By Alex Murashko

The journey to Israel for broadcast media professional Daniel Cohen and his family can certainly be described as a series of miracles. The story begins shortly before the global Covid restrictions, includes an unexpected move from Los Angeles to Tel Aviv, and continues during the current war against terrorist groups in the Middle East.

Cohen, who is the former Middle East/Jerusalem Correspondent for Newsmax and newly appointed News Director for the Real Life Network, told Think Eternity News that his family’s move to Israel was Holy Spirit inspired.

After leaving the FOX 11 morning news show “Good Day LA”, Cohen said, “God was crafting an incredible story that required our full and complete trust in the Lord.”

He shares the remarkable story of what happened while parting ways with GDLA in the Fall of 2020.

 “My wife [Paige] and I prayed and fasted immediately and on the third day of praying and fasting, I was driving to work at 3 AM while listening to a sermon message about Elijah,” Cohen said. “Elijah had just called fire down from Heaven. He had witnessed God perform this incredible miracle, and then he immediately ran. He becomes petrified, and he runs.… The ravens are feeding him. They're bringing him meat. I’m listening to this sermon, and in my heart I felt God said, “I want to take you to a place where I'm going to feed you. Are you in a place right now where you're being fed spiritually, where you're being nourished, or are you just sort of getting by?’”

Later, he heard from God again. Cohen shared, “The Lord spoke to my heart on that drive, ‘I’m sending you and your family to Israel.”   

The Cohen family had never been to Israel before. Cohen offered more details of the journey in an email (below).

My wife and I had a long-time desire in our hearts to visit the Holy Land and we also had a deep desire that my Grandma Laura, a Holocaust survivor living in Israel who endured two concentration camps and was about to turn 98, would meet our children, her great grandchildren.

As God was speaking to my heart about the story of Elijah, He was also speaking to my wife about Abraham and Sarah’s dramatic call to up and go where He told them. It’s like the way the Israelites trusted God in following the pillar of cloud by day and the fire by night. God had given us both what can best be described as a stirring months before to prepare for change. There was a sense that God was about to do something BIG. 

Our faith grew exponentially while watching God perform a series of miracles, the first of which was receiving a humanitarian approval from Israel against all odds in November of 2020. During the height of Covid, special permission was needed to visit Israel. During this time they weren’t even letting Israelis into the country! While we were waiting for word, by faith - we sold our cars, didn’t renew the lease on our house in Westlake Village, and downsized everything we owned to one small storage unit.

Our plan was to go on a journey we affectionately called our family “shabbatical.” We thought perhaps three to six months. We had no idea God had much bigger plans! My grandmother met her great grandchildren at her 98th birthday party in Tel Aviv. There wasn’t a dry eye!  

We were able to experience the Holy Land and spend time with family in Israel while homeschooling our children and waiting on the Lord’s direction for the next move. We lived in Airbnb’s for 11 months all over the country. Due to COVID gathering restrictions, there was nowhere to fellowship. It was during this time that Pastor Jack Hibbs from Calvary Chapel Chino Hills became our Pastor…virtually. It was also during this season that God put on our hearts to pursue citizenship. It’s a process called Aliyah, which means to go up. We prayed, “God if it’s your will, we know your plans can’t be stopped.” Even though my mom is an Israeli living in CA, making Aliyah and living in Israel wasn’t something we ever imagined when we got married, but God placed the dream in our hearts over time.  It took 11 months for the complicated process of making Aliyah to be completed. God allowed us to plant roots in Israel, find community and thrive as those roots grow deeper every day. 

Our purpose grew when I connected with Newsmax. In August 2021, I became the first ever Middle East Correspondent for the network. I’m thankful to Newsmax’ dedication to communicating truth and giving me the opportunity to report on the region, mostly from Jerusalem, but also Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, and Moldova.  

My assignment as a “watchman on the walls of Jerusalem” became crystal clear on October 7.  For the next year, I would report from the front lines about the devastating massacre and ongoing multi-front war. Living through terror with my own family under constant rocket fire and sharing gut-wrenching stories from the Gaza border is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. My heart breaks for the families of the hostages who witnessed loved ones slaughtered and for others who saw their own flesh and blood ripped away from their peaceful homes to terror dungeons in Gaza.  

For over a year, the Israeli psyche has been experiencing constant trauma from thousands of rocket and terror attacks.  Waking up to red alert warning sirens or rushing to a bomb shelter during gymnastics practice, cheerleading, or taking cover in a baseball dugout during rocket fire is something my children experienced, but no child should have to endure.  

Right now, you may be asking, so why do it? Why are you there? We’ve experienced God’s hand of protection. We trust. We know in our hearts after all we’ve experienced that the Lord has positioned us exactly where he wants us. When you know you’re where you’re supposed to be, there’s no greater peace in the world.

Now, with the Real Life Network, I feel a deeper responsibility to connect the Bible to the happenings from Israel as the prophetic stories ripple around the globe. As a Jew and a grandson of a Holocaust survivor I feel a deep sense of commitment to be a truth teller, “for such a time as this,” just like Esther. The war in Gaza and the fight with Hezbollah in Lebanon and other terror enemies in the region is a spiritual war.  From Genesis to Revelation, Israel is ground zero. Jerusalem is the epicenter. It’s more important now than ever that Christians know God’s Word and support Israel. The Bible says there’s a commanded blessing if you do!  

Real Life Network

The Real Life Network (RLN) is a digital media platform that features Biblical Worldview programming to fast forward the faith of viewers across the globe and ensure that God’s Word will never be silenced by Big Tech and Big Government.

The Real Life Network’s goal is to empower viewers by providing family-friendly entertainment, teachings, and other content to live out an abundant life based on the Bible.