US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN) is under fire after she implied this past week that Jewish supporters of Israel in its war against Hamas are “pro-genocide.”
Omar made the comments last Friday when she visited Columbia University in support of her daughter Isra Hirsi, who was arrested along with 100 others during anti-Israel protests on campus. At the rally, she told a reporter, “We should not have to tolerate antisemitism for all Jewish students, whether they’re pro-genocide or anti-genocide,” according to The Times of Israel.
“It’s patently false and a blood libel to suggest that ANY Jewish students are ‘pro-genocide,'” Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt wrote on X.
“It is gaslighting to impute that Jewish people are somehow at fault for being harassed and menaced with signs and slogans literally calling for their own extermination,” he said. “It is abhorrent that a sitting member of Congress would slander an entire group of young people in such a cold, calculated manner.”
Omar also reportedly embraced at the rally student protestor Khymani James, who university administrators suspended after he posted a video this week saying, “Zionists don’t deserve to live,” and people should be thankful he wasn’t killing them. James later walked back the comment in a statement, saying, “What I said was wrong. Every member of our community deserves to feel safe without qualification.”
