0:00

Violence has broken out in Israel as

0:02

Hamas is firing rockets into

0:04

the state of Israel, Israel defending

0:07

itself, and our host

0:09

of this show, Senator Cruz, will be

0:11

headed where the rockets are flying

0:14

in the coming days. This is Verdict with

0:16

Ted Cruz. Welcome

0:22

back to Verdict with Ted Cruz. Senator.

0:25

I'm very glad that we are doing this

0:27

episode from our very comfy

0:29

studio here in Washington, d C. And

0:31

that we're not doing it under rocket fire in

0:34

Israel. But you, you, madman,

0:36

are headed right into where the violence

0:38

is. So Michael, you're saying you're not going

0:41

to come with me and do a podcast

0:43

on location alongside

0:46

the Gaza strip in a bomb shelter. You

0:48

know, I was. I've gotten sick of zoom

0:51

over the last year. This will be an

0:53

instance. I think I'd prefer zoom. I think Skype

0:55

further distance would be great. All

0:57

right, you can zoom in from

0:59

Bay great, wonderful, the

1:01

far more peaceful. Yes, you

1:04

are headed there into a conflict

1:06

that I think we can say without exaggeration

1:09

is the most complex conflict

1:12

ye on planet Earth. I think

1:15

a great many conservatives, even

1:17

you know, certainly the leftists but even a

1:19

great many conservatives don't really

1:21

know what exactly is it play

1:24

here, what exactly the two sides stand for, or

1:26

why there seems to be perpetual

1:29

violence, And I to some degree would count

1:31

myself in that category. So Senator, if you wouldn't

1:33

mind, please explain it well.

1:36

Israel is surrounded by nations

1:38

that for most of the existence

1:41

of the modern state of Israel have wanted to drive it

1:43

into the sea. I wanted to destroy it.

1:46

If you look at Israel, the only reason Israel

1:49

exists today is

1:51

that it is militarily able

1:54

to defeat its neighbors. There's

1:56

been a whole history of Middle East

1:58

wars where Arab

2:01

nations join together attacked Israel.

2:04

Every time they do it, they lose, and in fact

2:06

Israel gains territory.

2:09

That strength has been critical to Israel's

2:12

existence. If

2:14

you look at what's happening with Hamas terrorists,

2:17

these are terrorists in Israel that that

2:21

do not believe Israel has a right

2:23

to exist, that they do not want there to

2:25

be a Jewish state on the face of the earth.

2:27

They want to obliterate it, and

2:30

they engage in deliberate,

2:32

repeated acts of violence terrorism.

2:35

They target individuals, They target civilians,

2:38

They target women and children. They

2:41

whether it is suicide vests and blowing

2:44

up cafes or

2:46

discotheques or malls.

2:51

But but they also use rockets. They use

2:54

typically low tech rockets that are that

2:56

are fired into Israel over and over

2:58

and over again seeking to cause

3:00

mayhem. And there and they're doing a couple of things. One,

3:03

uh, they want to destabilize

3:05

Israel. They want to create fear. And I'll

3:08

tell you I've been to

3:10

Israel many times. I've been along

3:12

the Gaza strip where where the folks

3:14

there are used

3:17

to, you know, having a

3:20

siren go off and having to run to a bomb

3:22

shelter because in ten twenty

3:24

thirty seconds a rocket could explode and kill

3:26

you. And it has an

3:28

effect. I mean, I've talked with Israelis who

3:32

you know, it's like PTSD, I mean they're

3:34

dealing with I mean, it's really frightening

3:36

when you're playing with your child

3:38

and suddenly have to run and hide because

3:41

of fear of being killed. But

3:44

another reason Hamas does this is

3:46

they count on the media

3:49

to be their propagandists. They

3:51

know that Israel will have to respond that if you

3:53

start I mean imagine how people

3:55

would react in Washington,

3:57

d C. If if sub

4:00

lead folks in Maryland began firing rockets

4:02

in the DC like you would respond and

4:04

you would respond with military

4:07

force. Inevitably, Israel responds and goes

4:09

after the terrorists, and the press

4:11

predictably takes the size at side

4:13

of the terrorists and paints Israel as the bad

4:16

guys. Now. I think also for people

4:18

who are unclear of what Hamas is, it's

4:20

confusing because they're terrorists

4:22

in that they target civilians to achieve political

4:25

ends, the very basic definition of terrorism. But

4:27

they're also sort of the

4:30

government elected by the

4:32

Palestinian Arabs, even though Palestine is not a

4:34

nation, but there were elections in two thousand

4:36

and five and the people there who participated

4:39

elected this terrorist group

4:41

to represent them. That's right.

4:43

And not only that, you

4:45

have the Palestinian Authority, which is

4:47

the governmental

4:50

entity in the portions

4:52

of Israel that are controlled by the pay

4:55

that pays terrorists. So

4:57

if you Michael gostrap dynam

5:00

to your chest and you walk into a mall

5:03

in Tel Aviv and you blow yourself up

5:05

and you murder a bunch of other

5:07

people, you murder a bunch of israelis the

5:09

Palestinian authority will pay your

5:12

family a stipend in perpetuity.

5:14

They literally are essentially paying

5:17

bounties. You know, go blow yourself up and

5:19

we'll take care of your family for you, and will celebrate

5:22

you as a hero and martyr

5:24

and and and that is profoundly

5:28

dysfunctional. It is. But

5:31

the media and the Democrats play this game

5:33

in moral relativism where they say, well, both

5:35

sides are doing wrong. Nope. Yet

5:38

you know, years ago. The

5:40

first time I visited Israel was

5:43

in twenty twelve, so nine

5:46

years ago, and

5:48

first time I traveled there, I

5:51

went and visited a hospital

5:53

on the northern border of Israel,

5:56

right alongside Syrias with a Ziv hospital. At

5:59

the time, that hospital had

6:01

provided over eight million dollars

6:03

in free, uncompensated

6:06

care two

6:08

Syrians injured in the horrific

6:10

civil war playing out there. And

6:13

I heard stories from Israeli doctors,

6:15

Israeli nurses how you

6:17

would have a little Syrian child,

6:20

a boy or girl, go to sleep

6:22

in their bed and a bomb would go

6:24

off and blow

6:26

up their home and they would

6:28

wake up, and they'd wake up in

6:30

an Israeli hospital being treated and

6:33

these little girls and

6:35

little boys were terrified, terrified

6:37

at whatever injuries they had, but even

6:39

more terrified that it was Israeli doctors

6:42

that were treating them. Right. And you

6:44

know, one of the physicians there told me about

6:46

a woman who was a Syrian woman who who

6:48

said, my whole life, the

6:52

government I've been told

6:55

was there to protect me, Now they're trying

6:57

to kill me, and my whole

6:59

life. The people I've been told that

7:01

hate me and want to kill me, Now you're saving

7:03

my life, right right. And and it's

7:06

so I wrote a number of years back

7:08

an op ed that

7:11

was called a Tale of two Hospitals,

7:14

and it said, you can tell a lot about

7:16

a society by how they treat their most vulnerable,

7:20

and a hospital's a good place to start. And I

7:22

compared the Ziv Hospital where

7:24

they'd given all of this free care

7:27

to Syrians wounded

7:29

in the Civil War, and I contrasted

7:31

it to a hospital in Gaza, which is

7:33

in the southern part of Israel that's under the control

7:37

of the Palestinian authority and Hamas,

7:40

where Hamas had based

7:42

their headquarters in

7:45

the basement of the hospital. And

7:48

what they were doing, Now, mind you, this is a Palestinian

7:50

hospital under was the hospital is filled not

7:52

with Israelis but with Palestinians, and

7:55

they were using Palestinians as

7:57

human shields. And so you have mothers giving

7:59

birth are literally using the mothers and

8:02

the infants just being born as human

8:04

shields. And from Hamasa's perspective,

8:06

it's a win win either as

8:09

ended up being the case, Israel

8:12

will refrain and not attack the headquarters

8:14

from which they're planning terrorist attacks on

8:16

Israel. Okay, that's a win if like

8:19

Israel is afraid to attack their headquarters, Hamas

8:21

is happy about that. Or

8:23

on the flip side, if

8:26

Israel does attack the headquarters, there

8:29

will be a bunch of Palestinian patients, mothers

8:31

and infants killed. It's great pr

8:34

and it's great pr. They know that CNN,

8:36

they know that New York Times, they know that the Democrats

8:38

will say, see the Israelis or monsters.

8:40

We told you so. So either way, and in

8:42

the practice of human shields is

8:44

something Hamas does a lot. So this

8:47

this conflict is not particularly

8:49

complicated to obviously the history is very complicated.

8:51

But which side we should be on it's not that

8:54

complicated. If you elect

8:56

Hamas terrorists to represent you, and if you

8:59

celebrate in the stats on nine to eleven

9:01

has happened, I remember watching it play

9:03

out live twenty years ago.

9:06

Then it doesn't seem like the United

9:08

States should should really support whatever

9:11

national cause you want to represent. And

9:13

Israel has has been a good ally. We've been good allies

9:15

to Israel. That seems perfectly ordinary.

9:18

Why is it that so many

9:20

prominent Democrats

9:22

are against Israel and are

9:24

supporting the Palestinian Arabs? What is

9:27

the argument? Are what am I missing here? Well,

9:30

the far left hates Israel, and

9:33

actually the far left frequently traffics

9:35

and anti Semitism where they

9:38

despise Israel's right to exist.

9:41

Is you look, Israel is a nation that shares

9:43

America's value. Israel is our strongest

9:46

ally in the Middle East. We

9:48

provide about three billion dollars a year

9:51

in military assistance to Israel

9:53

that produces enormous

9:57

military advantages, in national security advantag

10:00

just to the United States. I am the strongest

10:02

defender of Israel in the US Senate, and

10:05

I resolved to be that when I was

10:07

elected. Um, but

10:09

but I defend our support of Israel, not

10:12

as a welfare case, not like we're helping

10:14

out this you know, poor on their luck neighbor

10:17

r Right, it's not We're not just a national charity,

10:20

right. I mean, it's good to be charitable, but that's not the benefits

10:23

America. So you look at

10:25

all of the enemies of Israel, our

10:28

enemies of America. You you look

10:30

at the Ayatollah Kamene, the leader, the

10:32

so called Supreme leader of Iran. He

10:35

leads mobs enchanting

10:38

death to America and death

10:40

to Israel. They call

10:43

Israel the little Satan. They

10:45

call America the big

10:47

sat, the great Satan. Yeah, and

10:52

when Israel is fighting her

10:55

enemies, Israel is

10:57

fighting our enemies. Not only that, the Massad,

10:59

their spy net work is

11:01

second to none. It is incredibly

11:03

effective, and so we get massive

11:06

national security benefits from what they

11:08

do with our assistance. For

11:11

example, the Massad did this raid

11:13

on Iran that uncovered this cash

11:16

of documents showing their nuclear

11:19

programs that they were actively working to develop

11:21

nuclear weapons, even when

11:23

they said they were not, that they were lying. It

11:25

proved that they were lying that

11:28

and by the way, they gave those documents to America. So

11:30

they went on a commando raid seize these

11:32

documents. I mean, it's like something out of Jason

11:35

Bourne. All

11:37

of that is very much benefits

11:40

us. Well, you're certainly right

11:42

here in particular when you're talking

11:44

about these prominent democrats

11:46

who hate Israel and don't think it should exist. I

11:48

mean, there are elected

11:50

democrats who have repeated the slogan

11:53

from the river to the sea, Palestine

11:56

will be free, which is to say Israel

11:58

will cease to exist as a nation

12:01

state and that state will be turned over to the Palestinian

12:03

Arab So that it's hard to be more antipathetic

12:06

than that. Well, and listen,

12:08

the barrier to Middle East piece has

12:11

never been Israel. Nobody

12:14

wants peace more than Israel. Look, it's it's Israeli

12:17

babies that are being murdered. It's it's the citizens

12:19

that live in the fear of terror. The

12:22

barrier to peace is

12:25

the Palestinians, who number one,

12:27

refuse to acknowledge Israel's right

12:29

to exist. They refuse their

12:31

objective is to abolish the entire nation

12:34

of Israel. And secondly,

12:36

they refuse to renounce terrorism. They

12:38

in fact, they continue to pay people to

12:41

commit acts of terrorism and murder innocent

12:43

civilians. Until those two

12:45

things change. You can't

12:48

have meaningful peace. I

12:50

will say though, that all of us have been benefited

12:53

from an incredible object lesson the

12:56

last year of

12:58

what works in the Middle East and what doesn't.

13:01

So for years and years and years, Democrats

13:04

have said there can be no peace,

13:06

you can have no Arab Israeli peace until

13:09

the Palestinian situation is resolved.

13:11

John Kerry said this as Secretary of State in twenty

13:13

sixteen. Yes, he said, it's impossible to solve until

13:15

we solve the Palestinian situation. Well,

13:17

it turns out that's totally wrong. Yeah,

13:20

that's now been objectively disproved.

13:22

And think about it. Last year, we

13:25

were seeing this flowering of peace

13:27

across the Middle East, historic,

13:29

the first peace agreements

13:31

in decades, the Abraham Accords. As

13:33

you know, I was there at the White

13:36

House when the Abraham Accords were assigned. And

13:40

why were they signed? I think it's important to understand

13:42

because there's a reason we had peace last year,

13:45

and there's a reason we have war this year, and

13:47

it's based on the policies of America

13:49

last year and the policies of America this year. Why

13:53

did we have peace last year? I think the single

13:55

biggest thing that changed was

13:58

clarity about where America costance.

14:01

So you and I have talked before about the two

14:03

biggest foreign policy decisions that

14:06

Trump made. The

14:09

first was the decision to move the United

14:11

States Embassy to Jerusalem. Yeah, you

14:13

know, Israel was the only country on Earth or we didn't have our

14:15

embassy in its capital city. And it had been US

14:18

policy for decades to move

14:20

the embassy to Jerusalem. We just never

14:22

did. Every president said they would do it, and we just never do.

14:25

Both Democrats and Republican presidents had

14:27

promised to move the embassy and then

14:29

they didn't and the reason why. So there was a big

14:31

fight in the Trump administration about do we move the

14:33

embassy. Both the Secretary

14:35

of State Rex Tillerson and

14:38

the Secretary of Defense Jim Maddis, both

14:40

of them vigorously argued

14:42

against moving the embassy. They said,

14:44

if we moved the embassy, the enemies

14:46

of Israel will be in rage, they will attack, It will

14:48

cause violence, There will be violence

14:50

in the streets, they said. And

14:54

I made the case vigorously

14:56

to President Trump we should move the embassy,

14:59

that it would make absolutely

15:01

clear but to both our friends and enemies that we

15:03

stand unequivocally with Israel, and I think there's

15:06

power in clarity.

15:10

Trump agreed with me, moved

15:13

the embassy, and

15:16

I was there the day the embassy opened

15:18

up, just over three years ago. That

15:20

very same week, and I don't think it's coincidental,

15:25

the Trump administration announced we were pulling

15:28

out of the Iran nuclear Deal. That's

15:31

the most important foreign policy decision.

15:33

Trump made same

15:35

dynamics. Both State and Defense opposed pulling

15:37

out of the deal. I made the

15:39

case repeatedly to the President in the Oval

15:42

Office, we needed to pull out of the deal, and again he

15:44

agreed with me, and he overruled his own State department,

15:46

his own Defense department. Those

15:49

two decisions are what produced

15:52

the Abraham Accords, and I'll tell you

15:54

why. So when the Abraham Accords

15:56

were being signed, I

15:58

spoke with the foreign ministers and the ambassadors

16:01

of both the UAE and Bahrain. Both

16:04

of them said the same thing. They

16:06

said, it

16:09

is now clear to us that America

16:12

stands on equivocally with Israel.

16:15

We want to be friends with America, so

16:18

we'll be friends with Israel. Yeah, it was

16:20

that clarity. And notice there's no resolution

16:23

of the Palestinian situation. It was simply

16:25

they were making a decision. Being friends

16:27

with America is a big damn deal, and

16:30

so we'll suck it up and

16:34

make peace with Israel. Now fast forward

16:36

to Biden. What does Biden do? From

16:39

day one? Begins undermining

16:43

Israel, begins undermining

16:45

data. By the way, Prime Minister Dat and Yahoo Joe

16:48

Biden. The Democrats hate him, They

16:50

hate him, they loathed didn't Obama

16:52

try to oust him? Yes, the Obama They

16:55

sent their political operatives to

16:58

Israel to help run the campaign

17:00

of his opponents. I mean they despise him

17:03

because he's strong and unequivocal and to

17:05

be honest, nat Jah who

17:07

is more pro America the Democrats

17:09

are. Yeah, they

17:12

despised nat Jah who they began sending

17:14

they've Biden is sent over one hundred

17:16

million dollars to the Palestinian

17:19

authority. So why did

17:21

the money stop? The money stopped?

17:23

We had been giving aid to the Palestinian authority, and we

17:25

actually passed a law in Congress called the Taylor Force

17:27

Act. Taylor Force Act is named

17:30

after Taylor Force, who was a Texan. He

17:33

was a veteran and he was in Israel and was

17:35

killed by a terrorist in Israel,

17:38

and the Taylor Forsact said

17:40

we're not going to send us

17:42

taxpayer money to any governmental

17:45

entity that pays but

17:47

like if you're cutting checks. And by the way,

17:50

it's a major budgetary line

17:52

item for the PA funding the

17:54

families of the martyrs, funding the

17:56

families of the terrorists who committed acts of murder.

17:59

Because of that, the Trump administration,

18:01

following the Taylor Force Act, cut off the cash,

18:04

said you don't get any more money. What had Biden

18:06

said, Oh, we're giving you the money over one hundred million dollars.

18:08

And by the way, these are the same clowns

18:11

that are now firing rockets in right

18:13

to Israel. Hamas

18:17

is also funded by Iran. Biden's

18:20

number one foreign policy objective is to reinstate

18:23

the Iran nuclear deal. And

18:26

you know, the funny thing is when you undermine our

18:28

ally, and when you praise the terrorist

18:30

and you say you give them money, and you say you're going

18:32

to give them more money, suddenly

18:34

they start engaging in more acts of terrorism

18:36

and firing rockets. And they know

18:39

that the press and the Democrats will side

18:41

with the terrorists. And we're saying that, especially from the

18:43

squad. Yeah, so I

18:45

think this is actually such an important point

18:48

both when you think of Iran, you

18:50

know enemy state actors, and

18:52

when you think of politicians,

18:55

our opponents here in the United States, you

18:58

can judge a man by his end. And

19:00

so when I'm trying to think of this,

19:02

this issue, which is so complex,

19:05

and I look and I see the squad AOC,

19:10

Bernie Sanders, Barack

19:12

Obama, all these radical politicians

19:15

that I think are wrong about

19:17

everything, when I see that they uniformly

19:20

are against Israel, and then I look

19:22

at the people who are supporting Israel and

19:25

in the United States, but state actors as well.

19:27

To me, I think, okay, if I don't if I don't know anything

19:30

else about this conflict, it is likely

19:32

that I am going to come out on the

19:35

side of Israel. Here just look at just look at

19:37

where the people are lining up. I think you're

19:39

right. And it's worth noting that the politics

19:41

on this has changed a lot. So

19:44

for a long time in Washington there's been a

19:46

bipartisan consensus in support

19:49

of Israel. Yea APACK

19:52

is political action committee that

19:55

works to encourage American

19:58

Israeli cooperation and support. It's

20:00

assiduously bipartisan, and I

20:02

actually agree with the principle that we should have

20:05

as much bipartisan cooperation when

20:07

it comes to standing with Israel as possible. Israel

20:10

wants to continue to exist, whether it's

20:12

Democrats in office or whether it's Republicans in

20:14

office. That

20:18

changed very significantly during the

20:20

Iran Deal. So the second term of Obama,

20:23

they're negotiating the Iran Deal. Net

20:27

and Yahoo said, and I agree with him, that the

20:29

Iran Deal was an existential threat

20:31

to Israel, literally going to the very existence

20:33

of Israel. That a nuclear Iran. The

20:37

odds are unacceptably high that the Aetola

20:39

would use nuclear weapons on Israel. That's

20:41

how much they despise the

20:44

Jews. You know, the head

20:46

of Iran's nuclear

20:50

program, who, by the

20:52

way, has since met

20:54

his maker, and many say at the

20:56

hands of the Massad. That has not been confirmed,

20:59

but I can't imagine to

21:01

believe he had written into his last will

21:03

and testament that he wanted

21:06

written on his tombstone the following.

21:09

Here lies a man who

21:12

sought the annihilation of Israel.

21:17

Now think for a second, just how

21:19

much hatred, Yeah,

21:22

you have to have to want that's all

21:24

you want to be remembered for is I sought

21:26

to annihilate them That's

21:29

what a lot of people don't get is these people

21:31

want to kill every

21:34

Jew in Israel. Um

21:38

And and when

21:40

you're dealing with bullies, when

21:42

you're dealing with tyrants, weakness doesn't

21:44

work. Um So

21:47

this actually, this very point raises

21:49

an objection that the leftist media

21:52

and politicians bring up, which is, look, sure,

21:55

Hamas is firing at the civilians, and that's

21:57

bad. Yeah, they probably shouldn't do that, but they're

21:59

firing the dinky little rockets. And

22:01

the response from Israel has been

22:04

disproportionate because they have better

22:06

funding and they've got better weapons, and so

22:08

it's it's unjust for Israel

22:10

to respond in a stronger way than the way in

22:12

which they've been attacked. Well,

22:15

Israel has a responsibility to protect itself

22:17

and to stop him out. And if you fire rockets,

22:20

try to murder Israeli citizens, you're going to

22:22

get a serious military response. That's

22:24

why Israel exists. Also,

22:27

if you're in a fight with a bully, I

22:30

don't know, it's been a while since I've been in grade school, but

22:32

I was not told if a bully punches you,

22:34

punch him exactly as hard as he punched you.

22:36

I was told if a bully comes out and threatens

22:39

you and punches you, you punch him twice

22:41

as hard. I didn't think anyone punched anyone,

22:43

Agale. It's really

22:45

more of a slap. It's actually a bit of a slapping or

22:49

just you know, sit down and try to understand each other.

22:54

So look that that's absolutely right.

22:56

Um. Let's take this past

22:59

week what has driven in the press crazy,

23:02

which is that Israel bombed

23:04

a building that happened to be the

23:06

headquarters of the Associated Press. Now

23:09

it also happened to be the headquarters of a

23:11

major operation for Hamas in

23:13

the building, an intelligence operation. And

23:18

you know net and Yah who has said publicly that he

23:20

had compelling intelligence that showed that there

23:22

was AMAS operation headquartered in that building,

23:25

and it's been reported that he shared it with

23:27

the US government, with the

23:29

Biden administration. I haven't seen any classified

23:31

information on that, so I just know what's been reported.

23:36

But a couple of points on this. Number One,

23:40

that's consistent with Amassa's pattern of using

23:42

human shields of locating in

23:45

the AP headquarters. Number Two,

23:47

I'll wager twenty dollars AP knew

23:49

that. Of course that they knew

23:51

exactly because you know what those Hamas

23:54

guys were their sources. Yeah, I

23:56

mean, they are propagandists for the

23:58

terrorists. It does raise a question why

24:01

did the AP have an office in Gaza,

24:04

And there have been incidents in the past, by

24:06

the way, that shows a bit of a

24:08

deeper relationship here between these journalists.

24:11

Well, and one of the things actually that the Israelis

24:13

do so they try to do

24:15

everything they can to minimize civilian

24:18

casualties. They

24:20

go so far so for example, they

24:22

notified the AP get out of the building so

24:25

that the reporters were not there when they leveled the

24:27

building. The APE knew, they

24:30

knew exactly. You know, some

24:33

years back there was a story about Gaza.

24:36

In Gaza, Hamas

24:39

was storing their missiles in a kindergarten.

24:41

Yeah, so they're literally and they're using by the way, Palestinian

24:44

kindergarteners are the human shields. I

24:47

passed legislation that imposes

24:50

sanctions on any organization that uses human

24:52

shields. I also passed a

24:54

bipartisan resolution condemning the use of

24:57

human shields as a war crime. So this has been an

24:59

issue that I've

25:01

been the leading voice in the Senate for a long time.

25:04

Against using human shield. But

25:06

I gotta tell you when when they put the missiles in

25:08

the kindergarten, Hillary Clinton

25:11

was asked about it and her

25:13

defense she said, well,

25:16

you've got to understand, Gaza's

25:19

very small, so there's

25:21

no other place to put the missiles, which

25:24

is such utter garbage

25:27

even by Hillary Clinton standards. That

25:29

is a weak excuse. It is a

25:31

very weak excuse. But you've got the Democrats

25:34

are apologists. They're cheering for the terrorists.

25:36

And the point I was starting to make before you used

25:38

to have a bipartisan agreement

25:40

on Israel when that broke was

25:43

the irand deal, because what happened

25:45

is the Obama White House told

25:48

Democrats pick you

25:50

either pick us or Israel. Yeah, and

25:55

Democrats picked partisan

25:58

politics. If you remember, Bob Menendez,

26:01

Democrat from New Jersey, became the

26:03

first Senate Democrat to speak out against the

26:05

Iran Deal. The day

26:07

he came out against the Iran Deal, the

26:10

Omama Justice Department leaked that

26:12

they were indicting Bob Menendez. That's

26:15

wow, the timing. Actually I remembered

26:17

they indicted him on them It is the exact

26:19

day they leaked it. And that was a

26:21

bare knuckle punch. He was meant to tell

26:24

every Democrat you

26:27

get on board or we will come after you. That's

26:29

how they that's how rough they play.

26:31

And I gotta tell you I had ambassadors

26:34

from major European allies in my

26:36

office during the Iran deal saying

26:39

help us. Look, the Obama White House

26:41

is twisting our arms, forcing us into

26:43

this dumbass deal, and

26:47

we need help. By the way, these European allies

26:49

are now big supporters of the deals because they

26:51

want to make money in Iran, but at

26:53

the time they realized how crazy

26:56

it was. And

27:00

APAC. Look, I've done a lot of work with APAC.

27:02

I got to say, APAC

27:05

found its credibility very badly

27:07

damaged because it said it's number one

27:09

objective as we've got

27:11

to stop this deal. Virtually

27:13

every Democrats said, go jump in a lake. By the way,

27:16

Schumer kind of played to oppose it, but

27:18

he did nothing to a post and

27:22

then not a single one of those Democrats lost

27:24

in the subsequent election for doing that, and APAC

27:27

ended up being

27:29

substantially weakened because

27:32

the Democrats learned that they could tell them go

27:35

jump in a lake on their central issue, and

27:37

not only would they bring no consequences, APAC would

27:39

turn around and raise money for them. Well, you know, this actually

27:42

gets to the point where we were talking about earlier,

27:44

which is that clarity has a lot of

27:46

power to it, and especially on this issue.

27:48

As the battle lines, the political battle

27:50

lines have really become clear

27:52

here, people need to pick a side. You know,

27:54

if you stand in the middle of the road, you're going

27:56

to get hit by a truck. Senator, we're

27:59

now running out of time. I hope that you are not

28:01

hit by a truck. I trust that you will be

28:03

very safe. I wish you a very good trip into

28:05

Israel, and I look forward to seeing you back here

28:07

in America, not over there, but back

28:09

here in America to discuss it version

28:12

next year in Jerusalem. Next year in Jerusalem.

28:14

I'm Michael Knowles. This is Verdict with Ted

28:17

Cruz. This

28:26

episode of Verdict with Ted Cruz

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