Rep. Ilhan Omar, who once stirred outrage by claiming, “Israel has hypnotized the world,” came under fire again Sunday by claiming that a pro-Israel lobby pays off American politicians.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle called her out when she tweeted that the relationship between the United States and Israel is “all about the Benjamins.”
When Batya Ungar-Sargon, the opinion editor of The Forward newspaper, said, “Would love to know who @IlhanMN thinks is paying American politicians to be pro-Israel,” the Minnesota Democrat replied, “AIPAC” — the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
A fellow Democrat, Max Rose (Staten Island/Brooklyn), fumed on Twitter, “When someone uses hateful and offensive tropes against people of any faith, I will not be silent. Congresswoman Omar’s statements are deeply hurtful to Jews, including myself.”
The Republican Jewish Coalition demanded that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) take action, wondering if Democrats would “care to comment on the outrageous anti-Semitism being spewed by one of your fêted members?”
Omar, a Somali-born Muslim, made her “Benjamins” comment in response to a tweet by journalist Glenn Greenwald criticizing House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for threatening to take action against Omar and another Muslim representative, Michigan’s Rashida Tlaib, over their allegedly anti-Semitic remarks.