Speaker Pelosi and the Democratic House leadership are demanding that Rep. Ilhan Omar apologize for Anti-Semitic comments.
In a statement provided to PoliticusUSA, the House Democratic leadership wrote:
Anti-Semitism must be called out, confronted and condemned whenever it is encountered, without exception.
We are and will always be strong supporters of Israel in Congress because we understand that our support is based on shared values and strategic interests. Legitimate criticism of Israel’s policies is protected by the values of free speech and democratic debate that the United States and Israel share. But Congresswoman Omar’s use of anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israel’s supporters is deeply offensive. We condemn these remarks and we call upon Congresswoman Omar to immediately apologize for these hurtful comments.
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As Democrats and as Americans, the entire Congress must be fully engaged in denouncing and rejecting all forms of hatred, racism, prejudice and discrimination wherever they are encountered.
The Democrats were responding to these tweets from Rep. Omar:
It’s all about the Benjamins baby 🎶 https://t.co/KatcXJnZLV
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) February 10, 2019
AIPAC! https://t.co/UdzaFUEfrh
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) February 11, 2019
Rep. Omar made it very clear that she believes that the Jews are buying off US politicians to get their support for Israel. If Rep. Omar would have been talking about the influence of foreign lobbying or all lobbying in US politics that is a different issue, and one that most Americans could get behind condemning.
The Democratic House leadership was right. Omar was making an anti-Semitic statement.
Democrats should never stoop to Trump‘s level. A discussion of the influence of foreign governments on policies of the United States is not only justified, but urgently needed given who is in the White House and how he got there, but that is not what Rep. Omar was doing.
Her tweets went way over the line, and I suspect that this isn’t going to stop at an apology. Rep. Omar is likely to lose her committee assignments because this sort of language doesn’t represent the Democratic Party or the majority of the American people.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
