Rep. Dan Kildee defended fellow Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar’s controversial weekend tweets regarding U.S. politicians who defend Israel, saying Monday morning that they were not anti-Semitic.
“I wouldn’t take it as anti-Semitism,” Kildee told CNN when asked what he thought of the criticism that Omar insinuated that Jewish money was controlling lawmakers.
Kildee, who represents a Michigan district, said that he believes Omar was trying to bring light to the fact that there are people who make campaign contributions specifically based on Israel policy.
“We ought to be careful not to construe that in anything other than a concern about the fact that money has undue influence on political decision making,” Kildee said.
“I wouldn’t take it as anti-Semitism,” says @RepDanKildee referring to Rep. Omar’s tweet on Israel.
“We ought to be careful not to construe that in anything other than a concern about the fact that money has undue influence on political decision making.” https://t.co/7fJFB0WvAB pic.twitter.com/dvDajqpYeU
— New Day (@NewDay) February 11, 2019
On Sunday, Omar received backlash for two separate tweets that pro-Israel activists, and even some fellow Democrats, said were anti-Semitic in nature.
The freshman congresswoman from Minnesota said, “It’s all about the Benjamins, baby,” after House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., threatened punishment against Omar and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., for their criticisms of Israel.
In another tweet, Omar said that the prominent pro-Israel lobbying firm American Israel Public Affairs Committee is paying politicians to be pro-Israel.
“Would love to know who @IlhanMN thinks is paying American politicians to be pro-Israel, though I think I can guess. Bad form, Congresswoman. That’s the second anti-Semitic trope you’ve tweeted,” opinion editor of the Forward newspaper, Batya Ungar-Sargon, said.
Ilhan responded simply with, “AIPAC!”
