President Obama’s ambassador for religious freedom is headlining the same Middle Eastern Christian conference where Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) was booed off stage last year for defending Israel and condemning Hezbollah.
David Saperstein, a rabbi who was confirmed as ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom at the U.S. Department of State last December, is scheduled to give a keynote address at the In Defense of Christians conference in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 11.
The conference aims to raise awareness for the plight of Arab Christians, who are targeted by the Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS or ISIL) and other radical Islamists. However, the event, which is organized with help from a major Clinton donor, has also given a platform to Hezbollah allies and some of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s most prominent Christian advocates.
"Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom David Saperstein will address the conference to underscore the U.S. government's concern for the plight of religious minorities in the Middle East and to emphasize our resolute commitment to defending and promoting religious freedom in that region and around the world," said State Department spokesperson Chanan Weissman.
Saperstein will speak alongside Syriac Catholic Patriarch Ignatius Joseph III Younan, according to the conference schedule. Younan has been a consistent defender of Assad and claims the United States and other Western countries are propping up jihadists in Syria in order to profit from oil.
"We Christians have been betrayed and sold for oil," said Younan in a 2013 interview. "The West supports democracy in the name of the regimes that have nothing democratic about them."
Younan told the Wall Street Journal in April that he does not support Assad’s removal and criticized U.S. democracy promotion as hypocritical.
"We do not need lectures from the U.S. about democracy and morality," said Younan.
The IDC’s honorary chairman is Gilbert Chagoury, a Lebanese-American businessman who pledged $1 billion to the Clinton Global Initiative in 2009. Chagoury is also a political backer of Lebanese politician Michel Aoun, Hezbollah’s top Christian ally in the country, according to U.S. diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks.
Some of the most controversial attendees at last year’s IDC conference—including Syriac Orthodox Church Patriarch Moran Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, who reportedly met with Hezbollah leaders just days before the event—are not listed on this year’s schedule.
Another past speaker was Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Bechara Raï, who has called Israel an "enemy state that is occupying Lebanese territory" and defended Hezbollah’s terror attacks against Israel.
"Everyone says why is Hezbollah carrying arms?" said Rai in a 2011 interview with Al-Arabiya. "We responded that the international community did not exert pressure on Israel to withdraw from Lebanese territory. As long as there is an occupied Lebanese territory, Hezbollah will maintain that it wants to carry arms in defense of its land. What will we say to it then? Isn’t [Hezbollah] right?"
Antioch Church patriarch Gregory III Laham, who also spoke last year, blamed al Qaeda attacks on a "Zionist conspiracy."
"It is actually a conspiracy planned by Zionism and some Christians with Zionist orientations, and it aims at undermining and giving a bad image of Islam," said Laham in 2010.
Cruz was forced to cut his speech short last year after some members of the audience shouted down his calls for Christians to stand with Israel.
"Christians have no greater ally than Israel. … Those who hate Jews hate Christians," Cruz said, prompting boos and jeers from the audience.
The senator ended his speech, telling the crowd, "If you will not stand with Israel and the Jews, then I will not stand with you." Audience members continued to boo and shout "enough!" "no!" and "never!"
Conference organizers criticized Cruz after the incident, saying the senator provoked the audience with pro-Israel comments.
Prior to joining the State Department, Saperstein served as the director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and co-authored the 1998 book Jewish Dimensions of Social Justice. He also gave the invocation at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
Advocates for Israel and Middle East Christians said it was troubling that the U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom was scheduled to give such a high-profile address to the IDC.
"It’s very disappointing that Amb. Saperstein has chosen to associate himself with an organization that not only saw a sitting senator booed off stage last year for expressing support for Israel but one whose supporters reportedly have ties to Hezbollah and the Assad regime," said Ari Morgenstern, communications director for Christians United for Israel.
"We believe very firmly in the mandate of the Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom," Morgenstern added. "Standing with Christians so horrifically persecuted by radical Islamists in the Middle East has been central to CUFI’s mission for several years, but trading ISIS’s knife for Hezbollah’s is not defending Christians, it’s simply elevating one brutal oppressor over the other."