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Ted Cruz Booed At Middle East Christian Event For Pro-Israel Comments

Veronica Elliot September 11, 2014 11:55 AM EST

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who was recently booed at a Middle Eastern Christian event for supporting Israel. | (Photo: Reuters/Jason Reed)

Texas Senator Ted Cruz is making headlines after he reportedly walked off stage at an event for Middle Eastern Christians when he was booed for making pro-Israel remarks.

Cruz was speaking Wednesday at the event hosted by In Defense of Christians, a Washington, D.C. based group that seeks to raise awareness for persecuted Christians in the Middle East. Although Cruz was delivering the keynote speech at the event, he received a raucous amount of boo's when he told the crowd that "Christians have no greater ally than Israel."

When people began to boo Cruz' pro-Israel comments, the conservative politician continued: "I will say this: I'm saddened to see that some here, not everyone, are so consumed with hate." Cruz was then met with more booing, to which he replied: "I will say this: If you will not stand with Israel and the Jews, then I will not stand with you. Thank you, and God bless you."

Following the incident, the In Defense of Christians group's Executive Director Andrew Doran took the stage and reportedly said: "For the love of God, we're here to talk about Christians and we're here to be united."

A spokesman for Cruz said that the senator chose to speak at the event "because he wants to take every opportunity to highlight this crisis, the unspeakable persecution of Christians."

Cruz released a statement after the event that read: "I told the attendees that those who hate Israel also hate America, that those who hate Jews also hate Christians, and that anyone who hates Israel and the Jewish people is not following the teachings of Christ."

"These statements were met with angry boos. I went on to tell the crowd that Christians in the Middle East have no better friend than Israel. That Christians can practice their faith free of persecution in Israel. And that ISIS, al Qaeda, Hamas, and Hezbollah, along with their state sponsors in Syria and Iran, are all part of the same cancer, murdering Christians and Jews alike. Hate is hate, and murder is murder."

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