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.
Yea and a lot of cheshires who slammed Cruz yesterday were proud Romneybots as well. Gee...what are the odds?
Chew on that, Pascal.
The Week is weak.
Too many “sources” and “writers” are progressive.
But...when SHTF, it’s extra wiping material.
About the Author:
Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry is an entrepreneur and writer based in Paris, and a frequent columnist at The Week. His writing has appeared at Forbes, The Atlantic, Commentary Magazine, The Daily Beast, The Federalist, Quartz, and other outlets.
Gee, no wonder his panties were in a wad! Go Ted!
they fear Cruz...good. he’s gonna be one hell of a POTUS
That speech he gave where he was heckled recently was a well planned, orchestrated, and dirty stinking scheme. Look at the smear campaign, already in full force to try to drive a wedge between what his voter base is when he runs for POTUS.
I recently have been watching House of Cards with Kevin Spacey on Netflix. I love that it shows how evil dirty stinking commie rat bastard democrat traitors are. What Spacey’s character does on that show does not even hold a candle to the people in charge right now.
The occupation of the West Bank? By international law, the East Bank also belongs to the Jews (the artificial country of Jordan). The anti-Semites and TAC and their brainless followers should be careful what they harp on.
Absolutely orched. And I’d bet with GOP assistance.
If you support Israel, you can’t support Christians? Three thousand years of Judeo-Christian tradition out the window?
I think this writer is committing some logical fallacy—”All or nothing?”—but I see from the comments that he’s a cheese-eating, Parasitic, surrender monkey.
So who cares what he thinks. Not me.
How they all whine when a principled man tells it like it is.
BTTT
Chew on that, Pascal.
I like that...
/johnny
Perhaps the Christian community has been giving lip service to their support of Israel. When Senator Cruz asked for them to step up to the plate, they showed thin support. Christians should be showing solidarity with their Jewish brothers with deeds. Give them hell Ted!
Over a year ago I said, first they will go after Paul and then they will go after Cruz. Paul caved, but Cruz is still standing tall.
I like that. Short for orchestrated.
Needs an image.
It is well past time to fight fire with fire. Conservatives are entirely too passive and that MUST change or conservatives end up becoming extinct, IMO.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.