CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Conflict in Gaza

Interview

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Hey, Senator Cruz, thanks very much for joining us.

You issued a strong statement basically accusing the president of the United States of improperly using the FAA as a -- as a tool to squeeze Israel.

On the basis of what did you make that allegation?

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: Well, Wolf, it's good to be with you. Thank you for having me.

Yesterday, I raised some serious questions because the FAA's actions naturally lent themselves to serious questions.

Number one, what the FAA did for Israel was unprecedented. It has never before shut down flights into Israel.

Number two, its behavior was not even-handed. The FAA has not shut down flights into Afghanistan, into Pakistan, into Yemen. The FAA has not shut down flights into Ukraine, even though Ukraine just had a passenger airline shot down with a Russian Buk missile.

And so the FAA didn't explain why Israel was being singled out for disparate treatment simply because one rocket landed several miles away from Ben Gurion Airport in an abandoned field.

And so that disparate treatment raised questions.

The second thing that raised questions...

BLITZER: All right...

CRUZ: -- was...

BLITZER: -- well, hold on -- hold on, Senator.

CRUZ: Yes?

BLITZER: I just want to go through some of those points...

CRUZ: Yes.

BLITZER: -- and then we can discuss.

First of all, that rocket landed about -- the FAA says, and we checked -- about one mile from Ben Gurion Airport. And it did -- it wasn't in an abandoned field. We have the pictures. It's -- it destroyed a house in that area.

Secondly, since I was covering the first Gulf War back in January of 1991, the FAA did close traffic to Tel Aviv when Iraqi SCUD missiles launched by Saddam Hussein were coming into the Tel Aviv area. So there -- there was a precedent.

But go ahead.

CRUZ: Well, I'll point out, the FAA has stated they've never shut down flights into Israel. So that's their own position on this.

And -- and my point is simply the disparate treatment, by any measure, one rocket -- Ben Gurion Airport has the -- has among the best safety records in the world. And if you compare other trouble spots such as Ukraine, the disparate treatment of Israel is troubling.

But the second question is the timing wasn't accidental, I don't believe. The timing was such that this ban on flights from America was announced at the same time that John Kerry arrived in the Middle East, at the same time that John Kerry was announcing $47 million for Gaza, much or all of which will end up in Hamas' hands, and the combination had the effect of imposing an economic boycott on Israel.

So the questions I asked is where did this decision come from?

Was this a political decision driven by the White House or was it a -- a decision from the professional staff of the FAA?

If it was the latter, you know, Wolf, that's an easy question to answer. They can produce the career experts at the FAA who presumably engaged in some sort of expert analysis comparing the danger to airline safety in Tel Aviv versus Pakistan or Yemen or Ukraine and they can lay out the analysis.

If, on the other hand, it was designed to exert economic force to pressure Israel into giving into the demands from America, that's a very different decision. And...

BLITZER: Well...

CRUZ: -- those are questions Congress needs to ask and have answers to.

BLITZER: I spoke with Giora Romm, who's the head of the Israel Aviation Authority, today. I spoke to him earlier, right after the FAA announced the initial ban on flights, United, U.S. Airways, Delta flights coming into Israel. And for 36 hours, he said, professional -- on a professional level, the best aviation experts in Israel, the best aviation experts at the FAA, they did have a very detailed, very technical discussion about the threat that U.S. passengers potentially could face. After those 36 hours, the professionals at the FAA decided to lift the ban.

So -- and the White House completely denies they had anything to do with it. They say this was strictly an FAA discuss.

You clearly don't buy that.

CRUZ: Well, Wolf, and I would know you've been a reporter long -- long enough to have some skepticism in terms of what -- of representations the administration gives.

Of course it's right that the Israeli authorities were doing everything they could to persuade the FAA to end their ban on flights into Israel. Of course that much is right.

But the question is, what was the decision-making that went into the Obama administration imposing the ban on the front end. And when I asked those questions, the result has been anger, has been dismissiveness, but a refusal to answer the question. You know, I thought it was striking yesterday, a State Department spokesperson, when asked that question, dismissed it, but then proceeded to speak for the FAA, to speak on behalf of the FAA. And this is a very different decision if it emanated from the

State Department or the White House as an economic tool to pressure Israel than if it was simply an expert judgment on -- on airline safety. And that's easy to assess, because if it was the latter, there will be career employees, there will be written reports laying it out.

If it was the former, then there's going to be a trail of communications from the political leadership.

BLITZER: All right, you know, there are other airlines that a -- I guess it's fair to say, followed the U.S. lead. In fact, even right now, Lufthansa, the German carrier, they're still not flying in and out of Israel.

How do you explain that?

They -- they've got their experts. They want to make money. Those flights are pretty crowded.

CRUZ: Look, Europe has never been shy about putting undue influence and pressure on the nation of Israel. And America and Israel enjoy an unshakeable alliance.

One of my greatest concerns with the Obama administration is we've never had an American administration demonstrate as much hostility and antagonism to the nation of Israel.

I -- I would note that the questions I raised about this airline ban come in the context of a global BDS movement, a global movement to pressure, to boycott, divest and impose sanctions against Israel that, sadly, John Kerry has made comments that -- that many took as encouraging that effort.

And in that context, the effect of the FAA order was an economic boycott. Now, I am glad that the Obama administration, in the face of bipartisan criticism, reconsidered. But we should still inquire, was this a political decision done from political motives or was it an independent agency?

If it was only the FAA, they should easily be able to produce the experts and the written expert opinion before they issued the ban.

BLITZER: Here's what the State Department spokeswoman, Marie Harf -- and she's going to be joining us later this hour -- said about you and your statement.

I'll play the clip.

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BLITZER: All right, go ahead. Respond to Marie Harf.

CRUZ: Well, look, yesterday, when she was asked about it, she chose to ignore the question and to belittle the -- the very serious questions. Uh, but then, strikingly, she stood up and said she would speak on behalf of the FAA.

I think it's a little ironic that the State Department is protesting they had nothing to do with the decision, but then the State Department is acting as the official spokesperson for the FAA at the same time.

Right now, the facts we know suggest this was a decision driven by the State Department and perhaps by the political operatives at the White House, because there is no justification for why you would ban flights into Israel and not ban them into other, far more dangerous areas, including, most notably, Ukraine, where a commercial airliner was just shot down with a missile. Over 200 people were murdered with a -- with a Russian Buk missile and yet the FAA hadn't -- hasn't banned flights to Ukraine.

That raises a serious question. And even in the comments you just played...

BLITZER: All right...

CRUZ: -- the State Department spokesperson will not answer the questions or produce the internal FAA analyses that she's claiming were the basis of this discussion.

BLITZER: Well, she's standing by live. We'll talk to her in a moment.

CRUZ: Very good.

BLITZER: But, very quickly, you know the Obama administration, with the support of Democrats and Republicans in the House and the Senate, continues to provide Israel with, what, about $3 billion a year, and now supporting, what, another $250 million or so to -- to help Israel deal with that Iron Dome anti-missile system that's worked so well over the past few weeks.

You can't say the administration is totally anti-Israel, when they're helping Israel in a concrete way militarily, with this kind of financial assistance.

CRUZ: Well, you can say that. Look, are they honoring the treaty commitments that have passed with overwhelming bipartisan support out of Congress? Yes. But at the same time the Obama administration goes out of its way repeatedly to criticize, to attack, to hector the nation of Israel.

It's just a couple of months ago that John Kerry said that Israel could become an Apartheid state, which I would know is a vicious slander. It's false. And those words have consequences. They will be repeated by enemies of Israel, by Hamas, by Iran, by Hezbollah. And they'll say, "This isn't us speaking. This is the secretary of state of the United States." That is unacceptable.

If you look at this conflict right now, it is a false moral equivalency to compare Hamas, who are terrorists trying to murder innocent men, women and children, and the nation of Israel, whose military is trying to protect their civilians and stop terrorists. Those are not equivalent. They're fundamentally different.

BLITZER: Senator Cruz, thank you very much for joining us. I know you have strong views on this subject, and you're willing to share them with our viewers. We appreciate that. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas.

CRUZ: Always a pleasure, Wolf.

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