Senator Ted Cruz delivered what he called the most consequential speech in the 45-year history of Christians United for Israel’s annual Night to Honor Israel, warning that a dangerous strain of antisemitism has begun spreading through the conservative movement. Speaking at Pastor John Hagee’s Cornerstone Church in San Antonio on October 21, Cruz addressed thousands of evangelical supporters with an urgent message: the same poison that consumed the Democratic Party over the past decade now threatens the right.
“In the last six months, I have seen antisemitism rising on the right in a way I have never seen it in my entire life,” Cruz declared, his voice cutting through the packed sanctuary. “The church is asleep right now.”
The senator recounted a disturbing conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who initially dismissed the online antisemitism as foreign astroturfing from Qatar and Iran. “Mr. Prime Minister, yes, but no,” Cruz responded. “Yes, Qatar and Iran are clearly paying for it, and there are bots, and they are putting real money behind it, but I am telling you, this is real. It is organic. These are real human beings, and it is spreading.”
Cruz did not mince words about the scope of the threat. “In the last year, we had three prominent voices on the right publicly muse, ‘Gosh, maybe Hitler wasn’t that bad a guy after all.'” His response was unequivocal: “Yes, he was. He was the embodiment of evil.”
The poison spreads particularly among young people, Cruz warned, fueled by isolationist philosophy and theological deception. He pointed to replacement theology, which teaches that God’s promises to Israel are void and that the church has superseded the Jewish people as God’s chosen. “They are being taught replacement theology, which is a lie that the promises God made to Israel and the people of Israel are somehow no longer good,” Cruz stated. “When God made a promise, he didn’t mean the promise he made.”
Cruz framed the speech around three themes: grief, victory, and danger. He began by honoring the victims of October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists murdered more than 1,200 people in what he called “the single largest mass murder of Jews in one day since the Holocaust.” More than half of his Jewish friends had family or close connections to victims.
But from that evil came clarity. “It is a choice between good and evil. It is a choice between civilization and barbarism,” Cruz declared. “And as for me and my house, we shall stand with Israel.”
He celebrated Israel’s military victories, detailing the decimation of Hamas and Hezbollah, praising the pager operation as “the most targeted military and intelligence operation in human history,” and applauding President Trump’s decision to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities. Yet Cruz made clear these victories mean nothing if the church abandons its calling.
The senator delivered a stark strategic argument for supporting Israel. The United States provides roughly $3 billion annually in military assistance to Israel, but the intelligence Israel provides in return would cost America tens of billions to replicate. “Every lunatic terrorist in Hamas or Hezbollah or Iran that Israel took out made America safer,” Cruz said. “The United States of America should say to that little nation, ‘Thank you.'”
Those who argue America should withdraw from supporting Israel are spreading “isolationist lies that we should withdraw from the world because nobody wants to hurt us,” Cruz argued. The Ayatollah’s designations of Israel as the little Satan and America as the great Satan reveal the truth: “Those who hate Israel hate America. Those who hate Jews hate Christians.”
Cruz pointed to the Democratic Party as a cautionary tale. A decade ago, when antisemitism began rising on the left, Democratic leaders did nothing. Now, “there is a real and meaningful pro-Hamas contingent of the Democrat party in Washington,” with the remainder “terrified of the pro-Hamas contingent.” He warned conservatives: silence leads to consumption.
Cruz’s support for Israel runs deeper than political strategy. In interviews, including his conversation with Tucker Carlson, Cruz has articulated a biblically grounded understanding of America’s relationship with the Jewish state. He rejects the notion that supporting Israel represents mere alliance politics, instead viewing it as fulfillment of the scriptural mandate and alignment with God’s purposes in history.
His public statements consistently emphasize that the modern State of Israel represents the continuation of God’s covenant with the Jewish people. This theological conviction shapes his foreign policy positions and explains his willingness to confront antisemitism within his own political coalition. For Cruz, defending Israel means defending the integrity of Scripture itself.
The senator’s faith informs his understanding that the promises God made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob remain in force. He views replacement theology not just as bad theology but as a fundamental attack on God’s character and faithfulness. When God says “I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee,” Cruz believes those words carry the same authority today as when first spoken.
His willingness to publicly challenge rising antisemitism on the right distinguishes Cruz from politicians who avoid confronting their own base. He told the CUFI audience he “will not remain silent,” even when silence might prove politically convenient.
Cruz’s message to Christians was unambiguous: “The Bible is not silent on Israel. The Bible is crystal clear on Israel. And in the church we will stand and fight.” He invoked the story of Esther, telling his audience they have been placed “for such a time as this.”
