Rep. Ilhan Omar apologizes after Jewish House Democrats condemn ‘Benjamins baby’ comment

“It’s all about the Benjamins baby,” she wrote, an apparent reference to the 1997 Puff Daddy single featuring the Notorious B.I.G., Lil’ Kim and The Lox.

On Monday afternoon, following calls to do so, Omar offered a mea culpa.

In a tweet, the Minnesota congresswoman said “anti-Semitism is real and I am grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on this painful history of anti-Semitic tropes.”

In a statement issued Monday, the Democratic leadership said that legitimate criticism of Israel’s policies and its treatment of Palestinians is protected by free speech, but Omar’s use of “anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israel’s supporters is deeply offensive.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said that she and Omar have spoken and that they’ve agreed “to move forward as we reject anti-Semitism in all forms.”

This all came after Reps. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey and Elaine Luria of Virginia gathered signatures on a letter asking Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (Md.) and other senior Democrats to confront freshman Reps. Omar and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan by “reiterating our rejection of anti-Semitism and our continued support for the State of Israel.”

“As Jewish Members of Congress, we are deeply alarmed by recent rhetoric from certain members within our Caucus, including just last night, that has disparaged us and called into question our loyalty to our nation,” the letter reads, according to a draft viewed by The Washington Post. “We urge you to join us in calling on each member of our Caucus to unite against anti-Semitism and hateful tropes and stereotypes.

‘A shattering of the walls’: Muslim women celebrate the swearing in of Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib

While the letter did not name Omar and Tlaib, its intention couldn’t be clearer. In fact, Jewish lawmakers in recent weeks have huddled privately to discuss what they should do about their new colleagues who openly criticize Israel and have made insensitive comments about Jews and Jewish Americans.

Omar’s comments

Omar was responding online to another tweet from Glenn Greenwald, a journalist who argued on Twitter that the GOP’s move to equate Omar and Tlaib’s criticism of Israel to Rep. Steve King’s (R-Iowa) embrace of white supremacist rhetoric “is obscene.”

“In the US, we're allowed to criticize our own government: certainly foreign governments. The GOP House Leader's priorities are warped,” he wrote.

When people asked what Omar meant by McCarthy’s motives being “all about the Benjamins,” she tweeted, “AIPAC,” referring to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, an influential pro-Israel lobbying group that’s spent millions sending lawmakers on codels to the Jewish nation over the years.

Omar’s spokesman did not respond to requests for comments; her spokesman told Politico Sunday that the tweets “speak for themselves.”

This is the second time in as many weeks that Omar has become entangled in a Twitter controversy replete with emoji and snarky clapbacks centered on the complex Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Omar, who supports the anti-Israel movement called BDS, for “boycott, divestment and sanctions,” has persistently fought accusations of anti-Semitism by maintaining that her condemnation of the Israeli government for its treatment of Palestinians does not equate condemnation of Jewish people. She has also claimed to be the victim of GOP attacks seeking to misrepresent her position on Israel as anti-Semitic.

By Monday, several other Democrats joined the chorus in rebuking Omar for what they say is a tired and ugly anti-Semitic trope: that Jews control politics through money.

How fellow Democrats responded

While comments like these in recent weeks have garnered criticism from Republicans, Democrats are starting to speak out as well, calling the comments offensive. Gottheimer and Luria in their letter, for example, acknowledge attempts to force a conversation on the matter, arguing that “we cannot remain silent.”

“We must speak out when any Member — Democrat or Republican — uses harmful tropes and stereotypes, levels accusations of dual loyalty, or makes reckless statements like those yesterday,” the two wrote. “All Members of Congress should reject anti-Semitism, just as we reject all forms of hatred, bigotry, and intolerance, and must denounce those who deny Israel’s right to exist, including terrorist groups like Hezbollah and Hamas.”

Women’s March local chapters are distancing themselves from the national organization — and fighting for its name

Many more Democrats weighed in on Twitter.

“There is no place in our country for anti-Semitic comments. I condemn them whatever the source. To suggest members of Congress are ‘bought off’ to support Israel is offensive and wrong,” Rep. Donna Shalala (D-Fla.) tweeted.

Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) said he’s disappointed in Omar for “again tweeting dangerous and hurtful tropes,” adding that he supports Israel “based on shared values” and national security, not money.

Rep. Dan. Kildee (D-Mich.) was more restrained in his criticism, telling CNN that people shouldn’t “go too far to make judgments” that Omar’s comments are anti-Semitic. But, he added: “I think sometimes we ought to tamp down a bit of the rhetoric.”

Rep. Max Rose (D-N.Y.), who’s also Jewish, wrote in a statement Sunday that Omar’s comments are “deeply hurtful” to Jews, including himself.

“When someone uses hateful and offensive tropes and words against people of any faith, I will not be silent,” he wrote, adding: “Implying that Americans support Israel because of money alone is offensive enough ... At a time when anti-Semitic attacks are on the rise, our leaders should not be invoking hurtful stereotypes and caricatures of Jewish people to dismiss those who support Israel.”

Jonathan Greenblat, chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League, said that Omar’s words only serve to fuel bigotry.

“Words matter,” he said in a tweet tagging Omar.

The American Jewish Committee demanded an apology, calling her suggestion that AIPAC is paying American politicians for their support “demonstrably false and stunningly anti-Semitic.” The organization linked to a 2018 Gallup poll finding that 64 percent of Americans sympathize with the Israelis over the Palestinians, saying, “American politicians are pro-Israel because Americans are.”

How fair is the criticism?

Omar’s comments come on the heels of escalating Republican ire for the positions that she and Tlaib have put forth in Congress, joining a small group of lawmakers willing to challenge the United States’ traditional support for Israeli policy. On Friday, McCarthy urged Democratic leadership to admonish Omar and Tlaib because of their backing for the BDS movement, which is intended to put economic pressure on Israel to end its occupation of the West Bank. McCarthy suggested their positions on Israel were worse than the recent remarks from King that were denounced as racist.

As Omar pointed out, retweeting an observation by Women’s March organizer Sophie Ellman-Golan, McCarthy has also been accused of anti-Semitism after sharing conspiracy theories on Twitter about Jewish billionaire philanthropist George Soros.

“From scapegoating Jews to win an election to scapegoating Jews to attack his Muslim colleagues, [McCarthy] sure loves to invoke the Jewish community to further his right-wing objectives,” Ellman-Golan wrote.

Others have defended Omar and Tlaib, contending their positions are being “twisted” into anti-Semitism when, in fact, their condemnation is confined to the Israeli government, not Jews generally.

“She’s talking about the influence of Israel and this immediately gets twisted into antisemitism,” one man wrote in comments retweeted by Omar. “Is she also Islamophobic for attacking Saudi’s influence on American politics in the exactly the same way?”

“Accurately describing how the Israel lobby works is not anti-semitism,” Ashley Feinberg, a HuffPost reporter, wrote in another tweet that was shared by Omar.

AIPAC, which is not a political action committee, does not make campaign contributions to politicians, but its individual members can make donations, and the organization spends millions on lobbying efforts for pro-Israel legislation every year. In 2018, AIPAC spent more than $3.5 million lobbying for pro-Israel measures, according to lobbying disclosure filings maintained by the Senate’s Office of Public Records. Such legislation includes financial support for Israel and measures that would ban boycotts of Israel, including the BDS movement that Omar and Tlaib support.

Still, even some who agree with Omar’s position on Israel argued that she could criticize the Israeli government or the pro-Israel lobbying establishment without using stereotypes that Jews find offensive.

“OF COURSE it’s possible to critique AIPAC et al in a non-anti-Semitic way,” Ungar-Sargon wrote. “This ain’t it, chief.”

“No, criticism of Israel isn’t anti-semitism, just like criticism of a Muslim majority state isn’t islamophobia, by default,” wrote Hend Amry, a Libyan American writer. “However racist or bigoted tropes can be intentionally or unintentionally triggered in making those critiques and yes that matters—it always matters.”

Omar has found herself responding to anti-Semitism accusations before. Last month, she acknowledged that she “unknowingly” used an anti-Semitic trope after a 2012 tweet surfaced in which she said, “Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel."

Omar had initially said she didn’t understand why American Jews would be offended by the statement, which critics argued evoked ugly Nazi conspiracies about Jewish people’s power to “hypnotize” the world. She then backtracked and apologized after a New York Times columnist explained to her why Jews could find it offensive. And she later expressed regret while on “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah,” saying she had to “take a deep breath and understand where people were coming from and what point they were trying to make.”

Omar made no apologies Sunday night, but she did accept an invitation from Clinton, one of her critics, to talk about anti-Semitism.