A Time for Truth: Ted Cruz’s Address to Persian Jews Who Fled the Evil of Iran

“Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.” —Winston Churchill

Senator Ted Cruz, having been introduced by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, greeted the Persian Jews of Nessah Synagogue in Beverly Hills, on Saturday, August 1, 2015. “You know, this week’s Torah reading covered the Ten Commandments,” Cruz opened, “a topic rarely discussed, or followed, in Washington, DC.” The crowd laughed, and Cruz continued: “Among them is the fairly simple and straightforward proposition: ‘Thou shalt not bear false witness.’ That, in particular, is an admonition from God that all of us should heed. Today, the threats facing Israel, the threats facing America, the threats facing the world . . . have never been greater. And now, more than ever, is a time for truth.” Cruz then added, thoughtfully, “When we call evil by its name, it has a clarifying power that has never been more needed than it is this instant, right now.”

After being sworn in as a US Senator, Cruz discovered Iran’s appointment of Hamid Aboutalebi as Iran’s Ambassador to the United Nations. Aboutalebi was one of the terrorists who had held Americans hostage in Tehran for 444 days under President Carter. Cruz remarked that “that was not an accident,” and introduced legislation to bar admission to the US of known terrorists. And, “as a result of telling the truth,” Cruz succeeded in achieving votes of 100-0 in the Senate and 435-0 in the House in favor of barring Aboutalebi and his ilk, all of whom are forever banned from being able to “live in Manhattan with diplomatic immunity.”

“We all remember when Israel was facing rocket attacks, facing terror tunnels—from Hamas—and we all remember when the federal government stopped all civilian air flights into the nation of Israel,” recalled Cruz, adding that the government had not banned flights into Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, or even Ukraine—which had recently seen a plane downed by a Russian missile! So, why should Israel be singled out? “And why,” queried Cruz, “was that [stopping of flights] precisely timed to coincide with John Kerry’s arriving in the Middle-East, with $47 million for Gaza that will end up in the hands of Hamas, while the Administration was pressuring the Israeli government to stop taking out the rockets and terror tunnels?”

During the next 24 to 36 hours, according to Cruz, enough “heat and light and attention focused on the Administration’s policies” that a lifting of the flight ban resulted. Cruz credits Michael Bloomberg with providing even more light and heat by flying from England to Israel, thereby proving that flights into Israel were safe. “That is the power of truth! That is the power of shining the light!” said Cruz.

“We see across the globe the rise of radical Islamic terrorism,” said Cruz, underscoring the difficulty of mounting a fight, if the enemy is not properly named. “It is a time for truth, and we must acknowledge the evil that we face,” said Cruz, bringing up Obama’s reference to recent terrorism in Paris as a “random act of violence.” Cruz glowered: “When radical Islamists with butcher knives go into a kosher deli to murder Jews, because of their Jewish faith, there is nothing random about it!”

In the same vein, Cruz continued: “We remember some months ago, when ISIS beheaded twenty-two Coptic Christians, on their knees. The White House put out a statement saying the victims were murdered because of their Egyptian citizenship.” Pope Francis, Cruz reminded the crowd, spoke the truth, saying of the victims that “their blood confesses Jesus Christ.” Cruz next reminded the crowd of the Good-Friday Massacre of one hundred forty-seven Christians by al-Shabaab. “You will search in vain for the word ‘Christian’ or the word ‘Islam’,” said Cruz, describing the official White-House statement concerning the slaughter.

“There is no recognition of a radical, theocratic, hateful strain of radical Islamists who seek to murder Jews and Christians and anyone who does not share their radical faith—including other Muslims! When we look at the threats we face right now, none is greater than the threat of a nuclear Iran. The men and women here today [the Persian Jews who fled Iran’s evil theocracy] understand, full well, who Ayatollah Khamenei is. They understand, full well, the threat that Iran’s so-called Supreme Leader with a nuclear weapon poses to the world. I believe this nuclear deal with Iran is the most catastrophic threat facing America today.” At this point, Cruz was interrupted by a roar of approbation from the crowd, after which he finished his thought: “And the only way to stop it is for all of us to come together and speak the truth.”

Cruz declared that a major consequence of the deal with Iran was that “the United States government will become the world’s leading financier of radical Islamic terror.” President Obama attacked Cruz for saying this. And even Mitt Romney tweeted that Cruz’s “rhetoric” was “over the line.” Cruz’s response was to state, unequivocally, “The truth is not rhetoric.”

Cruz countered with facts: 1) Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism; 2) the US is about to give over $100 billion dollars directly to Iran; 3) Iran will, based on past behavior, use many billions of those dollars to fund terrorists; and 4) this funding of terrorists makes the Obama Administration an accomplice to any murders the terrorists commit.

Says Cruz, “Rhetoric is refusing to speak the truth. When you do not acknowledge the consequences of your actions, that is rhetoric.” Cruz also shamed the Administration for not freeing American hostages who were stuck in Iranian “hell-holes.”

Cruz discussed the lifting of sanctions on General Suleimani’s al-Quds Forces, to entice Iran to negotiate. Cruz attributed over 500 deaths of US service members to the IEDs provided by the al-Quds Forces during the Iraq War [a conservative estimate]. Cruz suggested the US should have procured the release of the American hostages as a precondition to negotiations.

Cruz said that this deal with Iran “will only accelerate Iran’s acquiring a nuclear weapon.” He reminded his audience that Obama promised anytime/anywhere inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities. “Anytime/anywhere does not mean 24 days’ advance notice,” asserted Cruz. Cruz compared Obama’s sacrifice of timely inspections to a hypothetical law that would disallow the use of a search warrant on a drug lord, without first giving the drug lord 24 days’ notice as to the place where the warrant was to be executed. The only purpose for giving such advance notice, said Cruz, was in “allowing, encouraging, and facilitating Iran to cheat and develop nuclear weapons.”

To illustrate the real threat of an Iran with a nuclear bomb, Cruz spoke of the Father of Iran’s nuclear program, who wrote into his will these words: “Here lies a man who sought to annihilate Israel.” Cruz asked the audience to imagine “the bilious hatred, the seething antisemitism that leads someone to write that.”

Cruz mentioned the military exercises the Iranian navy held, during the nuclear negotiations, where they bombed mock US naval vessels. Also, Iranian officials tweeted, “The annihilation of Israel is non-negotiable!” throughout the negotiations. And Ayatollah Khamenei personally led chants of “Death to America!” while American and Israeli flags were burned. “If history teaches one principle,” commented Cruz, “it is that if somebody tells you that they want to kill you, believe them!”

“In my view,” said Cruz, “the odds are unacceptably high that, if Iran acquires a nuclear weapon, they will use that weapon—either in the skies of Tel Aviv, or of New York or Los Angeles.” Cruz went on to say, “I agree with Prime Minister Netanyahu that a nuclear Iran is an existential threat to the nation of Israel.” And the senator promised to do whatever he could to lead Americans to stand up and say “Stop!” to this catastrophic deal.

“It is my prayer that the Jewish community will rise up and speak as one, that the Christian community will rise up and speak as one, that Americans will rise up and speak as one. . . .” And, to this, Cruz added, “In 2017, if I am fortunate enough to be elected president, the United States will finally move our embassy to Jerusalem.” A chorus of Jews sang out approval. And Cruz ended his remarks by saying, “Thank you, God bless you, and next year in Jerusalem!”

"If we must have an enemy at the head of Government, let it be one whom we can oppose, and for whom we are not responsible, who will not involve our party in the disgrace of his foolish and bad measures." - Alexander Hamilton

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"A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice." - Thomas Paine 1792

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