Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., responded on Twitter with a 14-tweet thread after she, and her controversial comments about Jews and the role of Israel in American politics, became a central theme in the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference in Washington this week.
“We are not even 6 months out from the Pittsburgh massacre. We are not even 2 weeks out from the Christchurch massacre. Yet the topic Netanyahu chose to focus on was…me,” the freshman congresswoman tweeted.
We are not even 6 months out from the Pittsburgh massacre.
We are not even 2 weeks out from the Christchurch massacre.Yet the topic Netanyahu chose to focus on was…me.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) March 26, 2019
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the stage at AIPAC on Tuesday. He used the opportunity to criticize Omar’s controversial comments about AIPAC buying off American politicians and the pro-Israel lobby buying off support from lawmakers.
“Some people will just never get it. They will never understand why the vast majority of Americans, Jews and non-Jews alike, support Israel. Take it from this Benjamin: it’s not about the Benjamins,” he said.
“The reason the people of America support Israel is not because they want our money. It’s because they share our values,” Netanyahu said. “It’s because America and Israel share a love of freedom and democracy. Because we cherish individual rights and the rule of law. It’s because we don’t judge people by the color of their skin, their religion, or their sexual orientation.”
Omar denies allegations that her remarks were anti-Semitic, instead saying that pro-Israel interest groups like AIPAC have stood in the way of achieving lasting peace in the region.
“I —like so many others—have not criticized AIPAC because of its membership or the country it advocates for. I’ve criticized it because it has repeatedly opposed efforts to guarantee peace and human rights in the region,” she tweeted in the thread.
I —like so many others—have not criticized AIPAC because of its membership or the country it advocates for. I’ve criticized it because it has repeatedly opposed efforts to guarantee peace and human rights in the region.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) March 26, 2019
Democratic Party leaders who spoke at the AIPAC event also took jabs at the freshman Minnesota lawmaker, further highlighting the rift between the progressive wing of the party that has largely backed Omar and the more moderate establishment wing that has condemned her remarks.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said that Omar’s ideas about Israel and its American supporters are anti-Semitic and reaffirmed her own commitment to fostering the relationship between the United States and Israel.
“The United States will continue to champion a foreign policy that reaffirms Israel’s right to self defense. In our democratic societies, we should welcome legitimate debate about how best to honor our values and to advance our priorities without questioning loyalty or patriotism,” Pelosi said to the AIPAC annual conference.
“This month, the full House came together to condemn the anti-Semitic myth of dual loyalty, and all forms of bigotry, with a resolution that ‘rejects the perpetuation of anti-Semitic stereotypes in the United States and around the world, including the pernicious myth of dual loyalty and foreign allegiance, especially in the context of support for the United States-Israel alliance,'” Pelosi said. “I simply declare to be anti-Semitic is to be anti-American. It has no place in our country.” She said later that there are “signs” of anti-Semitism “in our own country.”
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., also took a jab at Omar while delivering a speech to AIPAC Sunday. Hoyer told the crowd at AIPAC he stood with Israel “proudly and unapologetically.”
“When someone accuses American supporters of Israel of dual loyalty, I say: Accuse me,” Hoyer said to applause.
