Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Trump Tweets That Omar's Israel Remarks Mark a 'Dark Day'
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 6 years ago on
March 5, 2019

Share

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump tweeted Tuesday that Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar’s newest remarks about Israel mark a “dark day” for the Jewish state.

His comment came as House Democrats prepared a resolution by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats, declaring that the House opposes anti-Semitism and bigotry.

Some Republicans and Jewish groups are pressuring Democrats for stronger action, including potentially removing Omar from the prestigious House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Some Republicans and Jewish groups are pressuring Democrats for stronger action, including potentially removing Omar from the prestigious House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Omar’s remarks have inflamed Democratic divisions over Israel, and Trump lobbed a tweet into the uproar.

“Representative Ilhan Omar is again under fire for her terrible comments concerning Israel,” he wrote, referencing what he said were “Jewish groups” demanding she be stripped of her committee seat. “A dark day for Israel!”

It was the latest chapter in a series of clashes between Omar and American supporters of Israel in Washington, where the Minnesota Democrat has been celebrated as part of a new generation of House members that is more female and more diverse than any in history.

Omar Ignites Bipartisan Uproar in DC, Minnesota

Last month, Omar ignited a bipartisan uproar in Washington and Minnesota when she suggested on Twitter that members of Congress are paid by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee to support Israel. AIPAC is a nonprofit organization that works to influence U.S. policy. She apologized for that remark, but Trump called her mea culpa “lame” and said she should resign from Congress or at least not be allowed to serve on committees.

For a few weeks, the matter quieted. But last week, Omar said at a Washington bookstore that she worries that everything she says about Israel would be construed as anti-Semitic. She used language that, to many ears, evoked a longtime trope about American Jews having divided loyalties. Israel’s supporters, she suggested, are pushing members of Congress to pledge “allegiance to a foreign country.”

Prominent Democrats, including House Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel, demanded another apology from Omar and began over the weekend to write the resolution.

It’s at least the third time the Minnesota Democrat’s words have put her colleagues in a more delicate spot than usual on the U.S.-Israel relationship, and the second time in two months that she’s drawn a stern backlash from party leaders.

Prominent Democrats, including House Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel, demanded another apology from Omar and began over the weekend to write the resolution.

A draft offered to news outlets, including The Associated Press, does not explicitly rebuke Omar, a Somali-American and one of two Muslim women in Congress. But it sets out the history of anti-Semitism and bigotry in America, including anti-Jewish tropes about divided loyalties. The document also rejects bigotry directed against Muslims after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The House is expected to vote on the resolution Wednesday.

DON'T MISS

Bethlehem Plans Another Somber Christmas Under the Shadow of War in Gaza

DON'T MISS

Cheers! Wine Clubs Are This Year’s Hottest Last Minute Gift

DON'T MISS

FDA Says Decongestant in Many Cold Medicines Doesn’t Work. So What Does?

DON'T MISS

Stock Market Today: Honda-Nissan Merger Talks Shake up Otherwise Quiet on Wall Street

DON'T MISS

Trump Again Calls to Buy Greenland After Eyeing Canada and the Panama Canal

DON'T MISS

Luigi Mangione Pleads Not Guilty to Murder and Weapons Charges in UnitedHealthcare CEO’s Death

DON'T MISS

House Ethics Committee Accuses Gaetz of ‘Regularly’ Paying for Sex With Women, Including Minor

DON'T MISS

New Board Members Join Merced County’s Largest School District, Guiding It Into 2025

DON'T MISS

‘It’s Living Hell’: Nurses Say CA Addiction Recovery Program Ended Their Careers

DON'T MISS

Santa Who? Bizarre Christmas Traditions Stealing the Holiday Spotlight

UP NEXT

Jeffrey Sachs Warns of Looming US War With Iran

UP NEXT

A Look at the $100 Billion in Disaster Relief in the Government Spending Bill

UP NEXT

US Deportations Surge to Highest Level in a Decade Before Trump Takes Office

UP NEXT

White House Pushes to Find American Journalist Abducted in Syria

UP NEXT

Liberal Donors Plot to Overturn Republican House Majority in 2026

UP NEXT

The ‘Murder Hornet’ Has Been Eradicated From US, Officials Say

UP NEXT

Supreme Court Will Hear Arguments Over the Law That Could Ban TikTok

UP NEXT

Trump’s Picks for Top Health Jobs Not Just Team of Rivals but ‘Team of Opponents’

UP NEXT

Most US Teens Are Abstaining From Drinking, Smoking and Marijuana, Survey Says

UP NEXT

Mystery Drone Sightings Continue in New Jersey and Across the US. Here’s What We Know

Stock Market Today: Honda-Nissan Merger Talks Shake up Otherwise Quiet on Wall Street

24 minutes ago

Trump Again Calls to Buy Greenland After Eyeing Canada and the Panama Canal

29 minutes ago

Luigi Mangione Pleads Not Guilty to Murder and Weapons Charges in UnitedHealthcare CEO’s Death

35 minutes ago

House Ethics Committee Accuses Gaetz of ‘Regularly’ Paying for Sex With Women, Including Minor

45 minutes ago

New Board Members Join Merced County’s Largest School District, Guiding It Into 2025

4 hours ago

‘It’s Living Hell’: Nurses Say CA Addiction Recovery Program Ended Their Careers

1 day ago

Santa Who? Bizarre Christmas Traditions Stealing the Holiday Spotlight

1 day ago

New Decisions Boost California’s Zero-Emission Vehicle Mandate, but Major Hurdles Remain

1 day ago

Only $20K More to Bring Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to Fresno

1 day ago

Jeffrey Sachs Warns of Looming US War With Iran

2 days ago

Bethlehem Plans Another Somber Christmas Under the Shadow of War in Gaza

BETHLEHEM, West Bank — The Nativity Store in Manger Square has sold handmade olive wood carvings and religious items to people visiting the ...

13 seconds ago

Worshippers visit the Church of the Nativity, where Christians believe Jesus Christ was born, ahead of Christmas in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP/Mahmoud Illean)
14 seconds ago

Bethlehem Plans Another Somber Christmas Under the Shadow of War in Gaza

8 minutes ago

Cheers! Wine Clubs Are This Year’s Hottest Last Minute Gift

A decongestant pill containing phenylephrine is displayed for a photograph in Philadelphia on Monday, Dec. 9, 2024. (AP/Jonathan Poet)
17 minutes ago

FDA Says Decongestant in Many Cold Medicines Doesn’t Work. So What Does?

24 minutes ago

Stock Market Today: Honda-Nissan Merger Talks Shake up Otherwise Quiet on Wall Street

This screenshot from Donald Trump's Truth Social account shows am image of President-elect Donald Trump standing beside a Canadian flag. Trump’s recent summit with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and visit to Paris for the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral were not just exercises in negotiating trade policy and diplomacy. For Trump, they’ve also become fodder for trolling. (Truth Social via AP)
29 minutes ago

Trump Again Calls to Buy Greenland After Eyeing Canada and the Panama Canal

Luigi Mangione is escorted into Manhattan Criminal court for his arraignment on state murder and terror charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, in New York. (AP/Seth Wenig)
35 minutes ago

Luigi Mangione Pleads Not Guilty to Murder and Weapons Charges in UnitedHealthcare CEO’s Death

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R- Fla., speaks at AmericaFest, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
45 minutes ago

House Ethics Committee Accuses Gaetz of ‘Regularly’ Paying for Sex With Women, Including Minor

4 hours ago

New Board Members Join Merced County’s Largest School District, Guiding It Into 2025

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend