“I doubt you have stopped to lecture them on their need to support Israel, which was my point.”
No, but they have been taught since birth that we are demons and are shocked that there is an organized group helping.
“Even if they should, are Christians in the Middle East really a threat to Israel?”
I am not aware I said they were a threat, nor that Senator Cruz said they were a threat. They do, as a group, hold overwhelmingly antisemitic, anti-Israel, beliefs, which is silly because Israel is their natural ally.
This is, fortunately, changing. In Israel, for example, Christian Arabs (in response to being treated like normal humans in Israel compared to everywhere else in the neighborhood) have requested to be considered a separate ethnic group from Muslim Arabs and to be subject to IDF draft. I believe this is final now.
My impression is that they are largely not fans of Israel or Jews, but are also not foaming at the mouth to wipe them out, either. They do think that Israel has too much influence. There is some blame placed on Israel for the instability in the region, but I think events have largely superseded those attitudes. That’s a far cry from Islam.
I agree with you that a strong Israel is in their long-term interests, to the extent they have long-term interests that don’t involve evacuation, but they have no ability to help or hurt those prospects. It’s no accident that the only two societies that have prospered in the region are Israel, and Lebanon when it was majority Christian; the two places that don’t have any oil.
I just don’t see anything good that was accomplished by what Senator Cruz did. His support of Israel is not in question, nor is his lack of support amongst American Jews. Nothing was gained on behalf of those suffering populations.
I appreciate your willingness to engage on this on a level apart from “you’re a Bircher”, “you side with the Muslims”, etc ... I honestly don’t see what Cruz was driving at.