The Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro spoke with Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) about his recent proposal to openly and specifically condemn anti-Semitism following the disastrous watered-down resolution presented by the Democrats in the House of Representative. Cruz also discusses the Trump Administration’s stance on the Golan Heights, Beto O’Rourke’s 2020 campaign, as well as the Democrats and AIPAC. Video and partial transcript below.
Ben: What’s the actual contents of the bill?
Sen.Ted Cruz: Well I hope that it comes up for a vote. We circulated it to every Senate office this past week. It’s a straightforward bill condemning anti-Semitism. And this was prompted number one by the repeated anti-Semitic comments we’ve seen from these new freshman congresswomen. But number two, by the ridiculous paroxysms, that House Democrats went into when they were unable to vote out a resolution condemning anti-Semitism because the sad reality is too many in their party have given into the extremes, the left-wing anti-Israel bias, the embrace of BDS. And so instead they watered it down into a general resolution disclaiming bigotry of any kind and they listed every group they could find in it. The resolution, I’ve introduced is straightforward. It defines anti-Semitism as a unique form of prejudice that’s targeted at the Jews. It identifies attacks on Jewish loyalty as a form of anti-Semitism with a long history though in going all the way back to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. It identifies attacks on Jews’ livelihood as a form of anti-Semitism from land prohibition in the Middle Ages to Nazi destruction of Jewish businesses to the contemporary BDS movement. And it describes the history of American anti-Semitism. It’s one of the reasons why it is so clear to be unequivocal. My hope is the Senate will do what the House was not able to do. Just take it up and clearly and unequivocally condemn anti-Semitism.
Ben: Senator Cruz, does the bill itself mention by name anybody in the Congress or is it in general just condemnation of anti-Semitism?
Sen. Ted Cruz: It does not mention any individual member of Congress, and I just didn’t think it was appropriate for the Senate to do that. And actually, part of the reason it doesn’t do that is my hope is to get it passed. But what it does do, is it condemns specifically the comments — the kinds of comments, the assertions of “dual loyalty,” the tweet that was sent about, “It’s all about the Benjamins,” which I think may well have been the most offensive of all of these comments. So it targets those kinds of aspersions without identifying a member of Congress by name.
Ben: OK so with that said, have you received any Democratic support? How have Democratic senators reacted to your proposal?
Sen. Ted Cruz: So we have not yet, but we just circulated it this past week and the Senate is in recess. Everyone is back in their states right now, and so we have right now 10 Senate offices that have asked to be co-sponsors. But all of them are Republicans so far, so we’ll wait and see. I am not certain we will vote on it. I want to have a vote on it. And Mitch McConnell has said he plans to schedule it for a vote. I’m hopeful that every senator has to make a choice. Where do you stand? And I think for some Senate Democrats that may be a difficult choice. My hope is that they do the right thing. I’d like to see this pass one hundred to nothing, but the Democrats will have to make a decision that they’re willing to be unequivocal condemning anti-Semitism for that to happen.
Ben: Senator Cruz, it is fascinating to watch as the Democratic Party pulls further and further away from Israel. They say this has nothing to do with an implicit endorsement of anti-Semitism even though they’ve been watering down their principles on behalf of Ilhan Omar and Rashida Talib in the House. We now know that at least six Democratic presidential contenders have pulled out of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee policy conference, which is this huge event that happens every year. It’s basically just a giant gathering of pro-Israel people. Historically, everybody from every side of the political aisle, including folks like President Obama, have spoken at AIPAC regularly. Even when President Obama was pushing what I thought was an awful anti-Israel Iran bill, he was invited to and spoke at AIPAC. What do you make of the Democrats pulling out of AIPAC one after another like this?
Sen. Ted Cruz: Well, it’s one of the saddest and most troubling legacies of the Obama presidency. There used to be for many years a bipartisan agreement and support for Israel and for America’s alliance with Israel. When Obama negotiated and pushed forward the Iranian Nuclear Deal, that I think was devastating to send billions of dollars to the Ayatollah, a theocratic zealot who pledges “Death to Israel” and “Death to America.” What happened was congressional Democrats and the Obama White House teed up a choice between either stand with the Obama White House or stand with Israel, and virtually every congressional Democrat chose partisan Democratic politics over Israel. That legacy continues to reverberate today and it’s really a very unfortunate development. I hope we can find congressional Democrats to get their voice back and be willing to stand together in support of the nation of Israel.