ted cruz palestine squad
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex.
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
  • GOP Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas on Thursday attacked the Squad, a group of Democratic lawmakers.
  • "We get it, you don't like the Jews," Cruz said of their recent comments on Israeli bombings.
  • Cruz's comments feed into a longstanding trope that any criticism of Israel amounts to antisemitism.
  • See more stories on Insider's business page.

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas on Thursday went after Democrats in the Squad over their recent critiques of Israeli Defense Forces attacking Palestinian protesters and leveling residential buildings in Gaza.

In a Fox News interview, Cruz accused Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota of being "shills for terrorists" and, by implication, harboring antisemitism.

"And it is disgraceful that you have members of the United States Congress that basically operate as shills for terrorists and undermine Israel – and they undermine Israel so often, that after a while, you start to say, OK, we get it, you don't like the Jews," Cruz said.

"It's not subtle," he continued, with no pushback from Fox News anchors Sandra Smith and John Roberts. "It's not new, but it is a very ugly sentiment, particularly to see in the United States Congress."

Cruz did not mention the fourth member of The Squad, Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts.

President Joe Biden has taken an old-school stance on Israel that has put him at odds with many in the Democratic Party, including the Squad. "Israel has the right to defend itself when you have thousands of rockets flying into your territory," he said on Wednesday, adding the next day that he did not see Israeli airstrikes on Gaza as a "significant overreaction."

Ocasio-Cortez said that violence by Hamas should be condemned, but called on President Joe Biden to also acknowledge that the Israeli Defense Forces is targeting unarmed civilians.

The religion of Judaism is often conflated with support or loyalty toward Israel, falling under the longstanding antisemitic trope of "dual loyalty."

Omar and Tlaib have been accused of antisemitism previously by both Republicans and Democrats.

Read more: This anonymous Instagram account is the DeuxMoi of DC

In 2012, Omar tweeted that Israel has "hypnotized the world," and she said in 2019 that US aid to Israel was "all about the Benjamins." She has since apologized for these comments.

Also in 2019, Tlaib said those in favor of anti-Israeli boycott legislation "forgot what country they represent," and later clarified she meant senators and not Jewish people, but did not apologize.

Earlier in his interview, Cruz said he has become "good friends" with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and said Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, and Tlaib have been "tweeting things that frankly are indistinguishable from what they'd be saying if they were actually the press secretaries for Hamas."

"There is a fundamental difference between a nation defending itself against terrorists, and terrorists targeting women and children, which Hamas is doing," he said.

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