Ted Cruz and the Continuation War

[Draggingtree]

RedState: Ted Cruz and the Continuation War

By: Neil Stevens (Diary) | September 12th, 2014 at 02:00 PM

I know that there are a number of smart conservatives who side with Rod Dreher in the flap over Ted Cruz’s short-lived speech to the In Defense of Christianssummit dinner

However as much as our feelings may get conflicted on these issues, I think Ted Cruz is right. We don’t always get to pick who are friends and opponents are in war, and sometimes the people we’d like to have on our side, aren’t. Some of the Lebanese and “Palestinian” Christians, are reminiscent of the Finns in World War II.

 

While many of Hitler’s allies in World War II were horrible, and actively participated in the evil Nazi programs of oppression and genocide, some of the specific national situations tur

 

Ted Cruz wants Israel to win its war, and the array of Islamist forces to lose, and he’s right to want that. If the bulk of the Arab Christian population counts itself allied with the Islamists against Israel, then they too must lose.

[Valin]

Why Was Ted Cruz Booed Wednesday Night?
Kathryn Jean Lopez
September 12, 2014

 

Friday afternoon, Senator John McCain applauded Ted Cruz for supporting Israel Wednesday night at a summit on Christianity being driven out in Iraq and Syria.

 

He joins a lot of the immediate reaction to an incident at the In Defense of Christians summit this past week in Washington. Having been there that night and for a good part of the next day, I have to agree with Coptic Bishop Angaelos, who’s said the gathering has been misrepresented.

 

First things first: Ted Cruz should not have been heckled in a room full of Christians. And, as someone rattled by that, I was grateful that clergy and laity addressed that matter the next day, in addition to their repeated clear denunciations of hatred and bigotry.

 

Second, Ted Cruz is absolutely right to say that if you hate Jews, that’s not of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Nazarene.

 

Third, I can attest with certainty that no one at the conference is perfect.

 

That said: It wasn’t clear to many in the ballroom why Ted Cruz chose to bring up Israel so quickly in a speech about the end of Christianity in the cradle of civilization (the theme of the conference as some had put it). You can, in fact, defend the human rights of Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East (Jews among them) and have prudential disagreements about foreign policy. And when the room included Arab Christians, who live or have lived in the midst of a conflict most of us have the luxury of arguing about in freedom, it seemed like it should have been a speech for another convention.

 

(Snip)

[Draggingtree]

Why Was Ted Cruz Booed Wednesday Night?

Kathryn Jean Lopez

September 12, 2014

 

Friday afternoon, Senator John McCain applauded Ted Cruz for supporting Israel Wednesday night at a summit on Christianity being driven out in Iraq and Syria.

 

He joins a lot of the immediate reaction to an incident at the In Defense of Christians summit this past week in Washington. Having been there that night and for a good part of the next day, I have to agree with Coptic Bishop Angaelos, who’s said the gathering has been misrepresented.

 

First things first: Ted Cruz should not have been heckled in a room full of Christians. And, as someone rattled by that, I was grateful that clergy and laity addressed that matter the next day, in addition to their repeated clear denunciations of hatred and bigotry.

 

Second, Ted Cruz is absolutely right to say that if you hate Jews, that’s not of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Nazarene.

 

Third, I can attest with certainty that no one at the conference is perfect.

 

That said: It wasn’t clear to many in the ballroom why Ted Cruz chose to bring up Israel so quickly in a speech about the end of Christianity in the cradle of civilization (the theme of the conference as some had put it). You can, in fact, defend the human rights of Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East (Jews among them) and have prudential disagreements about foreign policy. And when the room included Arab Christians, who live or have lived in the midst of a conflict most of us have the luxury of arguing about in freedom, it seemed like it should have been a speech for another convention.

 

(Snip)

All I have read about this from various articles, here my take I'll stand with Cruz

[Valin]

Ted Cruz's Speech to Arab Christians
Dennis Prager

Sept. 16, 2014

 

(Snip)

 

If I had been asked to write the keynote address for Senator Cruz, I might have worded these truths a bit differently, and I would have suggested speaking about Israel toward the end of the speech, after gaining the trust of the audience.

 

This is what I would have suggested:

 

"I know that some of you are opposed to the State of Israel. And I know that for some of you, expressing anything other than radical hostility to Israel can get you arrested and perhaps even killed. Nevertheless, given that unlike many of you, I live in a country that provides complete freedom to members of every faith, I have no excuse for not telling you this truth as both a Christian and as a human being: Those who hate Israel and the Jews are enemies of Christ and of Christians. And, as difficult as it may be to hear after living a lifetime in a society immersed in Israel-hatred, Israel really is the Christians' best friend in the Middle East. I appreciate that, for reasons of self-preservation, some of you feel that you cannot say any of these things publicly in Lebanon or in Syria or elsewhere in the Arab world. But at least you need to understand all this. If you do not, you do not understand who threatens Christian survival in the Middle East."

 

So, I ask the critics of Ted Cruz: Had the Senator put it that way, would you still object? And if so, why?

[Cyber_Liberty]

"The enemy of my friend is my enemy." I think Cruz has demonstrated that he understands that.