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.
You really are that delusional. You are hiding your anti Semitism under the cloak of helping children...it really does show!!!
I fail to see how a Quixotic lecture to Arab Christian audience of which some hold a 60 year old grudge about his love of Israel helps his election
Or Christians in the Middle east
Which was the cause BTW...not Israel
Methinks he was being preemptive or reacting to a surprise
Who knows
I don’t see the upside
We like him already
80% of Jews detest him...especially those with media power
Now Christian Arabs may be leery of him
Well see
First time I’ve questioned him
You are running out of logic sir and reverting the Al Sharpton school of debate. Accusing me of anti-Semitism is asinine in this disagreement. Cruz simply told people suffering a very real genocide something they know not to be the case. They are struggling to get their relatives safely into France. Don’t tell them who their friends are. It’s rude.
If Cruz ‘misspoke’ why did he go on the Kelly File and iterate his position?
Or it could be that he wants you to like him more.
The public being fickle and its enthusiasms fleeting and all that.
You are trying to fit Ted Cruz into the same old don’t speak the truth if it hurts you politically....I’m telling you he could care less and if the truth hurts he will do it anyway...it’s who he is!!! If that scares you so be it...he won’t change!!
I think I have you pretty well pegged!!!
Logic means nothing to these people, some of them are nothing more than anti Semites and some of them would fit right in over at DU.
You don’t have anything pegged at all. You just can’t deal with reality and have to start spouting insults. Or do you truly believe its anti-semetic to expect Israel to do more to help genocide victims? If you do believe that then ok, I can’t find ground with ya. That’s all.
Did apologize to France the next day?
....”And here we have cruz spitting in their faces and turning his back on them. And almost everyone in here applauding him for doing it”.....
Oh baloney!..... You don’t know what your saying...even the President of this group has stated those who spoke out against Cruz were not those who adhered to their principles. (thought that’s clearly back-peddling and another cover) So of course we are proud of Cruz for standing in their faces and shedding light on their hatred.
Christians in the ME will always face persecution and those who go there know the risk very well and willingly go there... any ME muslims who convert know fully well they will be persecuted.
You make it sound like this is something new...it’s not...anytime there are political uprising in the ME Christians know what they must do and can expect. It goes with the ground they walk.
???
These people are GOPe and don’t-rock-the-boat cronies; you could show them polls with Cruz searing Clinton 67-33% in January ‘16 and they’d still nitpick at him.
Israel doesn’t have to be reconstituted they have always been a state....they just have their land back!!!
Not the case. I want the man to be President and serve 8 years until President Gowdy takes over. You can’t just turn a blind eye to reality and pretend every disagreement is biased. He was incorrect in his statement.
Reality...what a crock...you’re the one who won’t face reality...you talk in circles because “You are clueless”!!!You don’t answer questions about these peoples obvious hatred for Jews because you most likely agree with them!!!
This has zero to do with the Jews. Zero. I like the Jews just fine, and wish them well. What I don’t like is sub-christian heresies creeping into the true Christian faith and messing with the political climate in stupid and dangerous ways.
That’s just stupid. You think all middle eastern Christians are Jew haters then? Do you actually know any? You are the one dodging questions. Start with dodging this one. Whats the name of the refugee camp for Iraqi Christians in Israel? Jordan? Lebanon? Turkey? Name one!
Ahh, ok, friendly fire. Funny it stings just as bad as enemy fire. Worse, actually. But I don’t see you as getting the big picture.. Israel is crucial in helping end the IS that is beheading Christian Arabs.
American Evangelicals, who also support Israel, are critical in voting in Cruz and torching the ropes the Marxists and Satanist liliputians have pinned all over our Judeo-Christian Gulliver political body. Won’t take much to evaporate the left’s current grasp of power except VOTING THEM OUT.
These are the pressing, immediate actions we must take, and Cruz is taking us there.
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