Senator Cruz Walks Out

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The New York Sun

Congratulations are in order to Senator Ted Cruz who, when he found himself facing an audience that was hostile to Israel, turned around and walked out. The Texas Republican was speaking at a sold-out dinner gala for Middle East Christians, according to the report on the Daily Caller, when he asserted, “Christians have no greater ally than Israel.” He began, the Caller reported, by saying: “tonight, we are all united in defense of Christians. Tonight, we are all united in defense of Jews. 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 dare disagree with their religious teachings.”

According to the account on the Caller, the senator was speaking extemporaneously, not from a teleprompter or notes, and went on to assert that “religious bigotry is a cancer with many manifiestations. ISIS, al-Qaida, Hezbollah, Hamas, state sponsors like Syria and Iran, are all engaged 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 through the region. Hate is hate, and murder is murder.”

It was when Senator Cruz said “Christians have no greater ally than Israel” that at least some members of the audience began to boo him and yell “stop it.” At one point the head of the group, In Defense of Christians, came onto the stage to beg the crowd to listen to the senator. But, as the Caller reported, “”Cruz had already had enough.” He declared: “If you will not stand with Israel and the Jews, then I will not stand with you. Good night, and God bless.” Then, in a show of character that is rare among politicians, Mr. Cruz just turned around and walked out. It was a marvelous moment and, we’d like to think, a glimpse of how Mr. Cruz might perform as president in the world organizations — the United Nations and others — in which hostility to Jews and Israel is heard all the time.


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