Rep Ilhan Omar Under Bipartisan Fire Again for More Antisemitic Comments
Ilhan Omar Apologizes for Statements Condemned as Anti-Semitic
WASHINGTON — Representative Ilhan Omar, who has been contesting charges of anti-Semitism for weeks, apologized on Monday for insinuating that American support for Israel is fueled by money from a pro-Israel lobbying group — a comment that drew swift and unqualified condemnation from beau Democrats, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The mea culpa past Ms. Omar, a freshman lawmaker from Minnesota and one of the commencement two Muslim women elected to Congress, came after a day of bipartisan outrage over her tweet Sunday night asserting that support for State of israel was "all about the Benjamins infant," a reference to hundred-dollar bills.
"Anti-Semitism is real and I am grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes," Ms. Omar said in a statement released on Twitter, about an hour afterward Ms. Pelosi and the entire Democratic leadership publicly chastised her for engaging in "deeply offensive" anti-Semitic tropes.
"My intention is never to offend my constituents or Jewish Americans as a whole," Ms. Omar wrote, adding, "I unequivocally apologize."
The exact altercation between Ms. Pelosi and Ms. Omar was but the latest instance of the speaker stepping in to endeavour to keep her diverse and unruly caucus in line. She finagled her ain ballot to the speakership, threw some subtle cold water on Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez'south ambitious "Green New Deal" and tamped downwardly aggressive talk of impeaching President Trump. In the coming days she may again accept to pace in to pass an immigration and border security deal that is likely to anger the almost liberal wing of the Business firm.
Just fifty-fifty as Democrats in Congress condemned Ms. Omar, her tearing and persistent criticism of Israel is exposing tensions within the broader party, with younger liberals increasingly willing to charge the Jewish land of human rights abuses while older stalwarts like Ms. Pelosi stand up firmly behind it. Republicans, sensing an opportunity to woo Jewish voters, have sought to exploit those divisions, and on Monday evening, Mr. Trump weighed in.
"I recollect she should exist ashamed of herself," the president told reporters, referring to Ms. Omar. "I call up it was a terrible statement and I don't think her amends was adequate."
At the aforementioned time, Ms. Pelosi is facing questions from Republicans in Congress nearly whether she went far plenty. When Representative Steve Male monarch, Republican of Iowa, fabricated comments embracing white supremacy, Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the Republican leader, stripped him of his committee assignments and the House passed a resolution condemning his words.
Mr. McCarthy, who was accused of anti-Semitism himself this fall when he said the billionaires George Soros, Michael R. Bloomberg and Tom Steyer were trying to buy the election, has demanded that Ms. Pelosi do the same with Ms. Omar. She serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee — a plum assignment that puts her in a position to influence American policy in the Eye East.
So far, the speaker has declined to take that action, but she did coordinate the condemnation of Ms. Omar'due south words from the top v House Democratic leaders.
"Legitimate criticism of Israel'south policies is protected past the values of gratuitous voice communication and democratic contend that the United States and State of israel share," the 5 said in their joint statement, in which they called on Ms. Omar to immediately repent. "Congresswoman Omar's use of anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about State of israel's supporters is securely offensive."
Ms. Omar's Twitter annotate linking coin from the American Israel Public Diplomacy Committee, or Aipac, to political support in Washington for State of israel played into anti-Semitic tropes that have their roots in the Middle Ages, when Jews were barred from entering near professions and thus became moneylenders — a job that Christians would not take on because of prohibitions confronting usury.
That fueled centuries of stereotypes well-nigh Jews using coin to command the globe. Rabbi Jonah Pesner, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, drew an analogy between Ms. Omar's comments and those who make light of blackface without agreement the hateful history of minstrel shows and how they were used to dehumanize African-Americans.
"What she doesn't realize is Aipac, like every other advancement organization in Washington, is exercising its constitutionally protected rights to abet on behalf of its calendar," Rabbi Pesner said, adding, "When you call it out and differentiate the Jewish community, information technology feeds that stereotype of controlling the world."
In her Twitter statement on Monday, Ms. Omar did not back abroad from her contention that Aipac has too much ability in Washington. "At the same time, I reaffirm the problematic role of lobbyists in our politics, whether it exist Aipac, the N.R.A. or the fossil fuel industry," Ms. Omar wrote.
Critics of Israel say Ms. Omar has a point. In divide interviews on Monday, both Emily Mayer, the national coordinator of IfNotNow, a liberal Jewish group, and Yousef Munayyer, the director of the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights, said Ms. Omar was forcing an important word in Washington.
"Twitter is probably not the best medium for nuanced conversation," Mr. Munayyer said. "But I don't remember the correct answer is we can't talk about it. I think it is very of import in this moment to have a chat about U.S. relations with Israel."
Ms. Mayer said she "wholeheartedly" accepts Ms. Omar's "apology for her give-and-take choice while also affectionate the moral opinion that she takes on this issue, which is pretty unprecedented in today'due south Congress."
Mon'south back and forth came on top of earlier flash points that pitted Ms. Omar confronting State of israel's fiercest supporters in Congress, Republican and Democrat. She told Yahoo News last calendar month that when politicians "still uphold" State of israel "equally a democracy in the Middle East, I almost chuckle." That brought back criticism of a 2012 tweet in which she accused Israel of hypnotizing the globe to mask its evil deeds.
She had been trying to mend fences over those comments when Sunday night'due south tweet went viral.
Earlier the leaders' statement on Monday, other Democrats had broken rank to vocalism their condemnations. Two House Democrats, Representatives Elaine Luria, a freshman from Virginia, and Josh Gottheimer of New Bailiwick of jersey, released a alphabetic character Mon morning calling on Democratic leaders to speak out against any lawmaker who "uses harmful tropes and stereotypes, levels accusations of dual loyalty or makes reckless statements like those yesterday."
"As Jewish members of Congress, we are deeply alarmed by recent rhetoric from sure members within our caucus, including simply last night, that has disparaged u.s. and called into question our loyalty to our nation," they wrote. "Nosotros urge y'all to bring together us in calling on each member of our caucus to unite against anti-Semitism and hateful tropes and stereotypes."
[Read the letter of the alphabet here.]
The 2 said in interviews that they were referring both to Ms. Omar and to some other freshman Democrat, Representative Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, the other Muslim woman in Congress. Ms. Tlaib has also drawn fire for remarks that her critics say fuel anti-Semitic tropes, and Ms. Luria and Mr. Gottheimer recently met with her to express their concerns.
Both said they left the meeting disappointed that she did not repent. Ms. Tlaib, who is Palestinian-American and whose grandmother lives in the West Bank, responded with a statement Monday evening saying in part that her "life's work is centered on equality and justice," adding, "I am not easily bullied away from choosing peace and truth dialogue."
Other Democrats also weighed in. Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, called it "deeply disappointing and agonizing to hear Representative Ilhan Omar's (MN) choice of words in her exchange with a journalist yesterday, wherein she appears to traffic in old anti-Semitic tropes about Jews and money."
Representative Max Rose of New York, another freshman Democrat, responded directly to Ms. Omar on Twitter, calling her statements "deeply hurtful to Jews."
But he besides chastised reporters at the Capitol for not taking Mr. McCarthy, the Republican leader, to task for saying Jewish philanthropists and political donors were buying the election, comments that he saw as anti-Semitic. "Their caucus stayed united and had his back and none of you lot called him out," he said.
The Twitter exchanges began when Ms. Omar responded to a tweet by the journalist Glenn Greenwald. Mr. Greenwald had defendant Mr. McCarthy of targeting Ms. Omar and Ms. Tlaib.
That'due south when Ms. Omar said, "It's all virtually the Benjamins baby."
It did not stop there. A Jewish journalist asked whom Ms. Omar was referring to when she suggested that money was driving American policy on State of israel. "AIPAC!" she replied. Aipac does not contribute to political campaigns, but its large-scale conferences and congressional trips to Israel have long drawn enthusiastic and bipartisan participation.
They take likewise elicited charges that Aipac has deliberately fed a 1-sided view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into American politics and squelched any culling perspectives. Ms. Tlaib has been trying to organize her ain congressional trip to the West Bank to requite lawmakers the Palestinian side of the result.
Aipac responded with a statement that said: "We are proud that nosotros are engaged in the democratic process to strengthen the U.S.-Israel relationship. Our bipartisan efforts are cogitating of American values and interests. We will not be deterred in any way by ill-informed and illegitimate attacks on this important work."
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Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/11/us/politics/ilhan-omar-anti-semitism.html
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