Monday a bipartisan group of lawmakers formed a new black-Jewish caucus which is intended to focus on the threat of white supremacist attacks against both groups. One person who was apparently not pleased with the new caucus was Women’s March leader Linda Sarsour. Avi Mayer of the American Jewish Caucus pointed this out Tuesday:
.@lsarsour’s timeline contains no fewer than 17 panicked tweets about the new Congressional Black-Jewish Caucus, announced yesterday at #AJCGloFo. Nothing terrifies bigots like Linda Sarsour more than seeing minority communities joining hands in solidarity and partnership. 🤝
— Avi Mayer (@AviMayer) June 4, 2019
Sarsour responded by objecting to Rep. Lee Zeldin’s involvement with the group.
.@AviMayer continues to distract from the fact that he supports the leadership of Lee Zeldin who called Obama a racist and has spent the last few months attacking Muslim women in Congress AND campaigns with white supremacists & neo-Nazis. Keeps doubling down. But of course 🤷🏻♀️ https://t.co/Je8T8HcYqO
— Linda Sarsour (@lsarsour) June 4, 2019
But Sarsour’s stance against the new caucus became a bit more awkward yesterday when Rep. Ilhan Omar, who got in trouble earlier this year for some of her comments about AIPAC and Israel, suggested she would support it.
Last month, @janschakowsky and I joined together to talk about the common threat of white nationalism faced by Muslim, black and Jewish-Americans. Glad to see colleagues follow through in working on the things that unite us and not divide us 💪🏽https://t.co/KxGV0lnnGI https://t.co/ylJTjmjnxk
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) June 5, 2019
When Avi Mayer highlighted Omar’s tweet to Sarsour, she pushed back again:
Lee Zeldin is still an anti-Arab, anti-Palestinian bigot who called Obama a racist & Zeldin campaigns with neo-Nazis & white supremacists. I will tweet this back to you a MILLION times while you continue to deflect your support for Zeldin. P.S. Muslim women don’t always agree. https://t.co/KyQj4Yhgpy
— Linda Sarsour (@lsarsour) June 6, 2019
Absolutely not. Anything that has Lee Zeldin in it’s leadership will never get my endorsement. I don’t base my support on someone else’s support. I base my support on facts and my analysis. Lee Zeldin is a bigot and you can’t convince me otherwise. https://t.co/edVVhewwtt
— Linda Sarsour (@lsarsour) June 6, 2019
At this point, I like to imagine there were some unhappy phone calls or texts between Sarsour and Omar, but maybe Omar just caught on to the fact that he pal Sarsour was being left in the lurch. Whatever the case, Rep. Omar said this earlier today:
Just to be clear, my endorsement of the caucus and willingness to unite our communities against the threats of White supremacy isn’t an endorsement of Zeldin’s bigotry!
Linda’s point still remains valid but my hope here is that Zeldin can learn and grow. https://t.co/2Fp6znt353
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) June 6, 2019
Rep. Zeldin responded to Omar’s comments on Twitter:
This new Caucus is a positive, bipartisan push to build bridges between 2 groups. Be helpful, accurate & better. Unite; don’t divide or try to poison like this latest personal attack. This is bigger than us & we have to be better than this. https://t.co/1Ai7jzScKp
— Lee Zeldin (@RepLeeZeldin) June 6, 2019
To sum this up, Omar endorsed a new black-Jewish caucus formed to create a spirit of unity between the two groups and then, one day later, accused a Jewish member of the new caucus of being a bigot. How’s that for building bridges?!
The backstory to all this is that earlier this year, Rep. Omar was twice criticized for statements deemed anti-Semitic by people on both sides of the aisle. Rep. Zeldin was one of the people who called her out at the time. There was a brief moment when it appeared Omar might be sorry for some of her remarks. The second time she was called into the principal’s office she issued this apology:
Listening and learning, but standing strong 💪🏽 pic.twitter.com/7TSroSf8h1
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) February 11, 2019
That was four months ago but she’s apparently still upset with Rep. Zeldin and willing to drag her spat with him into the new caucus of which he is a founding member.
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