Barack Obama "has been the president most hostile to the nation of Israel in modern times," Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz told the Israeli
Haaretz newspaper.
Obama's Iranian policies in particular "may well be setting the stage for the slaughter of millions of Israelis – or millions of Americans," Cruz said.
The senator was interviewed by the newspaper – which is antagonistic toward the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – during the annual pro-Israel AIPAC conference in Washington earlier this week.
Cruz warned that Obama was undermining the "special relationship" between Washington and Jerusalem.
"For the president of the United States to
threaten Israel with international isolation and to not-too-subtly threaten a withdrawal of American support for Israel is profoundly misguided and dangerous [for] both the nation of Israel and to the United States," he said.
This unsympathetic attitude was not limited to the Obama White House. He said that former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had deserted Israel by
blocking Kirk-Menendez – a bill supporters say would provide a greater incentive for Iranian nuclear negotiators to bargain in good faith or face U.S. sanctions harsher than those already imposed.
Beyond his stance on Israel, Cruz criticized Obama's overall handling of American foreign policy.
"For five years under President Obama, America's leadership in the world has consistently receded," Cruz said." As a direct consequence we've seen the spheres of influence of Russia and Iran and China expanding. For five years President Obama has alienated and abandoned our friends and allies and has pursued appeasement in negotiations with our enemies."
Cruz said Obama had been "hectoring" and "blackmailing" Jerusalem "to accept terms that in Israel's judgment are inconsistent with protecting its national security." He said Obama was "embracing a false moral equivalence between the Israelis and Palestinians."
Cruz said that there would be no peace so long as the "Palestinians continue to embrace terrorism and refuse to acknowledge Israel's right to exist as a Jewish nation."
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