House Democrats found themselves in an increasingly chaotic week as they rushed to address charges that Rep. Ilhan Omar is making anti-Semitic remarks on Twitter, only to find they can’t agree on the wording of a resolution condemning those remarks.
Comments from Omar, D-Minn., prompted Democrats to prompted leaders to write a resolution aimed at countering an emerging narrative that a wing of the new Democratic majority is anti-Semitic. But the resolution won’t name her, and late Tuesday, Democrats came under new pressure to add language condemning anti-Muslim remarks.
That demand forced Democrats to retreat from their plan to vote on the resolution Wednesday, and now, it’s not clear if the vote can happen Thursday. The exact timing of a vote now appears uncertain as the party grapples over exactly what it should be denouncing.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Wednesday that he has not decided when to bring the resolution to the floor, and lawmakers are still debating what it will say.
On Wednesday, Democratic leaders were working to re-draft the resolution circulated Tuesday that denounced anti-Semitism. The plan is to include some language addressing anti-Muslim comments in order to placate the party’s most progressive wing, who are pushing back at the attempt to rebuke Omar.
“What I’ve been in touch with leadership about is we need to have an equity in our outrage, and Islamophobia needs to be included,” Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., a freshman, told reporters after a closed-door meeting Wednesday morning. “We need to denounce all forms of hate. There is no hierarchy of hurt.”
Omar attended Tuesday’s closed-door meeting but did not speak, lawmakers who attended told the Washington Examiner. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told lawmakers in the meeting to work to remain unified.
The fight has created a very public split among Democrats, as veteran Jewish lawmakers are angry at Omar’s tweets implying that the Jewish lobby controls Congress and that Jewish lawmakers are more loyal to Israel than they are to America.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, former head of the Democratic National Committee, said Wednesday that it’s “pretty outrageous” that there is even a need for House Democrats to take up a resolution to denounce anti-Semitism, which she said is on the rise in America.
“And because you have some members, who either repeatedly or individually continue to use anti-Semitic tropes … then apparently we do need to put a resolution on the floor that educates people about how harmful and hurtful anti-Semitism is,” Wasserman Schultz said.
The battle had some Democrats calling for everyone in the party to try to resolve their differences in private, not on social media.
“We are having a conversation about it, and we are hopefully going to have a process where these things can play out in private and not in public,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash. But she also said Democrats should focus on other “isms,” not just anti-Semitism.
Numerous Democrats fired back at Omar’s comments, including House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., who tweeted she was “saddened that Rep. Omar continues to mischaracterize support for Israel” and urged her to retract her comments.
Longtime Rep. Jan Shakowsky, D-Ill., who is Jewish, said Democrats are not turning against Omar. She said they are worried that Omar is now receiving death threats and may need police protection.
“She has apologized for how her words were heard and has personally embraced me and expressed her apology for that to me, as a Jew,” Shakowsky said. “I accept that apology. I do not believe she is an anti-Semite.”
But Omar’s comments have provided fodder for Republicans who are eager to highlight that she and a handful of other new Democrats appear to be reviving banished Jewish stereotypes.
Democrats last month were forced to voted in unison for a last-minute Republican amendment denouncing anti-Semitism which the GOP drafted after an anti-Semitic comment from Omar about pro-Israel donations to political campaigns. Republicans Wednesday were happy to highlight Omar’s latest comments about “dual loyalty” and Israel.
“Remarkably, for the second time in just the last three weeks, Speaker Pelosi apparently feels compelled to have her members vote on a resolution that would reportedly condemn anti-Semitism,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Wednesday. “Unfortunately, again, for the second time in just the last three weeks, this seems to be in response to the invocation of crude, hateful, and backward anti-Semitic stereotypes by one specific freshman member of the House Democratic majority.”
