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Jewish Democrats clash with Ilhan Omar after comments on U.S. and Israel

10 June 2021
 Dan Ackermann

A group of Jewish Democrats in the House are publicly feuding with Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) after she appeared to compare "atrocities" committed by Hamas and the Taliban with the U.S. and Israel.

Why it matters: The fight threatens to reopen a fault line within the party that could cost Omar her seat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, writes Punchbowl News.

  • The House previously passed a resolution by Democrats condemning anti-Semitism in response to comments on Israel by Omar, and Republicans have long accused the Minnesota congresswoman of anti-Semitism — a charge she denies.
  • Unlike the 2019 resolution, a statement issued by Democrats late Wednesday called out Omar by name.

Driving the news: “We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity,” Omar tweeted at Secretary of State Antony Blinken Monday, in reference to U.S. opposition to the International Criminal Court investigating potential war crimes in the Gaza conflict and Afghanistan.

  • “We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban," she wrote.

A group of 12 Jewish House Democrats then issued a statement calling on Omar "to clarify her words placing the US and Israel in the same category as Hamas and the Taliban."

  • "Equating the United States and Israel to Hamas and the Taliban is as offensive as it is misguided," they wrote. "Ignoring the differences between democracies governed by the rule of law and contemptible organizations that engage in terrorism at best discredits one’s intended argument and at worst reflects deep-seated prejudice."
  • "The United States and Israel are imperfect and, like all democracies, at times deserving of critique, but false equivalencies give cover to terrorist groups," the Democrats added.

Omar respondedin a tweet, saying it was "shameful for colleagues who call me when they need my support to now put out a statement asking for 'clarification' and not just call."

  • "The islamophobic tropes in this statement are offensive. The constant harassment & silencing from the signers of this letter is unbearable," Omar wrote.
  • "Citing an open case against Israel, US, Hamas & Taliban in the ICC isn’t comparison or from 'deeply seated prejudice,'" she added. "You might try to undermine these investigations or deny justice to their victims but history has thought us that the truth can’t be hidden or silenced forever."

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.