We saw it on October 7th — the face of evil itself. Women and children slaughtered. Babies burned alive. Innocent people raped and dragged through the streets. And now, to see our own fellow citizens march in defense of that evil… that is nothing short of a moral collapse.

If the chants in our streets were, “Hamas, return the hostages — Israel, stop the bombing,” we could have a conversation.

But that’s not what we hear.

What we hear is open sympathy for genocidal hatred. And that is a chasm — not just from decency, but from humanity itself. And here lies the danger: that same hatred is taking root here — in Dearborn, in London, in Paris — not as horror, but as heroism. If we are not vigilant, the enemy Israel faces today will be the enemy the free world faces tomorrow.

This isn’t about politics. It’s about truth. It’s about the courage to call evil by its name and to say “Never again” — and mean it.

And you don’t have to open a Bible to understand this. But if you do — if you are a believer — then this issue cuts even deeper. Because the question becomes: what did God promise, and does He keep His word?

He told Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you.” He promised to make Abraham the father of many nations and to give him “the whole land of Canaan.” And though Abraham had other sons, God reaffirmed that promise through Isaac. And then again through Isaac’s son, Jacob — Israel — saying: “The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I give to you and to your descendants after you.”

That’s an everlasting promise.

And from those descendants came a child — born in Bethlehem — who claimed to be the Savior of the world. Jesus never rejected His title as “son of David,” the great King of Israel.

He said plainly that He came “for the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” And when He returns, Scripture says He will return as “the Lion of the tribe of Judah.” And where do you think He will go? Back to His homeland — Israel.

Tamir Kalifa / Stringer | Getty Images

And what will He find when He gets there? His brothers — or his brothers’ enemies? Will the roads where He once walked be preserved? Or will they lie in rubble, as Gaza does today? If what He finds looks like the aftermath of October 7th, then tell me — what will be my defense as a Christian?

Some Christians argue that God’s promises to Israel have been transferred exclusively to the Church. I don’t believe that. But even if you do, then ask yourself this: if we’ve inherited the promises, do we not also inherit the land? Can we claim the birthright and then, like Esau, treat it as worthless when the world tries to steal it?

So, when terrorists come to slaughter Israelis simply for living in the land promised to Abraham, will we stand by? Or will we step forward — into the line of fire — and say,

“Take me instead”?

Because this is not just about Israel’s right to exist.

It’s about whether we still know the difference between good and evil.

It’s about whether we still have the courage to stand where God stands.

And if we cannot — if we will not — then maybe the question isn’t whether Israel will survive. Maybe the question is whether we will.

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