00:01:09.880Into a conflict that I think we can say without exaggeration is the most complex conflict on planet Earth.
00:01:18.800I think a great many conservatives, even, you know, certainly the leftists, but even a great many conservatives don't really know what exactly is at play here,
00:01:28.680what exactly the two sides stand for, or why there seems to be perpetual violence.
00:01:33.920And I, to some degree, would count myself in that category.
00:01:36.740So, Senator, if you wouldn't mind, please explain it.
00:01:40.040Well, Israel is surrounded by nations that, for most of the existence of the modern state of Israel, have wanted to drive it into the sea, have wanted to destroy it.
00:01:50.000If you look at Israel, the only reason Israel exists today is that it is militarily able to defeat its neighbors.
00:02:00.580There's been a whole history of Middle East wars where Arab nations joined together, attacked Israel.
00:03:33.720I mean, I've talked with Israelis who, you know, it's like PTSD.
00:03:38.320I mean, they're dealing with, I mean, it's really frightening when you're playing with your child
00:03:43.280and suddenly have to run and hide because of fear of being killed.
00:03:46.880But another reason Hamas does this is they count on the media to be their propagandists.
00:03:55.300They know that Israel will have to respond, that if you start, I mean, imagine how people would react in Washington, D.C.
00:04:03.220if suddenly folks in Maryland began firing rockets into D.C.
00:04:07.480Like you would respond and you would respond with military force.
00:04:11.860Inevitably, Israel responds and goes after the terrorists and the press predictably takes the side of the terrorists and paints Israel as the bad guys.
00:04:21.220Now, I think also for people who are unclear of what Hamas is, it's confusing because they're terrorists in that they target civilians to achieve political ends.
00:04:29.860It's a very basic definition of terrorism.
00:04:31.360But they're also sort of the government elected by the Palestinian Arabs, even though Palestine is not a nation, but there were elections in 2005.
00:04:41.200And the people there who participated elected this terrorist group to represent them.
00:04:47.920And not only that, that you have the Palestinian Authority, which is the governmental entity in the portions of Israel that are controlled by the PA that pays terrorists.
00:05:01.620So if you, Michael, go strap dynamite to your chest and you walk into a mall in Tel Aviv and you blow yourself up and you murder a bunch of other people, you murder a bunch of Israelis, the Palestinian Authority will pay your family a stipend in perpetuity.
00:05:19.320They literally are essentially paying bounties.
00:05:22.140You know, go blow yourself up and we'll take care of your family for you and we'll celebrate you as a hero and martyr.
00:05:50.780And first time I traveled there, I went and visited a hospital on the northern border of Israel, right alongside Syria, the Ziv Hospital.
00:06:03.120At the time, that hospital had provided over eight million dollars in free, uncompensated care to Syrians injured in the horrific civil war playing out there.
00:06:16.320And I heard stories from Israeli doctors, Israeli nurses, how how you would have a little Syrian child, a boy or girl, go to sleep in their bed and a bomb would go off and blow up their home.
00:06:32.680And they would wake up and they'd wake up in an Israeli hospital being treated.
00:06:37.260And these little girls and little boys were terrified, terrified of whatever injuries they had, but even more terrified that it was Israeli doctors that were treating them.
00:06:47.860And, you know, one of the physicians there told me about a woman who was a Syrian woman who who said my whole life.
00:06:56.680The government I've been told was there to protect me now they're trying to kill me and my whole life, the people I've been told that hate me and want to kill me now you're saving my life.
00:08:04.340They're literally using the mothers and the infants just being born as human shields.
00:08:09.600And from Hamas's perspective, it's a win-win.
00:08:12.760Either, as ended up being the case, Israel will refrain and not attack the headquarters from which they're planning terrorist attacks on Israel.
00:08:39.380They know that CNN, they know that New York Times, they know that the Democrats will say, see, the Israelis are monsters, we told you.
00:08:45.660So either way, and the practice of human shields is something Hamas does a lot.
00:08:50.980So this conflict is not particularly complicated.
00:08:54.460Obviously, the history is very complicated.
00:08:56.380But which side we should be on is not that complicated.
00:08:59.140If you elect Hamas terrorists to represent you and if you celebrate in the streets on 9-11, as happened, I remember watching it play out live 20 years ago, then it doesn't seem like the United States should really support whatever national cause you want to represent.
00:09:17.040And Israel has been a good ally, we've been good allies to Israel, that seems perfectly ordinary.
00:09:22.420Why is it that so many prominent Democrats are against Israel and are supporting the Palestinian Arabs?
00:11:08.880And so we get massive national security benefits from what they do with our assistance.
00:11:13.980For example, the Mossad did this raid on Iran that uncovered this cache of documents showing their nuclear program, that they were actively working to develop nuclear weapons, even when they said they were not, that they were lying.
00:11:45.640Well, you're certainly right here in particular when you're talking about these prominent Democrats who hate Israel and don't think it should exist.
00:11:53.280I mean, there are elected Democrats who have repeated the slogan from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free, which is to say Israel will cease to exist as a nation state.
00:12:06.020And that state will be turned over to the Palestinian Arabs.
00:12:08.360So it's hard to be more antipathetic than that.
00:12:12.380Well, and listen, the barrier to Middle East peace has never been Israel.
00:12:39.840And secondly, they refuse to renounce terrorism.
00:12:42.580In fact, they continue to pay people to commit acts of terrorism and murder innocent civilians.
00:12:48.360Until those two things change, you can't have meaningful peace.
00:12:54.280I will say, though, that all of us have been benefited from an incredible object lesson the last year of what works in the Middle East and what doesn't.
00:13:05.120So for years and years and years, Democrats have said there can be no peace, you can have no Arab-Israeli peace until the Palestinian situation is resolved.
00:13:15.460John Kerry said this as Secretary of State in 2016.
00:14:27.480Every president said they would do it, and we just never did.
00:14:29.340Both Democrats and Republican presidents had promised to move the embassy, and then they didn't.
00:14:34.160And the reason why—so there was a big fight in the Trump administration about, do we move the embassy?
00:14:38.000Both the Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, and the Secretary of Defense, Jim Mattis, both of them vigorously argued against moving the embassy.
00:14:48.340They said if we move the embassy, the enemies of Israel will be enraged.
00:14:54.140There will be violence in the streets, they said.
00:14:56.240And I made the case vigorously to President Trump, we should move the embassy, that it would make absolutely clear to both our friends and enemies that we stand unequivocally with Israel.
00:17:52.020But, like, if you're cutting checks—and by the way, it's a major budgetary line item for the PA, funding the families of the martyrs, funding the families of the terrorists who committed acts of murder.
00:18:03.780Because of that, the Trump administration, following the Taylor Force Act, cut off the cash, said, you don't get any more money.
00:18:23.920Biden's number one foreign policy objective is to reinstate the Iran nuclear deal.
00:18:28.720And, you know, the funny thing is, when you undermine our ally and when you praise the terrorists and you say you give them money and you say you're going to give them more money, suddenly they start engaging in more acts of terrorism and firing rockets.
00:18:42.460And they know that the press and the Democrats will side with the terrorists.
00:18:46.420And we're saying that, especially from the squad.
00:18:48.900So I think this is actually such an important point, both when you think of Iran, you know, enemy state actors, and when you think of politicians, our opponents here in the United States, you can judge a man by his enemies.
00:19:04.560And so when I'm trying to think of this issue, which is so complex, and I look and I see the squad, AOC, Bernie Sanders, Barack Obama, all these radical politicians that I think are wrong about everything.
00:19:21.900When I see that they uniformly are against Israel, and then I look at the people who are supporting Israel and in the United States, but state actors as well, to me, I think, okay, if I don't know anything else about this conflict, it is likely that I am going to come out on the side of Israel here.
00:19:40.260Just look at where the people are lining up.
00:19:42.360I think you're right, and it's worth noting that the politics on this has changed a lot.
00:19:48.480So for a long time in Washington, there's been a bipartisan consensus in support of Israel.
00:19:55.280AIPAC is a political action committee that works to encourage American-Israeli cooperation and support.
00:20:06.320And I actually agree with the principle that we should have as much bipartisan cooperation when it comes to standing with Israel as possible.
00:20:14.120Israel wants to continue to exist, whether it's Democrats in office or whether it's Republicans in office.
00:20:21.920That changed very significantly during the Iran deal.
00:20:25.580So the second term of Obama, they're negotiating the Iran deal.
00:20:29.620Netanyahu said, and I agree with him, that the Iran deal was an existential threat to Israel, literally going to the very existence of Israel, that a nuclear Iran, the odds are unacceptably high that the Ayatollah would use nuclear weapons on Israel.
00:20:45.560That's how much they despise the Jews.
00:20:49.560You know, the head of Iran's nuclear program, who, by the way, has since met his maker and many say at the hands of the Mossad.
00:21:02.300That has not been confirmed, but it is.
00:21:50.880But this actually, this very point raises an objection that the leftist media and politicians bring up, which is, look, sure, Hamas is firing at the civilians, and that's bad.
00:22:02.060Yeah, they probably shouldn't do that.
00:22:02.980But they're firing these dinky little rockets, and the response from Israel has been disproportionate because they have better funding and they've got better weapons.
00:22:12.520And so it's unjust for Israel to respond in a stronger way than the way in which they've been attacked.
00:22:17.740Well, Israel has a responsibility to protect itself and to stop Hamas.
00:22:22.820And if you fire rockets, try to murder Israeli citizens, you're going to get a serious military response.
00:22:30.060Also, if you're in a fight with a bully, I don't know, it's been a while since I've been in grade school, but I was not told if a bully punches you, punch him exactly as hard as he punched you.
00:22:40.920I was told if a bully comes out and threatens you and punches you, you punch him twice as hard.
00:22:46.300I didn't think anyone punched anyone at Yale.
00:23:02.020Let's take this past week what has driven the press crazy, which is that Israel bombed a building that happened to be the headquarters of the Associated Press.
00:23:13.520Now, it also happened to be the headquarters of a major operation for Hamas in the building.
00:23:19.520And, you know, Netanyahu has said publicly that he had compelling intelligence that showed that there was a Hamas operation headquartered in that building.
00:23:29.520And it's been reported that he shared it with the U.S. government, with the Biden administration.
00:23:34.740I haven't seen any classified information on that, so I just know what's been reported.
00:24:05.560Why did the AP have an office in Gaza?
00:24:08.580And there have been incidents in the past, by the way, that shows a bit of a deeper relationship here between these journalists and these terrorists.
00:24:15.860Well, and one of the things, actually, that the Israelis do, so they try to do everything they can to minimize civilian casualties.
00:27:24.420Um, and then not a single one of those Democrats lost in the subsequent election for doing that.
00:27:30.620And, and AIPAC ended up being substantially weakened because the Democrats learned that they could tell him, go jump in a lake on their central issue.
00:27:41.780And not only would there be no consequences, AIPAC would turn around and raise money for them.
00:27:45.380Well, you know, this, this actually gets to the point we were talking about earlier, which is that clarity has a lot of power to it.
00:27:51.340And, and especially on this issue, as the, as the battle lines, political battle lines have really become clear here, people need to pick a side.
00:27:59.020You know, if you stand in the middle of the road, you're going to get hit by a truck.
00:28:02.220Senator, uh, we're now running out of time.
00:28:04.300I hope that you are not hit by a truck.
00:28:06.120Uh, I trust that you will be very safe.
00:28:08.600I wish you a very good trip into Israel.
00:28:10.420And I look forward to seeing you back here in America, not over there, but back here in America to discuss it very soon.
00:28:30.520This episode of Verdict with Ted Cruz is being brought to you by Jobs, Freedom and Security Partners.
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