A memorable part of Thursday's GOP debate was the exchange between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz about the Texas senator's statement that Trump had New York Values. The exchange got the "Saturday Night Live" treatment this week in a skit about the debate which ended with the Cruz character indicating that he used "New York Values" to veil his anti-Semitism.
The skit didn't have the humor of some of the later parts of the show - and their target was way off. Ted Cruz is, arguably, the most pro-Jewish and pro-Israel candidate running in either party.
In the skit, Cruz (played by Taran Killam) is asked to explain the NY Values statement. He answers,
I think most people know exactly what New York values are. And frankly, they are not the rest of the country's values. Instead of celebrating Christmas, New Yorkers celebrate a pagan holiday called Festivus. Instead of watching American football, they challenge each other to masturbation contests. In New York people don't say hi to their neighbors. They say "Hello, Newman."
When one of the moderators points out that the Texas senator is just describing a "Seinfeld" episode, Cruz responds by saying:
"Believe me, if I could say 'liberal Jews,' I would."
Below is the entire skit from NBC:
The SNL sketch echoed tweets and posts from liberals on the internet accusing the Cruz of being an anti-Semite. This is a slander that strikes at the very heart of Cruz's religious beliefs. For the Texas senator (like most evangelicals), the support of Jews and Israel is not a matter of politics, it’s a matter of faith.
As Peter Roff said in his U.S. News and World Report column:
It is absolutely clear that Cruz was not speaking of Jews, Judaism or anything else having to do with the oldest of the Abrahamic religions. He was talking about liberals and liberalism of the kind that never, ever plays in Peoria.
From the moment he arrived in the senate, Cruz battled the President's anti-Israel and anti-Semitic policies and, unlike Democratic Party supporters of Israel (many of whom were Jewish), Cruz battled Obama loudly and very publicly.
In September 2014, Ted Cruz delivered a keynote address to “In Defense of Christians,” an advocacy group aiming to bring attention to the plight of ancient Christian communities in the Middle East, and to protect the rights of other religious minority groups in the region.
As you can see in the video at the end of this post, Cruz began his remarks by discussing the group’s defense of Christians, Jews, and “people of good faith who are standing together against those who would persecute and murder those who dare to disagree with their religious teachings.” Those initial paragraphs were applauded.
But, an uneasy quiet took over the crowd when Cruz began to speak of Muslim terrorist groups because the senator didn’t speak only of ISIS and Al Qaeda, but added “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.”
“Sometimes we are told not to lump these groups together, but we have to understand their so-called nuances and differences. . . . In 1948 Jews throughout the Middle East faced murder and extermination and fled to the nation of Israel. And today Christians have no better ally than the Jewish state.”
That’s when the boos began to break out. The Texan responded to the boos with:
"Let me say this: those who hate Israel hate America. And those who hate Jews hate Christians. If those in this room will not recognize that, then my heart weeps hat the men and women here will not stand in solidarity with Jews and Christians alike who are persecuted by radicals who seek to murder them.”
The group's president came out and tried to calm the crowd, but it didn’t help.
“I am saddened to see some here, not everyone, but some here are so consumed with hate,” Cruz said from the lectern. Someone in the audience shouted, “We are not consumed with hate, no, you are consumed with hate.”
With that Cruz had enough, “If you will not stand with Israel and Jews” he said, “then I will not stand with you. Thank you and God bless you.” And he left.
I don’t know many “anti-Semites” who would fight the president on Jewish issues even when Jewish members of Congress (Democrats) were silent. I don’t know many anti-Semites who would support Jews and Israel to a hostile audience. Heck, Ted Cruz was tougher on Chuck Hagel and his anti-Israel statements than Chuck Schumer was during Hagel’s confirmation hearing.
Ted Cruz is not now, nor has he ever been an anti-Semite, and the very suggestion that was floated by Saturday Night Live and others around the internet makes this proud Jew disgusted.
The video below shows Senator Cruz’s appearance at the “In Defense of Christians,” conference described above.