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Friday 8 March 2019
House broadly condemns hate after anti-Semitism dispute

Continued from Front ing Democrats to a place
that leaves many uneasy.
These lawmakers are criti- The new lawmaker sparked
cal of Israeli Prime Minis- a weeklong debate in
ter Benjamin Netanyahu’s Congress as fellow Demo-
government, rejecting the crats said her comments
conservative leader’s ap- have no place in the party.
proach to Palestinians and She suggested Israel’s sup-
other issues. porters were pushing law-
They split sharply from makers to take a pledge of
Democratic leaders who “allegiance” to a foreign
seemed caught off guard country, reviving a trope of
by the support for Omar dual loyalties. It wasn’t her
and unprepared for the first dip into such rhetoric.
debate. But the leaders re- The new congresswoman
grouped. has been critical of the
“It’s not about her. It’s Jewish state in the past and
about these forms of ha- apologized for those previ-
tred,” Speaker Nancy Pe- ous comments. But Omar
losi said before the vote. has not apologized for
The resolution approved what this latest comment.
Thursday condemns anti- Pelosi said she did not be-
Semitism, anti-Muslim dis- lieve that Omar under-
crimination and bigotry Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., meets with reporters during her weekly news stood the “weight of her
against minorities “as hate- conference, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, March 7, 2019. words” or that they would
ful expressions of intoler- Associated Press be perceived by some as
ance.” Omar, a Somali- nited all this debate while crimination as contradic- with legitimate criticism of anti-Semitic.
American, and fellow Mus- years of President Donald tory to “the values and as- the right-wing, Netanyahu Asked whether the resolu-
lims Rashida Tlaib of Michi- Trump’s racially charged pirations” of the people of government in Israel.” tion was intended to “po-
gan and Andrew Carson rhetoric had led to no simi- the United States. The vote California Democratic lice” lawmakers’ words,
of Indiana, issued a state- lar congressional action. was delayed for a time on Sen. Kamala Harris said Pelosi replied: “We are not
ment praising the “historic” The seven-page docu- Thursday to include men- “we need to speak out policing the speech of our
vote as the first resolution ment details a history of tion of Latinos to address against hate.” But she said members. We are con-
to condemn “anti-Muslim recent attacks not only concerns of the Congres- she also believes “there demning anti-Semitism,”
bigotry.” Some Democrats against Jews in the United sional Hispanic Caucus. It is a critical difference be- Islamophobia and white
complained that Omar’s States but also Muslims, as was inserted under a sec- tween criticism of policy supremacy.
comments on Israel had ig- it condemns all such dis- tion on white supremacists or political leaders, and Some of the House’s lead-
who “weaponize hate for anti-Semitism.” A state- ing Jewish Democrats
political gain” over a long ment from Sen. Elizabeth wanted to bring a resolu-
list of “traditionally perse- Warren of Massachusetts tion on the floor simply con-
cuted peoples.” said, “Branding criticism of demning anti-Semitism.
An earlier version focused Israel as automatically anti- But other Democrats want-
more narrowly on anti- Semitic has a chilling effect ed to broaden the reso-
Semitism. The final resolu- on our public discourse and lution to include a rejec-
tion did not mention Omar makes it harder to achieve tion of all forms of racism
by name. a peaceful solution be- and bigotry. Others ques-
Getting this debate right tween Israelis and Palestin- tioned whether a resolution
will be crucial for Demo- ians.” She said threats of was necessary at all and
crats in 2020. U.S.-Israel violence, including those viewed it as unfairly singling
policy is a prominent issue made against Omar, “are out Omar at a time when
that is exposing the splits never acceptable. Trump and others have
between the party’s core Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of made disparaging racial
voters, its liberal flank and New York said, “Everyone comments.
the more centrist Ameri- is entitled to their opinion, There remained frustration
cans in Trump country the they are allowed to have that the party that touts its
party hopes to reach. free speech in this coun- diversity conducted such a
“What I fear is going on try,” Gillibrand said. “But messy and public debate
in the House now is an ef- we don’t need to use anti- about how to declare its
fort to target Congress- Semitic tropes or anti-Mus- opposition to bigotry.
woman Omar as a way of lim tropes to be heard.” Among the Republican dis-
stifling that debate. That’s Another member of the senters, Rep. Liz Cheney
wrong,” said presidential new crop of outspoken of Wyoming, a member of
hopeful Bernie Sanders, the young House freshmen, the GOP leadership, called
Vermont independent. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez the resolution “a sham put
“Anti-Semitism is a hate- of New York, said the final forward by Democrats to
ful and dangerous ideol- product, as well as the way avoid condemning one of
ogy which must be vig- presidential candidates their own and denouncing
orously opposed in the are now talking about vile anti-Semitism.”
United States and around the issue, showed “there’s In part, Democratic lead-
the world,” the senator been some really great ers were trying to fend off
said. “We must not, how- progress we’ve made.” a challenge from Republi-
ever, equate anti-Semitism But Omar’s rhetoric is tak- cans on the issue.q