“It’s specifically because I believe in the importance of religious tolerance, freedom of speech and pluralism that I will continue to speak out against CAIR [Council on American-Islamic Relations], and Representatives Omar and Tlaib,” Misltein told JNS.
The controversy began after Milstein tweeted on Monday, "The Muslim Brotherhood is now part of Congress. New Reps. like @IlhanMN @RashidaTlaib are known as #AntiSemitic and Anti #Israel. Moreover, they both are representatives of #CAIR and #MuslimBrotherhood and their values clash with American values."
Milstein then gave a link to a page on the "Israel Unwired" website, but the page gave no evidence of connections between the Representatives and the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist organization with which the Hamas terror group is connected. CAIR is an organization dedicated to fighting anti-Muslim bias, but which has also been accused of having ties to Hamas.
Regarding his earlier tweets, Milstein said in a statement that "my tweet today, which shared news articles and social media postings that others wrote about CAIR and Representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, has been used to mischaracterize me and my views."
He continued that he had "no interest in allowing this mischaracterization of me to distract from the important work of AIPAC.”