In defense of Ted Cruz

I do not personally see circumstances in which it would be appropriate to boo the remark “Those who hate Israel, hate the United States”—which is, incidentally, a valid generalization. Some in the crowd did boo that comment. (Audio here, as is a slightly inaccurate transcript.) Or to boo after “those who hate Jews, hate Christians.” Or after the observation that people who behead Jews as infidels do the same to Christians.

A partial defense could be made of the booers nonetheless. The boos began when Cruz praised Israel as the strongest ally of Christians. When they booed the following remarks, perhaps they were still reacting to that comment and interpreting the whole passage as tarring critics of Israel as Jew-haters. That could explain, though not in my view excuse, their behavior. But even in that case, Cruz would certainly have been within his rights to react as he did to the people shouting over him at such innocuous lines. Treating that booing as anti-Semitic is a perfectly defensible reaction.

When Cruz said he would not “stand with” the booers, he was obviously making a political rather than a theological statement, and obviously not saying that he would refuse to speak up for persecuted Christians who disagree with him about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He was saying that people who hate Jews, or are indifferent to their persecution, aren’t his allies.