House Republicans are planning a Tuesday vote on the House Floor that would affirm support for Israel in a move to put Democrats on the record just one day before Israeli President Isaac Herzog is set to address Congress.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) leadership team discussed the Israel vote in a private meeting Monday before rolling it out to a broader meeting of GOP whips, Politico detailed.
The proposed vote comes as members of the House Democrat caucus have blasted Israel as “racist” and intend to boycott Herzog’s upcoming joint address to Congress.
Over the weekend, Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) accused Israel of being a “racist state.”
“I want you to know that we have been fighting to be clear that Israel is a racist state, that the Palestinian people deserve self-determination and autonomy, that the dream of a two-state solution is slipping away from us,” Jayapal claimed.
Is this where the Democratic Party is headed when it comes to Israel?
— Lidar Gravé-Lazi (@LidarGL) July 16, 2023
Saturday’s remarks were not the first instance of Jayapal’s extremist anti-Israel rhetoric.
As Breitbart News’s Joel Pollak detailed:
In 2018, she accused Israel of “war crimes” after visiting Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, prompting then-U.S. Ambassador David Friedman to walk out of a meeting with her. In 2021, she tried to justify rocket attacks by the Palestinian terror group Hamas against Israelis civilians by suggesting that Israel had “prompted” such attacks with its own policies.
Jayapal’s remarks came days after Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) announced her intent to boycott Herzog’s address, claiming “there is no way in hell” she would attend it.
McCarthy urged House Democrats to “deal with” Jayapal’s antisemitic remarks.
“The Democrats want an out to show they are not antisemitic? I think the Democrats have not just one member that’s antisemitic, they have a number of members,” McCarthy told Politico, adding that Jayapal’s remarks are “unacceptable.”
“She runs the largest caucus in their group. They need to deal with this. They can’t ignore it. …Will the Democrats remove her as the Progressive Caucus Chair?” McCarthy asked. “That’s the question that needs to be asked. …She is a leader in their conference. This is the strongest group that they have in their conference. They lead their policies. Are they going to remove her?”
One day after Jayapal’s comments, House Democrat leaders issued a clarifying statement that began by recognizing that “Israel is not a racist state.”
House Democratic leadership in statement: “Israel is not a racist state…Government officials come and go. The special relationship between the United States and Israel will endure. We are determined to make sure support for Israel in the Congress remains strongly bipartisan.” pic.twitter.com/2glpWSEOHZ
— Jacob N. Kornbluh (@jacobkornbluh) July 17, 2023
“Government officials come and go. The special relationship between the United States and Israel will endure. We are determined to make sure support for Israel in the Congress remains strongly bipartisan,” the statement said.
Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter.
