Rep. Ilhan Omar said she was oblivious that tweets she sent last week about why she believes politicians support Israel could be seen as anti-Semitic.
“Absolutely not,” the Minnesota Democrat told the Star Tribune when asked if she realized the anti-Semitic connotation of linking Jewish influence to money. She learned, she said, when she “got some calls” from friends and allies.
She suggested in a weekend tweet that lawmakers supported Israel only because of campaign contributions. “It’s all about the Benjamins baby,” she wrote, including a music note emoji, an apparent reference to a 1997 Puff Daddy song of the same name. In another tweet, she said the American Israel Public Affairs Committee was paying American politicians to advocate for Israel.
Omar, 37, a Somali-American and one of the first two Muslim women to serve in Congress, apologized for the tweets amid widespread backlash, including from members of her own party. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the senior Democrat on Capitol Hill, said Omar was propagating an “anti-Semitic trope.”
She met with several Jewish House Democrats and leaders of Minnesota Jewish groups to apologize. She has said that she plans to meet with Jewish constituents in her state.
“The thing that has been hurtful about this whole process for me is knowing that I could be someone who could use language that causes hurt to others,” she said.
“As much as I’ve worked to make people culturally fluent in dealing with Muslims and refugees and immigrants, it’s also important that I work to be just as fluent with people who don’t share my identity. If I’m not, then it’s a disservice to the titles we have, the positions of influence we are in.”
