Statement on Congress Member’s anti-Semitic Comment

As a member of Congress and the first Jewish Congresswoman from Florida, as I have in the past, I feel compelled to speak out against hurtful, anti-Semitic statements on both the right and the left. Therefore, I must do so today.

Representative Ilhan Omar’s recent tweets implying that American support for Israel is driven by money, rather than shared interests and values, are alarming, offensive, and disturbing. They rely on anti-Semitic tropes that are centuries old and have no place today in America or the halls of Congress.

Equally important, I am watching with great concern the actions of the President and Leader McCarthy – who have both trafficked in anti-Semitic tropes themselves – regarding their attempt to purposely make Israel a partisan issue and use Israel as a partisan weapon when in reality, there is overwhelming, bipartisan support for Israel in Congress. This consciously erroneous effort to make Democrats appear anti-Israel is not only harmful, but damaging to the strong, long-standing U.S.-Israel relationship, and it must stop.

Democrats have been strong and consistent supporters of Israel. That backing spans from as far back as the party’s 1944 platform, which called for a “free and democratic Jewish commonwealth,” up to the most recent 2016 platform, which emphatically lays out why a “strong and secure Israel is vital to the United States.”

These latest harmful and damaging remarks regarding our support for our most valued key US ally in the Middle East cannot go unchallenged. Silence is not an option here, no matter from whom the words are uttered.