Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, apologized Sunday for characterizing Israel as a “racist state.”

Jayapal issued her criticism of Israel while attempting to quiet down a group holding up Palestinian flags at a conference for the progressive Netroots Nation over the weekend. …

“Words do matter and so it is important that I clarify my statement,” Jayapal said. “I do not believe the idea of Israel as a nation is racist.”

[Israel as a nation isn’t racist as an idea or in reality either. The Palestinians aren’t a “race,” and they are the obstacle to peace — as are Jayapal and the rest of their apologists on the radical Left. The only solution to their situation that Palestinian leadership will accept is the annihilation of Israel, hence the “from the river to the sea” rhetoric for a Palestinian state. That rhetoric gets repeated on the radical Left often enough to keep encouraging annihilation as their policy. — Ed]