While most of the nation was listening to President Obama giving a speech about counter strategies against ISIS, Senator Ted Cruz caused controversy with the Arab-Christian community. The Republican senator was speaking at a event of "In Defence of Chistians" (IDC), a organization which brings awareness to persecution of various Christian minorities in the Middle East. While speaking, Senator Cruz compared the ethnic cleansing of Christians by ISIS to the persecution of the Jews, and stated that "Christians' greatest ally is Israel."
While the intentions may have been good, the delivery was poor.
The fact Cruz did not know is that many Christian Palestinians, some of which live in Gaza, suffer the same human rights abuse and mistreatment at the hands of the Israeli government as much as their Muslim countrymen. Cruz's statements proceeded to incite booing by his audience, which was comprised of Eastern Orthodox Chistians, whose ideologies and messages are quite different from American evangelicals. Cruz then continued his ill-formed comments, stating facepalm-inducing remarks, such as "Let me say this: those who hate Israel hate America. And those who hate Jews hate Christians" and “I am saddened to see some here, not everyone, but some here are so consumed with hate", and then walked off while stating "thank you and God bless you."
On his Facebook page, Cruz posted “Tonight in Washington should have been a night of unity as we came together for the inaugural event for a group that calls itself ‘In Defense of Christians,’” he wrote. “Instead, it unfortunately deteriorated into a shameful display of bigotry and hatred. . . . Anti-Semitism is a corrosive evil, and it reared its ugly head tonight.” This statement only added insult to injury, because, ironically for Cruz, ARAB-CHRISTIANS ARE SEMETIC.
I believe next time, Mr. Cruz should actually do some research on his topic and his audience.
Link: http://time.com/3328063/ted-cruz-booed-israel-christian-middle-east/
He is the most ridiculous person. I can't stand to hear him talk.
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