Deborah Lipstadt, the U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism during the Biden administration, has praised Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) no fewer than three times in the past week.
“I continue to be impressed by Sen. Cruz’s willingness to speak the truth. It’s easy to criticize those on the other side of the political fence,” Lipstadt wrote on Friday. “It’s harder to criticize your ‘own.’ He does it. Directly and unhesitatingly.”
Lipstadt, who is Dorot professor of modern Jewish history and Holocaust studies at Emory University, also shared an article from Jewish Insider on Friday about the Republican senator saying that the right must stand up to former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who has hosted Holocaust deniers and other antisemites on his podcast without pushing back on them during his interviews.
On Nov. 3, Lipstadt wrote that “Sen. Cruz, with whom I disagree on many many things, is a voice of truth and, sadly, of bravery,” sharing a Free Press post about how “the combative Texas senator” talked about “Nick Fuentes, Tucker Carlson and the rise of ‘bilious bigotry and rage’ on the right.”
She also thanked Cruz, without making the context clear, in a post on Oct. 31.
Several people urged Lipstadt to condemn Jew-haters on the left.
“This is absolutely correct. Now if only she herself would criticize Omar. Or Mamdani. Or Tlaib. Or…,” wrote Ilan Berman, a senior vice president at the American Foreign Policy Council.
He was referring to Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.). A search of her social media handle returns several instances, in which she decried Omar and Tlaib. She also shared a post critical of Mamdani.
“Good you acknowledge the brave campaign Sen. Cruz wages against this plague on the right, but Deborah, your voice would have been far more convincing had you aggressively stood up to the left’s antisemitism and the Islamists,” wrote Dave Wurmser, a former Middle East adviser to former U.S. vice president Dick Cheney who is a fellow at the Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy.
