Reuters
- President Donald Trump slammed the House of Representatives’ passing a resolution condemning "all forms of hate" as "disgraceful."
- Trump charged that "the Democrats have become an anti-Israel party" and "an anti-Jewish party."
- The resolution initially focused on anti-Semitism in the wake of Rep. Ilhan Omar being accused of making anti-Semitic comments, but was broadened to include all forms of hate.
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The resolution, which decried anti-Semitism and "all forms of hatred" — including racial discrimination, Islamophobia, and anti-Catholic bias — passed in the House by a vote of 407-23, with all the nay votes coming from Republicans who disapproved of taking the focus off of Omar’s comments.
President Donald Trump slammed the House of Representatives’ passing a resolution condemning "all forms of hate" in the wake of infighting within the Democratic caucus over Rep. Ilhan Omar’s controversial statements on Israel, which were widely denounced as anti-Semitic.
"I thought yesterday’s vote by the House was disgraceful because it’s become — the Democrats have become an anti-Israel party," Trump told reporters shortly before boarding Air Force One on Friday morning.
"They’ve become an anti-Jewish party. And I thought that vote was a disgrace and so does everybody else if you get an honest answer," he continued.
Despite Trump’s claims, 65-75% of the Jewish electorate has voted for the Democratic candidate in the last five presidential elections, with Trump’s Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton carrying 71% of the Jewish vote compared to Trump’s 24% in 2016. Furthermore, just two of the 34 currently serving Jewish members of Congress are Republicans.
While the resolution was initially tailored specifically to denounce anti-Semitism, Omar’s allies in Congress, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Pramila Jayapal accused Democratic leadership of unfairly singling out Omar.
The resolution, which decried anti-Semitism and "all forms of hatred" including racial discrimination, Islamophobia, and anti-Catholic bias passed in the House by a vote of 407-23-1, with all the nay votes coming from Republicans.
Omar, a freshman congresswoman from Minnesota, found herself in hot water over a series of February tweets that claimed that congressional support for Israel was "all about the Benjamins, baby" (a reference to $100 dollar bills), and charging that some lawmakers were financially influenced by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
After apologizing and deleting those tweets, she faced a fresh round of scrutiny over a tweet claiming that pro-Israel lawmakers wanted members of Congress to "pledge allegiance to a foreign country," which many people decried as invoking anti-Semitic tropes of Jewish Americans being unpatriotic and primarily loyal to Israel.
Many of the Republicans who voted against the resolution criticized it for not zeroing-in specifically on anti-Semitism.
"Today’s resolution vote was a sham put forward by Democrats to avoid condemning one of their own and denouncing vile anti-Semitism," GOP conference chair Liz Cheney said.
"While I stand wholeheartedly against discrimination outlined in this resolution, the language before the House today did not address the issue that is front and center."
See Also:
- House votes to condemn anti-Semitism and ‘all forms of hatred’ as Rep. Ilhan Omar’s comments on Israel threaten to tear Democratic Party apart
- After pressure from Ocasio-Cortez and progressives, Democrats released a resolution condemning incidents ranging from the Charleston shooting to anti-Catholic bias against JFK
- House postpones anti-Semitism resolution to add language about Islamophobia after pressure from Ocasio-Cortez and progressive groups
Source: Business Insider – gpanetta@businessinsider.com (Grace Panetta)