Ted Cruz and his anti-Christian stand on Christian Arabs
Republican Tea Party Senator says persecution of Christians by extremist Muslims is wrong but persecution of Christians by Israel is God’s will
By Ray Hanania
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz showed how little he knows or cares about true Christians when stepped onto a stage before an audience of Middle East Christians and the Washington D.C. based organization called “In Defense of Christians” on Sept. 10 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel.
The group, which represents Middle East Christians and minorities, was holding its inaugural summit Sept. 9 through Sept. 11 and had invited many speakers in the hopes of raising awareness to the flight of Christians, and other minorities in the Middle East, and have been openly critical of extremist Middle East terrorist groups like ISIL (ISIS), al-Qaeda and others.
But when he addressed the predominantly Middle East Christian group, Cruz focused his remarks on how much he supports Israel and spent most of his time telling the audience why Israel and “the Jews” are important, ignoring the oppression and suffering that Israel is and has caused for Christian Arabs who continue to struggle in the Israeli-oppressed original birthplace of Jesus, Bethlehem, Palestine.
When Cruz said “If you hate the Jewish people, you are not reflecting the teachings of Christ, and the very same people who persecute and murder Christians right now, who crucify Christians , who behead children, are the very same people who target and murder Jews for their faith for the same reason” several members of the audience booed.
Cruz’s remarks were politically motivated and focused only on the concerns of Israel. And he made it clear that while the world must standup and speak out in defense of Christians persecuted by Radical Islamic extremists, he was silent on Israel’s persecution of Christian, Israel’s destruction of Christian Holy Sites and Israel’s confiscation of Christian-owned lands in and around Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
Clearly uncaring of the persecution that Christians face, Cruz declared, “Those who hate Israel hate America, and those who hate Jews hate 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 who seek to murder them.”
Instead of standing up to hatred and Bigotry, Senator Ted Cruz empowered haters and bigots against Christians, especially those Christians in the mIddle East who continue to suffer without any support from so-called American Christian leaders. Middle East Christians are oppressed in a large part because of politicians like Senator Ted Cruz. Ted Cruz is the real hater. He’s responsible for the rising hatred of Christians and he showed he doesn’t care about them at all. It’s Ted Cruz who hates true Christians simply because they oppose the government and political policies of the State of Israel. Criticizing Israel and Israel’s government policies has nothing to do with “hating Jews” as the ignorant Senator Cruz would like you to believe.
Here is a video of the complete speech and incident involving anti-Christian U.S. Senator Ted Cruz
So why does Cruz make that claim? Because Cruz hates true Christians. As a member of the rightwing Tea Party and a leader of the conservative Christian movement, he represents the true Jew-Haters who have made anti-Semitism the heinous horror that it has been. Cruz doesn’t support Israel because he loves Jews. He supports Israel because it is politically expedient and he his making a temporary alliance with the Jewish community by pandering to their fears of extremist Islamic fanatics, who are a threat but whom Cruz is empowering because of his own hatred and vicious policies.
The IDC should never have invited Cruz to speak at his conference in defense of Christians because Cruz showed at the conference that he hates Middle East Christians. Cruz has the disdain for Christians of the Middle East. It is the small minded Cruz who wants to exploit the persecution of Christians and translate that into political capital for his personal political agenda. Cruz wants to be president of the United States, an unconscionable objective that must be opposed to prevent America from becoming a country of hate. He’s not the smartest apple in the bushel, that’s for sure. And he demonstrated how little he knows about the Middle East, protecting Christians and defending the rights of Christians, Muslims and Jews.
The IDC explained the purpose of the conference on its website: “The primary purpose of the Summit is to bring all members of the Diaspora together in a newfound sense of unity. Whether Orthodox or Catholic; Evangelical, Coptic or Maronite; Syriac, Lebanese, Chaldean or Assyrian – all Middle Eastern Christians will be called on to join together in solidarity. This solidarity will strengthen advocacy efforts with policy makers and elected officials and make more palatable grassroots outreach to the American public. Thus united, Middle Eastern Christians will invite all people of good will to join the cause to defend the defenseless, to be a voice for those who are voiceless.”
And, the IDC clearly explained that they view their mandate as extending to protect all good peoples and not just Christians but non-Christians, too. They explain that “Christian” refers not only those who confess the Christian faith, but also Muslim, Jew, Hindu, Buddhist, Baha’i, and even the freedom to confess no religious belief at all.
Click here to view the list of speakers who were slated to address the conference. Clearly the IDC was seeking to find common ground as several of the people invited include some of the most notorious anti-Christian activists and politicians in the country, including Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen who has sponsored so many anti-Christian Arab resolutions and laws to undermine the Middle East peace process and put Christians in jeopardy not just in the Middle East but across the world. Cruz wasn’t even on the list of promoted speakers (below) but was added, reportedly because he asked to speak to the group.
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Ray Hanania is an award winning political and humor columnist who analyzes American and Middle East politics, and life in general. He is an author of several books.
Hanania covered Chicago Politics and Chicago City Hall from 1976 through 1992 at the Daily Southtown and the Chicago Sun-Times. He began writing in 1975 publishing The Middle Eastern Voice newspaper in Chicago (1975-1977). He later published “The National Arab American Times” newspaper (2004-2007).
Hanania writes weekly columns on Middle East and American Arab issues as Special US Correspondent for the Arab News ArabNews.com, at TheArabDailyNews.com, and at SuburbanChicagoland.com. He has published weekly columns in the Jerusalem Post newspaper, YNetNews.com, Newsday, the Orlando Sentinel, Houston Chronical, and Arlington Heights Daily Herald.
Hanania is the recipient of four (4) Chicago Headline Club “Peter Lisagor Awards” for Column writing. In November 2006, he was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New American Media. In 2009, Hanania received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. He is the recipient of the MT Mehdi Courage in Journalism Award. He was honored for his writing skills with two (2) Chicago Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild. In 1990, Hanania was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times editors for a Pulitzer Prize for his four-part series on the Palestinian Intifada.
His writings have also been honored by two national Awards from ADC for his writing, and from the National Arab American Journalists Association.
Hanania is the US Special Correspondent for the Arab News Newspaper, covering Middle East and Arab American issues. He writes for the Southwest News newspaper group writing on mainstream American issues.
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We’ll have Rateb Rabie, of the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation and who addressed the same conference, on radio today (Sept. 12, 2014) at 4 pm CST http://www.YahalaVoice.com and WCEV 1450 AM Radio in Chicago. Tune in.