All politics is theology, as Federalist CEO Sean Davis likes to say, and nowhere was that clearer than in a recent discussion between Tucker Carlson and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, about the United States’ relationship to Israel’s recent offensive against Iran.
In the interview, which aired Wednesday, Cruz invoked the biblical statement that “those who bless Israel will be blessed, and those who curse Israel will be cursed.” The verse, which comes directly from Numbers 24:9, is a reference to God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:3: “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Cruz, who said he doesn’t want to put American boots on the ground in Iran but would support doing so “if the risk got severe enough,” concluded that the passage means “biblically we are commanded to support Israel.”
In fairness to Cruz, he told Carlson that such a position was a “personal motivation” of his and not one he would base policy on “as an elected official.” He noted other, geopolitical reasons to support Israel, like the fact that it’s “our strongest ally in the Middle East.”
