US Sen. Ted Cruz delivered a dramatic warning that antisemitism is spreading on parts of the American Right and urged conservatives, pastors, and lay leaders to “draw redlines” and confront it head-on.
“The danger I want to highlight tonight is antisemitism on the Right,” the Texas senator told the audience at the Republican Jewish Coalition on Thursday in Las Vegas. “In the last six months, I have seen antisemitism rising on the Right in a way I have never seen in my entire life. We must confront it.”
Cruz said conservatives cannot credibly condemn Jew-hatred on campus or at international forums while overlooking it “when it comes from voices closer to home.”
He described the trend as a “growing cancer” and pressed Christian leaders to act. “The church is asleep right now,” he said. “Leaders in the church need to engage.” The language echoed remarks he delivered last week to a Christian pro-Israel audience in San Antonio, where he warned of right-wing Jew-hatred and urged a church-led response.
The Texas Republican said the normalization of fringe figures and ideas online is accelerating the problem. “If I pick up my phone and send out a tweet, if I say ‘good morning,’ within minutes I will have hundreds of blatantly antisemitic responses,” he said, adding that the surge cannot be blamed only on foreign troll farms.
Ted Cruz speaks out against antisemitism on the Right
Recounting a recent conversation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Cruz said some leaders point to bots and state-backed propaganda, “but I am telling you, this is real, it is organic, these are real human beings, and it is spreading.”
In recent days, he has made similar points publicly, including the need to reject “replacement theology” and an isolationist drift among segments of the Right.
Cruz warned against tolerating figures who flirt with Hitler apologetics or peddle conspiracies about “organized Jewry.”
“In the last year, we had three prominent voices on the Right publicly muse, ‘Gosh, maybe Hitler wasn’t that bad a guy after all.’ Yes, he was. He was the embodiment of evil,” Cruz said, adding, “I will not remain silent.” Those lines reinforce a broader debate roiling conservative politics over how firmly to police antisemitic rhetoric.
The RJC’s annual leadership summit runs at the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas from Friday through Sunday, with a roster of senior Republican officials and media figures. Cruz is among the advertised speakers.
Cruz’s intervention comes as parts of the movement face criticism for platforming extremists. On Thursday, Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts publicly defended Tucker Carlson after the podcaster’s friendly interview with Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes drew backlash. The episode, and similar controversies, have intensified calls inside the GOP to draw clearer lines against antisemitism.
Throughout his speech, Cruz returned to practical steps for conservatives and church communities: recognize and name classic tropes, reject attempts to launder overt bigotry as policy debate, and educate young audiences who encounter memes and influencers that “turn antiwar slogans into anti-Jewish hostility.”
In recent coverage of his appeals, Cruz has argued the Right’s pro-Israel stance must be matched with vigilance against bigotry “in our own house.”