ADL calls for resolution against antisemitism after Ilhan Omar's comments

The organization called on the U.S. House of Representatives to table a resolution condemning antisemitism.

By JEREMY SHARON
Ilhan Omar (photo credit: REUTERS)
Ilhan Omar
(photo credit: REUTERS)
CEO and national director of the Anti-Defamation League Jonathan Greenblatt has called on Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi to table a resolution in Congress condemning antisemitism, in light of repeated antisemitic comments by Rep. Ilhan Omar.
Omar said last week during a town hall event that “I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is okay to push for allegiance to a foreign country,” in reference to the pro-Israel lobby in Washington.
Called to retract the comment by a fellow Democratic congresswoman, Omar tweeted “I should not be expected to have allegiance/pledge support to a foreign country in order to serve my country in Congress or serve on committee.”
Writing to Pelosi on Monday, Greenblatt said that “Accusing Jews of having allegiance to a foreign government has long been a vile antisemitic slur that has been used to harass, marginalize, and persecute the Jewish people for centuries.”
He also noted that reported incidents of antisemitism in the US have risen dramatically in recent years, and pointed to the recent spate of physical assaults against Jews in New York, as well as the Pittsburgh massacre of 11 Jewish men and women last year, as worrying signs of the resurgence of antisemitism as a severe societal ill.
“In light of these additional antisemitic statements by Rep. Omar, we ask that you give the entire Congress an opportunity, through a House resolution, to voice its rejection of her latest slur and make clear that no matter what may divide the 435 members of the House of Representatives, they are united in condemning antisemitism.”
“The entire Congress should commit itself to living up to the pledge that George Washington made to the Jewish community of Newport, RI when he wrote that our country will be one ‘which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance,’” wrote Greenblatt.


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