Rep. Ilhan Omar on Thursday equivocated on the “unequivocal apology” she offered in the wake of tweets that many thought were anti-Semitic, saying she was only apologizing if people were offended by her words, not for the words themselves.
The Intercept’s Mehdi Hasan asked the Minnesota Democrat Omar why she apologized and whether it was for a badly worded tweet or for being anti-Semitic wittingly or unwittingly.
“Absolutely not,” Omar replied. “I apologized for the way that my words made people feel.”
“Oftentimes, you know, we are in places where someone will say something and they might not know how it makes you feel and it’s not acceptable that once you express to them that this is hurtful or that you have felt attacked by their words,” she added. “They should acknowledge how you feel. They should speak to that. They should apologize. And you know figure out a way to remedy that situation.”
In February, Omar sent out a series of tweets complaining about the influence of the Jewish lobby on Congress and at one point said, “It’s all about the Benjamins, baby!” Many saw her comments as anti-Semitic, but she told Hasan that she was only pointing out the influence of money on politics.
“I mean, it’s no secret that money dominates the political discourse in this country,” she said. “I mean, it’s one of the dirty secrets that is not so secret. And so for me, it was really speaking to that.”
Under pressure from the leadership of her own party, Omar tweeted out a statement where she acknowledged that “anti-Semitism is real” and said that she was “grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating [her] on the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes.” She added that she “unequivocally apologize[d].”
Listening and learning, but standing strong ?? pic.twitter.com/7TSroSf8h1
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) February 11, 2019
Omar later deleted her original February tweets as well as a 2012 tweet accusing Israel of “hypnotizing the world.”
In Thursday’s interview, however, she said, “I think the theme here is because I’m Muslim.” She said that there were plenty of people “within journalism, within politics, within all kind of aspects of our society who have spoken about the kind of influence that AIPAC has on Congress and on our foreign policy” and that she was being singled out for her Muslim faith.
She suggested that critiques of her stemmed in part from “preconceived notions about who a Muslim is” and also that Republican complaints about her remarks and those of Rep. Rashida Tlabi, D-Mich., was tantamount to bullying.
Omar said that she and Tlaib “are quite used to bullies and we’ve always beaten bullies.”
Tlaib has come under fire herself for what many considered anti-Semitic remarks, including her accusation that some members of the Senate were “forg[etting] what country they represent” in reference to a pro-Israel bill in early January.
This week, Omar said she is worried that many will see her comments and those of Tlaib as anti-Semitic “because we are Muslim.”
