Ted Cruz

Ted Cruz has represented Texas in the U.S. Senate since 2013, having declared upon his first campaign that his explicit goal was to become "the leading defender of Israel in the United States Senate" — a designation AIPAC formally affirmed following his 2024 reelection. A Harvard Law graduate and former Texas Solicitor General, Cruz has chaired the Senate Commerce Committee since January 2025 while maintaining his position as the chamber's most prolific sponsor of pro-Israel legislation. He has received more than $1.8 million from pro-Israel organizations through 2024, the highest total of any sitting senator, and has grounded his advocacy in both strategic conviction and biblical principle, citing Genesis 12:3 as personal motivation in a widely discussed 2025 interview.

Cruz's legislative record on Israel spans more than a decade of concrete action. He introduced the Safeguard Israel Act to cut all U.S. funding to the United Nations until the Security Council repeals Resolution 2334; co-sponsored the Taylor Force Act, which withholds aid to the Palestinian Authority unless it ends payments to terrorists' families; and backed both the Israel Anti-Boycott Act and the Combating BDS Act. In 2018, he co-sponsored the U.S.-Israel Security Assistance Authorization Act, locking in the security assistance framework established by the 2016 Memorandum of Understanding. During the 2023–2024 Gaza conflict, Cruz led Senate efforts to expedite emergency military assistance and used high-profile hearings to demand accountability from university presidents permitting campus antisemitism.

As U.S. and Israeli forces absorbed the post-Operation Epic Fury ceasefire in April 2026, Cruz emerged as the Senate's most uncompromising voice on Iran nuclear terms, demanding complete dismantlement of enrichment infrastructure and publicly rejecting any agreement that leaves Iran's centrifuge production capacity intact. His willingness in April 2026 to publicly criticize Israeli police alongside Ambassador Huckabee for blocking Palm Sunday access to Christian holy sites — while remaining Israel's most fervent defender — reflects a relationship built on candor, not sycophancy. At Rank 1 on the Iron 100, Cruz represents the conviction that supporting Israel is not a political position but an American obligation.