Texas Senator Ted Cruz was apparently caught unawares by the intense political leanings of an audience he addressed in Washington, D.C., when he spoke out in defense of Israel.
Cruz, a Republican presidential hopeful, is not the sort of politician who’s used to being booed. Yet that’s exactly what happened when he appeared as keynote speaker at a dinner gala held by the newly founded organization, In Defense of Christians, a group devoted to persecuted minorities in the Middle East.
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The Tea Party favorite, who led a government shutdown last year
over funding for Obamacare, triggered a rumbling in the audience
Wednesday evening when he spoke out in favor of the alliance
between Christians and Jews.
“Tonight, we are all united in defense of Christians.
Tonight, we are all united in defense of Jews.” he said.
“ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, state sponsors like Syria
and Iran, are all engaged in a vicious genocidal campaign to
destroy religious minorities in the Middle East.”
At this point in his speech some members of the audience were openly stirring.
“Christians have no greater ally than Israel,” Cruz said
in comments that elicited boos and jeers from many in the crowd.
“Those who hate Israel hate America.”
“Speak for yourself!” shouts in the hall could be heard.
Despite the speech not going down well, Cruz still poured it on:
“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.”
In an obvious nod to the ISIS threat, he then reminded the
audience that Christians and Jews were equally at risk of being
killed over their belief systems.
“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.”
Before Cruz left the stage – amidst intense booing and some
unenthusiastic applause – he told the conference, “If you
will not stand with Israel and the Jews, then I will not stand
with you. Good night and God bless.”
Apparently the strong reaction from the crowd even caught the
organizers of the event unawares. In Defense of Christians
President Toufic Baaklini issued the following statement in
response to the disruption:
“A few politically-motivated opportunists chose to divide a
room that for more than 48 hours sought unity in opposing the
shared threat of genocide, faced not only by our Christian
brothers and sisters, but our Jewish brothers and sisters and
people of all other faiths and all people of good will….They were
made no longer welcome.”
Cruz, in an interview with Breitbart News, attributed the
reaction from some members of the audience to simple
anti-Semitism.
“Anti-Semitism is a corrosive evil, and it reared its ugly
head tonight,” he said.