July 24, 2014, - 4:36 pm

MENSCH: Ted Cruz Blocks State Dept Nominees Over Aid to HAMAS, Grounded Flights to Israel

By Debbie Schlussel

Ted Cruz is truly the only Republican with any balls (for the record, it’s a foregone conclusion that no Dems have any) and the only one who deserves the GOP Presidential nomination in the near future. He demonstrates his courage time and again no matter the issue. And this time, he’s doing so by putting a hold on all Obama State Department nominees, until the Obama Administration answers questions regarding why it is sending $47 million in additional funds to HAMAS and why it grounded Israeli flights in a manner that can only have been meant to hurt Israeli tourism.

tedcruzisraeliflagwaving

As you may know, despite HAMAS’ daily rocket barrage on Israel, your tax money is going to fund at least $47 million in aid to HAMAS from the United States. Just like the millions the Bush Administration sent to Hezbollah-controlled South Lebanon (all of which was doled out by Hezbollah) when Hezbollah went to war against Israel in 2006, the Obama Administration insists on showering your money on HAMAS in an identical fashion.

And as for the Obama FAA diversion of all flights to Israel this week, here’s a tip: despite the rockets falling, I’d feel safer landing in Israel at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport than I would at any airport in the United States. Israel, for instance, doesn’t have the laser pointer problems. By the way, have you ever tried landing in Ukraine? Or Nigeria? Or Yemen? Uh-huh, those places are soooooo safe. Right?

Yesterday, my friend Paul Teller, Cruz’s Deputy Chief of Staff, sent me this press release:

UNITED STATES SENATE

Sen. Ted Cruz Press Office

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Catherine Frazier: 202-228-7561

July 23, 2014

Cruz: I Will Hold All State Department Nominees Until Questions Are Answered About Israeli Flight Ban

WASHINGTON, D.C. –U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, announced that he will hold all State Department nominees until the Obama Administration answers questions about its unprecedented decision to cancel flights to Israel, while at the same time announcing continuing aid that will be funneled to the terrorist organization, Hamas.







Earlier today, Sen. Cruz questioned whether the FAA’s decision to ban all U.S. flights to Israel amounted to an economic boycott of the nation and asked that five questions about the ban be answered. When asked about his remarks, a State Department spokesperson said the questions were “offensive and ridiculous.”

“Serious questions were asked about the nature of a decision that handed Hamas a public relations victory and will cost Israel billions of dollars,” said Sen. Cruz. “The only thing ‘offensive’ about this situation is how the Obama Administration is spurning our allies to embolden our enemies; the only thing ‘ridiculous’ is the administration’s response to basic questions. Until the State Department answers my questions, I will hold all State Department nominees.”

The five questions Sen. Cruz is asking are below:

Was this a political decision driven by the White House? For instance, who was this decision made by – a career official, a political appointee, or someone else (at the FAA, State Department or White House)?

If the FAA’s decision was based on airline safety, why was Israel singled out when flights would be permitted into Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen?

What was the FAA’s ‘safety’ analysis that led to prohibiting flights to Israel, while still permitting flights to Ukraine—where a commercial airline flight was just shot down with a BUK missile?

What specific communications occurred between the FAA and the White House? And the State Department? Why were any such communications necessary, if this was purely about airline safety?

Was this a safety issue, or was it using a federal regulatory agency to punish Israel to try to force them to comply with Secretary Kerry’s demand that Israel stop their military effort to take out Hamas’s rocket capacity?

The full statement Sen. Cruz released earlier today, asking if the FAA ban amounted to an economic boycott of Israel may be viewed at http://www.cruz.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=1593.

###

Right on, brother! This guy is a mensch.






45 Responses

This is not really related to this article in any way but confirms what I’ve picked from my own experience and is something I can no longer ignore.

“As the Hispanic population and its share of the electorate continues to lurch forward, American Jews, especially those committed to open-borders, should pay greater attention to this issue.”

“Hispanic countries, such as Brazil, Chile and Argentina, show Israel to be about as popular as North Korea and Iran. Kenya, India and Russia, countries that have very large Islamic populations and a history of poor relations with Israel, are generally shown to be more supportive than most Latin American countries”

“The recent waves of unaccompanied alien children have arrived mostly from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, countries that have each made moves in the face of US and Israeli opposition to recognize Palestine as a sovereign, independent state – Mexico has also made similar moves”

donnied on July 24, 2014 at 4:45 pm

Go Ted, Go!

Jack on July 24, 2014 at 5:04 pm

    Ted Cruz has my vote!

    Underzog on July 24, 2014 at 7:05 pm

      Cruz was born in Canada of an American mother and Cuban father. Sound familiar? See my post below.

      Meira on July 25, 2014 at 4:09 am

        Mr. Cruz held dual citizenship (US/Canada) until a few months back when he renounced his Canadian citizenship. An important fact you neglected to mention.

        Victoryman on July 25, 2014 at 8:17 am

          I did NOT neglect it, I was unaware of it but that is irrelevant it’s a question of where he was born. If it was a matter of duality and renunciation, then all Oamanation would have had to do is renounce his Kenyan or Indonesian or whatever. ALL NATURALIZED CITIZENS must renounce the one of their birth. My ex-husband and I were both born in the US but our daughter was born in Germany on a US Army base. She had dual citizenship also but she had to choose at age 21. If she failed to, it automatically defaulted to US. This regulation was primarily for boys who could be held liable to serve in both militaries since the draft was still in effect in the US but had she chosen to enlist, it would have applied. Since she didn’t, she just let it default.

          An immigration lawyer could clarify this but it looks problematic. When the whole issue of Obama’s citizenship came up, I mentioned that I was shocked as a kid to find out that my father, who enlisted in WW2 and whose brother was at Guadalcanal, could not run for POTUS because he was born in Italy. The family were all naturalized citizens but his birth was the obstacle.

          My point was Cruz’s in identical circumstances as Obamanation regarding eligibility and I don’t think renunciation of his second citizenship counts. That would have been a simple and no brainer solution for the Liar in Chief.

          Meira on July 25, 2014 at 9:01 am

Consequently, what Reid must do to overcome Cruz’s holds is pretty much what he does regardless. It’s possible that Reid might prioritize other nominations over those opposed by Cruz. But only if Republicans provide a clearer path to some alternative set of nominees. Otherwise, it’s all one undifferentiated delay, with very little leverage held by any individual Republican. Cruz and his radical allies are the main reason for that.

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-07-24/ted-cruz-renders-himself-impotent

You Are Dumb on July 24, 2014 at 5:12 pm

Not only is he a mensch (Or as Debbie wrote MENSCH), he also got results.

How is he on immigration? I now want to work for his Presidential campaign.

I_AM_ME on July 24, 2014 at 5:28 pm

Regarding no democrat having balls.. I might beg to differ..Hillary has ’em. The reason she doesn’t wear short dresses.
And YAY! for Ted. I hope he gets a lot of backing on this.

Laura S. on July 24, 2014 at 5:44 pm

My senator is Chuck Schumer and he’s the best on Israel!

/upchuck

Barry Popik on July 24, 2014 at 6:07 pm

    What have you been smoking, sir? By the way, my sympathies that you are represented by the likes of Schumer, the Gillibrand cretin, Cuomo, DelBlasio, etc. Schumer is interested in one thing….Schumer. He should stick to investigating the cold cereal companies as he did a few years back. You know…..the important stuff.

    Victoryman on July 25, 2014 at 8:21 am

      The Chuck Schumer comment was sarcasm. I ended it with “/upchuck.”

      New York has a large Jewish population. New York’s senators–not just the senator from Texas–should be most vocal right now, but they remain silent. Has Schumer appeared before any camera anywhere to say anything? Chuck Schumer is a Democrat first–that is his religion.

      Barry Popik on July 25, 2014 at 12:40 pm

@ Debbie: So glad you’ve taken such positive notice (Mensch!) of Cruz. The exhalation of relief was so profound I think I literally said WHEW! 🙂 He’s still early on the scene but I’ve found a lot to like, to even be enthusiastic, about him. It does look like he’s saddling up for 2016. G-dspeed!

lee of the lower case "l" on July 24, 2014 at 6:42 pm

Tonight, missiles were fired at Eilat, and intercepted, but it was an apparent attempt to hit Ovda Airport. While I’m sure the motive behind the banning of flights to Israel was totally malicious, I’m not sure it’s really a bad idea with the exception of ELAL. Aside from being the safest because of anti-missile technology, you will be supporting ISRAEL, not our enemies, e.g. France which talks a lot but does nothing to stop anti-Israel riots.

Meira on July 24, 2014 at 6:48 pm

    I keep thinking of what Kerry said to Evie Steinberg, the mother of slain hero Max Steinberg.

    I couldn’t believe what he said to a grieving mother! She had far more class than him.

    And the family was right to lay him to rest in Israel. 30,000 people came out for his funeral. He wasn’t an Israeli but the people of Israel embraced him as their son.

    What an amazing kid! We’ll all miss him – Zichrono Livracha – may his memory be for a blessing!

    NormanF on July 24, 2014 at 7:35 pm

Maybe the reason the ban was lifted was that Israel indicated it might have to step up its effort, otherwise.

And we certainly can’t have a stepped-up effort against the terrorists.

Little Al on July 24, 2014 at 6:50 pm

    Very possible, Al but we’ve done it anyway and now a new front is opening in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. The media calls it “rioting” make no mistake, with thousands of them “uprising” it’s a war. Perhaps this is why we’ve only committed a limited number of ground assets. We can’t bomb Yesha or Jerusalem. Too great a risk to our people and settlements so we will need to send in ground forces. We might be able to hit select targets like Ramallah and the purely Arab towns and villages but they are so close to Jewish ones that our guys are going to really have to be careful.

    Meira on July 25, 2014 at 6:23 am

Legislators can only do so much but every little bit helps.

P. Aaron on July 24, 2014 at 7:08 pm

I guess McCain and the rest of them supported the ban along with Obama because Israel is not democratic enough.

Little Al on July 24, 2014 at 7:36 pm

    McTraitor should retire and live comfortably off his wife’s money…..like someone else we know who has ketchup all over his lips. However, if McTraitor retires, what will Little Lindsay do? Whose dry cleaning will he pick up? Whose shoes will he shine?

    Victoryman on July 25, 2014 at 8:26 am

And interestingly, the whole uproar about Hamas’ civilian casualties stems from the propaganda of the leftists during the Vietnam War, when the Vietcong had the same tactics as Hamas, and the liberals reacted the same way then that they are reacting now.

Little Al on July 24, 2014 at 7:52 pm

So glad I voted for Ted. I feel certain we wouldn’t have seen this kind of leadership and courage from RINO David Dewhurst.

joan on July 24, 2014 at 7:57 pm

47 million of our tax dollars to filthy muslims…

DS_ROCKS! on July 24, 2014 at 8:27 pm

    And to boot, Muslims of a people who don’t even exist.

    Alfredo from Puerto Rico on July 24, 2014 at 9:00 pm

Ted Cruz for President for 2016.

JeffE on July 24, 2014 at 8:33 pm

This is better than the Bengazi investigation!

There is NO Santa Claus on July 24, 2014 at 11:03 pm

No doubt about it. The USA would do much, much better to get on Cruz-control. In fact, my dream-team would be Ted Cruz-Mike Pence.

On this boycott Israel thing, Cruz stood virtually alone in the public arena–although I have to (begrudgingly) give some credit to Mike Bloomberg, who, although not crediting Cruz as he should have, did come out shortly after Cruz in support of flights to Israel. But just about everyone else on the world stage scoffed at the notion that this wasn’t about safety and was really a thinly disguised boycott.

Ralph Adamo on July 25, 2014 at 12:05 am

My 2016 GOP ticket would Jeff Sessions and Tom Tancredo — fat chance, right? Well, I only can hope.

Primetime on July 25, 2014 at 1:34 am

Senator Cruz is demonstrating a resolve that few of his Republican colleagues have shown. The Obama Administration should be held to account for their semi-furtive actions against the State of Israel.

Worry01 on July 25, 2014 at 2:27 am

“…your tax money is going to fund at least $47 million in aid to HAMAS”
Aid?
More like aiding and abetting the criminal enterprise.

ebayer on July 25, 2014 at 3:11 am

Y’all do know that Mr. Cruz WAS BORN in Calgary, CANADA, right? He has no more legitimate right to the Presidency than Obamination does. And like Obamination, his mother was a US citizen at birth. So, If Obamanation is disqualified by his birth, so is Cruz.
That’s a shame because I liked what I read here but he’s also strict establishment. Harvard, Princeton and Harvard Law. Yeaaah! Real conservative. DON’T BELIEVE ANY POLITICIAN.
Also, his father fought WITH Castro but claims he “didn’t know” Fidel was a Commie. Yeaaaa, Right again, NOT. I went to college with many Cuban girls whose families fled Castro. They were 12-14 in 1960. THEY KNEW. How is it a guy fighting with FC didn’t’ know what he was fighting for? He says he regrets doing that.

I know y’all don’t like Wikipedia despite them now requiring citations but if y’all can find his birth certificate from any state in the US, please do your due diligence and publish it because for sure, this Calgary birth is going to be found and used against him. They lived in CA until Ted was almost 4 and moved to Houston. His mother was from Wilmington, DE so maybe she went home to have the baby. Check it out. But don’t play dumb, you can’t have it both ways and I’m not defending Obamination’s usurpation of the Presidency at all. He’s there illegitimately and so will be Cruz if he gets elected.

Meira on July 25, 2014 at 4:08 am

    that’s CANADA not California.

    Meira on July 25, 2014 at 6:26 am

    If you are going to use Wikipedia as a source, why do you pick and choose the pertinent facts?
    Those who are interested can go to Wikipedia and read the whole story as I am not going repeat it here. It’s just too long. By not telling the whole story, Meira slants the information to fit her agenda.
    Cruz’s father was 14 in 1953, the start of the revolution. In 1952, Batista, facing defeat in the election, grabbed power with a military coup. How can one blame a 14 year old for joining a group that was fighting against a government that took power by force, not election? A few years later, Cruz became “a staunch critic” and fled to the US in 1957.
    The important part of the post, of course, is the nonsense about running for president. Wikipedia also states this, “Because he was a U.S. citizen at birth (since his mother was a U.S. citizen who lived in the U.S. for more than 10 years as required by the Nationality Act of 1940), most commentators believe Cruz is eligible to serve as President of the United States.” Wikipedia apparently used 4 sources to verify this claim.

    Rwefree on July 25, 2014 at 7:12 am

And BTW, I really am sorry to have unearthed this fact. I hate politicians but he sounded like one of the better ones. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Meira on July 25, 2014 at 4:16 am

One thing I didn’t think about before is y’all are promoting him for POTUS. He hasn’t declared himself a candidate. Perhaps he knows he’s ineligible and will do the right thing, but from the last two elections, it seems that Americans get an idea in their heads and chase it down even when it’s hopeless. You’ve only got 2 years until the Conventions and less till the primaries. Now’s the time to do due diligence and find a viable, strong and ELIGIBLE candidate. Don’t wait and don’t hang your hopes on what you WISH to happen.

Meira on July 25, 2014 at 6:19 am

    @Meira
    Unfortunately Meira, too often, we the people don’t get heard no matter how loudly we scream. The last time, I personally knew of not one person that wanted McCain in the running and yet, there he was. Too many times who the party runs with is not the candidate the people (republicans) choose. Or, we have someone we love but is too conservative for the moderates and therefore becomes too volatile a candidate. There are a few strong ones out there but no definite front runner for us as yet and the next unfortunate thing is that the non-democrats will frequently jump the fence and vote for the other guy because they don’t like the candidate but all the dems will pretty much stick together no matter. We need to do the same when it gets down to the nitty gritty.

    Laura S. on July 25, 2014 at 8:31 am

    Meira, if one of one’s parents is a citizen, one is a citizen regardless of where one happens to be born. Barky is a citizen whether or not he was actually born in Hawaii.

    I am aware that various web sites haven’t figured this out yet.

    Don’t you have more important things to think about?

    skzion on July 25, 2014 at 3:10 pm

We love you Ted in my part of Texas. Now if we could only replace Cornyn……….

Victoryman on July 25, 2014 at 8:27 am

One Democrat who might have balls is Michelle Obama,or Michael as many would rather call him. After all is there anything about the Obamas which isn’t a lie?

Jerry G on July 25, 2014 at 9:43 am

This reminded me of other articles Debbie wrote in which she exposes Ron Paul and Justin Amash for continuing funding to terrorists.

Aurora on July 25, 2014 at 11:09 am

If I hear a rocket has a possibility to get near a plane that I am flying on , I will avoid the airport for a few months until what ever problem there is gone. Just to be on the safe side. It will never happen to me has been fatal to many people.

Larry Schneider on July 26, 2014 at 6:59 am

Well, we need a Conservative Texan in the White House, not a compassionate ball of mush.

Occam's Tool on July 26, 2014 at 6:39 pm

Count me in for Senator Ted Cruz for President and Allen West for Vice President.

Dorothy S. on July 26, 2014 at 11:58 pm

Here is another real hero of mine and that is Rep. Bachmann. She and seven other real heroes formally introduced in the House H.R.5194, “The Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act of 2014”, a bill that would designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and impose sanctions on its supporters in the U.S. However, it will never get introduced in the Senate but it will expose the RINOs in the Republican Party and those from the Democrat Party that traded away their oath of office and our Constitution for Cultural Marxism i.e. political correctness and the constant pandering they must do to get campaign contributions and votes from these communist, Marxists, socialist, progressive, liberal, Left-Wing organizations.

Frank Livingston on July 27, 2014 at 9:17 am

Meira makes some sound points. People, look at the Constitution, Article 2, section 1. It states that to be eligible to be president one must be a natural born citizen. Not merely a citizen, and natural born is more than naturalized. The Constitution does not define natural born, perhaps the founders did not feel it was a necessary feature of the document. The Supreme Court however did define natural born and that definition stands. Natural born citizens are those that are born in this country to two citizen parents. Period.

Obama is constitutionally ineligible. Ted Cruz is constitutionally ineligible. Bobby Jindal, ineligible.

I can’t quote the Supreme Court case in which natural born was defined. I seem to remember that it was from the 19th century and may have been Wong v. the US or Wong v. someone. I’m sure Debbie can fill in here. What I do remember is a story about a very useful database of all Supreme Court proceedings that was online and free and was completely scrubbed of any reference to this Supreme Court case when the birthers were gaining traction. Wiki was a useless tool of the left at the time also, and so remains re anything political.

Yeah, I’m still a birther – damn proud and damned pissed that the presidency was usurped!

Richard on July 27, 2014 at 10:11 pm

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