Ted Cruz to Christian group: 'If you don't support Israel, I can't support you'
Ted Cruz is simply awesome. On Wednesday night, the Texas Republican Senator spoke to a group called Defense of Christians, which is fighting Islamic slaughter of Christians in the Middle East. Unfortunately, the group also includes some anti-Semites. When Cruz told them that Christians have
no greater ally than Israel, some of the group started booing. Cruz didn't back down, and eventually he walked out (Hat Tip:
Memeorandum).
Cruz, the keynote speaker at the sold-out D.C. dinner gala for the
recently-founded non-profit In Defense of Christians, began by saying
that “tonight, we are all united in defense of Christians. Tonight, we
are all united in defense of Jews. Tonight, we are all united in defense
of people of good faith, who are standing together against those who
would persecute and murder those who dare disagree with their religious
teachings.”
Cruz was not reading from a teleprompter, nor did he appear to be reading from notes.
“Religious bigotry is a cancer with many manifestations,” he continued. “ISIS,
al-Qaida, Hezbollah, Hamas, state sponsors like Syria and Iran, are all
engaged in a vicious genocidal campaign to destroy religious minorities
in the Middle East. Sometimes we are told not to loop these groups
together, that we have to understand their so called nuances and
differences. But we shouldn’t try to parse different manifestations of
evil that are on a murderous rampage through the region. Hate is hate,
and murder is murder. Our purpose here tonight is to highlight a
terrible injustice, a humanitarian crisis.”
“Christians have no greater ally
than Israel,” he said, at which point members of the crowd began to yell
“stop it” and booed him.
...
Those who hate Israel hate America,” he continued, as the boos and calls for him to leave the stage got louder. “Those
who hate Jews hate Christians. If those in this room will not recognize
that, then my heart weeps. If you hate the Jewish people you are not
reflecting the teachings of Christ. And the very same people who
persecute and murder Christians right now, who crucify Christians, who
behead children, are the very same people who target Jews for their
faith, for the same reason.”
The cries of “stop it, stop it, enough,” and booing continued. “Out,
out, leave the stage!” At this point IDC’s president, Toufic Baaklini,
came out to the stage to ask for the crowd to listen to Cruz, but Cruz
had already had enough.
“If you will not stand with Israel
and the Jews,” he said. “Then I will not stand with you. Good night, and
God bless.” And with that, he walked off the stage.
Let's go to the videotape (Hat Tip:
The Right Scoop). More after the video.
I want to respond to one claim in the Daily Caller piece (the first link) and then I want to give another blogger a say. The Daily Caller wrote:
Many Christians in the Middle East take issue with Israeli military
policy, which has made life for Palestinian Christians in their homeland
very difficult, and driven many from their homes. “Israel’s policies
have led to demographic pressure that’s made the West Bank and Gaza far
more Muslim than in 1948,” explained one Middle East analyst.
I don't know who the 'Middle East analyst' was, but he's
dishonest and disingenuous. [Quote from an article on the Islamization of Bethlehem that was published in 2002, two years before Arafat's death].
But it's not Israeli Jews who are causing Christians to leave.
Since
assuming control in 1995, Arafat has Islamized Bethlehem by changing
the municipal boundaries of Bethlehem and its twin towns Beit Jallah and
Beit Sahour. Together, they used to constitute the Christian enclave in
Judea and Samaria. Arafat transformed the demography there by
incorporating into the town three neighboring refugee camps, Dehaisheh,
El-Ayda and El-Azeh. Thus 30,000 Muslims were added to the 65,000
residents in Bethlehem's municipal boundaries. He intensified the
Islamization of Bethlehem by adding to its population a few thousand
Bedouins of the Ta'amrah tribe, located east of Bethlehem, encouraging
Muslim immigration from Hebron to Bethlehem, and inducing Christian
emigration/flight away from Bethlehem. The Christian population has been
reduced from a 60% majority in 1990 to a 20% minority (23,000) in 2001.
As
a result, more Beit Jallah Christians reside in Belize (Central
America) than are left in Beit Jallah itself! A similar process has also
afflicted the Christians of Ramallah, now down to 20,000.
Aware
of what was likely to happen under Arafat, Christian leaders had sought
to prevent the transfer of Bethlehem to the Palestinian Authority.
Between the 1993 signing of the Oslo Accords and the 1995 transfer of
Bethlehem to the PA, Palestinian Christians lobbied Israel against the
transfer. The late Christian mayor, Elias Freij, warned that it would
result in Bethlehem becoming a town with churches but no Christians. He
urged Israel to include Bethlehem in the boundaries of Greater
Jerusalem, which had been the Jordanian practice until 1967. On July 17,
2000, upon realizing that then Prime Minister Barak recklessly proposed
to repartition Jerusalem, the leaders of the Greek-Orthodox, Latin, and
Armenian Churches sent a letter to Clinton, Barak, and Arafat,
demanding to be consulted before such action was undertaken. Barak's
proposal triggered a flood of requests for Israeli I.D. cards by East
Jerusalem Arabs, who dreaded PA rule with its oppressive track record.
Setting
out to "religiously cleanse" Bethlehem, in 1995 Arafat, defying
tradition, slapped Christians in the face by appointing a Muslim from
Hebron, Muhammed Rashad A-Jabari, as its governor. Arafat fired the
Bethlehem city council (nine Christians and two Muslims) replacing them
with a council equally balanced between Christians and Muslims. The
entire top level of bureaucratic, security and political officials have
been cleansed of Christians. The area is run by the local Muslim Fatah
leader and his thugs, along with Tanzim gunmen, mostly Ta'amrah
Bedouins. The PA has seized control of the Church of the Nativity, and
has tightened the pressure on the Greek-Orthodox, Armenian, Latin,, and
Franciscan Order in East Jerusalem. The Abraham's Oak Russian Holy
Trinity Monastery in Hebron was seized by the PA on July 5, 1997, which
then violently evicted its monks and nuns.
In addition, Arafat
and the PA embarked on a campaign of physical and psychological
intimidation of Christians. During anti-Israel PA rallies the chant is
heard: "After we do away with the Saturday People, we shall take care of
the Sunday People." Mosques have mushroomed adjacent to--and usually
taller than--churches, implementing the tradition of Saladin, who
constructed two taller mosques, Al Khanqa and Abdul Malek, contiguous to
the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The curriculum at church schools has
been altered, adding Islamic--and reducing Christian--studies. Loudly
magnified Muslim sermons have been aired during Christian services,
including the April 2000 address by the Pope in Bethlehem, which had to
be recessed until the purposely-loud Muslim sermon was concluded.
Abusing Church tradition, the PA has transformed a Greek Orthodox
monastery, located next to the Church of Nativity, into Arafat's
official residence in Bethlehem.
...
There has been
congressional testimony on Arafat's oppression of Christians. According
to former Senator Connie Mack (R-FL), "[The Palestinian Christian] was
arrested and detained [by the PA] on charges of selling land to Jews. He
denied the charge, since he owned no land. He was beaten and hung from
the ceiling by his hands for many hours. After two weeks, he was
transferred to a larger prison where he was held for eight months
without trial... These Christians conveyed to me a message of fear and
desperation." (Senate speech, March 3, 2000,
www.senate.gov/~mack/issue/statement.htm).
The PA has imported to
Gaza, Judea and Samaria in general, and most especially to Bethlehem,
its oppressive legacy of Lebanonization. The Christians of Bethlehem,
Beit Jallah, Beit Sahour and Ramallah are now undergoing the experiences
of Lebanese Christians from 1970 to 1982. They are perceived by the
PA--as were Lebanon's Christians--as a potential Fifth Column. Accused
of wearing "permissive" Western clothing, Bethlehem Christian women have
been intimidated by PA personnel. Rape of Christian women has occurred
frequently (especially in Beit Sahour) as was the case in Lebanon.
Islamic hostility, disregard for civil liberties and economic jealousy
have been harnessed by Arafat and his 20,000 terrorists imported from
Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, Tunisia, Jordan, and Lebanon in their campaign
against the Christian infidel. Christians who dare oppose PLO oppression
are accused of "collaboration" with Israel and face execution.
I don't know whether Ted Cruz was aware of all of the above. If he was, it's a pity that those present at Wednesday night's speech wouldn't have listened to it anyway.
Fellow blogger
Moe Lane adds:
It would have been the easiest thing in the world for Senator Ted Cruz
(R, Texas) to ignore the fact that the “In Defense of Christians” summit
dinner that he was speaking tonight at had far too many people involved
with it who, as the Washington Free Beacon notes,
“includes some of the Assad regime’s most vocal Christian supporters,
as well as religious leaders allied with the Iranian-backed terrorist
group Hezbollah.” But he did not. Instead, he told those folks the truth.
I cannot tell you how much I hope Ted Cruz runs for President in 2016. I would support him. But how many American Jews (as opposed to American Jewish expats living in Israel) would support him? Sadly, probably very few. After all, Ted Cruz is a conservative Republican.
Labels: anti-Israel media bias, Christians in Israel, Christians in Muslim countries, Lebanon, Palestinian Christians, Ted Cruz
2 Comments:
The leader my county needs... right there
He's absolutely right about Israel, but wrong about everything else. While he preaches love of Jews, he preaches hate of the poor, immigrants and everyone else on the Republican Right's hate list.
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