Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) has backtracked after fellow Democrats, including leadership, criticized her earlier comments calling Israel a “racist state.”
“As somebody who’s been in the streets and participated in a lot of demonstrations, I want you to know that we have been fighting to make it clear that Israel is a racist state,” Ms. Jayapal told pro-Palestinian demonstrators at the annual conference for the progressive organization Netroots Nation on July 16.
“That the Palestinian people deserve self-determination and autonomy, that the dream of a two-state solution is slipping away from us, that it does not even feel possible,” she continued.
However, Ms. Jayapal later reversed course, saying the Jewish state is not racist, but that its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his government are.
“I do not believe the idea of Israel as a nation is racist,” continued Ms. Jayapal. “I do, however, believe that Netanyahu’s extreme right-wing government has engaged in discriminatory and outright racist policies and that there are extreme racists driving that policy within the leadership of the current government.
“I believe it is incumbent on all of us who are striving to make our world a more just and equitable place to call out and condemn these policies and this current Netanyahu government’s role in furthering them.”
Ms. Jayapal reiterated her call for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She explained that her response at the conference was her “responding to the deep pain and hopelessness that exists for Palestinians and their diaspora communities when it comes to this debate, but I in no way intended to deny the deep pain and hurt of Israelis and their Jewish diaspora community that still reels from the trauma of pogroms and persecution, the Holocaust, and continuing antisemitism and hate violence that is rampant today.”
Nonetheless, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations—an umbrella organization representing Jewish groups—condemned Ms. Jayapal’s initial remarks.
“We express our profound disappointment at the recent anti-Israel comments made by Rep. Pramila Jayapal in Chicago,” said the organization’s chair and CEO, Harriet P. Schleifer and William Daroff, respectively, in a statement.
“We strongly condemn her false and outrageous characterization of Israel as a ‘racist state,’ which is evocative of Soviet-era antisemitic tropes attacking Jewish rights to self-determination,” they continued.
J Street, a progressive organization that has come under fire for being anti-Israel despite the group claiming otherwise, applauded Ms. Jayapal’s statement backtracking her remarks. The organization has supported Ms. Jayapal, who has appeared at its annual conference in Washington.
House Democrat leadership—House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), House Democrat Conference Chair Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), and Vice Chair Ted Lieu (D-Calif.)—rebutted Jayapal’s initial claim while not calling out Jayapal by name or condemning her.
“America and Israel have a uniquely special relationship anchored in our shared democratic values and strategic interests,” continued House Democrat leadership. “As House Democratic leaders, we strongly support Israel’s right to exist as a homeland for the Jewish people. We are also firmly committed to a robust two-state solution where Israel and the Palestinian people can live side by side in peace and prosperity.”
While House Democrat leadership went on to acknowledge that there are members of Mr. Netanyahu’s coalition and of Congress with whom they do not concur, it reiterated its commitment to ensuring bipartisan support for the Jewish state.
Additionally, a draft statement signed by other House Democrats circulated as of July 16 evening rebuking Ms. Jayapal by name.
In comments to reporters on July 17, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) blasted Jayapal.
“This isn’t the first person in the Democratic conference that has continued to make antisemitic comments. We’ve watched what they have continually to do. There are a number of them over there,” he said.
“I think if the Democrats want to believe that they do not have a conference that continues to make antisemitic remarks they need to do something about it because they’ve defended these individuals time and again.
“The only time action has ever been taken is when we had to take the action,” continued Mr. McCarthy, apparently referring to the House removing Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) from the House Foreign Affairs Committee over her history of making antisemitic comments.
Mr. McCarthy went on to say the onus is on the House Democrat conference to clean up its antisemitism problem.
“I think this is a role for the leader Hakeem to prove that no, they’re not antisemitic and they cannot allow their members to continue to say what they have said in the past,” he said. ”I mean, think about what we’re talking about.
“You just raised the one issue of what she called Israel on a week when we have the president of Israel, Mr. Herzog, coming to give a joint session on the 75th anniversary of the creation of Israel, the closest ally. Within minutes of Israel becoming a country America recognized it. But now we have leaders in the Democratic Party—she’s not just an elected as a Democrat in their conference, she is a leader of their caucuses and she’s making these comments.”
The incident comes as a joint session of Congress is set to hear from Israeli President Isaac Herzog on July 19. While Ms. Jayapal has not said whether she will boycott the address, a handful of her fellow progressives—Ms. Omar and Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), and Cori Bush (D-Mo.)—have said they will.
Ms. Jayapal’s initial remarks come as Israel recently launched a counter-terrorism operation in Jenin, a city in the West Bank known for harboring Palestinian terrorists. It also comes as there have been widespread protests in Israel over Mr. Netanyahu’s attempts to change his country’s judiciary, especially its supreme court.
Ms. Jayapal’s remarks also come as legislation to prohibit U.S. government contractors from participating in the antisemitic Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel was introduced by Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.) on July 12. Mr. McCarthy told The Epoch Times on June 5, in response to a question over whether he plans to put anti-BDS legislation on the House floor, that he is looking to combat BDS.
“I’m very concerned. I’m looking at a lot of different things about the anti-BDS movement. And I’m thinking about even on a bipartisan manner. I’m watching things happen on campus and others,” he said.
“I think we should look at if campuses are moving [and allowing pro-BDS and] antisemitism, I’m really wondering, should that campus be rewarded or should there be an idea that we can do something to curb that away to protect individuals throughout, and there’s a number of ways we can do that, and I’m working with [Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.)] and other people out there to stop a lot of that,” continued Mr. McCarthy.
