“Her words and her communications are anti-Semitic,” said Minnesota state Sen. Ron Latz, a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. Latz, who is Jewish, spoke with Omar last year about her 2012 tweet.

“I’m not going to try to judge what’s in her heart, but I see the pattern of what she’s saying. She clearly learned the attitude and the behavior from somewhere.”…

“She’s not an anti-Semite,” said Barry Cohen, a leader with the Twin Cities chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace, which opposes Israeli occupation of the West Bank.

“The way I look at it, how and why would she necessarily have an understanding of Jewish history and Israeli history in any depth any more than any member of Congress has understanding or knowledge of Somali history or culture? . . . This is politics in its ugliest form.”