Jewish Democrat Blasts Tlaib, Omar for Stoking Anti-Semitism

Congressman Ted Deutch says anti-Israel members of his own party are inciting anti-Semitism

By Yakir Benzion, United With Israel

Congressman Ted Deutch of Florida lashed out at fellow Democrats and said their anti-Israel rhetoric is contributing to the latest wave of anti-Semitic attacks across America.

“If your position is that there’s no place for a Jewish state, there are people in the United States who hear that the entire state of Israel is some unacceptable creation … and all this is the fault of the Jews, then the anti-Semites take to the streets in New York and [Los Angeles], and then Boca [Raton] and Bal Harbour,” Deutch said during an online conference last week that was reported by the Jewish Insider.

“So of course there is a connection,” Deutch noted. “When we have colleagues whose position is ‘Palestine from the river to the sea,’ which includes no place for a Jewish state, and when our colleagues … wrongly and falsely describe Israel as an apartheid state, there is a context for all of this.”

Deutch singled out Democrats in Congress who are vocal in their anti-Israel incitement, citing representatives Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Cori Bush.

“Attacks like that against Jews have led to anti-Semitism and expulsion, and violence around the world.”

The online roundtable on the surge in anti-Semitism in the U.S. included fellow South Florida Representatives Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Lois Frankel along with Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt and the head of Hillel International, Adam Lehman.

“When you make unhinged claims and conspiratorial accusations that, for example, the Jewish state is systematically slaughtering children or intentionally committing genocide, don’t be surprised when unhinged people act on those conspiracies,” Greenblatt said, noting that the condemnation of the recent spate of anti-Semitic attacks is weak when compared to reactions to anti-Asian and other bigotry.

“I think it’s true that our community has not gotten the same clear, unequivocal, without conditions, rejection of this hate that we’ve seen … [for] the Muslim community, the AAPI community,” Greenblatt said.