Two weeks ago, President Obama said he didn’t want to meet with Benjamin Netanyahu because he didn’t want to influence Israel’s elections. But sources close to the administration are accusing him of doing exactly that – and with taxpayer dollars! Senators from both parties are digging deeper on possible State Department ties to the Prime Minister’s opposition – a bombshell accusation that could put the White House in even more of a precarious situation with our most important ally in the Middle East.

A Senate committee of Republicans and Democrats officially launched an investigation into the DOS’s involvement in efforts to oust Netanyahu and what knowledge or involvement the President may have had. Fox News broke the story that the administration may have been quietly interfering in the elections, which take place [today] across Israel.

Although the President’s disdain for the Prime Minister isn’t a secret, evidence of taxpayer-funded tampering would be a stunning twist in the two leaders’ already strained relationship. Netanyahu, who was careful not to criticize the President when he was in Washington earlier this month, opened up about what he sees as an “unprecedented” campaign by “left-wing people abroad” to sink his candidacy.

For now, the Senate will not confirm whether members have found a direct link between the President and the “Just Not Bibi” efforts – but according polls, the Israeli people don’t need one. An overwhelming number of Israelis think the administration is – and has been – meddling in [today’s] elections.

The evidence, some argue, is a series of State Department grants to a group called the OneVoiceMovement, a Washington-based organization that openly admits its “groundbreaking campaign around the Israeli elections.” As much as $350,000 U.S. dollars were funneled to the group, which would be in jeopardy of losing its tax-exempt status if Senators find evidence that they were, in fact, targeting Netanyahu.

In the meantime, the optics are anything but positive for the Obama administration. Just the slightest change in direction from the Middle East’s only functioning democracy could radically alter the entire geo-political landscape in the Middle East. After this six-year term as Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu is in the fight of his life to keep his seat of power in the Jewish state. The margins, analysts say, are razor-thin. With the fate of – not just Israel, but the world – on the line, join us in praying for Israel’s election [today].

U.N. Statement Sets the World to Rights

There’s plenty to dislike about the United Nations, but one thing the world’s leaders can all agree on is the importance of religious liberty. While Christians run for their lives in the Middle East and Africa – or worse, suffer gruesome, torturous deaths – dozens of countries are vowing to stand and fight for their freedom. At last Friday’s U.N. Council for Human Rights, a whopping 53 members of the U.N. submitted a “Joint Statement Supporting the Human Rights of Christians and Other Communities” declaration to the Geneva gathering.

The U.S., Russia, Western European nations, the Pope, Lebanon, Israel, and others linked arms in a key showing of support for the “deeply-rooted historical presence of all ethnic and religious communities in the Middle East. Here world religions appeared, including Christianity.” Although the statement isn’t earth-shattering, it is timely.

“We witness a situation where violence, religious and ethnic hatred, fundamentalist radicalism, extremism, intolerance, exclusion and destruction of the social fabric of whole societies and communities are becoming the features of a non-viable political and social model… Therefore,” the 53 write, “we ask all States to reaffirm their commitment to respect the rights of everyone, in particular the right to freedom of religion, which is enshrined in the fundamental international human rights instruments.”

Unlike the Obama administration, which for months refused to acknowledge the existential threat to Christians, even the international community holds out the right – not just to have faith, but practice it. Although the letter doesn’t get into specifics, the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights does. “(E)veryone,” the legally-binding agreement makes clear, “shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice, and freedom, either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching.”

These nations agree that people don’t just have the right to be a Christian – they have the right to live as one too. We applaud these leaders for speaking with one voice on an issue near and dear to the United States. As Americans, there is no cause more critical, no ideal more sacred.

‘I Have Come to Indoctrinate Your Children – And I’m Not Sorry’

If Americans don’t want to take our word on the real gay agenda, they can take S. Bear Bergman’s. The Canadian activist was shockingly blunt about his movement’s motives – which he says he’s tired of hiding. “I am here to tell you: All that time I said I wasn’t indoctrinating anyone with my beliefs about gay and lesbian and bi and trans and queer people? That was a lie,” he wrote in an article for Huffington Post called: “I Have Come to Indoctrinate Your Children into My LGBTQ Agenda (And I’m Not a Bit Sorry).”

The head of a Toronto publishing company, Bergman said he was taught how to use “soft” language when speaking about homosexuality – and not betray the real goal, which was recruiting. “I want kids to know (we’re perfectly fine and often really excellent) even if their parents’ or community’s interpretation of their religious tenets is that we’re awful. I would be happy – delighted, overjoyed I tell you – to cause those children to disagree with their families on the subject of LGBTQ people.”

For years, activists wanted to keep the goal of ensnaring children into sexual confusion under wraps. Now, having hoodwinked most of the country on their agenda, these extremists no longer have to hide. In fact, they are increasingly bold – almost boastful – about their real intentions. Although Bergman admits to wanting to “indoctrinate” and “recruit” children, his description of the LGBT agenda is far less honest. “I have been on a consistent campaign of trying to change people’s minds about us. I want to make them like us. That is absolutely my goal.” He assumes that people who criticize homosexuality do so because they do not “like” gay people.

That couldn’t be further from the truth! Some in fact are very nice people, they are friends, neighbors and even relatives. We care about them, we pray for them. That’s why we’re even more sad about the fact that in one area of their life, their sexuality, they choose to engage in conduct that the research shows is harmful. It’s not about “who they are” – in fact, we think too highly of them to identify their personhood on the basis of their sexual conduct. “Who they are” is a person created in the image of God, and infinitely precious to him. What they do, however, is contrary to his will, to nature, and to good public health. And we care too much about them and society to be silent.

This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.