TED CRUZ DEFENDS REMARKS THAT GOT HIM BOOTED OFF STAGE

The Texas senator says that as a Christian he felt compelled to speak out in defense of Israel and the Jews

Hezbollah supporters at the In Defense of Christians conference were incensed over Cruz’s audacity to speak out in defense of Israel and the Jewish people.

CRUZ: NOT SORRY I SPOKE UP FOR ISRAEL
By Andrea Billups

Newsmax
September 25, 2014

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz says he's not sorry he spoke out in favor of Israel and the Jewish people at a Sept. 10 conference where he was shouted down and forced to leave the stage, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

He said he felt it important to honor his commitment to speak, especially about the plight of persecuted Christians in the Middle East, even as he was met with boos as he went after Hezbollah and Syrian President Bashar al- Assad.

“Look, I anticipated that there were one or two radical speakers who I didn’t expect would be happy with what I was saying,” Cruz told World magazine of his speech at the In Defense of Christians conference, held in Washington, D.C.

“What I didn’t understand was that a significant minority of the attendees there reflected the same bitter hatred towards Israel and the Jews," he said. "That surprised me. It disappointed me, but at the end of the day, we are called as Christians and Americans to speak the truth. That is what I endeavored to do.”

Others argued that Cruz intentionally provoked attendees, even as he knew that there were Hezbollah supporters at the event, Buzzfeed reported, noting he was only told about who would be there the night before he was slated to speak. Those people booed him so loud that he left the stage.

According to coverage of the event by breitbart.com, Cruz minced no words in his criticism of those who would put down Israel.

"Religious bigotry is a cancer with many manifestations. ISIS, Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, and their state sponsors like Syria and Iran, are all engaged in a vicious genocidal campaign to destroy religious minorities in the Middle East," Cruz spoke out.

"Sometimes we are told not to lump these groups together, that we have to understand their so-called nuances and differences," he continued. "But we shouldn't try to parse different manifestations of evil that are on murderous rampage through the region. Hate is hate and murder is murder."

As he spoke, people in the crowd pushed back, shouting "Stop it. Stop it," Breitbart noted.
Cruz, however. defended his convictions. "Before I arrived, a news story broke that a couple of the speakers who had been at the event were prominent supporters of Hezbollah,” Cruz told the Free Beacon. “There were some in the office who advocated that we should cancel, that I should simply not go, but I didn’t think that would be the right thing to do.”

“I didn’t want to not go and to not do what I could to shine the light on the persecution of Christians, which is absolutely unspeakable,” he said. “Secondly, I didn’t want to cede the discussion to the extremes.”

The senator said despite the rancor, many have come to him and let him know that they appreciated his candor. He pushed aside criticism, including from journalists, some of whom said the flap over his remarks detracted from helping Christians who were suffering in Muslim nations.

"What I find interesting is almost to a person,almost to a person, the people writing those columns have never or virtually never spoken of persecuted Christians in any other context," he told the Free Beacon.