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.
Because if you left your country and moved to the other side of the planet seeking asylum, and once you got there a politician of theirs took steps to remind you that you need to understand that your best friend was actually 7000 miles back towards home you might not see that as the truth. Actually by the very fact that the country you are in now offered you a home and your best friend back home didn’t is actual proof that your best friend is not your best friend.
I don't think it was his handlers, it looks like Cruz made the decision.
What I discovered the next day is that Cruz had known exactly what he was doing. Indeed, he had read the article that had been published about the event just that day and which essentially repeated Frank Ghadry’s allegation that the conference organizers were close to Hezbollah.
More here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3203585/posts
Nobody took offense at his opening statement that you quote. Here's the transcript.
Good evening. Today we are gathered at a time of extraordinary challenge. Tonight we are all united in defense of Christians [applause]. Tonight, we are all united in defense of Jews [applause]. Tonight we are all united in defense of people of good faith who are standing together against those who would persecute and murder those who would dare disagree with their religious beliefs.
This is the section you quoted, and only applause is reported to this point. The transcript continues.
Religious bigotry is a cancer with many manifestations. ISIS, al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas [applause], and their state sponsors like Syria and Iran [applause], are all engage in a vicious genocidal campaign to destroy religious minorities in the Middle East. Sometimes we are told not to loop these groups together, that we have to understand their so-called nuances and differences. But we shouldn’t try to parse different manifestations of evil that are on a murderous rampage throughout the region. hate is hate. And murder is murder.
Again, nothing but applause to this point.
Our purpose here tonight is to highlight a terrible injustice. A humanitarian crisis. Christians, are being systematically exterminated. In 1948, Jews throughout the Middle East faced murder and extermination and fled to the nation of Israel. And today, Christians have no greater ally than the Jewish state. [mixed applause, boos, “come on”]
Here is where the boos broke out. People A has been in conflict with people B for 65 years. An outside stands up in front of a group of people B and tells them that they're confused, people A is really their greatest ally. Would you (or Cruz, presumably) expect anything other than a strong negative reaction?
Let me say this, those who hate Israel, hates America. And those who hate Jews, hate Christians.
Well, no, since some of the Arab Christians in the audience appear to hate Jews, probably in some cases with good reason, and they certainly don't hate themseles or their fellow Christians.
And if this room will not recognize that, then my heart weeps, that the men and women here will not stand in solidarity with Jews and Christians alike who are persecuted by radicals [applause] who seek to — [applause]. If you hate the Jewish people you are not reflecting the teachings of Christ [applause]. And the very same people who persecute and murder Christians right now, who crucify Christians and behead Children are the very same people who target and murder Jews for their faith for the very same reason. [applause, murmering, objections]. I will say this. I am saddened [shouting].
Sorry, but Cruz doesn't make a great deal of sense here, however good his intentions. The Arabs and Muslims have a good many reasons to hate and dislike Israelis other than their faith. Such as having lost several wars to them over 70 years. Arab Muslims have NO other reason than their faith to hate and slaughter Arab Christians.
What Cruz did here was put forward the proposition that no Christian can legitimately oppose Israel. IOW, he was telling the audience that their dislike/hate/opposition to a nation their own had been at war with for decades was illegitimate, and that they must quietly line up and instead become supporters of Israel.
I don't necessarily disagree with TC, but this was a very poorly chosen venue to bring it up.
Support for, or opposition to, Israel has very little to do, one way or the other, with the slaughter of Christians going on in the Middle East. Cruz was saying we can't talk about that slaughter unless you also agree to "stand in solidarity with Israel."
I agree that this was an attempt by someone, to set Cruz up, (They invited him.) but, he didn't fall for it, stuck to his principles, to his credit. (And the fact that he didn't get ensnared in the trap has really upset so-called "Christian" members of Our Lady of Perpetual Zot church, here on FR, who have outed themselves on this thread.)
This is only the beginning of all the BS. Fasten your seat-belts it's going to be a bumpy ride.
There’s nothing conservative about selling out to a demented sub-christian cult that lets itself be jerked around by a foreign power.
Whenever it's leftists doing the orchestration it should be shortened to "Orc'd, since they are more like the Tolkein axis characters and muslimes than anything else.
And maybe Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry got his info secondhand and didn't bother to read the transcript, or maybe he doesn't like Jews, anyway.
All the smears in the world will only enhance Cruz so long as he does not reply to them or deny them but only continues what he is doing a la Reagan- so long as he he jus keep on keepin on.
demented sub-christian cult
And what cult would that be!!
When it's the same people doing the slaughtering you sure as hell can!!!
I agree that the water sure appears muddy but I do have to wonder - If not Israel, who do middle-eastern Christians believe their greatest ally is? The Egyptians? The Jordanians?
Currently reality is that the only help is coming from the Kurds and the French.
Headless six year olds all over Iraq are certainly gratefull for the lecture, unfortunately they can’t comment right now on this useful debate, BECAUSE THEY ARE MISSING A HEAD!
You do realize the people who cut their heads off are who Ted Cruz is against and referingto “Don’t You”
True, but these children can’t get support without what we believe to be a proper bible lecture first?
France isn’t in the middle-east and the Kurds are barely able to fend for themselves. Squabbles aside, Israel is the ONLY ally that middle-easterners have in the region.
The gross over-simplification of the identity of the Palestinian people, that has become popular in recent years, serves no one's true interest. Yes, there were sizable numbers of both Christians & Jews, when Palestine was a Turkish province, under the Ottoman Empire, in addition to a not-overwhelming Muslim majority. I do not think that Senator Cruz meant to denigrate the Christian Palestinians--who were not responsible for rocket attacks on anyone;--and would hope that he be more cautious in articulating a foreign policy.
When all is said and done, the Washington/Jefferson policy of treating all with respect, but avoiding the issues of others, while extending good-will, remains the beacon to the future. We must avoid the "bull in a china shop," approach of Clinton/Bush/Obama.
William Flax
middle-easterners=middle-eastern Christians.
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