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?