U.S. support for Israel has nothing to do with money, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday, in a clear rebuke of freshman congresswoman Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.
“Some people will just never get it. They will never understand why the vast majority of Americans, Jews and non-Jews alike, support Israel,” Netanyahu told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual policy conference. “From this Benjamin: It’s not about the Benjamins.”
Netanyahu didn’t mention Omar by name, but his message was an unmistakable reference to the Minnesota Democrat who sparked an uproar after tweeting in February that congressional support for Israel is “all about the Benjamins.”
Netanyahu, addressing AIPAC live via satellite link from Tel Aviv after cutting short his trip to Washington due to a terrorist attack in Israel, maintained that Democrats and Republicans alike support Israel out of principle.
“It’s not because they want our money. It’s because they share our values,” he said. “It’s because America and Israel share a love of freedom and democracy. It’s 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 has been a target of criticism throughout the conference thanks to a series of comments she made that her Democratic colleagues denounced as anti-Semitic. She suggested on multiple occasions that lawmakers who support the American alliance with Israel have dual loyalties with their “push for allegiance to a foreign country.”
Netanyahu told AIPAC that “those who seek to undermine American support for Israel must be confronted.”
“Despite what they claim, they do not merely criticize the policies of Israel’s government,” he said. “They spew venom that has long been directed at the Jewish people.”
Omar responded to Netanyahu in a series of tweets Tuesday. “At this year’s AIPAC conference, the topic PM Netanyahu chose to focus on was … me,” she wrote. “Netanyahu and the GOP may want to make this about one Muslim-American refugee’s views, but I am not alone.”
Though Omar deleted her “It’s all about the Benjamins baby” tweet, her response to Netanyahu’s use of the line suggests she still holds the sentiment. “This from a man facing indictments for bribery and other crimes in three separate public corruption affairs. Next!” she wrote on Twitter.
? This from a man facing indictments for bribery and other crimes in three separate public corruption affairs.
Next! https://t.co/BX6qLpISKx
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) March 26, 2019
Israel goes to the polls April 9, and Netanyahu’s re-election campaign has been overshadowed by corruption charges. The Israeli attorney general announced last month that he plans to pursue an indictment of the prime minister.
Netanyahu has also drawn criticism for agreeing to form a coalition with a far-right Israeli party that wants to expel Arabs from the state of Israel. The prime minister used his rebuke of Omar to counter the accusation that he has stoked anti-Arab sentiment as he fights to maintain power.
“I’m proud of Israel’s vibrant democracy, where no one — no one — is a second-class citizen,” he said. “All of Israel’s citizens are first-class citizens.”
