“I was a child in the 70s. I remember double-digit inflation, gas prices. Our hostages have languished in Iran for 444 days while a weak and powerless president wrings his hands, unable to respond,” said Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.
Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz told the participants of the Christians United for Israel (CUFI) summit on Monday that US President Joe Biden will repeat the mistakes of former President Jimmy Carter in his foreign and domestic policies.
Cruz told the audience that they had come together at a time of great danger and opportunity, while witnessing historic peace in the Middle East as a result of the 2020 Abraham Accords.
He urged the audience to compare US foreign policy in previous decades with the strategy he and former President Donald Trump advocated, which
"draws a clear line and says the United States clearly stands with Israel."
Cruz credited the success of the Abraham accord to two previous actions taken by Trump: the long-promised move of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in May 2018 and the Obama administration's withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran in the same month.
The senator said he pushed for both decisions directly with Trump, against then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis, who argued for the president to stay in the Iran deal and keep the embassy in Tel Aviv.
"The Secretary of Defense has publicly said, 'America keeps its word.' To this I said: 'Minister, that is true. But according to the US Constitution, America gives its word in two and only two ways: in a law passed by Congress and signed by the President, or in a treaty signed by the President and ratified by the Senate.'
It was neither”
Cruz said of the JCPOA.
Cruz praised Trump for "having the courage" to override his own advisers in making decisions. He said that at the signing ceremony for the Abraham Accords on the White House lawn in the fall of 2020, the foreign ministers and ambassadors of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain told him that they understood that if they wanted to be friends with America, they had to be friends with Israel.
We live in troubled times
During much of his speech, Cruz criticized the current US president's foreign policy, saying Biden has returned to the same failed policies that undermine our allies and elevate Israel's enemies in the region, while allowing hundreds of millions of dollars to flow to Hamas and other terrorist organizations seeking to kill Israelis. .
“Well, we live in difficult times today. Joe Biden is the President of the United States, or so they say”
Cruz said.
“As for the embassy, the Biden White House is desperate to close our embassy in Jerusalem. But even they know that this is politically unsustainable"
Cruz said.
"Therefore, their alternative strategy is to open a consulate for the Palestinians in Jerusalem."
Cruz also touched on Biden's second problem: the renegotiation of the JCPOA. According to Cruz, the only reason it hasn't happened yet is because Iran is so extreme that it "doesn't take yes for an answer."
He added that he has pushed for legislation in the Senate to prevent both of those things from happening.
Cruz has criticized negotiations with Iran, particularly the administration's previous talks to remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations, despite the organization being the "leading state sponsor of terrorists on the planet," and an attempt to assassinate former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Advisor John Bolton.
“Some in the room are old enough to remember the 1970s. … I think Joe Biden will eerily repeat the mistakes of Jimmy Carter”
Cruz said.
“I was a child in the 70s. I remember double-digit inflation, gas prices. Our hostages languished in Iran for 444 days while a weak and powerless president wrung his hands, unable to react"
the senator added.
Cruz concluded by saying that the comparison between Carter and Biden gives him hope, "because it took Jimmy Carter to get Ronald Reagan."
Featured Image: Theverge.com
