‘Pathological obsession’: Senator Cruz rips Biden over Israel condemnation

The Biden administration has “consistently sought to undermine Israel’s security and sovereignty over its territory,” Cruz claimed.

By World Israel News Staff

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Wednesday attacked the Biden administration’s “pathological obsession” with undermining Israel was endangering U.S. national security, following the U.S.’ condemnation of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s visit to the Temple Mount.

“A visit by a minister from Israel’s government to a site inside Israel is not a change in any status quo arrangement, and it should not be controversial for a Jew to visit the holiest site in Judaism,” Cruz, a member of the Committee on Foreign Relations, said in a statement released on Twitter.

“The statements from the Biden White House and State Department, which suggest otherwise, will further destabilize the Middle East and risk inciting terrorism. They convince Palestinian officials that compromise is unnecessary because Democrat administrations will coerce our Israeli allies into making dangerous concessions.”

The Biden administration has “consistently sought to undermine Israel’s security and sovereignty over its territory,” Cruz claimed.

He listed several apparent affronts by the administration towards Israel, including, its refusal to use the term “Abraham Accords” coined by the Trump administration; seeking to reopen a Palestinian consulate in Israel’s capital of Jerusalem after the Trump administration shuttered it; “unleash[ing] the FBI against the Israeli army, and publicly ostracizing parts of Israel’s democratically-elected government.”

“Meanwhile, the administration is pouring over a billion dollars into Palestinian areas and bringing officials from the terrorist Palestine Liberation Organization to Washington, D.C. Now it is doubling down on these disastrous policies,” he concluded.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price on Tuesday condemned Ben Gvir’s visit to the Temple Mount saying, “We are deeply concerned by the visit of the Israeli minister at the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif. This visit has the potential of exacerbating tensions and lead to violence.”

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides told Axios reporter Barak Ravid that any perceived changes to the status quo were “unacceptable.”

“To be very clear – we want to preserve status quo and actions that prevent that are unacceptable. We have been very clear in our conversations with the Israeli government on this issue,” he said.

Former Mideast envoy under the Trump administration, Jason Greenblatt, also came out against the Biden administration: “The demands to maintain the so-called status is completely unhelpful & deepens the problem,” since “like so many things about this conflict people say different things – ‘status quo,’ ‘historical status quo,’ ‘legal status quo’ & people define these differently.”

Biden AdministrationDiscriminationItamar Ben-GvirTed CruzTemple Mount