(NewsNation) — Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz believes the “radical, anti-Israel, anti-American extreme” is also becoming the base of the Democratic Party. And he again tried to tie President Joe Biden to Iran’s funding of terrorist organizations.
“These protesters, they hate America,” he told NewsNation’s “On Balance.”
Cruz decried harassment, protests and Jewish students being targeted across the U.S.
“We’re seeing university professors afraid and impotent to do anything to protect their students, and it’s disgraceful.”
Cruz says the ugliness will end when people stand up and say what’s right.
“In battle between Israel and Hamas, there is no gray there,” he said. “It is a battle between civilization and barbarism.”
He also blasted Democrats for actions he says damage Israel, including the U.N. resolution “effectively condemning Israel for not having an immediate cease-fire,” which he says Biden orchestrated. He also mentioned Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer’s call for early elections in Israel and Rep. Nancy Pelosi signing a letter calling for an immediate end to U.S. military funding for Israel.
“Biden, Schumer and Pelosi are not the fringes of the Democrat Party,” he added.
Cruz also claimed that Biden is responsible for financing Hamas’s attack on Israel.
“Joe Biden has flowed over $100 million to Iran. In a very real sense, Joe Biden and the Democrats funded the October 7th atrocities.”
Cruz didn’t specify the source of that money, but the U.S. has allowed Iran to reclaim some of its assets frozen in banks around the world. In August of last year, the U.S. agreed to unfreeze $6 billion of Iranian money that was being held in South Korean banks. The move came after Iran released five U.S. citizens it had detained.
Qatar acted as a conduit for that money, but after the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, the U.S. and Qatar agreed to deny Iran access to the funds.
Separately, Biden is under pressure to reimpose a freeze on $10 billion that Iran earned selling electricity to Iraq. That sanction was waived in 2018 during the Trump administration. Iran has been drawing on the fund being held in Oman under strict terms that it only be used for humanitarian purposes. Critics say the income allows Iran to use other money to fund it terror proxies and continue its nuclear weapons program.