From "Conservative Review": "Regime-friendly NY Times makes big money selling Iran tours"

The following is from an article at “Conservative Review” by Jordan Schachtel:

Regime-friendly NY Times makes big money selling Iran tours

Conflict of interest?

The recent protests in Iran have raised many red flags and questions as to whether the Times is reporting the news objectively. As videos continue to surface on social media, showing masses of people calling for an end to the regime (and even “death  to the Islamic Republic”), the New York Times has downplayed the protests as merely  economic disputes. Moreover, the paper’s Tehran-based reporter was conveniently “on vacation” as the most consequential, anti-regime protests in years spread through Iran like wildfire.

It turns out that The New York Times has a special financial relationship with the Iranian regime, likely unknown to many of its readers. As one of the few U.S.-based Iran tour providers, The Grey Lady delivers unprecedented access to the theocratic nation for a price.

Based on publicly available data  on the New York Times travel website, Conservative Review has analyzed that the organization’s “Iran: Tales from Persia” trip, which is hosted by New York Times journalists and opinion writers, is a cash cow that has reaped millions of dollars in revenue for the publication.

The Times’ travel website lists nine publicly available trips to Iran in 2018, with an average group size of 20 people. The Iran tour costs $7,895 per person (based on double occupancy. Single travelers pay an additional $1,500), plus $425 for internal airfare. The price does not include international airfare.

Read more at “Conservative Review” by clicking here.

Why the Question of Christian vs. Muslim Refugees Has Become So Incredibly Divisive

The following excerpts are from AINA.org:

Christians make up a tiny percentage of the Syrian refugees the United States has resettled. Is that wrong?

The topic is raging this week, with multiple governors and GOP presidential candidates saying Syrian refugees should be shut out after the Paris attacks by Muslim radicals. President Obama then said it was "shameful" to have a religious test for refugees of war. "That's not American. That's not who we are. We don't have religious tests to our compassion," he said.

In fact, the role of religion in how refugees are considered and how the United States looks at persecution is more complicated. Religion is considered by both the United Nations and the State Department, which defines a refugee as "someone who has fled from his or her home country and cannot return because he or she has a well-founded fear of persecution based on religion, race, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group."

A torrent of other issues also come when refugee status is considered. How severely persecuted is the group? Is their religion the primary factor or are there other issues, such as political or ethnic affiliations that are equally or more significant? Does the group have other options, anywhere to else to go?

Whether the United States works too hard or not hard enough for persecuted Christians overseas has become increasingly explosive in the last decade. In that period, conditions for religious minorities in the Middle East have seriously deteriorated. And in the United States, some religious Americans see hostility in President Obama's liberalizing policies about birth control and gay rights. Among many of these people, and others, anti-Muslim sentiment is on the rise. Some 30 percent of Americans wrongly believe Obama is Muslim.

Advocates for Middle Eastern Christians note that this group is disappearing from the region of Jesus's birth in the rubble of government chaos in Iraq, Syria and Egypt.

This week such Americans were jarred by a Yahoo News report that the State Department is about to designate the Islamic State's assault on the small population of Yazidis in Iraq genocide -- a very rare move that could have implications for the United States to hold perpetrators accountable. While other religious minorities from the region, including Christians, are described as severely persecuted for their faith, the Yazidis are described as under a particular kind of siege.

The report suggests the government is influenced by a Nov. 12 paper by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide. That paper said the Islamic State "is carrying out a widespread, systematic, and deliberate campaign of ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity" against Yazidis, Christians, Turkmen, Shabak and other minority groups. Of that group, only the Yazidis faced genocide because "the attacks on them were to make sure no future Yazidis would be born. To end them as a people altogether," Naomi Kikoker, deputy director of the center, told The Post. She cited interviews with residents and said Christians "faced slightly different treatment" if "horrific," being forced to leave, pay a tax or convert.

That was the first time the museum had declared anything a genocide since 2004, when it used the term for the Darfur region of Sudan.

But the possibility of a State Department proclamation led prominent advocates for Middle Eastern Christians to say it showed bias.

"If true, it would reflect a familiar pattern within the administration of a politically correct bias that views Christians -- even non-Western congregations such as those in Iraq and Syria -- never as victims but always as Inquisition-style oppressors," wrote Nina Shea in National Review Nov. 13.

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Why the Question of Christian vs. Muslim Refugees Has Become So Incredibly Divisive

64 soldiers killed in ISIS attack on Egyptian Army's Sinai checkpoints | Fox News

The following excerpts are from FoxNews.com:

Islamic militants on Wednesday unleashed a wave of simultaneous attacks on Egyptian Army checkpoints in the restive northern Sinai Peninsula, killing at least 64 soldiers, country officials said.

The coordinated assaults, which included up to 70 militants, came a day after Egypt's president pledged to step up the battle against Islamic militants and two days after the country's state prosecutor was assassinated in the capital, Cairo. The BBC reported that the clashes are ongoing, with militants reportedly overtaking a main police station.

The officials said scores of militants were besieging Sheikh Zuweid's main police station, shelling it with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades and exchanging fire with dozens of policemen inside. Reuters reported that militants planted bombs along a road between the police station and an army camp to deter reenforcements.

"We are under siege, the militants didn't storm inside it so far, or else I wouldn't be speaking to you right now," Col. Mohamed Soliman told Daily News Egypt from inside the police station

Al Jazeera, citing a local news, reported that ambulances had trouble reaching those injured due to the crossfire.

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64 soldiers killed in ISIS attack on Egyptian Army's Sinai checkpoints | Fox News

Assyrian Girl Kidnapped in Baghdad Released

Juliana George released in Baghdad

The following excerpts are from AINA.org:

(AINA) -- Juliana George, a 16 year-old Assyrian girl who was kidnapped from her home in Baghdad 9 days ago (AINA 2015-05-12), was released yesterday after a $55,000 ransom was paid. According to her father, George, Juliana was badly frightened by the experience but was not apparently mistreated.

"I fear for her and my two other daughters," said George in a telephone interview. "There is no reason to believe that we will not be targeted again. I don't see how we can stay in Baghdad after this."

Juliana was abducted by four men when she answered the door bell at her home.

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Assyrian Girl Kidnapped in Baghdad Released

ISIS Using Passports Stolen From Westerners to Travel to Syria and Iraq

The following excerpts are from AINA.org:

The Islamic State (Isis) militant group reportedly is using passports stolen from unsuspecting Westerners to assist its jihadi supporters to travel to Syria and Iraq.

According to a report by Dubai based Al Aan TV, several passports found in an Isis safehouse following a raid by a local Syrian armed rebel group, belonged to 'innocent' Westerners from the United States, the United Kingdom and France, apart from those belonging to Israel, with no ties to Isis.

The investigative report found that these passports were stolen and were later used by the Isis supporters to travel to Syria.

Jenan Moussa, a correspondent with Al Aan TV noted that she was able to get copies of 34 passports issued by various countries.

Six of the passports were Albanian, four were French, two each were of Holland, Germany, Sweden, Poland and Denmark; and one each of the US, the UK, Israel, Kosovo, Latvia, Finland and the Czech Republic.

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ISIS Using Passports Stolen From Westerners to Travel to Syria

Iraq Foreign Minister Backs Syria Fight Against 'Terror'

A picture released on March 24, 2015 by the official Syrian Arab News Agency shows President Bashar al-Assad (R) meeting with Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari in Damascus (AFP Photo).

The following excerpts are from AINA.org:

Damascus (AFP) -- Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari met President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday in the first visit by a senior Baghdad official since Syria's conflict began in 2011.

Speaking after meeting Assad and his Syrian counterpart Walid Muallem, Jaafari urged regional support for Damascus as it battles "terrorism".

"Arab countries should support Syria in its fight against terrorism," Jaafari said, calling on "neighbouring countries to stand with Iraq and Syria".

He said extremism "would reach all the countries if there is no cooperation".

Jaafari expressed the hope that his visit would "increase the level of cooperation between Syria and Iraq to counter the dangers threatening our brotherly nations".

In June 2014, Damascus announced its readiness to coordinate with Baghdad in order to face the threat posed by the Islamic State group, which has a strong presence in both countries.

Muallem emphasised the joint threat, saying that both countries were "in the same trench (fighting) against terrorism".

"We have great confidence... in the Iraqi leaders who will not spare any effort to support Syria and break the embargo imposed on it," Muallem said.

The Syrian minister also called for increased cooperation with Egypt, saying: "Syria, Egypt, and Iraq can change the way events are unfolding in the region."

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Iraq Foreign Minister Backs Syria Fight Against 'Terror'

2 Australian teens stopped from joining ISIS at airport | Fox News

The following excerpts are FoxNews.com:

CANBERRA, Australia – Two Australian brothers aged 16 and 17 were stopped at Sydney Airport on suspicion that they were young jihadis headed to join the Islamic State group, officials said Sunday.

The young brothers from Sydney raised the suspicions of customs officials as they attempted to depart on Friday afternoon, Border Protection Minister Peter Dutton said.

He did not say where the pair were headed apart from a Middle Eastern "conflict zone." He also refused to say what was found in the boys' luggage that raised suspicion and led to the brothers beings reported to the airport's new counterterrorism unit.

"These two young men aged 16 and 17 are kids, not killers, and they shouldn't be allowed to go to a foreign land to fight then come back to our land eventually more radicalized," Dutton told reporters.

The boys' parents were "as shocked as any of us would be" to discover their sons had attempted to leave the country, Dutton said.

The boys had been radicalized over the Internet, he said. Dutton did not say who had paid the boys' air fares.

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2 Australian teens stopped from joining ISIS at airport | Fox News

Iraqi PM: Iraq 'Must Take Charge' on ISIS

The following excerpts are from AINA.org:

Iraq's prime minister on Sunday said his nation must lead the charge against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

"We have to take charge of what we are doing as these are Iraqi lives at stake," Haider al-Abadi told Martha Raddatz on ABC's "This Week." "We have to stop ISIS for our own safety. The world has to stop them for their own safety."

Iraq has struggled to reclaim territory it has lost to ISIS. It is currently waging a second offensive to regain the city of Tikrit after a failed attempt in June and July 2014. The latest campaign lacks valuable U.S. air support.

Abadi said his government expects a tough battle against ISIS in the months ahead. The foreign dignitary hopes to retake Tikrit before tackling Mosul, another major city.

"This is a very, very dangerous opponent if they're allowed to continue," Abadi said of ISIS.

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Iraqi PM: Iraq 'Must Take Charge' on ISIS

ISIS Has Begun Executing Captured Assyrians, According to Report

The following excerpts are from AINA.org:

Islamic State militants have reportedly executed 15 Christians who have been captured in villages in northeastern Syria since Monday.

A priest who has been feeding reports to Christian aid agencies around the world, including Aleteia partner Aid to the Church in Need, said today that a Christian Assyrian lawyer in the city of Hassakah told him that about 15 young Assyrians "are martyred. Many of them were fighting to defend and protect the villages and families."

Archimandrite Emanuel Youkhana of CAPNI, the Christian Aid Program in Iraq, said that in the Christian village of Tel Hormizd: 14 fighters, two of whom were women, were killed. One of the women may have been beheaded, he said. Another 13 fighters from different villages were captured.

Altogether, including civilians, as many as 350 Christians from the area have been captured, he reported--many more than the 70 originally reported. Their fate is unknown, and there is much speculation. He said that an unconfirmed report said that a mosque in the Arab Sunni village of Bab Alfaraj was calling people to attend a "mass killing of infidels in the mountain of Abdul Aziz on Friday."

Archimandrite Youkhana reported that none of the residents of one Christian village that the Islamic State attacked, Tel Shamiram, were able to escape. This village had 51 families, with an average of five persons per family, he said.

"There was fire exchange between the fighters protecting the village and IS terrorist group," the priest wrote. "It is believed there are casualties and many are Assyrians are been killed in the village. No news on the destiny of the families. Most probably they are been captured and transported to Mount Abdul Aziz, a nearby mount/region controlled by IS."

Other villages attacked included Tel Jazira, Tel Gouran, Tel Feytha, and Qabir Shamiya.

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ISIS Has Begun Executing Captured Assyrians, According to Report

As many of you already know, I was fired from my previous job back in January, as I told you in a previous post here. At the time, I did not want to go into the details of the reason I was given for being fired, so I will now. My former employer had told me, and the young lady that I worked with, that he was going to have to cut hours... Read more by clicking here.

Assyrian Hostages in Syria Are 'Safe', Says ISIS Member

An Assyrian woman and her children who fled from Tel Tamar because of the attacks by ISIS.

The following excerpts are from AINA.org:

Hasaka, Syria (AINA) -- ISIS attacked several Assyrian villages in Syria yesterday, killing 4 Assyrian guards and kidnapping more than 90 Assyrian men, women and children, and destroying at least 4 churches (AINA 2015-02-23). About half of the abducted Assyrians were brought to the Abdul Aziz mountain, while the remainder are held captive in their villages, Tel Shamiran and Tel Jazira.

The following are the names of the Assyrians kidnapped from the village of Tel Goran:

• Yikhannis Adam
• Michael Mirza
• Elias Mirza
• Abdo Mirza
• Mirza Mirza
• Wegram Mirza
• Fabronia Mirza
• Miryana Mirza (6 Years old)
• Wegram Mirza (Unconfirmed)
• George Ishmael
• Ishmael Ishmael
• Joseph Ishmael (Unconfirmed)
• George Esho
• Salem Dashto
• Aweya Zaya
• Joseph Zaya
• Joel Zaya (Unconfirmed)
• Tato Odisho
• Jamil Odisho
• George Odisho
• Jamil Kolyat
• Awiya Wegram
• Joseph Esho
• Najma Youkhanna
• Mirza Khaya (Unconfirmed)
• 5 unnamed women

AINA spoke by telephone to Matthew*, an Assyrian in Hasaka, who said that his very close friend Nabil*, a Muslim Arab, expressed sorrow and sympathy for the kidnapped Assyrians. According to Matthew, Nabil is not a member of ISIS but he knows many local Syrians who have joined ISIS. Nabil said he would make inquiries. Nabil called two local Arabs who are members of ISIS and inquired about the condition of the Assyrian hostages. The local ISIS members said the hostages are "safe" and in "good condition" and will be released within a few days.

But given the history of the brutality of ISIS, Matthew said he doubts the hostages would be released.

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Assyrian Hostages in Syria Are 'Safe', Says ISIS Member

The heart of Egypt moved and devastated - Asia News

The following excerpts are from AsiaNews.it:

Cairo (AsiaNews) - The heart of Egypt has been both moved and devastated by the horrific beheading of 21 Egyptian citizens in Libya at the hands of jihadist allies of the Islamic State group (Daesh).

Yesterday and today, every newspaper in the country dedicated its front-page to the massacre, with titles in black and the pictures of all 21 victims, kneeling on the beach just before they were beheaded. Inside pages were full of commentaries and feature articles on the tragedy.

Although Daesh boasted of killing of Christians, in Egypt, the victims are seen primarily as Egyptians. To commemorate them, the government has decreed seven days of national mourning.

Yesterday, President Sisi personally met with Coptic Patriarch Tawadros, head of the Coptic Orthodox Church and patriarch of Alexandria, to offer official condolences. Egypt's National Defence Council, chaired by the president, has been meeting for days to determine how to deal with the situation.

President Sisi announced that the 21 Egyptians killed in Libya are true "martyrs", like their fellow citizens recently killed in the Sinai. He also said that each family would receive 100,000 Egyptian pounds (about US$ 13,000), plus a regular pension and medical care for every member.

The victims came mostly all from villages in Upper Egypt and had emigrated to Libya to earn some money to get married or support their families back home.

Tawadros was joined by Al-Azhar University in denouncing "the awful crime." Shaykh Ahmad al-Tayeb, head of Al-Azhar, the highest Sunni authority, as well as the Grand Mufti of Egypt Shawqi 'Allam stressed that Islam and the heavenly religions do not justify such crimes. The Coptic patriarch noted that the nation would not rest until the criminals were punished.

Meanwhile, the families of the victims, from different villages in Minya (Middle Egypt), have been demanding that the bodies of their loved ones be returned for burial.

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EGYPT - LIBYA - ISLAM The heart of Egypt moved and devastated - Asia News

Iraqi Kurds Call for Foreign Ground Troops in Anti-Islamic State Fight

The following excerpts are from AINA.org:

(AP) -- A senior Iraqi Kurdish official on Wednesday called for greater support in the battle against the Islamic State group, including with foreign troops, saying the Kurds are "alone" in the fight.

Fouad Hussein, chief of staff to Kurdish President Massoud Barzani, said the U.S.-led coalition airstrikes are helpful but "to finish ISIS... you need to finish it on the ground. And on the ground, we are most of the time alone. So we need partners."

"It means advisers, it means special forces, it means a collective fight against ISIS, it means equipment, it means munitions," Hussein said.

Though IS fighters have been forced to retreat from Kobani, the strategic town on Syria's border with Turkey, the battlefield picture suggests they are far from beaten in northern Iraq, where harsh winter weather and thick mud underfoot hampers military moves.

The Kurdish peshmerga fighters have struggled for months to inch ahead, backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, which began in northern Iraq.

Several coalition countries have provided arms to the Kurdish forces but many of those weapons have not yet been delivered to soldiers because most require additional training.

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Iraqi Kurds Call for Foreign Ground Troops in Anti-Islamic State Fight

Iranian General Helped Iraq's Kurds Battle IS Group

The following excerpts are from AINA.org:

TEHRAN (AP) -- A top Iranian general and 70 of his forces were on the ground in Iraq this summer, helping Kurdish fighters defend the regional capital Irbil against Islamic State militants, a senior commander from Iran's Revolutionary Guard said Wednesday.

The commander's remarks appeared to confirm for the first time that Iranian military forces are playing a battlefield role alongside Iraqis against the Islamic State extremist group, though it was not clear whether they were involved in combat or merely serving as advisers. Iran has said it provides advice to Iraq's government but has denied sending combatants or weapons.

Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, who runs the Guard's aerospace division, said top Gen. Ghasem Soleimani was instrumental in preventing the fall of Irbil.

"If it were not for Iran's help, the IS would have captured (Iraq's) Kurdistan," he said on state television late Tuesday. "Our respected General... Soleimani stood up to IS with only 70 forces and did not allow them to enter Irbil."

The Islamic State militants approached the outskirts of Irbil in August, prompting the United States to launch airstrikes that helped Kurdish forces drive them back.

Soleimani has since 1997 been head of the Quds Force, a division of the elite Revolutionary Guard that carries out special operations outside Iran. He is believed to have played a key role in mobilizing Iranian allies across the region, including the Lebanese Hezbollah group and Shiite militias in Iraq.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters, has reportedly described Soleimani as a "living martyr" in recognition of his work.

Although Iran and the United States share a common enemy in the Islamic State group, a deep-seated lack of trust has so far kept the longtime foes from publicly allying against the extremists.

While the U.S. has led air strikes against Islamic State militants, Iran is believed to have played a key role on the ground mobilizing Iraqi Kurdish and Shiite forces, including for last month's retaking of the northern Iraqi city of Amirli , which had been besieged by Islamic State militants for more than two months.

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Iranian General Helped Iraq's Kurds Battle IS Group

Kidnapping of Christians in Egypt Has Become Endemic

"Coptic cross" by Sagredo - Own work. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coptic_cross.svg#mediaviewer/File:Coptic_cross.svg

The following excerpts are from AINA.org:

Wadi Ramsis, a Coptic doctor who was kidnapped in Sinai two months ago was released Monday after "payment of large sums of [ransom] money," said authorities.

Targeting Copts--especially professionals, who can afford to pay, or children, whose parents become desperate to pay--is becoming endemic to Egypt.

In May, five "unidentified persons" kidnapped a Coptic Christian pharmacy owner at gunpoint in Sohag, Upper Egypt. Soon after Friday mosque prayers, a car pulled up in front of the pharmacy and opened fire on it before the assailants raided it and drove off with the kidnapped owner, one Mr. Marcos, a 52-year-old Copt, at gunpoint.

In April, Isaac Eli--another Coptic man--was abducted under threat of gunfire by four "unknown persons" armed with automatic weapons. They came upon the Coptic wood merchant while he was working in front of his home, coerced him into their car, and sped away. Later, one of his relatives received a phone call demanding a hefty ransom to release the Christian man: 500,000 Egyptian pounds.

In late March, Shenouda Riad Musa, a Coptic Christian man, was kidnapped by "unknown persons" who later called his family demanding one million Egyptian pounds for his release, roughly the equivalent of $150,000 USD, an exorbitant sum in Egypt.

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Kidnapping of Christians in Egypt Has Become Endemic

Chaldean Bishop: ISIS Wants to Rip Christians From Their Roots

The following excerpts are from AINA.org:

Brussels (AINA) -- Appealing to everyone to work and pray for Iraq and Syria, Bishop Shlemon Warduni, Patriarchal Assistant for the Chaldean Church, said that ISIS wants to rip Christians from their roots in Iraq and Syria. Bishop Warduni was conducting Holy Mass in the church of Saint Mari and Saint Adday in Brussels last Thursday.

"Pray for peace in the Middle East," he said, "particularly Iraq and Syria, because we live in very difficult conditions. We need the international community's attention because the evil demonic forces have expelled us from our homes and villages."

He likened ISIS to bandits in the story of the Good Samaritan in the Bible and said "we heard in Mass today the story of the Good Samaritan [Luke 10: 25-37]. Our Christian people are have fallen into the hands of road bandits, but with the difference that the man in the story found mercy but we did not find mercy, what has happened to us has not been seen before, where they try to rip us from our land that we have owned for more than two thousand years, even before Christianity we were in Iraq, Syria and Turkey and other places."

He continued, "In Mosul and villages in the Nineveh Plain they expelled our people and robbed them and pillaged all their possessions and forced them to go out on foot in high temperatures. Now there are more than 120,000 displaced people and many of them homeless. ISIS is ruthless and merciless, they are trying to rip our roots from the ground. For the first time in two thousand years there are no Mass prayers in Mosul and the villages in the Nineveh Plain."

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Chaldean Bishop: ISIS Wants to Rip Christians From Their Roots

Bishop Criticizes Senator for Politicizing Summit on Mideast Christians

A cross is carried to the altar during an ecumenical prayer service during the In Defense of Christians summit in Washington. Christian patriarchs from the Middle East, along with lawmakers and international human rights activists, attended the three-day gathering on the persecution of Middle Eastern minorities. (CNS photo/Tyler Orsburn)

The following excerpts are from Catholic News Service:

WASHINGTON -- A Catholic bishop criticized Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, for politicizing a conference of diverse political and church leaders working on behalf of Christians and other minorities in the Middle East.

"When you come to a hard political stance on anything, it's going to cause a flare-up, and that's what happened last night," Maronite Bishop Gregory J. Mansour of Brooklyn, New York, told Catholic News Service Sept. 11.

Cruz was a keynote speaker at the gala solidarity dinner at the inaugural summit of In Defense of Christians, a new organization with the aim of shaping policy and heightening awareness of Christians in the Middle East.

The conference brought together more than 500 politicians, church leaders -- including Catholic and Orthodox patriarchs flown in from the Middle East -- and Christians in the diaspora. The patriarchs emphasized that their differences did not preclude unity on behalf of all minorities in the Middle East.

Cruz, touted as a potential Republican candidate for president in 2016, left the stage after he was booed for saying that Christians have no better ally than Israel.

In a statement posted on his website, Cruz said: "After just a few minutes, I had no choice. I told them that if you will not stand with Israel, if you will not stand with the Jews, then I will not stand with you. And then I walked off the stage."

Bishop Mansour said he felt Cruz "had a litmus test for us: If we don't stand with Israel, then he won't stand with us. Well, that's not an approach that is viable for a Christian.

"Christians don't ally themselves to any state," said Bishop Mansour. "We are not allied to the state -- to the United States or to Iraq, or to Syria. Christians must be free to engage their society, to build up what is beautiful in it, and to critique what is not."

Jesuit Father Drew Christiansen, distinguished professor of ethics and global development at Georgetown University, attended the conference but was not at the gala.

In a blog for ncronline.org, scheduled for publication Sept. 15, Father Christiansen contrasted the unanimity of the patriarchs' message on Christians with Cruz's remarks, which he called "divisive."

"Members of the audience responded that calls made by Cruz and other speakers for respect for Jews and their inclusion in a pluralist Middle East had met with wide approval," wrote Father Christiansen, who has spent years advocating for Mideast Christians in his work as a policy adviser for the U.S. bishops' conference and as editor of America magazine.

"It was Cruz's assertion that Israel was an ally of Middle Eastern Christians to which they objected," he wrote. "They felt that their effort to build a coalition had been hijacked for the sake of Cruz's own political ambitions and the ultra-Zionist cause."

Bishop Mansour, who said he liked Cruz personally, told CNS: "I ran after him, and I saw him, face to face, as you and I are talking. He was very upset."

But he pointed out that many in the audience at the gala dinner were Palestinian Christians.

"Come on, you have to talk to your audience, you have to talk to the people who are here. I felt that showed a great insensitivity on his part," said Bishop Mansour, whose comments were echoed by others in attendance.

"We've been very careful, all the organizers and everybody involved," said Bishop Mansour. "The only one who was not very careful was Sen. Cruz."

"He made it very clear about defense of Jews and defense of Christians, but he did not mention defense of Muslims," said Bishop Mansour. He said everyone at the conference had been "very careful to defend the best of the Muslim tradition and to condemn the worst in it."

The bishop noted that 18 congressmen and senators had had talks with the Christian leaders on Capitol Hill without any kind of animosity.

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Bishop Criticizes Senator for Politicizing Summit on Mideast Christians

Senator Ted Cruz Booed Off Stage At In Defense of Christians Summit

Senator Ted Cruz speaking at the
In Defense of Christians Inaugural Summit Gala Dinner.

The following excerpts are from AINA.org:

Washington (AINA) -- Speaking at the In Defense of Christians (IDC) summit in Washington yesterday, Senator Ted Cruz ran afoul of the attendees who had gathered to build support for the Christians of Iraq, who are facing a genocide by ISIS.

Senator Cruz was introduced by Nina Shea, the director of the Center for Religious Freedom at the Hudson Institute.

Senator Cruz began by saying all gathered here are united in defense of Christians and Jews, and received applause.

He then said "Tonight we are all united in defense of people of good faith who are standing together against those who would persecute and murder those who dare to disagree with their religious teachings."

When Senator Cruz said "And today Christians have no better ally than the Jewish state" audience members began to object, saying "stop it" and booing. He immediately followed by saying "Let me say this: those who hate Israel hate America." At this point the audience became very agitated.

...IDC issued the following statement on the "disruption:"

In Defense of Christians President Toufic Baaklini issued the following statement in response to a disruption at the Inaugural Summit Gala Dinner:

As Cardinal Rai so eloquently put it to the attendees of the In Defense of Christians' inaugural Summit gala dinner: 'At every wedding, there are a few wedding crashers.' In this case, a few politically motivated opportunists chose to divide a room that for more than 48 hours sought unity in opposing the shared threat of genocide, faced not only by our Christian brothers and sisters, but our Jewish brothers and sisters and people of other all other faiths and all people of good will.

Tonight's injection of politics when the focus should have been on unity and faith, momentarily played into the hands of a few who do not adhere to IDC's principles. They were made no longer welcome.

When we set out to form In Defense of Christians, many in the foreign policy and faith-based communities said such an effort was impossible. That it would be too difficult to bring such a diverse group of Christian sects, religious and human rights organizations together to draw attention not only to the plight of the deteriorating situation facing our Christians brothers and sisters, but also to the plight of all people of faith, in the Middle East who are suffering.

For more than 48 hours, our initial IDC conference was successfully bridging divides of faith, language, geography and politics. It has not been easy, and not without challenges. Tonight's events make clearer than ever, that the In Defense of Christians is desperately needed in a world that remains divided to the point where even the most fundamental value of life and human dignity are cast aside.

We remain undaunted and focused on achieving our goals.

Note: Be sure to click the link below for the transcript of the speech from Senator Cruz, and listen to the audio from the speech there as well.

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Senator Ted Cruz Booed Off Stage At In Defense of Christians Summit