Despite numerous claims across the media that billionaire Sheldon Adelson was furious at Ted Cruz after his Wednesday night speech, and snubbed him by excluding him from his suite in Cleveland, that is simply false, as Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, who was sitting with Adelson in his suite, attested.
Some examples of the media telling tales out of school:
The Forward, titling its piece, “Sheldon Adelson Snubs Ted Cruz After He Fails to Endorse Donald Trump,” writing, “Sheldon Adelson refused to meet with Ted Cruz after the conservative Texas senator failed to endorse Donald Trump in a controversial speech to the Republican convention, several media outlets reported.”
Newsmax titled its piece, “Sheldon Adelson Snubs Cruz After RNC Speech,”
The Independent Journal Review wrote, “A former U.S. Senator inside the Adelson’s luxury box at the Quicken Loans arena told Independent Journal Review that Cruz approached the suite after he finished his speech that fell short of endorsing Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Cruz was not welcome in the suite ‘because he’s a piece of sh*t,’ the Senator said.”
Politico was more subtle, but got the message across, writing,: “The recriminations were immediate: Billionaire GOP donor Sheldon Adelson turned Cruz away from his suite in the arena, two sources said.”
But Boteach destroyed the media narrative on Facebook, pointing out that the Adelsons preferred to meet with Cruz on Thursday because of the intense media attention focused on him on Wednesday:
The False Report that the Adelsons Snubbed Senator Ted Cruz
As I was going to sleep tonight, late in Cleveland, I saw that CNN and many other news outlets were prominently reporting that after Senator Cruz’s speech at the RNC and refusal to endorse Donald Trump, Dr. Miriam and Sheldon Adelson disinvited him from their suite and snubbed him.
Anyone with any knowledge of the Adelsons knows this to be so out of character as to be utterly defamatory and false.
The Adelsons are renowned for their hospitality, respect, and compassion. Whatever issues they would have had with Senator Cruz’s speech, they would never have chosen to disrespect a friend who is a United States Senator, a patriot, and a staunch friend of Israel. Rather, they would have chosen to do what they plan to do tomorrow, to meet privately and confidentially with their friend the Senator and continue an ongoing and productive dialogue about the American future and the political process.
Beyond the Adelsons’ sterling reputation for respect for others, a quality they have instilled,amid a privileged background, in all their children, I know that the Adelsons did not snub Senator Cruz because I was present in their suite at the Convention sitting nearby for Senator Cruz’s address.
After the speech, given its newsworthy content, it appears that a large contingent of reporters followed the Senator as he made his rounds, including to the Adelson’s suite. The decision was taken by advisers to the Adelsons not to make a spectacle in the small private suite given the intense media scrutiny engulfing the Senator at that moment and to instead meet him in private the following day.
To describe this as a snub is to utterly misrepresent what occurred.