The top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee has condemned Rep. Ilhan Omar, a member of the panel, for using an “anti-Semitic trope.”
The Minnesota Democrat over the weekend implied in a tweet that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., supported Israel only because of political donations.
“It’s all about the Benjamins baby,” she wrote, including a music note emoji, an apparent reference to a 1997 Puff Daddy song of the same name.
Chairman Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., called Omar’s tweet “shocking.”
“Anti-Semitism in any form is unacceptable, and it’s shocking to hear a Member of Congress invoke the anti-Semitic trope of ‘Jewish money,’” Engel, who is Jewish, said in a statement Monday.
Engel said he plans on making clear to committee members that the U.S. alliance with Israel is important to both countries’ “shared interests, security, and values.”
Engel joins a growing list of Democrats condemning the freshman congresswoman.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other Democratic leaders demanded Omar apologize for her “deeply offensive” comment.
