Washington: A debate within the Democratic Party over charges that one of its House of Representatives members made anti-Semitic remarks has exposed an ideological and generational rift in the party, prompting a vote condemning bigotry against minorities.
Some Democrats, including several senators who are seeking the party’s 2020 presidential nomination, warned that party leaders were playing into Republicans’ hands and had stymied legitimate debate over US-Israel policy.
The House, which is controlled by Democrats, voted 407-23 on Thursday to approve a broad resolution condemning anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim discrimination and other forms of bigotry.
The vote came less than a week after Representative Ilhan Omar, one of the two first Muslim women elected to Congress, made statements at a Washington event that were denounced by some as anti-Semitic.
The resolution does not mention Omar by name. But Republicans have seized on Omar’s statements and the resulting intra-party conflict as a sign the Democratic Party is fractured.
Many Democrats, in turn, have said House leaders were cowed by a Republican effort to divert attention from bigotry within their own ranks and that Omar is being held to a different standard.
“Unfortunately, I think the Democratic leadership here has made what I think is a pretty serious mistake in caving to this pressure,” said Democratic strategist Peter Daou, who has advised Hillary Clinton and John Kerry.
The disagreement began after Omar, in an appearance at a Washington book store, said she feared that statements she and fellow Representative Rashida Tlaib made about foreign policy and the pro-Israel lobbying group the American Israel Public Affairs Committee would be viewed as anti-Semitic because they are Muslim.
Read the article by Amanda Becker (Reuters) in the Brisbane Times.