Pelosi defends Omar: 'I feel confident' she is not anti-Semitic
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) defended embattled Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) on Thursday amid the ongoing controversy over recent remarks by the freshman lawmaker that have been widely condemned as anti-Semitic.
Pelosi said Omar's comments invoking the anti-Semitic "dual loyalty" trope were insensitive, but are no indication that Omar — one of two Muslim women to join Congress this year — harbors ill feelings towards Jewish people.
"I don't think that the congresswoman perhaps appreciates the full weight of how it was heard by other people, although I don't believe it was intended in an anti-Semitic way," Pelosi told reporters at the Capitol. "But the fact is, if that's how it was interpreted, we have to remove all doubt."
Pelosi and her leadership team are working on a resolution that would condemn hate speech, which is expected to get a vote on the floor Thursday afternoon. The resolution comes in direct response to Omar's comments, although Democratic leaders — under pressure from members of the Congressional Black Caucus and other liberal Omar allies — are broadening the language well beyond anti-Semitism. And Pelosi on Thursday rejected the idea that the measure concerns Omar at all.
"I thought the resolution should enlarge the issue to anti-Semitism, anti-Islamophobia, anti-white supremacy, and that it should not mention her name," Pelosi said. "And that's what we're working on — something that is one resolution addressing these forms of hatred, not mentioning her name, because it's not about her. It's about these forms of hatred."
Omar sparked a firestorm of controversy over the weekend when, appearing at a public event in Washington, D.C., she suggested that U.S. supporters of Israel have an "allegiance to a foreign country."
The backlash came quickly, with a number of leading Jewish voices on Capitol Hill — including Reps. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) and Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) — pressing Pelosi and other party leaders to respond with a resolution denouncing anti-Semitism. The critics said Omar's comments alluded to the long-held anti-Semitic trope that anyone supportive of Israel harbors "dual loyalty."
Pelosi said she spoke first with Omar directly, then other concerned members of the caucus, and decided the resolution should be expanded to denounce hatred in all forms.
"Our country has no place for this," she said, noting that the House recently passed a separate measure condemning anti-Semitism specifically.
The decision to expand the language — and to exclude mention of Omar — isn't sitting well with some Democrats. Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) took to the floor Thursday morning, shortly before Pelosi's press conference, to argue that "words matter" and "anti-Semitism is worthy of being taken seriously on its own."
"Why are we unable to singularly condemn anti-Semitism? Why can't we call it anti-Semitism and show we've learned the lessons of history?" said Deutch, who is Jewish. "This shouldn't be so hard."
Omar's allies have come to her defense. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), the other Muslim woman to join Congress this year, said Wednesday that Omar — who fled violence in her native Somalia and spent four years in a Kenyan refugee camp before arriving in the U.S. — was simply trying to highlight human rights abuses committed by the Israeli government.
"I know that the Congresswoman Ilhan Omar really tries to push back against oppression. And as a Palestinian I can tell you when she speaks about those issues, what I hear is her trying to help my grandmother in Palestine, in the West Bank. And saying that there are real actual, factual evidence to show that there's human rights violations," Tlaib said.
Omar, who apologized earlier this year after suggesting the pro-Israel lobbying groups are buying lawmaker support for Israel, has not apologized for her more recent comments invoking dual loyalty.
Pelosi on Thursday did not press Omar to do apologize again, but suggested she owes some of her colleagues an explanation.
"She may need to explain that she did not — it's up to her to explain, but I do not believe that she understood the full weight of the words [she used]," Pelosi said.
"I understand how advocates come in with their enthusiasms, but when you cross that threshold into Congress your words weigh much more than when you're shouting at somebody outside," Pelosi added. "And I feel confident that her words were not based on any anti-Semitic attitude, but that she didn't have a full appreciation of how they landed on other people, where these words have a history and a cultural impact that may have been unknown."
Tags
Who is online
71 visitors
lthough I don't believe it was intended in an anti-Semitic way
That's the new Democratic standard, you can say racist things, so long as you don't "intend" it. That standard only applies to Democrats, of course.
I wonder if they extend that benefit of the doubt to non democrats?
Omar is clearly biased against Israel, but I don't think we need Congress spending its week trying to react to this. There is so much urgent work for them to do.
but I don't think we need Congress spending its week trying to react to this.
I would think it would take about 5 minutes for the House to condemn anti-Semitic comments.
That they they've turned it into a week long process and still can't pass a simple resolution speaks volumes.
Pelosi's afraid of those 3 radical anti-semitic freshman women: AOC, Tlaib, and Omar.
Like argue which investigation against Trump should take priority; if they need new investigations; maybe a special committee to come up to oversee all of the committees that are investigating Trump; or planning new lawsuits against Trump.
Getting a budget done; or doing the peoples' work is not high on their agenda. They are trying to teach Republicans how to obstruct and really do nothing is done.
Shit, I don't like Israel either, that is no secret. Well its not that I don't like Israel, I just hate the situation the US has put itself in when it comes to that entire situation.
You are right though, congress has better things to do.
And before anyone tries to call me an anti-semite, I think just as much of Jews as I do Christians and Muslims.
Anybody with half a brain would have used their own experience to highlight human rights abuses. Omar didn't. She PURPOSELY made the comments about Israel.
And Tlaib isn't much better.
I saw a something about Pelosi stating Omar didn't understand that her comments were anti-semantic. If she (Omar) can't understand something as simple as that then why the hell is she in office? The people who voted her in made one serious mistake that they need to fix.
And, why did Pelosi put her on the Foreign Affairs Committee if she knew that Omar didn't understand what antisemitism is?
[deleted]
On the plus side, Pelosi, Durbin, Omar, Ocasio, and Tlaib did show everybody that [Deleted]
It wasn't a sweeping generalization. I was referring to the entire group. Prove me wrong.
Attack the Messenger fallacy. Dismiss.
Oh, let's silence him! Let's use "sweeping generalization" or attack his source/Sar
not near as long as your history of attacking anything gop.
your hypocrisy is priceless.
ummmmmm…… "MIRRORS" Suck huh !
Pelosi's got a great crew! From the article:
Wait ... what? Tlaib is a Palestinian? All of her bios state that she's an AMERICAN CITIZEN who was born in Detroit! She pledges her allegiance to Palestine ... NOT the USA.
It seems Democrats are so against the idea of assimilation that they don't even identify as Americans even when they're born here.
Creeping caliphate...
Dr. Qanta Ahmed's professional evaluation of the watered-down resolution and Rep. Omar:
This only shows that Pelosi does not 'lead' the house. Pelosi makes excuses for Omar and waves her hand in the air declaring Omar didn't 'mean' to make anti-Semite statements.
Then we have the three Dems in Virginia who still have their jobs...after black-face costumes, and sexual assault.
This will be brushed off and glossed over...everyone turn away from this issue...don't look behind our curtain.
Pelosi is a figurehead at this point.
The even fringier nutters run the show.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, or even Rep. Ocasio Cortez ………. Will be house speaker soon !
Pelosi will retire in "France" or "Canada".....like the other "Celebrities" said they would !
I liked how Rep Zeldin described the Illan Omar Protection Resolution as a "Spineless, Watered-Down Resolution Filled With Moral Equivalency and Motivated by Double Standards"