Posted on 09/12/2014 10:16:02 PM PDT by chessplayer
Aggressively supporting Israel is a political winner for conservatives. But when it comes at the expense of persecuted Christians who fear for their lives...
Since the second half of the 20th century, some of my fellow Christians have been the most persecuted religious group in the world. They still are. You probably are surprised to hear this. That's because most of these persecuted Christians don't live in the West. They are, as the awful phrase has it, too foreign for the right and too Christian for the left.
In recent weeks and months, however, the West has heard about the plight of at least one set of these persecuted Christians: those in the Middle East. These communities, many of which date back to the very beginning of Christianity, are now facing outright extinction. And it's happening at the hands of ISIS, the West's Public Enemy No. 1.
A summit was held this week in Washington, D.C., in support of Middle East Christians, and Cruz was supposed to be a keynote speaker. However, right in the second paragraph of his speech, he began exalting Israel. After a while, the assembly started to boo and heckle him. Cruz said, "If you will not stand with Israel and the Jews, then I will not stand with you," and left the podium.
Keep in mind that many Christians in the Middle East are ethnic Arabs who live under Israel's occupation of the West Bank, and therefore have negative feelings about Israel. Of course, there are also many Middle East Christians who are supporters of Israel (indeed, there are even Arab Christians who serve, with distinction, in the Israeli Defense Forces).
As the excellent coverage, transcript, and recording provided by The American Conservative's Jonathan Coppage shows, the audience in Washington applauded Cruz's first lines of support for Israel and the Jews. The crowd turned against him ONLY WHEN IT BECAME CLEAR that he was launching into a rah-rah pro-Israel stump speech that had NOTHING to do with what they were doing there.
Cruz tarred and attacked one of the most powerless and beleaguered minorities in the world, solely for personal political gain. He was strong against the weak.
In the end, what was most striking about Cruz's tirade was the last phrase: "If you will not stand with Israel and the Jews, then I will not stand with you." Cruz was literally standing in a room with his fellow Christians. In the Bible, the idea of the fellowship of Christian believers is a very important one, and to break fellowship is to put oneself outside the community. What Cruz was saying was that agreeing to his views on Israel was more important as a badge of fellowship than believing in Jesus Christ.
No it’s not complicated...it’s Stealth Jihad...their purpose is to infiltrate organizations just as they did here. Cruz knew what he was walking into....and he also knew to expect anything...his purpose was accomplished....their disruption quickly had “light shed on their darkness within their group”.
Toufic Baaklini, president of Washington-based In Defense of Christians, which describes itself as committed to protecting Christians in the Middle East, said.....” individuals who disrupted the dinner event “do not adhere” to the group’s principles.”
Hear hear
Damn Sherman...I’m proud of you....22 posts before someone responds about what’s really going on here
I’m kinda saddened to see how uninformed so many here are about the Notzri.....
Well done.
This is the first time I’ve questioned Ted..BTW....it was bound to happen
Why would his handlers send him before that crowd with that message
When it comes to Israel....Freepers are like Sean Hannity....they mean well
But....
Are Christians who lost their lands in 47-48 anti Semites for being resentful?
Just asking.
One can support Israel but realize at the same time nothing is ever perfect....especially nation building in the truest sense
The old Palestinian Christians who fought against Israel have mostly died off
And those left I’m guessing prefer Israel to ISIS....
Christians in the ME have been marginalized...nowhere more than Lebanon
Until now....
Its funny...at the same time Christian elements in Fatah were fighting Israel...and being terrorists
Israel was tight with the Christian South Lebanese Army under another Haddad and the Gemayels before they were blown up by Shiite Amal cum Hezbollah
And so it goes
Only context I see here is Cruz was reacting to anti Israel comments before he took the podium
However...given their history it seems a poor choices of venue
Few electoral votes and plenty to stumble over for a media waiting to pounce
The destinies of Jews and Christians are intertwined.
I agree with Sherman's assessment upthread and at the same time think maybe he was reacting to stuff said earlier.
In any event....nothing he can do will get much US Jewish votes and exist Pali Christians here electoral vote wise is tiny
Were I his campaign manager is have waved him off....why take the rusk
Nothing much to gain....the whole world ready knows he Fundamentalist pro Israel
But one misstep and the media...no irony there right....would chew him up as bigoted against Arabs or Jews depending which way he stumbled
Cry me a river, ‘theweek’ formerly known as the MSM rag ‘Newsweek.’
Well, then you would be the sort of campaign manager that ends up sorry due to always playing, "better safe than sorry". That approach cannot win.
You're rightly assessing the risk but not the potential upside and in this case, the potential upside is huge even if it's a long shot.
For the first time in a long, long, time Jewish big money isn't lining up to support democrat candidates and there's little chance Caliph Obama can keep from making the democrats look even more like fascist Muzzie lovers in the eyes of such folks between now and 2016.
This incident Cruz front and center on the news getting booed at by anti-Israel Arabs when most people expected him to play to the Christian base (that a lot of Jews think has too much influence over Conservatives) and on top of that targeted with cheap shots by the media and neocons for supporting Israel.
The Jewish money groups that have traditionally funded democrat presidential candidates, even if they spit on the floor while handing over the cash, have long enough memories to remember this incident in 2016. Cruz is taking a little flak now but potentially he just got himself a whole new source of campaign contributions that otherwise would go to the democrat candidate no matter who the Republican candidate is.
Even if he doesn't get contributions the same money people aren't above sitting the election out in a financial sense, and have done so in the past limiting contributions or not contributing, if don't want the democrat candidate but can't stomach outright support for the Republican.
This is a tactical draw that may end up being a very big win strategically.
JMHo
Again, they are in America now, a land of Judeo-Christian values and they must accept those or go home. Or go to Israel - they treat Christians ok.
Cruz is a tool, and I’m proud to say I’ve never voted for Romney.
He turned his back on Jew hating assholes masquerading as Christians......I've never been prouder of him. Finally a politician who speaks truth to bigots and could care less about politically correct bullshit!!!
He was responding to previous speakers who were Jew bashing...he was right on topic!!!
He’s a tool for conservative principals...and a damn fine tool at that!!!And by the way he doesn’t need your support and I doubt he would want it!!
WTF? Doesn’t anybody read anything outside of troll baiting FR posts? Infiltration of the organization by Lebanon’s Jew hating Hezbollah was behind this bull sh*t hazing of Cruz! He knew about it in advance and went anyway to expose them for what they are...
Any one who cares can find the facts....what we have here is a couple of Cruz haters....either Romney lovers or Paulistas!!!
You are right. I don’t know what came before. But I still think he could have made a brief comment that he disagreed with those who had spoken earlier and then move onto the purpose of his speech.
So you think he was just speaking on the fly rather than delivering a prepared and rehearsed speech?
I don’t know....if he is speaking the truth why would it matter. What’s the point?
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