The author must be exhausted from manufacturing so much phony outrage...
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.
It’s true, what you say.
I don’t claim to know the motives behind TC’s choice of topics.
But it was very poorly chosen. If an American had gone to Dublin in 1940 and given a speech about supporting the brave Englishmen fighting Hitler, I would have expected a similar reaction.
Not because what he was saying was untrue, but because the Irishmen in the audience had a long and sad history of conflict with the English, one the American just didn’t share.
IOW, it looks like TC gave a speech that would have been well received at a Southern Baptist meeting. Not so much where many of the attendees were ethnic Arabs, whose ethnic brothers had fought many wars against the Israelis. Rights or wrongs of those wars can be argued indefinitely, but it isn’t reasonable to expect them to love each other.
Here’s the comment that first drew boos. “And today, Christians have no greater ally than the Jewish state. [mixed applause, boos, “come on”]”
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/coppage/ted-cruz-crashes-defense-of-christians-summit/
It is entirely to be expected that Palestinian Arab Christians would not feel that they have “no greater ally than the Jewish state.”
There are only two possibilities here. TC foresaw the response that such comments would get from this audience and went ahead with them anyway, for some obscure reason. Or he didn’t, and that doesn’t say good things about his judgment.
Some day there will FINALLY be people speaking out about the non-stop outrageous levels of black on white crime in America. When this topic is FINALLY breached, will Cruz join for a speech? I would bet any amount of money that he would. I also bet any amount of money that some dumbsnot staffer of his would write the first two paragraphs of his speech praising Affirmative Action.
I support Cruz all the way, I support Israel as well. I want the man to be President. I want his handlers to be smarter. NOW!
The author is a tool of CAIR.
what a krappy IslamoNazi propaganda piece,
thanks for posting it because it reminds us
just how screwed up
some of the media are
these days
anytime the article writer wants to find out some real facts, he can stop with his antiSemitic krap and take his ass to live in any of the IslamoNazi paradises he is so fond of, maybe Syria or Iran or Iraq or Saudi (where they won’t even let him in) or Yemen or Egypt, and find out just how much fin it is to be a “Christian” in an IslamoNazi or Islamicist or Islam.period country.......then he will (if he’s not crucified or beheaded) ... run for the safety of USA (or Israel)
and if he ever writes again,he will at least know something about what he says
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!
He wants to piss in the face of Christians in the middle east, I say,,,eff off Ted!
They always overplay their hand with Cruz and Palin: “Most cynical, despicable.” That’s pretty insensitive of them.
Is there some reason that I should pay attention to this weasel of a writer?
Cruz stands on principle. One of the few in office that does so.
That really infuriates the status quo.
whom would you rather, have defending your back?
Ted Cruz or “*itch” McConnell?
I would rather have someone who doesn’t turn their back on and piss in the faces of Christians in the BIRTHPLACE of Christianity facing extinction. cruz no longer qualifies.
The author must be exhausted from manufacturing so much phony outrage...
ps: As for Ted Cruz, he looked real good ...
real, really good!
if the Christian world won’t even speak up for the most basic Christian morals
we will seal our own fate
(and it ain’t pretty, the Islamics frequently like to murder or torment Christians and burn churches, and now they are even crucifying and beheading Christians ...
But why should it be considered (by some) to be impossible to stand firmly against both anti-Christian bigotry and anti-Jewish bigotry (i.e. anti-Semitism)?
I think Sen. Cruz was exactly right on this point.
Was Cruz afraid to speak of the plight of massacred Christians without multiple shout outs to Israel? I mean, it was off topic.
Persecuted ‘Christians’ are antis emotes?
No.
Whatever Ted Cruz did here and I have no doubt He is not cynical. There’s a difference between wise and cynical. It was not to enrage a group of bigots claiming Jesus Christ as their inspiration
They have total responsibility for their actions.
The day before, members of the same group, holding a conference under the name In Defense of Christians, booed and shouted down keynote speaker Senator Ted Cruz"
What was he supposed to do? Start singing “Kumbaya” and “We Are the World”? He stuck to his guns. That’s what counts. Those morons were completely disrespectful.
Autocorrect doesn’t like ‘antiSemites’
Oh please. The author is living in another dimension or something.
I’m totally anti emo though. So auto correct has a reason I’m sure. : )
Maybe you don’t realize he was responding to speeches that came before his, with vitriol and hate thrown at Israel.
I am glad he responded to them, in person to their faces.
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