House Democrats are paying the price after a freshman colleague dodged responsibility for making repeated anti-Semitic statements earlier this year. A resolution that was originally aimed at rebuking Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) for her controversial remarks targeting Jews and Israel was instead watered down to denounce all forms of hatred, and now, progressive lawmakers have been forced to abandon Omar over her bigotry.
Appearing at a local town hall this week, Rep. Max Rose, a Jewish Democrat from New York, told supporters that he was “horrified” and “sad” to hear Omar say that pro-Israel groups “push for allegiance to a foreign country.”
Omar’s comment, preceded just weeks earlier by a tweet insinuating that Jewish groups pay for U.S. allegiance, has provoked outrage from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
The enemy within
“As a young congressman, I’ve got to tell you I’m sorry,” Rose said at a candidates forum organized by the Council of Jewish Organizations of Staten Island. “You sent me to Congress to take responsibility. You sent me to Congress to have your back… And I failed you. Because I know that Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s comments really caused you all a lot of pain by bringing up anti-Semitic tropes.”
When Omar tweeted, “It’s all about the Benjamins baby” to explain why members of Congress refuse to criticize Israel, she was actually referencing a textbook anti-Semitic smear, one that the U.S. State Department clearly identifies as offensive according to its working definition of anti-Semitism.
Omar’s dual loyalty speech at a progressive town hall meeting earlier this month also fits the bill as a classic anti-Semitic trope. “Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations,” is a common anti-Jewish refrain, according to the U.S. government.
Three strikes, you’re out?
Despite these painful slurs, Rose believes in second, third, and fourth chances. He disagrees with Republicans and Jewish advocacy organizations who believe that Omar should lose her spot on the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee.
“We have got to show her that there is a pathway for her to do the right thing, and we have to be vigilant towards that. Believe me, she understands that that’s a possibility, and nobody is taking that off the table, but we are not there yet,” Rose said at the Tuesday town hall.
Yet, many Americans are wondering — if not now, then when? When Republican Rep. Steve King of Iowa made statements legitimizing white supremacism and white nationalism, King was summarily stripped of his committee assignments and rebuked by a House resolution that bore his name.
While the Democratic-majority in the House were pleased as punch to single out white supremacism in their January resolution, a similar measure meant to condemn Omar two months later failed to name the Minnesota congresswoman and ultimately denounced all forms of bigotry, rather than the anti-Semitic remarks that precipitated the bill.
Whistleblower
Rose was among the first Democrats to stand up and denounce Omar for her “Benjamins” tweet in February. He called the statement “deeply hurtful to Jews, including myself.”
Rose was joined by Rep. Eliot Engel, another Jewish New York Democrat who also happens to chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Earlier this month, Engel said his colleague’s dual loyalty comments were “unacceptable and deeply offensive,” and he asked that she “retract them, apologize, and commit to making her case on policy issues without resorting to attacks that have no place in the Foreign Affairs Committee or the House of Representatives.”
While stopping short of calling for Omar to resign her committee assignments, Rose remains unsatisfied with the course of actions taken by House Democrats. He said he would “work as hard as I can to make sure that these comments are not made again.”
“I am not satisfied with what I’ve seen thus far. I’m not,” Rose continued. “To equate Jewish organizations with the NRA, of course I’m upset. Of course I’m not satisfied, and I don’t know any who are either. That’s why the first thing that I said is that I’m sorry. I’m sorry because I couldn’t protect you from this. And that takes a lot to say.”
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