Ted Cruz claims there is a "growing trend of antisemitism"...

Editor's note: ...in the Republican Party, but that narrative blurs an important distinction: legitimate criticism of Israel's government and policies is not antisemitism. Increasingly, anyone who questions Israeli actions, U.S. foreign-aid levels, or the influence of pro-Israel lobbying (Israel-based criminal gangs operating in the US) gets branded as antisemitic — which shuts down debate rather than engaging with it. Cruz being a Southern Baptist with his Christian baggage in tow is a liability for America. Criticizing a nation-state, its lobbying groups, or its geopolitical conduct is not hatred of a people or religion. Cruz is dragging his Judeo-Christian ignorance into politics and is a demagogue Thomas Paine would have loathed. Paine condemned politicians who "used faith as their authority." Conflating the two is politically convenient for some, but intellectually dishonest and ultimately harmful, because it both weaponizes the charge of antisemitism and trivializes real antisemitism when it occurs. Cruz needs to check his eschatology at the door...
________

Ted Cruz to Jewish Republicans: Antisemitism is 'an existential crisis in our party'

The Texas senator reiterates comments he made at a megachurch last week, including the core message that he's recently seen more Jew-hatred on the right than ever before

By Joseph Strauss | November 1, 2025

LAS VEGAS (JTA) — Ted Cruz warned of rising antisemitism on the right — and a lack of Republican voices calling it out — as he kicked off the Republican Jewish Coalition's annual summit Thursday night.

The speech reiterated comments he made at a San Antonio megachurch last week, including the core message that he's recently seen more right-wing antisemitism than ever before.

"In the last six months, I've seen more antisemitism on the right than I had in my entire life," Cruz said.

"This is a poison," he continued. “And I believe we are facing an existential crisis in our party and our country."

The RJC's annual gathering, being held this weekend at the Venetian Resort Las Vegas, comes as a growing number of conservatives are turning against Israel, while right-wing voices who are spreading antisemitic conspiracies are finding mainstream audiences.

Cruz, a longtime supporter of Israel, presented the moment of division on the right as "a time for choosing."

"And as for me, I choose to stand with you," Cruz said to the room of about 100 Jewish Republican donors. "I choose to stand with Israel, and I choose to stand with America."

As at the megachurch, Cruz, who is Christian, did not name names in his criticism of the "anti-Israel right." But on Thursday, he hinted strongly that he was speaking about Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News personality who recently hosted a friendly conversation with the white nationalist livestreamer Nick Fuentes. Carlson said during the interview that GOP supporters of Israel — including Cruz — are infected by a "brain virus."

"If you sit there and nod adoringly while someone tells you that Winston Churchill was the villain of World War II, if you sit there and nod while someone says, 'There's a very good argument America should've intervened on behalf of Nazi Germany in World War II,' if you sit there with someone who says 'Adolf Hitler was very, very cool,' and that their mission is to combat and defeat global Jewry, and you say nothing?" Cruz said. "Then you are a coward and you are complicit in that evil."

His comments came just hours after Kevin Roberts, the president of leading conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation, answered mounting questions about whether he would continue to associate with Carlson after the Fuentes interview — with a resounding defense of Carlson.

RJC CEO Matt Brooks told Jewish Insider that, after working with Heritage over the years, there would be "a reassessment of our relationship with Heritage in light of this."

Please go to The Times of Israel to continue reading.

________

Cruz has every right to practice and speak about his faith, but elected officials should not be using religion as a political weapon or moral litmus test. When Cruz leans on his Christian-Zionist beliefs to frame policy positions or cast opponents as morally suspect, it blurs the line between personal belief and public duty. America's strength has always come from keeping government neutral toward religion, so all citizens — Christian, Jewish, Muslim, atheist, or otherwise — stand equal before the law. Faith can guide private conscience, but it should not be used as a badge of political legitimacy:

If you are a Christian in America you really do need to question your eschatology

Disentangling Evangelical Christian Americans from their flawed eschatology is going to be a difficult task