The organizations said that McCarthy’s actions seem ‘especially exploitative’ given that he himself has peddled in antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories
By Ben Samuels, HAARETZ Washington Dec 13, 2022
U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) speaks with the media as she arrives for House Democratic leadership elections on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. in November.Credit: MICHAEL MCCOY/ REUTERS
WASHINGTON — Eight liberal Jewish organizations on Monday sharply criticized House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy’s vow to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar from her seat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee over her previous criticisms of Israel, should he become House speaker.
The front-runner for House speaker, McCarthy told the Republican Jewish Committee last month that he would also take the move as a punitive action based on her personal criticism, saying “I remember what she said about me. I remember what she said about Israel. I remember what she said about the relationship. I remembered it so much, I promised you last year she would no longer be on foreign affairs. I’m keeping that promise.”
Ameinu, Americans for Peace Now, Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, Habonim Dror North America, J Street, New Israel Fund, the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and T’ruah said in a joint statement: “We may not agree with some of Congresswoman Omar’s opinions, but we categorically reject the suggestion that any of her policy positions or statements merit disqualification from her role on the committee,”
The organizations noted that McCarthy’s pledge seemed “especially exploitative in light of the rampant promotion of antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories by him and his top deputies amid a surge in dangerous right-wing antisemitism.
They noted McCarthy himself was previous accused of trafficking in antisemitic tropes after imploring Republicans to stop Jewish billionaires George Soros, Tom Steyer and Michael Bloomberg from “buying” the 2018 election. The California congressman never publicly apologized for the remarks, which have long been condemned as trafficking in an antisemitic trope that has become commonplace among Republican officials – including Rep. Tom Emmer, the newly elected third-ranking House Republican, also singled out by the Jewish groups.
They further noted that Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik has promoted the far-right “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, which alleges that immigration is meant to dilute the white population in order to recreate society and has been cited by mass shooters.
“McCarthy’s promise to also strip Representatives Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell of their Intelligence Committee positions adds weight to the impression that his threats against prominent Democratic lawmakers’ committee assignments are for purely political purposes. These are pledges clearly motivated by partisanship, not principle,” the groups added.
Omar tweeted in February 2019 that support for Israel among U.S. lawmakers was “all about the Benjamins.” Following strong condemnations from both sides of the political aisle, she unequivocally apologized for the remarks and acknowledged that she was learning about “the painful history of antisemitic tropes.”
GOP motivation to strip Omar of her committee membership, meanwhile, has been ever-present since Democrats opted to take the rare step against Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene over a number of her incendiary comments and actions, and again after Republicans alleged she equated the U.S. and Israel with Hamas and the Taliban. Omar has decried McCarthy’s vow as a continuation of Islamophobic rhetoric emanating from the GOP.
These eight organizations have done everyone the favor of identifying themselves clearly and unmistakably as enemies of Israel and the Jewish people. The people who staff these organizations were born Jewish, but somewhere along the way they were flipped. These are “inverted Jews,” tragic casualties of the psy-ops that the hate brigades have learned to use so effectively. Living testaments to Max Nordau’s terrible truth: “It is the greatest triumph of anti-Semitism that it has brought the Jews to view themselves with anti-Semitic eyes.”
HONEYBEE-
I detested Ben Gurion, but he left ONE good saying..”I’m the Prime Minister of 600 thousand Prime Ministers” ….And the real Jewish enemies, of whom there are millions, as just JINO. not really Jews at all. just aelf seekers.
Jews are their own worst enemy